Keith Streng (The Fleshtones), Eddie Munoz (The Plimsouls), Clem Burke (Blondie), Michael Giblin (Cherry Twister), and Josh Kantor (The Baseball Project) make up The Split Squad. They describe themselves as ‘America’s least famous Supergroup!’. A band of heroes, in my world.

Another Cinderella is The Split Squad’s 2nd album. What an outstanding, excellent record to end 2021 with.

SweetSweetMusicBlog spoke with Michael Giblin.

What was the moment you knew you were on to something?

The genesis of the band was basically, “Let’s get together and see if we can have some fun together”. The only expectation was a good time making music together. However, in the first sessions, listening to a playback, producer Scott McCaughey turned to engineer Dave Minehan and said, “Clem is NOT phoning it in, is he…”. That just lit a giant fire under everyone to try and keep up with him.

How did this record come together?

The band has been together for almost ten years now, but this is only our 2nd full-length album. That’s because, given the band’s nature, we get a limited amount of time together when many busy schedules align. We usually spend that time touring, because we love to play together.

So this record is a pandemic record, and it has a colorful and meandering story, as I’m sure many pandemic records do. Even though I have done it a lot in the past, I’ve gotten to the point where I DO NOT like to record and produce my own songs. I prefer to have an external voice in that role. So we started doing demos for a number of songs, to give to folks who would be interested in producing. We had a couple of near-misses with some people, mostly from scheduling.

So I listened closely to the demos, and realized that the basic tracks were generally all quite good, and that we had at least half an album of basics already done. So I bit the bullet and decided to just forge ahead on our own. We booked some shows in the first week of March 2020, and planned to do a little more recording around those.

However, that was exactly when the world fell apart, and all our shows were cancelled. So this afforded us the time to complete all of the basic tracking we’d need. But then it wasn’t until late summer, when the country opened up again, and we could get together for overdubs and such.

Same with mixing. We did it all around the few moments of respite that the pandemic allowed us to have. I’m amazed that it holds together so well, as a group of songs, because there are at least 5 that started out as pure demos. If the pandemic hadn’t forced us into the studio, we’d still be probably trying to pull together the demos!

The meaning of success has changed over the years. What would success look like for the new record?

We just hope that it serves as a good tool to allow us to keep playing together in front of people, because that’s what we really love to do.

How great is the urge to stay creative? To keep writing songs and lyrics?

I’d love to say I’m one of those “I just HAVE to write all the time!” people, but I’m not. I’m an inspirational writer, not a grind-it-out person, for the most part. So I write when lightning strikes, and I don’t when it doesn’t. Having said that, I quite often go through periods of “that’s it, I’m empty” self-doubt, but then eventually, the inspiration always manages to find it’s way back.

As an artist, you chose to show your emotions to the world. Is it always comfortable to do so?

NOOOOO. As a writer, I pay very close attention to point of view in a song, and I quite often write in 3rd person; as an outsider looking in.

That helps me to “bare my soul” without it necessarily being about ME. I also like to write from the point of view of defined characters, like in “Trying to Get Back To My Baby” on the new album.

It really all depends on the song, but going all the way back to Cherry Twister, those are techniques that have served me quite well.

You can pick 3 co-writers to write new songs with. Who? … and Why?

Pete Townshend, Elvis Costello, and Peter Case. The first two are obvious, if anyone knows anything about me and my musical history. As for Peter Case, while The Plimsouls are definitely an important point on my musical compass, I am a huge devotee of ALL of his work. For my money, he is perhaps the greatest songwriter presently walking the earth.

What’s the gig you will always remember? And why?

Keeping it just to The Split Squad, we did a festival in Spain a few years ago, and they told us we were scheduled to go on at 1:00 AM. It was a public, free festival in the town square, and we thought “1:00AM!?!? This is gonna suck!”

However, when we hit the stage (at about 1:45!!), we were met by 5000 totally wired, drunken, wonderfully crazy Spaniards. When Clem switches into “Arena Mode”, it’s a glorious thing to behold, and that’s all it took, regardless of the hour.

Lyrics are too often taken for granted. What is the line of text or are the lines of text that you hope listeners will remember? And why?

While most of The Split Squad’s songs are not intended to be overly “literary” (I often refer to our sound as “Big Dumb Rock”), perhaps the most heavy lyric in our catalog is “I Can’t Remember”. It’s written like a breakup/lost love song, but it’s actually about my own personal state of mind after the death of my wife from leukemia in 2010. Her illness was very brief and intense, and she passed quickly and unexpectedly. The lines “I can’t remember the day you went away/I can’t remember the last thing you did say” are borne from the fact that I cannot remember what her last words actually were, because we didn’t expect her to pass when she did. It’s intended to remind myself (and anyone who listens) that those moments that you WANT to hold onto forever may go by so quickly that you don’t notice them. So pay attention…

When was the last time you thought ‘I just wrote a hit!’?

Well, given that I haven’t listened to mainstream radio for many years, I’d have to say, in the radio station of my mind, it would have to be “Hey DJ”, the first track on the new album. Of course, in my mind’s radio station, Cheap Trick and The Plimsouls take the place of Journey and Def Leppard, so take that with a grain of salt.

Cassettes are back. Which 5 five songs would make your first mixtape?

That’s a tough answer, because the band is quite eclectic. For a good sampling of The Split Squad, it would be “Now Hear This”, “Showstopper”, “I Can’t Remember”, “Hey DJ”, and “Bigger Than Heroin”. That gets you Guitar Mayhem, Heavy Rock, Soul, Power-pop, and Psychedelia!

Playing music in front of a crowd. What’s all the fun about?

With The Split Squad, we don’t do things exactly the same way each time. Especially Clem. He like to stretch out and change things up quite a bit, so the songs are constantly evolving. And he totally feeds off of audiences and environments to do that. Eddie, as well, is a bit of a wild card. He will at times play things so out of left field it makes us forget what we are doing. Keith, especially, is constantly marvelling at what Eddie comes up with on the fly.

You can’t control the way people ‘hear’ your music. But if you could make them aware of certain aspects, you think, set your songs apart. What would they be?

One of the things I have always tried to showcase in this band is the breadth of everyone’s musical vocabulary and stylistic reach. We could, conceivably, play a song in any style, from straight garage-punk, to New Orleans R&B, because there is at least someone in the band who is great at THAT style. We can always make it sound like us, but on both of our albums, there are at least a half-dozen different stylistic checkpoints.

Suppose you were to introduce your music to new listeners through three songs. Which songs would those be and why?

Again, tough because of the broad, eclectic nature, but “Now Hear This”, which showcases the incredible guitar firepower that we have, “Hey DJ”, which plays to the power-pop side of all of us, and “I Cant’ Remember”, which is a straight-up soul song.

If you could tour the world with two other bands, who would you ask, and why?

Assuming you mean still active bands, I would say The Fleshtones and Wilco/Jeff Tweedy. I have toured with both in the past, and I’d pick The Fleshtones because they are 4 of the most erudite, epicurean fellows you’ll ever meet. They know where the best place to eat or get a great cocktail is in EVERY city in the world. As for Wilco/Tweedy, I toured with Jeff in 2015, as part of the Minus 5, and their operation is so incredibly professional and respectful, from top to bottom, and their audiences are so warm and receptive to other acts on the bill. They set an extremely high bar in that regard, and it was a joy to be a part of it.

What compliment you once received will you never forget?

I’m not sure I’d call it a compliment, but because I’m a singing bass player, I get a lot of (fairly lazy) people assuming that I’m a Geddy Lee/Rush fan. I’m not. At all.

Those magical moments when you’re working in the studio. Which moment was the most magical?

While everyone in this band is more than capable of producing those kinds of moments (and have on several occasions), the winner on this record would have to go to Clem. The “Bolero” section, at the end of “Invisible Lightning” was a completely unrehearsed, spur of the moment thing. We finished the take, and Clem just launched into it, without saying anything to aynone. We fell in behind him (and then cleaned it up later), but listening back to the raw take, everyone was just laughing hysterically, beause it was so brilliant, and spontaneous.

