My knowledge of punks—real ones, not the fake-o alternative punks that listened to Sum 41, or the even newer punks that listen to [fill in whatever the kids listen to these days here]—is limited, but contrary to popular belief I’ve always known them to be rather lovely people. A good friend of mine had a younger sister who went through a punk phase, and she told me all about the crazy old punk dudes at the big festivals she’d been to, doing some dance whose name escapes me at the moment and generally acting pretty goofy for a bunch of punks.

And then there was the S.N.F.U. show I found myself at on a whim one drunken night in Vancouver, surrounded by some of the nicest moshers and crowdsurfers I’ve ever met—a big change from the 15-year-olds at the Pretty Girls Make Graves show who were far more adept at using their elbows for weapons. Finally there was the Henry Rollins “lecture” I went to a couple of days ago, wherein he related to the audience a great story about playing a show for the reunited Ruts in front of a crowd of former punks out to pay tribute to a beloved band of their youth—people who had since become investment bankers and lawyers, but still attempting to do right by the punk spirit.

With all of that in mind, Tullycraft’s first track off their imminent new release, Every Scene Needs a Center, makes a certain kind of sense to me. I mean, yes, there’s plenty of filthy epithets, concert brutality and macho posturing involved, but at the same time I can’t get the image of introspective, romantic punks writing goofy love songs. Maybe it’s because of the Weakerthans, a rather literate band born as an offshoot of veteran Canadian punk band Propagandhi. John K. Samson is my shining example of an old punk learning new tricks, and learning them extremely well.

As for the goofiness, maybe that’s more a Tullycraft thing than a punk thing, but that too fits. Tullycraft’s brand of quirky, snarky, clever-and-a-half twee pop might be a bit too old school to gain wide acceptance nowadays, but for those in the know their hooks still hit the spot. “The Punks Are Writing Love Songs” reminds me a bit of old favourite “Josie” (”They’ve got a space and they play good stuff / Josie says that it’s not quite punk / she’ll let us know when it’s punk enough”), right down to the female backing vocals—now a permanent fixture thanks to the addition of Jenny Mears to the band’s lineup in 2005. Every Scene Needs a Center is out on Tuesday.