Second album of 80s Minneapolis influenced pop-punk from Detroit-based band.
Popular Creeps are a four-piece, two-guitar band from Detroit, who took their name from a solo single by former Replacements’ drummer Chris Mars. The band formed in 2018 when guitar player and vocalist Lenny Grassa answered an ad looking for a guitarist/singer influenced by Guided by Voices and the Minneapolis pop-punk sound. Popular Creeps have been hailed as torchbearers of the mid-to-late ’80s college rock sound. Their sound could be described as a melange of three bands beginning with R: The Replacements, R.E.M. and The Rolling Stones. The band themselves offer: “If The ‘Mats, Buffalo Tom and Television got into a bar fight, it might sound like us… maybe?”
The Creeps released the double A single comprising the catchy ‘Black & Blue’ and the more midtempo ‘Spilt Decision’, as part of Big Stir Record’s monthly Singles Series. The single impressed the label’s owners and Popular Creeps became one of the very few artists out of nearly a hundred to make the leap from the Singles Series to the permanent Big Stir Records roster. Both songs are included on this record.
The album also includes a more recent single ‘Gone By 45’. It’s a tribute to Grassa’s friend, Tom Payne, who was the original bassist for Los Angeles based garage rock band, the Leonards, and who died of cancer in 2005 aged just 45. The track is closely followed by alt-countryish ‘Keep It to Myself’, which sounds a little like ‘Reckoning’ era REM with added guitar solos. The last song is the acoustic ‘Favorite Picture’, which closes the album on a note of hope and reassurance. If you want to relive the days of Hüsker Dü and the Minneapolis pop scene this album could be just the one for you.
