The Paradox officially formed as a pop-punk band in June 2024. The alternative-rock group has already gotten recognition from industry veterans like Jack White, Travis Barker, and Lil Nas X, further cementing their place in the music industry.
Who is The Paradox?
The group is based in Atlanta, with Eric Dangerfield as lead vocalist and on rhythm guitar. Other members include Donald Bryant on bass, Christopher “Xelan” Bernard as the lead guitarist and background vocalist, and Percy “PC3” Crews on drums.
When speaking to Audacy, Eric said, “I had an idea to start a pop-punk band after I started looking into bands like blink-182, Sum 41, Green Day, Good Charlotte. I had told my friend Donald that I wanted to start a band and he’d started playing bass, so he moved out to Atlanta with me and we started jamming out on that stuff, and then I put an ad on a few Facebook groups and I found this guy, Xelan. We started jamming out and then we went to see New Found Glory live, and after that, we were just like, ‘yeah, like we’re gonna start the best pop-punk band ever.'”
The crew has often been referred to as “2000s” pop-punk music, and listeners feel as if they are stepping back in time when rocking out to their songs.
Criticisms
The quartet often talks about how during their adolescent years, they were told that pursuing music was a pipe dream. “We were having a conversation about growing up, talking about. you know, I want to do music when I grow up, and just always being told like, ‘oh, you know, don’t you have a plan B. It’s kind of like weird because if I said I wanted to be a garbage man, you wouldn’t ask if I had a plan B,” Eric told Audacy.
Eric also dives into the negative backlash that comes with Black kids enjoying punk music. “Growing up, I think we all kind of went through the ridicule from people that look like us, like our own community kind of, for listening to that music and maybe the way we talk and things like that. It was also trying to like give the world a different view of the African-American experience because we’re not alone. Black kids do live in the suburbs and that experience exists.”
Early Success
The group’s covers of “Basket Case” and “2000 Light Years Away” got the attention of Billie Joe Armstrong. Soon, the two of them were chatting online, bonding over guitars and The Beatles. After asking Armstrong if they could get tickets to his Atlanta show, they ended up being the opener for Armstrong’s show at Truist Park.
Over the summer, The Paradox did the Warped Tour in Long Beach, California, with surprise drummer Travis Barker to perform their song “Bender.”
One of their standout singles, “Do Me Like That,” has over 7 million streams on Spotify and earned a spot on SiriusXM’s alternative-rock charts earlier this year.
Using social media to their advantage, The Paradox has over 1 million followers on Instagram and 800,000 followers on TikTok. On Spotify, the group has a following of over 600,000 monthly listeners.
Future Plans
The pop-punk band released their debut EP NSFW on September 19, 2025. To support their latest project, the group is opening for rock band All Time Low on all dates of their North American EVERYONE’S TALKING! Tour this fall.
If you want to check out The Paradox, you can click on their website here.
Image Credit: Scott Dudelson / Contributor | Getty Images
