The Menzingers are one of the most iconic and successful punk bands of the 2010s. They were formed in 2006 and are still active today with another album due out next month. In 2013, The Menzingers released a split EP with the Bouncing Souls where each band covered a song by the other band. But that’s all just background information for today’s song.
Joker’s Republic put out an absolute killer album last year, easily one of my favorite albums of 2025. The cemented themselves as one of the best ska punk bands on the scene today, and further proved that you don’t need horns or keyboards to make it as a ska band. While their album is entirely original material, they have been putting out cover songs about every six months for the last couple of years in between their albums. This time they released a cover of The Menzingers’ 2017 track “Tellin’ Lies”. However, they decided not to go alone for this one. They included Pete Steinkopf, lead singer from Bouncing Souls, as a producer and vocalist for the track. And why shouldn’t they? He’s been a long time friend of The Menzingers and previously worked with them.
As a cover, this song is perfect. I had to go back and listened to the original version several times, in part because I was only vaguely aware of it . The Menzingers are a solid punk band, and definitely worth listening to and I enjoy them, but I almost exclusively listen to ska, so the passing familiarity with the song wasn’t enough to see how Joker’s Republic adapted it. After listening to the cover, it felt like it should have been the original. It works perfectly as a ska song. The upstrokes and offbeat rhythm is a little more open, letting the vocals breathe a little more but keeping the character of the song intact. The bridge is perfect, in part because Joker’s Republic does an amazing job shredding with both their lead and bass guitars, and they include as many opportunities to show off that aspect of their repertoire as possible.
The most impressive part was the end of the song, where The Menzingers slow down making the song a little more emotional and mournful. That was the characteristic I remembered most about the original, and the first time I heard the cover, with its lighter and bouncer ska rhythm, I thought it was the part that they would struggle to capture or redirect. I was wrong. They didn’t redirect it; instead, they captured the spirit of the original perfectly.
Like their covers of Lit, Green Day, and Streetlight Manifesto, Joker’s Republic captured The Menzingers’ essence while also making “Tellin’ Lies” their own. I still prefer their original music, but cover songs are a great way to put out new music and keep fan engagement between releasing albums. Whether you are a fan of ska, punk, or just music in general, you should give this a listen below.
Written by Gimp Leg