What place do you occupy in the music industry?

Oh man, I have a LOT to say about this. Far more than you’d like devote this blog to! But this is an interesting and difficult time for people who make rock music that are “of a certain age”. Unless you want to trade in flat out nostalgia (DO NOT get me started on tribute bands), making rock music with and for people over the age of 40 is a very steep uphill climb these days. Basically, people at large of that age don’t want to hear music they don’t already know. The mainstream music industry, of course, ignores us, because of our ages (which it has ALWAYS done. That’s nothing new), so unless you already have a devoted audience, cultivated from decades of hard work, catching the ear of people who don’t already know you is a very daunting task. It’s a bit of a cliche, but Europe continues to be a place that is significantly more open to that than the US. So like many acts “of a certain age”, we look there first for audiences to embrace and inspire us.

If you could pick three singers to sing harmony vocals on your next record, who would you ask?

Marti Jones (who did sing on a Parallax Project album), Harry Nilsson, and David Bowie (for that amazing counterpoint singing he was so great at, like on “Space Oddity”)

The record is done, the music is out. Is the best fun done now or is it just beginning?

Well, since we enjoy playing together so much, I would have to say “No, the fun is definitely not over!” Hopefully the state of the world lets us get on with that!

Many artists have used the pandemic time to get creative and crank out an album within the course of a few months. Some have used this time to revisit projects that they have previously abandoned, and it is those releases that dominate the list of The 42 Best Power Pop records of 2021.

Of course, there is also a Spotify playlist with the best song of each listing (41 songs because Have A Cool Summer! is not on Spotify).

I asked the makers of all this beauty, ‘Why has this become such an excellent record?’.
You can read the answers, in addition to the short comments from myself, below.

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01. Underwater Sunshine – Suckertree

The most beautiful release of 2021 appears to have been recorded in 1996. Underwater Sunshine’s Suckertree takes you back to the heyday of Modern Power Pop and sounds as fresh and exciting as the records released that year by the likes of The Posies, Fountains of Wayne, and Superdrag. 

Johnny Nikolic: “Like a fine Burgundy wine, it’s had twenty-five-plus years to age. Also, we had the amps turned to eleven.”.

02. Tuns – Duly Noted

Chris Murphy: “What I like about TUNS is that the songwriting process consists of making up jams out of thin air and once we lock into something interesting, we record a voice memo of that idea, and we do that for a few days until we have at least 50 jams and we have a voting process to arrive at 15 from which 12 songs have songwriting chops applied to them, and we have an album.

We did this process for both LP’s. The first one used only nine songs, so we put the 10th, and 11th song on a 7” single, and the 12th went on a digital-only soundtrack compiled by a friend to help promote a book he wrote.

We really didn’t know what we were doing when we made the first LP, but we knew better the second time around, and I’m really happy with the results. Every song starts with a catchy bit of music, and I get to work with these two fantastic singers who put great melodies overtop and sing great background parts.

The whole process is also without any of the pressure of a band that is responsible for paying the mortgages of those involved or anyone else in an extended organization. It’s pretty ideal.”.

03. Lolas – All Rise

Tim Boykin has already produced some Power Pop classics, and All Rise is as good as Something You Oughta Know or Doctor Apache.

Tim Boykin: “I was sad and depressed when I wrote it, and as we all know, sadness and depression makes for the best power pop. LOL”.

04. Caddy – Detours and Dead Ends Vol. 1

If no one had told me that Detours and Dead Ends Vol. 1 consisted of only covers, I probably would never have found out. Tomas Dahl didn’t just choose obscure songs; he made them all his own and gave them the, so specific, Caddy treatment.

Well, …

Tom Dahl: “Many people were surprised this is a cover album as it’s basically a collection of unknown songs from unknown bands/artists. It sounds like a Caddy album, but at the same time, these bands/artists are introduced to a new crowd. If someone covers Caddy 30 years from now, that will be the ultimate compliment.”.

05. Daniel Romano – Cobra Poems

Daniel Romano is the new Tom Petty, and Cobra Poems is the record Petty would have made if he had accepted Stevie Nicks as a member of The Heartbreakers back then.

06. The Summer Holiday – B-Sides Stories, Volume One

If the mystery has been solved in the meantime, then it has passed me by. I have no idea who the members of The Summer Holiday are. However, the quality of what’s on offer is so high that I wouldn’t be surprised if some well-known grandmasters were involved. What Happens When You Lose might be my favorite song of 2021.

07. Sorrows – Love Too Late … The Real Album

Love Too Late was first released in 1981. A record full of beautiful songs that were killed by a wrong production. Forty years later, Sorrows reworked the songs, and if this version had been released at the time, this would have been a classic from the golden age of Power Pop. And now it’s a Modern Power Pop classic. Easy as that!

Arthur Alexander: “Well, first off, you DO realize that by asking me this question you are forcing me to agree that this is indeed an excellent record!… OK, I am forced to wholeheartedly agree! LOL That said.

When Sorrows went to England to record this album, we KNEW we were going in to make something special. All the pieces were there. We had a bunch of great songs, not a piece of fluff among them; a band which by that time was one hell of a well-oiled rock ‘n roll machine, and we had Mr. Legendary Producer at the helm to make sure this would be a great record.

The cluster fuck that followed and the resulting sham of an album left us devastated. But ultimately we were determined to do it justice, no matter how long it took.

And it took a loooong time to pull it off, but pull it off we did in the end. It was our determination to do right by our music and the legacy of the band that was what, in the end, resulted in the album it was always meant to be.

So yes, an excellent album it is, and we always knew it was. It was taken away from us… and we took it back!”.

08. Ward White – The Tender Age

Ward White describes himself as an art-rock crooner. An accurate description, I would say.
On The Tender Age, Ward reminds me of David Bowie and Parthenon Huxley but he is also, quite rightly, compared to Bryan Ferry and Elvis Costello. What an overwhelmingly beautiful record.

Ward White: “I don’t know if it’s an excellent record; hopefully it’s a good one. Like kids, you just hope each record inherits your best qualities, surprises you from time to time, and doesn’t embarrass you down the road.”.

09. LOVEBREAKERS – Primary Colours

LOVEBREAKERS sounds like a group of cheeky brats. Simply irresistible.

10. The Reflectors – Faster Action

If you loved The Beat in the early ’80s and your musical taste hasn’t changed much, there’s a fair chance that Faster Action is your favorite record of 2021.

James Carman: “This record is very special because around the time this was recorded, the world was on lockdown, and those moments of playing music and writing, it gave us our platform to write songs that were coming from our hearts.”.

11. Andy Bopp – AB

Until this year, I was sure that Myracle Brah’s Life On Planet Eartsnop was Andy Bopp’s masterpiece. I know better now.

Andy Bopp: “It was made during the pandemic over a one-year period. It’s special because disc 1 is more of a “pop” album, and disc 2 is noisier”.

12. Local Drags – Keep Me Glued

Keep me Glued is a master class on how to put the power back in the pop.

Lanny Durbin: “Keep Me Glued is pretty special to me because it turned out exactly how I wanted it. Not a lame riff or lyric or melody (in my opinion). I’m proud of every song on the record. I’m my own worst critic, but this was the first time I was able to say, “wow, every song is pretty cool!” I used to worry that my style wasn’t PUNK enough to be a punk/pop punk/whatever band, so I tried to write a “punk” song on my first record, and now it’s the worst song on there!

I used to worry my voice wasn’t good enough, etc. This time I just said to myself, ok, then sing better because who cares! To quote John Prine: you are what you are, and you ain’t what you ain’t. The songs are my best work; the boys played their parts just right, the packaging is sick too. Basically thought to myself, what is the exact record you’d like to listen to? And this is it!”.

