Philly alt-rock group The Blackburns have released their sophomore album Alternative Rock through Sell the Heart Records and Discount Cemetery. Working with Todd Mecaughey at Cambridge Sound Studios in South Philadelphia, Alternative Rock continues exploration of the debut album’s lyrical themes—aging punks who can’t seem to keep their feet planted in the present. In celebration of the release, the band have shared a playlist of songs that inspired theDisc writing of Alternative Rock.
The Cars – “Just What I Needed”: Our opening track, “New Music,” is about a couple guys who aged out of keeping up with all the new bands and new releases, feeling nostalgic for that time in their lives. I imagine these guys musical taste goes about as far back as the new-wave era, and about as far forward as the Y2K mall-punk era, so musically, we’re sort of going for a “What if The Cars were a mall punk band?” sound. The sound of the synth lead is meant to evoke The Cars, while the drums and the third verse breakdown point to blink 182 and their contemporaries.
Wreckless Eric – “Whole Wide World”: I’ve always loved songs that take their time to get going, something that seems in shorter supply these days, with the streaming attention economy. We went for it anyway with the first single from this new album, “Video Den.” A full verse and chorus of just palm-muted guitar and Joel’s vocal before the drums and everything else kick in. Live’s “Lightning Crashes” is one that did something similar in the ’90s, but this is my favorite example.
Smashing Pumpkins – “Today”: I had written most of the lyrics and chords for our song “ASM KoP,” but I couldn’t stop conceiving that the arrangement would be something like Yo La Tengo’s “Sugarcube,” which has a sort of fuzz blanket over the entire song, and that wasn’t working, so I put it on the backburner. Thankfully Joel saw the song’s potential and suggested a few songs, including this one, as well as “Teenage Dirbag”, as inspiration to make it more dynamic. The loud-quiet-loud structure that came from that direction saved the song from the outtakes pile.
Fountains of Wayne – “New Routine”: The storytelling in this song, the way they combine a general exuberance with a bit of cynicism, was an influence on Joel’s lyric for “A Reunion Show.” I think as songwriters generally, we love our characters because they remind us of ourselves, but also, we look down on them sometimes because they remind us of ourselves.
Sugar – “Changes”: The whole Copper Blue album was a big influence on how we layered guitars, particularly in sections like the second verse of “Chances on Love.” It’s very fuzzy and loud, but also very melodic and pretty all at once. That’s harder than it seems to pull off, and I don’t know if we got all the way to the top of the mountain, but Bob Mould sure did on this song!
Pulp – “A Little Soul”: Joel’s lyrics on “Thousands of Doves” were influenced by the way this song is written about very flawed people and how it seems to be in search of little narrative details that could be worth entire paragraphs of exposition. There’s a sort of epic quality to “A Little Soul,” in spite of its everyday-ness, and that’s what we were going for on “Thousands of Doves.”
Natlie Imbruglia – “Torn”: For the sound of “Certeris Paribus,” we were imagining, “What if ‘Torn’ was remade for a Roadhouse scene in Twin Peaks The Return?” It’s a little dreamier and a little scarier, but underneath all that is the bouncy drum loop and acoustic guitar.
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Two Gunslingers/Bob Dylan – “Series of Dreams”: “Two People Running in the Rain,” the mid point of our new album, is lyrically a bit of an outlier in that it’s not about the characters that the other songs are about. Rather, it’s our “Invitation to Love,” a show within a show that our characters watch on TV when they’re not working retail or going to reunion shows. That conceit sort of gave us permission to explore a sound that’s a bit outside our usual power pop/alternative rock wheelhouse.
The Beatles – “It Won’t Be Long”/Fleetwood Mac – “Go Your Own Way”/Radiohead – “Morning Bell”/Prince – “When You Were Mine”/The Replacements – “Unsatisfied”: Our song “Something of Value” is about two people talking through a breakup who are both unable to communicate without referencing old song lyrics. These are some of the songs they reference as they try to explain their feelings to each other and to themselves.
Tour Dates
May 9th @ Spaceboy – Wilmington, DE
May 15th @ The Mill – Aston, PA
May 25th @ Animated Brewing Co. – Coatesville, PA
June 19th @ Wild Air Beerworks – Asbury Park, NJ
June 26th @ The Record Shop – Phoenixville, PA
Get Alternative Rock here.
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Photo courtesy of The Blackburns
