Steve Adamyk Band vocalist/guitarist (surprise!) Steve Adamyk is an avid collector of old ’80s vinyl, particularly power pop, a genre that his own band has been known to rock on occasion. When we recently asked Adamyk to climb the esteemed Guest Reviewer throne here at Rice and Bread, the Ottawa punk rocker elected to choose a pair of albums to talk about.
Adamyk: I’ve actually got two. The first one is the new Total Control album and it’s called Typical System. It’s really incredible, but it’s a pretty odd record and they’re a pretty odd band. They’re an Australian band that has both punk elements and electronic elements, but it’s not what you’d expect. There’s not synths in the punk songs; it’s the opposite. They have synthy songs on the album, and then they have punk songs on the album. And you wouldn’t think that there’d be any sort of sequencing that would work to have the album flow properly, just for continuity, but somehow it works really well. I don’t necessarily listen to a lot of that style of music on a regular basis, but for some reason that album has really stuck with me. The other record I’m really digging is the self-titled album by Tweens. And Tweens are from Ohio and their new album just came out on French Kiss Records. They’re a three-piece with a girl singer and it kind of sounds like The Spits with a girl singer, or a more punked-up The Donnas or something like that. They got signed just on their demo tape alone, and it’s a couple people from that band Vacation as well. But that’s the other album I’ve been listening to all summer.
How did you get into Tweens?
They played a festival that happens every June here in Ottawa called Ottawa Explosion, and their other band, Vacation, has played here a few times. But, yeah, I saw them live before I heard the record and I was blown away.
The album measures up to their live show?
Oh yeah, big time.
So those are the two you’ve been spinning the most lately?
Yeah, besides those two, Total Control and Tweens, I’ve just been digging up old power pop stuff from the ’80s. I’m a big vinyl collector, so I’ve just been on eBay and Discogs hunting for singles that are expensive for when I can actually afford them.
Steve Adamyk Band‘s Third is out now on Dirtnap Records.
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