13. Scott Warren – Shadow Bands

Shadow Bands sounds like a record made by kings like Neil Finn or Elvis Costello. Yes, Scott Warren is that good!

Scott Warren: “I think this particular batch of songs came together really well writing/production-wise. When releasing a record out into the world, you never know what to expect. It’s nice to see that it has resonated with folks.”.

14. The Brothers Steve – Dose

If I were to make a list of records that I sing along the loudest, Dose would have been #1.

Steve Coulter: “Making ‘Dose’ was a lot of fun and an interesting challenge given the state of the world. Without the ability to be in a room (or on stage) bashing out the songs as a band, we were forced to experiment more—which I think contributed greatly to the end result. It doesn’t hurt that the members of The Brothers Steve are some of my oldest friends and partners in crime. It’s always a blast to rock out and make music with those guys.”.

15. The Easy Button – Lost on Purpose

“Lost On Purpose” reminds me of “Welcome Interstate Managers”. In my world that is the greatest compliment imaginable.

Brian Jones: “Our new record “Lost On Purpose” is our most daring record to date! The most songs we’ve put out at one time – 22 in under an hour eight minutes, consistent in theme and hook and full of surprises. The songs came quickly during the lockdown and took us on new melodic paths. We were overjoyed when friends and a few of our music heroes guest performed on the album and took it to even greater heights. “Lost On Purpose” is also the first release where we made a vinyl version companion to the full CD and Streaming version.”.

16. Even – Reverse Light Years

Reverse Light Years is the best guitar-record of the year.

17. The High Strung – HannaH or The Whale

HannaH or The Whale was also lost to the flow of time, recorded in 2002, only released this year. As good as any Sloan record released around the turn of the century.

18. Caper Clowns – Abdicate The Throne

Abdicate The Throne is full of very well-made, mature pop songs, played by a group of young dogs. The Danes deviate several times from the Power Pop template on this third, making it completely irresistible.

19. Jim Trainor – Staring Down The Sun

Jim Trainor’s Staring Down The Sun is incredibly easy to listen to, but it took me a while to recognize that there weren’t many better records produced in 2021 than this one. Twelve stunning Power Pop songs.

Jim Trainor: “Staring Down The Sun” is my first full album as a solo artist, and to me, that’s very special. I was encouraged by the warm reception of last year’s EP “Glass Half Full” and wanted to continue that momentum into a full project. I was overjoyed how “Staring Down The Sun” was embraced by pop/rock lovers in general, as well as the airplay it received and still gets from radio hosts. Plus, on both albums, I had the honor to work with some very talented artists, some of whom are at the top of my favorites list.”.

20. The Legal Matters – Chapter Three

Chapter Three is a triumph, a master class in songwriting and harmony singing.

Keith, Andy, Chris: “Chapter 3 is special to us because we feel like we’ve really evolved as recording artists. We were able to use all of our strengths to make the best record that we could make. Our harmonies have become our main instrument, and we really focused on creating the arrangements to support our vocals.”.

21. Doublepluspop – Too Loud + Too Fast + Too Much

Doublepluspop made a Power Pop classic in 2002. However, the record was never released.
Too Loud + Too Fast + Too Much would have certainly made “The Best Power Pop Record of 2002” lists if it had been released back then! Last year there was a digital release of Too Loud + Too Fast + Too Much, and Kool Kat Musik released it on CD in 2021.
I can think of nine more reasons why Too Loud + Too Fast + Too Much shouldn’t be on this year’s list, but the record is too good to leave it out. Maybe I’ll already reserve a spot for next year.

Paul Averitt: “I don’t think of this album as anything other than “this album”. I don’t tend to qualify it in my own mind. I will say that we are very pleased that so many have found and enjoyed it. The glowing reviews are still pouring in more than a year after the digital release, and we are grateful for the encouraging attention. Thanks to anyone who has gone out of their way to check it out. We are humbled.”.

22. Yorick van Norden – Playing by Ear

With Playing by Ear, Yorick van Norden claims an even more prominent place within the very vibrant Indie Pop scene in the Netherlands. Ten extraordinarily personal and beautiful pop songs.

23. The Stan Laurels – There is No Light Without the Dark

Don’t you dare confuse accessibility with mediocrity or even nimbleness. The twelve songs on There is No Light Without the Dark are all easy on the ear but take on a new dimension with every listen. That type of record!

John Lathrop: “While I appreciate your description of my album as being “excellent,” it’s not for me to say it is such; what I will say is I worked very hard on each and every song to craft something I felt was unique and dynamic, offering a wide variety of sounds and feelings; and while each song is quite different from one another, there’s a central sound as well as an over-arching theme connecting all of the songs, making what I feel is a cohesive record. But the #1 priority was and always is melody, so within and underneath all of the soundscapes of buzzing guitars, dreamy keyboards, and pounding drums lies (hopefully) a few nice-sounding vocal melodies and chord progressions in their simplest form.”.

24. David Brookings – Mania at the Talent Show

Like so many other musicians this year, David Brookings seems to have raised the bar for himself again by emerging from the lockdown with twelve of his best songs. Warmer than his previous records, and those earlier ones weren’t cold at all.

David Brookings: “Why has this record become such an excellent record? I think it’s a strong batch of songs and that also the production on it is really great. I teamed up with my old friend Josh Scolaro (he’s in Virginia, and I’m in L.A.) to record it. We file shared back and forth for the past year, putting it all together and including cameos from a few other music friends, and it just turned out to be magical.”.

25. Radio Days – Rave On!

A Power Pop Celebration!

26. Silvertwin – Silvertwin

Pure Pop for the Power Pop people!

27. Novelty Island – How Are You Coping With This Century?

More Pure Pop for the Power Pop people!

Tom McConnell: “Thank you very much for including my little album in this mighty list! Writing and recording ‘How Are You Coping With This Century?’ was a little bit of surreal therapy for me through the dystopia of today, and I hope it is for everyone else too…”.

28. Nick Frater – Earworms

Nick Frater did stop the search for perfection but what came out sounds pretty perfect to my ears.

Nick Frater: “Thanks for the great feedback about Earworms! I wrote it to sound and feel like it was a long-lost LP from the mid-70s. Unashamedly embracing melody and harmony, combined with lyrics that touch a few emotions, seems to have come together just right on this record!”.

29. The Sails – Bang!: The Sails Best of 2006 to 2020

My introduction to Michael Gagliano’s band The Sails took place this year. Quite late when you know that the band has been active since 2006 and has produced a fairly steady stream of high-quality pop songs ever since, all gathered now on this MASTERPIECE.

Michael Gagliano: “Power Pop is more than a genre but an acclamation of taste, style, and attitude. It’s a coded way of life . Everything The Sails stand for.”.

30. Ed Ryan – Don’t Follow Where They Lead

Ed’s songs are my friends.

Ed Ryan: “Once I wrote what became the title track, the album just came together. The song was a little different from my norm and led me to experiment stylistically and to include some of my instrumental pieces as well. It was like throwing a stone in a pond and watching everything ripple out from there.”.

31. The Szuters – The Devil’s in the Details

If I needed a definition of the Power Pop genre, I would ask The Szuters.

32. Split Single – Amplificado

If Power Pop is defined for you by the music of Guided by Voices or Bob Mould, then Split Single’s Amplificado is most likely your favorite record of 2021. Jason Narducy outranks those who influenced him.

33. The Well Wishers – Spare Parts

Gathered what once seemed superfluous and not good enough, turned out to be a wonderfully incoherent whole.

Jeff Shelton: “It’s special because it gave a batch of random, orphaned songs a final home. I’m pleased to hear from some people that these tracks are as worthy as any others I’ve included on “proper” Well Wishers albums …even if the styles and sound of each are a bit disparate. My ultimate goal is to get my music out there for people, so I’m pleased to have found a home for these tracks.”.

