When Axel was twelve, his dad Kirk took him to see Smash Mouth — his first concert. Soon Kirk, a musician, hauled a drum kit into their house outside of Providence, Rhode Island, and the two spent Axel’s early teenage years learning songs by his favorite bands like Fountains of Wayne.

This past New Year’s Eve, Kirk and Axel both coincidentally posted the same Counting Crows song on their Facebook pages. They each chose lyrics to accompany their posts, Kirk’s decidedly more optimistic than Axel’s.

Kirk went with: “A long December and there’s reason to believe/ Maybe this year will be better than the last.” Axel chose: “The smell of hospitals in winter/ And the feeling that it’s all a lot of oysters, but no pearls.”