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Author Topic: The Popdogs  (Read 1776 times)

Mervap

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The Popdogs
« on: March 22, 2013, 02:49:37 pm »




In recent years, I have lamented the dearth of classic "power-pop" on radio...an absence of chunky power chords, taut rhythms and sly lyrics. Perhaps I have been looking in all the wrong places. I recently found a Facebook page called "Power-pop Lovers Gather Here..." and have discovered a ton of great bands. One of these, The Popdogs, really piqued my interest...

   Their CD is called "Cool Cats For Pop Dogs" and the cover artwork reeled me in straight away...a dog wearing glasses and a tweedy fedora. A popdog for sure and a promise of cool to come...

   The band's singer, James Styring, has a unique voice that some have compared to a modern Buddy Holly, and that's certainly there, but I also heard a bit of the late Freddie Garrity, of Freddie & the Dreamers. It might just be my music geek showing, though. The overall sound of "Cool Cats For Pop Dogs" is clean and uncluttered. Instead of relying on gimmickry and artifice, The Popdogs come across in a refreshingly honest way. I have no doubt this was intentional, as these songs might not work as well in a more tarted up form.

   Their press release says this about the music: "Rather than taking a traditional album format, this collection takes the approach of throwing 9 singles directly at you, with twilight instrumental Mild Mannered J being the only concession to anything other than rabidly addictive pop." Having spent the last four days or so living with "Cool Cats For Pop Dogs", I couldn't agree more.

   The CD opens with "Kelly's On", incidentally the first song of theirs I heard on Facebook, a hooky confection with a chorus so catchy I was unable to stop singing it hours later. If I've read the lyrics correctly, it's about the kind of girl every "normal" guy has known that has blown into his life and shorted every circuit in his brain:

   "She's a movie in one million moves,
    She's a car crash in her cowboy boots"

"Honest Guy", the second song, could be about the same girl:

   "Just an honest guy,
    With an honest heart,
    But you're honestly tearing it apart.
    Stay with me, baby, I won't let you down."

I remember back in high school, knowing girls just like this, who couldn't keep themselves from picking exactly the wrong kind of guy, but then calling me to console them when it failed. "Honest Guy" also has a nice middle eight and fine interplay between the rhythm and lead guitar lines, the kind of which one hears far too little of in these days of Protools perfection.....Honest indeed!

   With "High Time", The Popdogs change pace a bit, employing jangle in a way reminiscent of REM or Gin Blossoms, but fresh nonetheless. It's a tale of love unreturned, perhaps from a distance...but is it to be forever unreturned? The last verse and the bass runs in the outro suggest otherwise.

   "Now it's only right,
    That you miss that weekend,
    And you don't hear from your boyfriend,
    And we can take that walk.
    It's high time."

   The next tune, "Last To New York", plays lyrically like The Beatles' "Two Of Us", only the ending isn't a happy one. I wonder if this song is autobiographical at all....maybe a try at success in NYC that turned out to be a disappointment? Chasing a dream can often end that way. It's all set to a chugging backdrop of jangly guitars that keep things from getting too maudlin...

   Track five turned out to be a personal fave..."Wake You Baby" features a fade-up intro that launches into what might be the most bass-driven song on the CD. The chord change on the bridge, which sounds like an F#M into an F7, is kind of unusual and really sets it apart and kicks it into top gear. Lyrically, it sounds like a kiss-off to a nameless girl and the freedom is evident in the music.

   "Ocean Blue" might be the more emotional cousin of "Wake You Baby". There's definitely a break-up happening here, but one senses a great deal more regret this time around, as of a man torn between where he wants to be and where he should be. This track is a bit slower and more reflective, but still takes up residence in one's ear and isn't keen to leave.

   Track seven brings us to this CD's curiousity, ""Mild Mannered J", an entirely instrumental track. With a vocalist as distinctive as James Styring, why would one leave that out? I think I understand...as a change of pace, "Mild Mannered J" works well, bringing to mind a number of fine instrumental bands, like McLemore Avenue out of Austin, TX, themselves influenced by Booker T and the MG's and a host of other surf rock bands of the early 1960's. Guitarist Tim McKeating  is spotlighted here.

   I had a difficult time wrapping my mind around the next track, "Kissin' Alicia"...musically, it ticks all the power-pop boxes. Lyrically, it appears to be an ode to a passed time of perhaps an early teenaged romance in the late 1970'sor early 80's.

   "The drugs wore suits,
    The 80's were all fake,
    Reliant on our ever failing brakes."

   When I first heard this one, I misunderstood the last line to be ,,,"our ever failing grace". Yeah, I know....their line was way better.

   I would certainly be interested to know who was the subject of "Queen Of the USA"...such a cautionary take on the dangers of celebrity. The scene is set from the outset:

   "Hotel room in Vegas,
    They'd called the cops.
     They found her in the bathtub,
     Her heart had stopped."

   What could have been quite a sad song is pulled up by a stout chorus and some great sensitivity in the vocal arrangement...it plays out like a tribute rather than a condemnation.

   The final tune is called "Dancin' Again", another look back that keeps an eye open to the future. There's a STRONG 1980's influence here, at least to my ears, and the lyrics suggest that, too:

   "We spread our wings, hit the pavemant running, yeah,
     We spin our wheels and end up in the grass.
    We didn't need any rhyme, nor reason, yeah.
    Never knew what she meant by a heart of glass."

   Two things really stand out: There are keys on this song that recall the band Scandal and drummer Martin Collins gets some nice moments in this one, showing some fine dynamics in a song it would have been easy just to piledrive through. They even add an invite at the end:

   "So kick it out and kick it in,
     Call me up and we'll go dancin' again"

   This band and CD are practially brand-new and I am looking forward to the opportunity!
    
« Last Edit: April 18, 2013, 08:54:27 am by Mervap »
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Mervap

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Re: The Popdogs
« Reply #1 on: March 28, 2013, 07:31:13 am »

Incidentally, these guys will be playing the International Pop Overthrow Festival in Liverpool on Friday, May 17....if you're in the neighbourhood, go check them out and report!

http://internationalpopoverthrow.com/schedules/ipo-2013-schedule/liverpool-2013/
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Mervap

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Re: The Popdogs
« Reply #2 on: May 12, 2013, 06:51:29 am »

Fine interview with The Popdog's lead singer about the CD, the band and the upcoming International Pop Overthrow Festival in Liverpool:

http://www.liverpoolsoundandvision.co.uk/2013/05/12/liverpool-sound-and-vision-the-sunday-postscript-an-interview-with-james-styring-of-the-popdogs/
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Mervap

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Re: The Popdogs
« Reply #3 on: May 19, 2013, 01:03:42 pm »

Proving they are just as good live as they are in the studio....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nfDzBDRdRc
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