34. Galore – Roller

“Fronted by Haligonian Barry Walsh—of the late, great Cool Blue Halo—Galore is a ballsy trip to ’70s glam and power-pop.”, The Coast wrote in 2007. There’s nothing wrong with that characterization. Although Roller also reminds me of the first Fastball record. The recordings were completed some time ago, but Roller was only recently released.

Barry Walsh: “Galore has been through many permutations over two decades, but the line-up for “Roller” is perhaps the longest-lasting, and as a result, I think it’s evident in the recordings that we had — and still have, when we’re in the same room — a chemistry that really serves the music. Even though we didn’t have an outside producer, the songs were shaped through years of live performance and rehearsal, but there’s still enough raw energy there to prevent it from being too slick. And given that it was recorded over a decade ago but just released now, it feels like a sonic postcard from a simpler, more carefree time for me… which is nice to have in these current times.”.

35. Motorists – Surrounded

Frontman Craig Fahner says (in their band bio): “We worked through feelings of isolation as a group to the tune of jangly guitars, infectious power-pop hooks, and a steady motorik beat. Surrounded is an album about modern living and isolation in a technologically saturated society, laden with romanticism around radical togetherness.”.

36. Kiwi Jr. – Cooler Returns

For those who like The Strokes and Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. Snotty Indie Power Pop.

37. LMNOP – whatNOP dONW7

Every time I listen to whatNOP dONW7, which I’ve done exceptionally often over the past year, I conclude that LMNOP’s music is about a hundred million miles closer to the core of Power Pop than, for example, ELO. So that you know. DIY is king!

Stephen Fievet: “This is my best and most consistent album, probably because I had 32 tracks and enough time to accurately create what was in my head.  I purposely left some rough edges to avoid sounding too glossy and discarded several recordings rather than include everything.  whatNOP was an experiment to learn how to use digital equipment.  Now that I kinda know what I’m doing, the next album should be even better.”.

38. Stephen Chopek – Dweller

Dweller is a beauty of an EP, full of real pop songs with a soft New Wave edge. Chopek sounds like a young Ian McCulloch or Roddy Frame.

Stephen Chopek: “Dweller is a special collection of songs for me because it’s a snapshot of how I spent my time in lockdown throughout 2020 during the pandemic. I had just gotten back from tour and planned for a busy year, but those plans quickly changed. Instead of focusing on all the things I couldn’t do, I decided to put my energy into writing and recording at home. It was an important lesson in accepting things that are out of my control, and maintaining a healthy perspective. I hope listening to Dweller brings you as much enjoyment as I had making it.”

39. Steve Rosenbaum – Steve Rosenbaum – Have A Cool Summer! (4​-​track Gems and Summer Pop Demos: 1979​-​89)

Have A Cool Summer! is a collection of demos released on 8-track and reel-to-reel tape. Read that line again. Welcome to 2021. Beautiful songs are timeless, come in all formats and all styles, and appear when time permits.

Steve Rosenbaum: “I think this record became excellent because it is a real labor of love and an example of how necessity is the mother of invention. In the 80s, when I realized I wouldn’t be able to afford to go into a multi-track studio to realize my songs, I figured out how to use two cassette decks and, later, a 4-track Portastudio, to realize my vision. Although no one would say these recordings sound like they are professionally done, I hope most will see that there is something unique and personal about them. Also, I hope the songs transcend the limitations of the technology.’.

40. Fur – When You Walk Away

‘Pure Twinkle-eyed joy’, is the description of their music that Fur uses on Spotify. Did I need some of that in 2021?!

41. Warm Soda – Best of Warm Soda (2012 – 2016)

Best of Warm Soda (2012 – 2016) would be its definition if Gritty Power Pop were a sub-genre.

42. Rockets Of Love! Power Pop Gems From The 70s, 80s & 90s

There’s a lot of good Power Pop being made nowadays, but it’s nice if Ace Records sends an anthology with fabulous songs from the genre’s heyday.

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Yes, I break the rules. Welcome to the modern age where the difference between EPs and albums is no longer visible, where music in many formats is released at different times, where you only discover some bands when a greatest hits overview is released…!

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So much more beautiful music has been made this year. Enjoy the Sweet Sweet Music’s favorite Power Pop Songs of 2021 – Spotify Playlist. Buy the music on Bandcamp or via the Kool Kat Musik webshop!

Kepi and Vic made a record together. On ‘After The Flood’ you hear two friends who just want to make music and decided to press the record button. No frills, no hassle. Uninhibited and energetic.

R O C K  A N D  R O L L!

Did you think the end result would sound more like Hank Williams than The Ramones when your collaboration started?

Kepi: We Like it all! If it has roots or a rhythm, we like it! I think we are just happy whenever we get to play or record, so hopefully, that comes through!

Vic: Kepi and I have always been into old Blues, so that’s the main thing we were thinking on this recording when we thought of covers… We are always feeling the old-school blues and real rock ‘n’ roll… Like T-Rex or the NY Dolls or Johnny Thunders… Kepi’s got the mainline on Chuck Berry too, so it’s like that…

Kepi, Carly Simon is great. You recorded it before. How did that song come about? Do you start with the idea that you want to quote Coming Around Again, or does that idea arise while you are looking for the right words for the story?

Kepi: I had never heard that particular Carly Simon song, but I had remembered that title… It just seemed like a good positive line that I needed to remind myself that eventually everything comes back around, so I used it! I think it did its job! Years later, I was in the supermarket and heard Carly Simon singing the ‘Coming Around Again’ line and thought, “This must be that song!”

Vic: Hahaha, that’s so good. I do stuff like that too. Hahaha, I thought it was named after some dude or somebody that happened to have the same name… Who knew?

What’s the energy? What connects the two of you? 

Kepi: My guess is just a love of music, I dug Vic’s stuff from the first time I saw him, and I’m sure that we have just been talking about music for the 15 years since then…

Vic: Yeah, there are people you meet sometimes, and it takes like five minutes of talking, and you know you gonna be friends. I think it’s when I was standing at the merch table and Kepi handed me all these fanzines he made… Just looking at what was in them and the fact that he was making all this stuff, I knew this dude was like my kinda people. You don’t just have dreams; you live in them every day…

It starts with a good song. You both wrote plenty. Finding the melody and words is probably different now than when you started? 

Kepi: It has never gotten particularly harder or easier for me… Hopefully a little better each time. 🙂 The songs tell me when they are done, I try not to rush them… I guess it is like baking bread; you put them in the oven and hope that they come out ok!

Vic: Yeah… I got better at hearing the transmission and tuning it in. That’s all… That song “Do Unto Others” is a hook I’ve had kicking around for 20 years… I sang it for this hippy girl back then, and she was like, “Yeah, Vic! Right on! That’s beautiful!” She was too, So I never forgot it… Then I played it for Kepi, and I had like only half a verse… So he filled in the blanks, and that was that… It must have taken like half an hour.

In another world, you easily traveled the globe twice after making such a record. A bar stool and a guitar, you don’t need much more. Was the record supposed to have that vibe?

Kepi: Absolutely… This record is so simple and minimal; I remember literally taping a mic to a broomstick for certain songs in Vic’s place. 🙂 We have played houses in the desert and sailor bars in Hamburg, and all kinds of crazy stuff, and that is definitely the vibe that this record gives off… Two friends traveling and singing and hanging out… It can be the very best thing in life sometimes.

Vic: Haha yeah, there was no choice on this album what it was going to sound like… It was in my little basement apartment, and I’m not known for being the most pristine engineer anyway… We just knew we wanted to do something together, and that was a moment we could do it… One of those takes was a practice take and we weren’t even near the microphone haha. When I gave it to the mastering engineer, my buddy Mitch, he said “You’re really making me work for my pay this time huh?!” Hahaha. But I got to be honest, it sounds exactly how I wanted it to sound.

When did you decide to start asking for opinions on the new songs? 

