Heard this one last night on Little Steven’s Underground Garage. It’s rare to hear a good new power pop song this late in the rock ‘n’ roll game — despite being designed for maximum pop appeal, power pop has rarely been popular, and most bands would like to make money. So I’m not even going to wait to see if it makes El Somnambulo’s end-of-month list of new music.
The Nashville-based Pink Spiders have been around for 20 years. Their biggest brush with widespread success came back in 2006 when they signed with Geffen Records, who hired Ric Ocasek to produce their major-label debut, “Teenage Graffiti.” The album stalled at No. 84 on Billboard’s album chart, acrimony followed and the band broke up in 2008 before reforming, minus the Geffen contract, a few years later.
The only remaining member of the original crew is frontman Matt Friction (born Matthew Bell), who’s now on his third crop of bandmates. “Freakin’ Freakin’ Out” is pulled from their just-dropped LP, “Freakazoid.”
This was the single from their 2006 LP. If it sounds a lot like the Cars, well, when you hire Ric Ocasek that’s what you’re gonna get.
