Ben Stiller's High School Punk Album Gets The Reissue Treatment

Captured Tracks is reissuing Ben Stiller's long-lost punk album.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

Honestly, the fact that Ben Stiller played drums in a punk band called Capital Punishment when he was a teenager isn't all that surprising to me. You see, I too played drums in a punk band in high school and this gives me the advantage of possessing the Phase Punk radar — the uncanny ability to detect those who once passed through the tumultuous world of punk rock as merely a pubescent phase.  This, of course, is not to say that punk is just a phase for everyone. It's clearly not. All this means is that I, having seen the inside, can sense a former Phase Punk even beneath layers of Dad shirts or Mom jeans.

Thus, the recently unearthed Stiller news is a little more than a confirmation. If you had been paying attention, you might have the same reaction. After all, Ben gave us quite a clue in the 2010 Noah Baumbach film Greenberg, in which he played an aimless character named Roger who alienated his friends following the dissolution of his band after rejecting a major label contract. Also, let us not forget the seamless Smash Mouth tie-in with Stiller's 1999 film Mystery Men. Though very much not a punk band, Smash Mouth's steadfast dedication to a song like "All Star" is almost so inoffensively pleasant that it's an act of reverse punk rock.

Trust me, I know. I used to play drums in a punk band in high school.

1.

View this video on YouTube

youtube.com


 

 

Latest in Pop Culture