Kepi: We didn’t.

Vic: You just gotta play it and see what happens, right? You never know who’s gonna like something.

If you could tour the world with two other bands, who would you ask, and why?

Kepi: No other bands could keep us with us. Maybe Joan Jett could!

Vic: Whew!! Yeah, who does trips like Kepi?! One time you guys were with Kevin Seconds and you guys kept coming back to my place in New Jersey like a homebase… I remember one time it took you like six hours to get back from Long Island… I’ve never been as impressed by anyone as your van team with Kevin… Yes, I do believe we take a cue from the early hardcore scene when it comes to touring… Honestly I don’t feel like I’m on tour unless I’m sleeping on a couch or in a van… I hate to admit it… I would say Chris Murray can hang! He impressed me on the road! He’d take over the stereo at an after party and be like “Are we gonna dance or what?!” Haha. It takes all kinds… I can see Kepi doing the same… 

When was the last time you thought, ‘I just wrote a hit!’?

Kepi: Each time after finishing a song, I will be right one day!

Vic: I can’t say much for myself, but every time Kepi teaches me one I’m like “Damn why didn’t I think of that?!” I felt like the bass player on “Brown Eyed Girl” on this recording… Nobody knows who that guy’s name… (I think I met his daughter once) but like everybody around the world has been singing his bass part ever since… “Dum, dum du-dum dum, da dum dum-dum, dum da-dum dum…”

Thanks for your time!

Kepi: Thank you for this! Cheers!

Vic: Indeed… Gracias!! Peace.

“Fronted by Haligonian Barry Walsh—of the late, great Cool Blue Halo—Galore is a ballsy trip to ’70s glam and power-pop.”, The Coast wrote in 2007. There’s nothing wrong with that characterization. Although Roller also reminds me of the first Fastball record.

The recordings were completed some time ago but Roller was only recently released. Walsh explains how that came to be.

And, oh yes, he also mentions the possibility of a second Cool Blue Halo record!

Many artists have used the pandemic to get creative and crank out new albums in a few months while others have used the time to revisit projects they previously abandoned. What’s the story?

In my case I was lucky enough to do both. With my close friends, Laurence Currie and James Parker, I was able to record an EP under the moniker Mammoth Gardens (“Remote”) which is a little more electronic and experimental, and with Galore, the band I’ve been a part of/ the founding member of for 20+ years, I was able to revisit a “lost” album that was recorded over a decade ago. In both cases it’s been great to get the stuff out into the wider world and hear from folks who are enjoying it. And admittedly with the Galore album there’s a feeling of, “Finally! What took us so long?”

How did this record come together?

Galore has been around in various versions since the turn of the 2000s, but this version (myself, Kevin Hilliard on bass and vocals, Stephen Krecklo on guitar and Tim Timleck on drums) started demoing these songs at a friend’s house back in 2008 or so. From there we fiddled about in various home studios and then did significant tracking at Sloan’s rehearsal space (both Kevin and Stephen worked with Sloan’s crew and everybody’s friendly, and Kevin and I also hail from Halifax, Nova Scotia).

From there, Stephen took it home to mix and we heard the final results and … sat on them for years. Life got busy in myriad ways for all of us and as we started playing less and getting involved with other things, putting the record out wasn’t a huge priority.

But over the years we would kick around the idea of releasing it and we would have various people asking about it. Eventually, this year, I just asked myself, “What am I waiting for?” The ability to release things digitally certainly makes things easier and while I know many people love physical products (I do too) we don’t necessarily love having boxes of unsold CDs on hand. That said, we might do a small CD or vinyl run in the near future.

The meaning of success has changed over the years. What would success look like for the new record?

I’m lucky in that I’m able to support myself and my family to some extent through work in another field that I’ve wanted to be in since I was a kid — as a magazine editor — so commercial considerations or pressures don’t really exist with my music now. In my 20s and 30s I admit that there was always this moving goalpost of “making it” as a musician but that is all consigned to the past for me.

Success lies in having people hear it and enjoy it. And this might sound cheesy but here goes: I’m not exaggerating when I say that music has saved my life on more than one occasion. So to be able to give back or contribute to this incredible magical force by writing and recording a song that someone somewhere in the world will receive a few minutes of joy from — that is success beyond anything I could’ve hoped for. But if millions of folks want to download the album I won’t argue!

How great is the urge to stay creative? To keep writing songs and lyrics?

The urge is always great but the challenge is in finding the time. I have four wonderful kids, and with the full time job, there are long stretches where I don’t touch a guitar. But I’m usually always typing a lyric into my phone or humming a melody into a voice memo so when the stars align (and they will) I’ll be able to sift through the fragments and stitch things together.

But admittedly, if I don’t engage in something creatively for a long period of time, I feel terribly off balance.

Getting compliments can be so nice. What were the best?

In the early 2000s, an iteration of Galore (myself, Tim Timleck on drums and Edward Pond on bass) went to New York City to record an EP with Richard Lloyd (Television, Matthew Sweet) producing. We had one song, “Amy Airplane”, that I’d intentionally left the guitar solo unwritten for… I was having a hard time figuring out an approach and so we asked Richard if he might want to try something.

And so he went through running the song about three times or so, soloing throughout so that when he got to the solo bit he’d be inspired. And he’s such a unique player that you can tell it’s him from the first note. I eventually released the song on the first Mammoth Gardens EP, New Moon Variety, and maybe some other stuff from those sessions will see the light of day soon. So while it wasn’t a compliment in the strict sense of the word, to have one of my musical heroes contribute to a song I wrote was pretty wonderful and a real blessing.

About a year or so later that same iteration of the band, along with guitarist Michael McKenzie, had a residency at this funky club in Toronto called Stone’s Place, run by someone who was a pal of the Rolling Stones, or various members. And at that time, the Stones were in town rehearsing for a tour. So Bernard Fowler, who has been one of their backing vocalists for years and is such a powerful, amazing singer, came to the club to hang out and eventually joined us to play. Initially he didn’t want to play any Stones songs so we played some AC/DC but he relented and we did a Stones tune or two. At the end he jabbed his forefinger into my bony chest and said, “You got the fire!”

And that moment made everything in my haphazard musical “career” up to that point worthwhile.

Oh, and David Bash, in a capsule review of one of Galore’s International Pop Overthrow sets, said my voice was “Robin Zanderesque” which was very, very generous of him.

The record is done, the music is out. Is the best fun now or is it just beginning?

It’s definitely fun to hear from people who are enjoying the record, especially given the long period involved in getting it out. To a degree there’s a sense of closure for this album, so the fun is in figuring out what to do next.

Cool Blue Halo, the band I’ve been part of since the Nineties, has been threatening to make a second record (what would be our 2nd in 25 years!) so maybe that will come to pass in 2022.

And perhaps Galore will play the odd show, as might Mammoth Gardens.

You can pick 3 co-writers to write new songs with. Who and why?

Ooh, that’s a tough one and it probably varies weekly. But today I’ll go with what might be a cliche choice in Paul McCartney, simply because of what I’d learn from him. I’m on a Bee Gees kick lately so my second choice could be Barry Gibb. We could start a baroque pop band and call it The Barries, And for my third choice I’d resurrect Chris Bell.

Andrew Stonehome has an ear for natural hooks nestled in a truly original but warm, familiar sound. And the guy does it all on this album. Stonehome is a serious talent.”, writes a fan on Andrew Stonehome’s Bandcamp page.

Stonehome tells Sweet Sweet Music that he spent years polishing and tinkering with the songs and the sound before he wanted to share them with the rest of the world. The self-titled debut is out now!

What was the moment you knew you were on to something?

The honest answer is that I’m still trying to figure out if I am or not because I’m mostly starting out when it comes to releasing music. As I was writing and recording the songs that are on the album, there were lots of things that I thought were strong. But because this is my first real release, it’s hard for me to know what others will think. Since I do everything myself, I don’t generally get much feedback from others throughout the process, so I don’t have a great sense of how they’ll be received.

