Spike & The Sweet Spots
Strange Breed (LP)
feat. Spencer Johnson (The Yolks)
Neuware • AT • 2015 • Bachelor
Lo-Fi / Folk Rock
9 Tracks; Limited to 300 copies.
Debut LP by Chicago's folk rock darlings.
For the last ten years, Spencer "Spike" Johnson has played in Chicago’s favorite party rock band, THE YOLKS, and lent his pen to write many of their best songs. But at the same time was ripping it up with THE YOLKS, he was sometimes writing songs that did not match the high energy rock'n'roll songs in a typical Yolks set. And so he started his own group as a vehicle for these great songs he was writing that were too mellow for THE YOLKS, but too good to just let lay fallow. Such a path from garage punk to folk rock is not uncommon in rock'n'roll. Think of GREG CARTWRIGHT who went from THE OBLIVIANS to the REIGNING SOUND, or Jesse Lortz who went from THE FE FI FO FUMS to THE DUTCHESS & THE DUKE. And the results are similar for SPIKE & THE SWEET SPOTS: a great folk band with a rock'n'roll heart that writes great, memorable songs. For the last few years, Chicago has been keeping this amazing band our little secret, but with this debut LP, the secret is finally out! SPIKE & THE SWEET SPOTS are amazing, this album is amazing, so go out and get it, open up your ears, open up your heart, and let the love flow!
At a time when it seems that most rock n roll bands bury their vocals under a mountain of reverb, with the lyrics mostly unintelligible, and the voice treated as just another instrument, SPIKE & THE SWEET SPOTS stand as a powerful counterpoint. They are a band for whom good songwriting and good lyrics are at the forefront. Above everything, Spencer "Spike" Johnson is a songwriter - a man who idolizes such lyrical heavyweights as BOB DYLAN, DANIEL JOHNSTON, LOU REED, or more recently THE DUTCHESS & THE DUKE, HOME BLITZ, or JUAN WUATERS. And with role models like those, you can rest assured that you will never hear a Sweet Spots song with cliché or rehashed lyrics. And on their debut album "Strange Breed", every song is thoughtful, heartfelt, clever, and well executed.
Trackliste / Inhalt:
A2. Pulling Us Away
A3. Black And White
A4. Act Like You Know Me
A5. Heartbreak
B1. This Morning
B2. When You're Dumb
B3. Higher
B4. Right Through Me