Punk-rock Republican

Where’s the Band? Tour: Thurs., Jan. 19, 6 p.m., Sherman Theater (524 Main St., Stroudsburg). $13/advance, $15 door. All ages. Info: 570.420.2808, anthonyraneri.com

Snoop around the website of Anthony Raneri, lead singer of punk-rock band Bayside, and you’ll probably come across some rather eye-catching T-shirts declaring the slogan, “Raneri for President.” He may not be seriously attempting to launch a political campaign, but who would the young musician choose to be his running mate if that were the case?

“Ron Paul,” he said on a phone call last week from his home in Queens. “There you have it … That’s my dirty secret. I’m a punk-rock Republican.”

In reality, Raneri chose the campaign-slogan route because emblazoning his name on T-shirts seemed to him to be an absurdly weird concept. But with his debut solo EP, “New Cathedrals,” he’s proven that he’s at least got the kind of fervent work ethic a campaign would call for.

Recorded in eight days in California late last year, the album is the first release on Raneri’s fledgling label, Gumshoe Records, which he started as a platform for producing his solo material. Still, he noted that he’s open to using it for other opportunities.

“It happens all the time, there are a lot of bands that I see or hear and I’m like, ‘I need to be involved in this somehow,’” he explained. “So I mean, it’s definitely possible to do some more stuff. That is kind of why I decided to go the route of starting a label for this release and not just kind of throwing it out there.”

Raneri will make an appearance Thursday, Jan. 19 at the Sherman Theater in Stroudsburg as part of the “Where’s the Band? Tour” with the likes of fellow frontmen Ace Enders, Chris Conley, Evan Weiss and Matt Pryor.

Raneri explained that he’ll be performing some Bayside tunes, some covers (which could run the gamut from Neil Sedaka to Mandy Moore) and some pieces from the new record, which came about as an outlet for his varied musical musings.

“I’m constantly writing songs, almost every day,” Raneri explained in between yawns. “And I had the kind of songs laying around over the years that just didn’t really get to be on Bayside records, mainly because they were different styles. There’s a couple of country songs and reggae songs … Some of the songs on my EP I wrote in 2004, some of them are ideas that are even older than that.”

If Raneri was feeling a bit sleepy, it may have something to do with the fact that he’s been working himself like crazy, not only funding the album but literally having a hand in every single aspect of production and distribution. And aside from appearances by musicians Steve Choi, Davey Warsop and Jarrod Alexander, he played most of the instruments on it.

“The album went out for pre-order yesterday, and I’m here going through the orders, starting to figure out how many of each thing I need,” he said. “And next week, I’ll be actually stuffing everything into the envelopes and putting them in the mail.

“I’ve done the website, the artwork, the posters, the merch, the tour, producing the album, having the albums pressed, the mail order, every single aspect of this is me.”

The title, “New Cathedrals,” was inspired by the record’s artwork, and is kind of a philosophical expression of Raneri’s newly minted journey.

“I was thinking it kind of works, like ‘New Cathedral,’” he said. “I’m building this kind of new project, like this is the first release of a new path that I’m going on.”