One moment that helped me feel like I was on to something was when I released my first song, “I Am King”, in 2019 and didn’t do anything in terms of marketing or sharing it. It was somehow discovered by a couple of blogs that included it in their recommended singles, and I was then contacted by a few people who said they’d heard the song and liked it.

This was my first experience getting this kind of feedback from people who didn’t know me and had no reason to tell me they liked something I’d done. That meant a lot to me because I generally assume that positive feedback from people who already know you tend to be obligatory. After all, they want to support you.

How did this record come together?

The ideas for these songs came a few years ago during a transitional time in my life. I’d wanted to create and share music since I was younger but hadn’t taken the leap to do it. I’m still in the stage of discovering my voice and exploring different musical styles to see what resonates with me, so this album reflects that in its eclectic mix of styles.

My goal was to do everything myself, so I wrote, played, recorded, and mixed everything in my 103-year-old house. When writing, I often come up with a melodic line first, generally accompanied by semi-gibberish lyrics. I then record the initial idea (usually a verse and chorus part) and try adding other instruments and parts, which is my favorite part of the process. 

Coming up with final lyrics is generally time intensive and laborious. I recently heard another artist say that 70% of the song usually comes quickly, and then the other 30% can take months or even years to finish. That seems to be generally true for me too.

It was important that the final recorded versions of the songs sound professional, so the majority of time spent making the album (3.5 years) was spent on recording and mixing. I have a background in recording and production, but it had been a long time since I’d done much, so there was a lot of trial and error, watching videos, and getting feedback and advice from professional engineers. In the end, I was satisfied that I’d recorded something that sounded like it was competitive with something created in a studio.

As an artist, you choose to show your emotions to the world. Is it always comfortable to do so?

Definitely not, and not just as a musician, but as a person. I generally operate as a logical thinker more than a feeler, so I actually don’t even show emotion to myself, let alone others. 

In some ways, this album mirrors my tendency not to reveal too much emotion, even when doing so would be healthy and necessary. A few of the songs are about things that are personally painful or challenging, but they’re wrapped up in music that is pretty upbeat and simple, which can be an interesting juxtaposition. 

One of the things I’m looking forward to in the future is revealing more, if even just to myself.

Suppose you were to introduce your music to new listeners through three songs. Which songs would those be and why?

“When You’re Leaving”

“Heartbreaker”

“Stay”

It depends on who the new listeners are and what style they like. The reason is that the music I make is somewhat eclectic stylistically, and these three songs are examples of some of the styles that I touch on. 

For example, if I’m talking to a power-pop audience, “Heartbreaker” is the song that I’d share first because it’s an example of playful, driving power-pop. On the other hand, “When You’re Leaving” is a folk-pop acoustic song, so I’d share that one first with people who prefer that style.

I also include the song “Stay”, which may not have as much of a broad musical appeal as the other two because it’s probably the best example of me expressing things in a way that’s more unique to who I am. Similarly, there’s another song that I’ll be releasing in the future that will be the most honest and personal song I’ve written, and it will likely become the song that I’ll share first with new listeners.

Going back to the previous question, this song will be a way to reveal a side of me that most people don’t see.

How great is the urge to stay creative? To keep writing songs and lyrics?

I’ve now realized that if I’m not being creative in some way, I’m not being me. Being creative is something that I’m constantly driven to do rather than something nice to do occasionally. I’ve gone through some stretches in my adult life where I wasn’t engaging myself creatively and felt like a shell of myself, a robot with no soul. As a person who doesn’t express their emotions naturally, music provides a great vehicle to be able to do that in a way that’s creative and uniquely mine.

Lyrics are too often taken for granted. What is the line of text, or are the lines of text that you hope listeners will remember? And why?

I’ll admit to being one who takes lyrics for granted because I’m a music-first person who is obsessed with the individual musical parts and the production. In any case, from this album, this lyrical line from the song “Stay” would be one I’d hope would resonate with people:

“All the scars left on my face from the things I can’t erase”

Another line that comes to mind is from a song that I will be releasing later:

“Painful memories of the future, they won’t leave me alone”

These lines come to mind first because they express some things that I have a hard time otherwise telling. There are other lyrical lines in other songs that I’m proud of for different reasons that are less personal and more playful. Still, the personal ones would be particularly meaningful to me if they resonated with people.

Is recording a record easier than getting it heard nowadays?

That’s a tough question, and I could go either way. Because I’m now at the stage where I’m trying to get my record heard and because I’m essentially starting from scratch when it comes to listeners, my first instinct is to say a resounding “Yes!”. 

At the same time, I worked on writing, recording, and mixing it for over three years, but I can instantly share it with anyone in the world once it’s done. The challenge is getting it to the people who might like it, and then them having the time to listen to it. We’re inundated with things competing for our attention these days, so getting even a small amount of people’s time and attention is a challenge.

You can pick three co-writers to write new songs with. Who? … and Why?

Hawkley Workman: Great writer and multi-instrumentalist, and his writing and production style would be a contrast to mine. I’m slow and methodical – he seems to work more quickly and instinctively, and it would be interesting to be pushed to work in a more instinctive and raw way.

Sting: I love his constant evolution, ability to mix styles, and always giving things a unique twist.

Ben Folds: Just seems like it would be a lot of fun.

Cassettes are back. Which 5 five songs would make your first mixtape?

“You, Me and the Weather” by Hawksley Workman

“Only Living Boy in New York” by Simon & Garfunkel

“I Hung My Head” by Sting

“Bird with a Broken Wing” by Weezer

“Eugene” by Sufjan Stevens

Who would you ask if you could pick three singers to sing harmony vocals on your next record?

Good question and I’m going to give my answer based on the idea that it be more about featuring them as an individual singer rather than just providing harmonies that would blend in with my voice.

I would love to work with a great female vocalist, particularly a soul-style solid singer. One that comes to mind that I saw live was Joy Rose, who sang backup for Sting for a while. She brought the house down with the kind of goosebump moments that make music so powerful and intoxicating. It would be fun to be a part of that.

Two other women whose voices I’m enamored with are Norah Jones and Emmylou Harris. Their voices are so wonderfully expressive, nuanced, and personal. For my taste, there aren’t many better albums than “Wrecking Ball,” and I feel like her voice can be expressive and unique in various musical contexts.

The finest Garage Pop is made at the Midtown Island Studios in Tucson. Matt Rendon owns the studio and is also a member of some great bands who, of course, record their songs there.

In 2019 you told ‘Lenguas Largas, Freezing Hands, Free Machines, Sea Wren, Anchor baby, The Resonars, Harsh Mistress – they’re all made up among the same 10-12 people. How does the Midtown Island circle work? Do you see each other daily or weekly? And is there always a reason to get together, or are you always searching for songs together?

That quote from 2019 was undoubtedly true at the time. However, since covid, that’s all changed. I only see the bands I’m an active participant in – Exbats, Freezing Hands, Groovy Movies, and The Resonars. Freezing Hands are here to record/rehearse every Wednesday at 7 pm like clockwork, and it’s been that way for ten years.

The Exbats I see pretty regularly as I now play guitar in the band. Sea Wren and Harsh Mistress are no more. Free Machines are going to record here soon, probably in late winter. The Lenguas/Anchorbaby guys I don’t see very often anymore.

Travis from the Freezing Hands and Kenny/Inez from The Exbats are the most prolific songwriters I know. There’s always a song in their pockets, and the quality is always high. Kenny lives 90 minutes away, so he will often call just to say that he wrote another hit and talk me through it. Travis has a new song nearly every Wednesday night. So yeah, the songs are always discussed, and production/arrangement ideas are in place by the time we start rolling tape.

I can endlessly enjoy the way the harmony vocals sound on your records. Is that your specialty or ‘just’ the most fun part of it all?

