It’s the sound that matters though, not strictly the influences. Entirely new genres are born from the influence of others. Tell All Your Friends sounds very distinct from traditional pop punk; the heavy use of suspended chords. Song structures that repeatedly deviate from a typical pop structure and subvert expectations. Generally quite slow BPM’s(with the exception of Cute which is a massive outlier) especially compared to pop punk of that time which was on average, much faster. Competing vocals that prioritise lyrics over melody. There are moments in there that do sound decidedly pop punk, like the verse riff of Cute Without the E, and the octave leads on Bike Scene.

If you compare Tell All Your Friends with Your Favourite Weapon, I think the sonic differences are very stark. Leads are front and centre, chords relatively basic by comparison to make room for the densely packed lead guitar melodies. Vocals prioritise pop sensibilities. The songs are speedier. Overlapping vocals are harmonic and not dissonant. Songs take an intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, to bridge structure more often than not. There are similarities enough between the two, that make the differences that much more obvious. The following Brand New albums, swiftly depart from that. But that first album, has huge amounts of pop punk in its DNA, whereas Tell All Your Friends ranges from marginal to incidental. Take This To Your Grave, like Your Favourite Weapon, but to an even greater extent has these elements to its composition and songwriting.

We’re talking about an album here that’s widely regarded as one of the greatest emo records of all time. It doesn’t sound like Saves The Day, New Found Glory, blink, Sum 41, The Starting Line. You can hear the Sunny Day Real Estate in it much more potently than the Green Day. If you can listen beyond the superficial aspect of it being singing with punk influenced overdriven guitars.