Cutting through the diesel rumble is the distorted crunch of guitar and a pounding bass line. It’s coming from a beat-up, primer-gray van with a faded Loch Ness Monster airbrushed on the side panel. The driver’s side window is down, an elbow resting on the frame.

You’re there, walking a younger boy by the hand toward the sidewalk. You’re laughing at something he said, and the late afternoon sun catches the strands of your hair. For Rodrick Heffley, lead singer and drummer of Löded Diper, a guy who considers most things—homework, parents, basic hygiene—a total drag, the world seems to narrow. The music from his speakers fades into a dull buzz in his ears.