I would have to say that harmonies are my specialty and, for me, is the most fun part of recording. It’s always a laugh riot. These days most harmonies on Freezing Hands, The Exbats, or The Resonars records tend to be 3 to 6 parts. A lot of call and response or three-part backup vocals behind a lead vocal. It’s a source of wonder and exploration. Always chasing the overtones, always trying to create beauty with human voices no matter the tone of the song. The look on the singers’ faces when a perfect harmonic blend is played back on the monitors is priceless.

So yeah, the most challenging, the most fun, the most work, and ultimately the most rewarding part of recording.

2021 was about re-releasing past releases and putting out music that seemed lost?

As far as 2021 goes, I fully intended to have a new The Resonars LP out and a reissue of the first LP from 1998. I kind of ran out of steam in early 2021 though a new 45EP was released on Hypnotic Bridge. The songs weren’t coming, so I concentrated on other things, mainly gardening, baseball, and practicing mixing. However, we did record and release the new The Exbats LP that came out in October, as well as a Freezing Hands record due out next year, and The Groovy Movies LP coming out in January/February.

Never a dull moment.

Releasing on vinyl, cassette, and on Spotify. Is that a good or a bad thing, all those different formats? Or do you enjoy it?

As far as formats are concerned, I prefer vinyl. It’s the biggest challenge creatively and financially, and if you’re going to commit to it, it has to be the best you can do. I had to be dragged kicking and screaming to Spotify. I finally relented when I realized that’s how most friends and family were listening to music.

Different formats are good, I believe. I’m asked if any of The Resonars’ releases are out on CD at least once a week.

Bandcamp is the best, though. It’s direct and artist-friendly and can really help a band out of a jam.

Are there already plans for 2022?

Plans for 2022 are a new The Resonars LP, that’s about 75% done right now, a reissue of Bright and Dark with extra tracks. New albums by The Exbats (they’ve already written a clutch of fantastic songs, and we start recording next month), Freezing Hands (in the post-production stage), Groovy Movies (album coming in a few weeks), and our friends from Phoenix, the Rebel Set, are coming to record a new set of tunes in December.

Also, the reissue of the first LP goes to press in three weeks and should be out late December/early January.

Light The Stars, Peter Hall’s new record, will be released on November 26. His Bandcamp page features a short review in which his music is described as intimate, carefully crafted, and richly melodic indie pop. That is a very accurate description, and I would like to add one word to that description, namely ‘beautiful’.

What was the moment you knew you were on to something?

When I wrote the title track – Light The Stars, it was maybe the third song I’d written that I was really happy with since releasing my EP, There’s Something Wrong With Everyone. It fired me up, and I thought, yeah, I’m writing an album, not an ep or just a single. It’s the album’s keystone, I guess.

How did this record come together?

Slowly! It started at the beginning of the pandemic, and the whole situation for me was not conducive to anything creative at all. The outlook was so strange and scary that I didn’t know what to do with myself, so I abandoned any attempt to make anything brand new. I needed to do something though, or I’d have gone mad, so I picked on an older song and recorded a new take on that. That got me moving. Sometimes when I’m stuck, I’ll do that, or maybe record a cover, and that gets me in the right frame of mind to do something more creative.

After that, I was out of the blocks, and I didn’t stop writing and recording for around nine months. I work alone – both writing and recording – and tend to record as soon as it’s written, sometimes before I’ve got all the parts or words. I recorded around 16 songs and narrowed it down to 11 for the final tracklisting.  

The only exception to the working alone thing was that I was lucky to have Ben Gordelier (The Moons … & Paul Weller Band) play on a couple of tracks. He’s an amazing musician and was available due to not being able to play live. Lucky for me. That really helped and made me up my game.

As an artist, you choose to show your emotions to the world. Is it always comfortable to do so?

God no! Have you seen that clip of Eliott Smith where he gets heckled by a guy saying, “grow a backbone!” Poor guy. He responds by saying he’s up there baring his soul; what more does he want? It makes you feel very vulnerable sometimes. My songs are intensely personal – even when they seem to be a story about someone else, they’re usually not! So yeah, it’s not easy because it’s all heart on your sleeve stuff. But that’s what connects with people, I guess, and I wouldn’t want to write anything that dodged a line because I was worried about what someone might think.

Suppose you were to introduce your music to new listeners through three songs. Which songs would those be and why?

Everything Is Fading Fast from There’s Something Wrong With Everyone EP

Two Twenty Two

Light The Stars

I could have picked any, I guess, cos I haven’t put out a song I don’t like, but I chose these three because, to me, there’s an uplift in them, musically and lyrically. I think there’s positivity in them – even amongst the melancholy of Everything Is Fading Fast. I don’t like talking about what songs mean because I always like to come to my own conclusions when I listen to music. It can spoil it when a meaning is imposed on you by a mouthy songwriter or singer, but just to say, I think I said what I wanted to say in the way I wanted to say it with these songs. I like the arrangements, as well. Yeah, these three will do!

If you could pick three singers to sing harmony vocals on your next record, who would you ask?

I’m picking dead people, ok, because then they have to come back and do it or risk a breach of contract, and I don’t think they want to get into all of that legal messiness. And once they’re here, they may as well stay. Them’s the rules. The only problem with these three is that I’m not sure I would dare to sing in their company. 

John Lennon

Etta James

Nick Drake

Come back, folks. It’s been too long.

Here & There is Los Angeles dreampop/indie pop band the black watch’s twentieth LP since its formation in Santa Barbara, California in 1987.

John Andrew Fredrick spoke to Sweet Sweet Music about the joys of being the best kept secret for over thirty years.

What was the moment you knew you were on to something?

The moment I knew I was “on” to something emanated, I think from a failure (the penultimate LP we did, out in 2020, was called Brilliant Failures–hence it’s a topic I know quite some bit about!). Anyway, after I finished grad school I tried to write a novel about a year-long trip to London; and 500 pages into it, I realized “There’s no plot here!” So I shelved it and reckoned I’d have to start over. That being WAY too much to contemplate, I decided to finish a few songs I’d been working on. I’d written songs since I was ten years old or something, but never figured I’d pursue songwriting in earnest, you know?

Well, I met a drummer while I was teaching at UCSB, and he turned me on to The Smiths and REM and The Cure and Cocteau Twins. Once I played him some stuff, he kept calling ME, asking me to rehearse–very keen he was. So I thought, “Well, if this kid who seems to know ALL about indie music likes my songs, then perhaps we should see what we can do. I bought an electric guitar soon after that (much to my then-wife’s chagrin if not horror!), and we, the drummer and I, would rehearse in empty university classrooms on Saturdays. And the rest is history… from around 32 years ago! Life is very odd.

What compliment you once received will you never forget?

The most unforgettable compliment I think I ever got was from an A & R guy at Warner Brothers who was very, very much a music person–not just a suit. And he said that he couldn’t sign us (of course not!) but that there was beyond a shadow of a doubt a real purpose for J’Anna Jacoby (bandmate at the time–now Rod Stewart’s violinist) and me to have a band.

Not every band has any sort of meaning, is what I’m driving at. That thought stuck with me.

Another one came from a psychiatrist friend who came to our first gig–which was with Toad the Wet Sprocket. He said: “That band [Toad] is going to be very popular; but YOU, John, are going to be an artist.”

Unimaginably touching, that was. And prophetic as well.

The meaning of success has changed over the years. What would success look like for the new record?

Success is such a nebulous concept, isn’t it? the black watch has had such good press over the years that I’m not particularly fazed by it: not that I’m not grateful. It’s just… we keep hearing, “Oh, your stuff should be in the movies… where the money is…” And it’s been a LONG time since we had anything in a film.

Furthermore, I try to please ONE person when I write and record: myself. Megalomaniacal as that sounds, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I make records that I want to hear–and that I DON’T hear anywhere else? Quixotic? Perhaps–but that’s the cross as it were I have to wave around!

