San Diego punks The Bombpops released their new album, Death in Venice Beach, on Friday the 13, just as the coronavirus shook the world. We chatted with Jen Razavi and Poli van Dam about the awesome album, and how they’ve been coping since the release…

L.A. WEEKLY: First of all, love that album title. What inspired that?

JEN RAZAVI: The title is inspired by the novel Death in Venice, written by Thomas Mann. It takes place in Venice, Italy, during the Cholera pandemic of 1911. The story is more or less a cautionary tale about the price one pays to live as an artist and what happens when beauty and inspiration overpower. Coincidentally, the album was released on Friday the 13th of March, shortly after COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic, and life started to change here in the states.

How do you think the band has evolved between albums?

POLI VAN DAM: I think we have grown and matured as songwriters. We have really honed the storytelling with this batch of songs. We have all been through a lot, especially in the past couple of years, and through all of that, we have discovered more about who we are as a band.

What is your favorite song on the new album?

PvD: It’s so hard to say! A fun one I love is “House on Fire.” It’s about going a little too hard and just brings me back to wild times.

JR: There are so many that are close to the heart on this album, but one of my favorites is the opening track, “Dearly Departed.”

These are scary days — how has the band been impacted by coronavirus so far?

PvD: Well, with the new record coming up, we have had a lot of things impacted. We had to cancel our local record release shows and our record release headlining tour. Who knows what else will be canceled, it is a total bummer but out of our control, and we are trying to keep thinking positive. As soon as it’s safe to get back out there, we will be firing on all cylinders.

What else do you have planned for 2020

PvD: Right now we are taking it one day at a time like the rest of the world. Like I said, as soon as we can, we plan on sharing our new music LIVE as much as possible.

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(Fat Wreck Chords)

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