Punk?
Musical genres are a tough thing to deal with. Many artists despise being put in some generic bucket with a bunch of other people or groups, they're unique damnit! Or at least that's how they feel about it. You could use something overly generic, like "rock" -- except that makes you think of Led Zeppelin and not that brand new band your trying to describe to someone.
Trying to use a term like "punk" is even harder as the people who are really into punk have very stringent rules for what can, and more importantly what cannot, get the punk label. So what of this band I'm trying to get to, +44 (pronounced Sum 44)? I would call it either "pop punk" or the even more insulting "bubblegum punk." A couple of guys from blink-182 and a couple of guys from lots of other "pop punk" bands.
When some punk rockers get old they mellow out (something about getting married and having kids probably) and some don't. These guys took the edge off, but still wanted to make music that had a little drive. A number of tracks have incredibly catchy riffs where you can't help but bob your head and tap your feet. But really only about half the album survives the skip button. As beej might say, it's no Iron Maiden.