If you could tour the world with two other bands, who would you ask, and why?

We would love to tour with My Bloody Valentine and The Cure. We’d wipe the floor with both. Haha. Kidding. Never happen.

What place do you occupy in the music industry?

The place we occupy in the record industry might be best summarized with a quotation from venerable Trouser Press: “Amphetamines [our third LP] was the band’s failed bid for indie stardom.”

We’ve been this SECRET for so long that it simply makes us laugh. Yet I think there’s a philosophical element to it all: some bands (i.e. mine) are just MEANT not to be a big as well-wishers believe they deserve to be.

I think it was David Sylvian who said, after Japan broke up, that he’d quite like to be a MINOR pop star. I love that he said that. I second it!

A series of videos will be released over the new few months for songs from the album done by filmmaker  C.K. Sumner who has recently done work for Kristin Hershand The Bevis Frond.

Here & There is Los Angeles dreampop/indie pop band the black watch’s twentieth LP since its formation in Santa Barbara, California in 1987.  The new album was produced and engineered by Scott Campbell (Stevie Nicks, Shelby Lynne, Acetone) at his home studio in Woodland Hills, CA, and it features strings arrangements by two-time Emmy Award-winner Ben Eshbach, as well as the backing vocals of Gretchens Wheel frontwoman Lindsay Murray.

Fredrick, who is also a writer of fiction and an abstract painter and a self-proclaimed tennis bum, has a new novel–a Nabokovian thriller–coming out in 2022 from an up-and-coming UK publisher.

Emanuele Sterbini and Dominique D’Avanzo together form Sterbus. Let Your Garden Sleep In, their new record, contains nine songs that are as accessible as they are eccentric.

Emanuele explains how his musical influences, XTC, Zappa, The Beatles, Talk Talk, and, above all, Cardiacs, have shaped the sound of this Power Popera.

You call Let Your Garden Sleep In a Power popera. Did you have a particular concept in mind when you started writing?

Our last album, 2018, “Real Estate / Fake Inverno”, was a double album, had 17 songs, and featured Cardiacs drummer Bob Leith. It was an extensive blend of different styles, from proggy cavalcades to folk-acoustic tunes, from power-punk with odd rhythms to mariner songs and everything in between! It was hard to decide the tracklist because we wanted a change of scenery for every song, a bit like the White Album, that has George Harrison’s quiet “Long long long” right after “Helter Skelter”.

This new album was born during the lockdown, and while we were writing the songs, we saw a pattern linking all of them. This time it was their research for joy, simplicity, nice chords with nice melodies, and we already imagined what kind of arrangements would have suited the song best. For sure, they all needed loud guitars, which gave them the power-pop flavor.

How do you and Dominique work together? How does a Sterbus song come about, or is there no fixed formula?

I start the songs on my own most of the time, finding a first structure with just guitar and a melody. I tend to write melodies singing in a fake/gibberish English cause my priority is the sound of the words. Then Dominique can take my fake words and translate them to actual lines.

Sometimes, like in the song “Polygone Bye” sung by Dominique, the melody comes together while we’re jamming and finding the right chords together. Sometimes during this process, I begin to “visualize” the best form to give to the songs, how many verses, intros, chorus, middle-eights, and then we demo the song, with midi drums, electric guitars, bass, and all the stuff that will be in the final version. I always loved middle-eights, that section that usually comes after the second chorus and brings you to the song coda! Andy Partridge is a master of that. Boring songwriters usually put solos over the verse chords or a useless pause on that part before repeating the last chorus. I hate it!

Let Your Garden Sleep In has a vibrant sound. Did it take you a while to find it, or did you know exactly what you wanted when you started recording?

When we went to the studio, the Jungle Music Factory in Tivoli, near Rome, run by our friend Francesco Grammatico that de facto technically produced the record, we only knew that we wanted a warmer sound than the past record, a little less “glossy” and a bit more earthy, if that makes sense.

So we started tracking drums with Pablo Tarli – who also plays drums in my other band, ZAC – and then we built from there. Riccardo Piergiovanni, our keyboard player, also played a significant role because he wrote the strings arrangement for our first single and album opener, “Nothing of concern”. I’m thrilled cause we had the chance to use real instruments and no midi, so we had a real piano, strings, clarinets, flutes, trumpets, trombones; I played bass and all guitars. Dom played clarinets, flutes and wrote all the lyrics, leaving the song titles to me.

A special mention should go to Al Strachan, the trumpet player in the beautiful Crayola Lectern that gave the last song and album closer “Murmurations,” that late Talk Talk feeling we were trying to achieve. Having real instruments, it’s essential to us; It’s what we heard on our fave records, after all!

“Real Estate / Fake Inverno” also was full of this kind of instrumentation… we even had Celtic harps on that.

Sterbus’ music is influenced by, among others, The Lemon Twigs and XTC. Bands that sound both accessible and eccentric. Are you also looking for that mix with Sterbus, or do I hear things that aren’t there?

Absolutely! But here I need to mention my fave band ever, Cardiacs. I discovered them only in 2006, after years of searching for the perfect band. I grew up listening to Frank Zappa and The Beatles, and then in the early nineties, all the guitar bands that exploded after Nirvana. Cardiacs can be complex and fun, tuneful and abrasive, all simultaneously, sometimes in the same song. Their 1996 album “Sing to God” is a masterpiece, and having their drummer playing on our album in 2018 has been a dream come true. Tim Smith is a genius.

And now all the hard work is done, the record you worked so hard on has been released. Scary and exciting?

You’re right, scared and excited. At the moment we are very happy because the limited edition of 100 hand-numbered copies sold-out out in less than two days and that’s a lot for an independent band like us. We hope our music reaches many people, and we wish to donate a jolly good time to all that will listen to it.

Power-pop to the people!

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The digipack “standard” version of the album is available on our Bandcamp page.

Mania At the Talent Show, David Brookings’ new record, his 9th, will be released on November 12. Like so many other musicians this year, he seems to have raised the bar for himself again by emerging from the lockdown with twelve of his best songs.

It looks like you used a slightly different sound and broader palette on Mania at the Talent Show. I hear pure Power Pop and more subdued Singer-Songwriter songs brotherly after each other. Or has it always been there, and are my ears opening now?

I think it has always been there, but I agree the palette is broader here. Mania at the Talent Show is my 9th album, so I want to branch out and try new things, not make the same record every time. I’m trying to expand, and my co-producer and engineer Josh Scolaro and I were very conscious of that on this record. I like how you say the songs are paired ‘brotherly’

How did Mania at the Talent Show come about?

It is the first album I’ve ever recorded that was done remotely. I’m in LA, and I file shared back and forth with Josh (producer/engineer) in Virginia. We last worked together back in 2000 when my first record came out. We’ve stayed close all these years, and it was great working with him again. It was also easier than I thought it would be, and we brought in a few other music friends from past bands I’ve played in to fill out some of the drum and bass sections. But it is mostly Josh and I playing on all the tracks.

What a great title the record has been given. Can you tell me something about that?

I thought it was a cool title for the record. Then I wrote a song around that title, which is intended to be an over-the-top satirical look back at the first time I ever played live at the 6th grade talent show (I was 11) when I played the first song I ever wrote. But I assure you no dads were starting mosh pits and 7th-grade girls passing out, as the song suggests

Your lyrics are meaningful. How do you find inspiration for telling new stories?

Thanks for saying that. I use my life, and whatever is going on at the time, and mix that in with lines that I’ve either heard someone say, remember from a movie, think are funny, etc. Sometimes I don’t know how the songs come together. It’s a strange magic you’re trying to capture, writing songs 

How will Mania at the Talent Show be released, and from when can orders be made?

It’ll be everywhere on November 12, which is also my birthday. All of the streaming sites will have it, but I do recommend Apple Music. And I’m also selling physical CDs at www.davidbrookings.net. You can pre-order now, and please do 🙂