I first heard Anton Barbeau via mix tapes and CD’s in the 90s, all part of an email list that is still somewhat active today, the Loud List, for fans of the late Scott Miller and his bands. I liked Anton then, and now. In this interview we discuss an album he made with Scott, What If It Works, as well as his own new album, Power Pop!!! Both are wonderful, as are Anton’s answers.

Andrea Weiss: How do you feel Power Pop!!! differs from your other two albums for Big Stir?

Anton Barbeau: Power Pop!!! is my pandemic record. It was made in a weird haze. It’s a good headphones record, for those that do it that way. Donn-Eye plays on it! But honestly, it’s a hard record for me to think about or talk about. Once I got past the initial “I’ll show them!” silliness of the title track, I kinda found myself lost and making music with my eyes shut, always in the same room, always facing the same window. I couldn’t tell which songs were good or what to focus on. There were a million tracks left off the final album. Thankfully, I think it’s turned out a groovy enough album, in spite or because. It’s quite easy to contrast that against the first release I did with Big Stir, the Kenny vs. Thrust record. That was simple -- my UK gang, Thrust, doing battle with my California band, Kenny. Old songs remade, new songs freshly presented. Simple, like I said, and quite fun. And it rocked. Oh The Joys We Live For is similar to Power Pop!!! in that it’s a record made out of more songs than it ended up including. And also like Power Pop!!!, it’s sonically diverse. We kinda promoted it with the idea that it was my domestic-bliss-on-the-farm-during-lockdown album, but the truth is that only a single song on there was written after the pandemic hit. The other songs were written while I was still living back and forth between the farm and Berlin. Also, Oh The Joys is comprised of the fragments of four separate failed album projects! Power Pop!!!, to its credit, all comes from the same stable, if hazy, home.

AW: Would you agree that the power pop genre is so open and wide-ranging that it can encompass anything, including synth pop?

AB: I made the dreadful mistake of naming my album after a genre that I don’t know anything about! That’s me spiting my hand to bite the foot that feeds the horse to water, if I may recycle that old chestnut! On the other hand, naming my album Power Pop!!! has led to me being granted legal rights to the Power Pop™ genre. To that end, synth pop, soft jazz, soft metal and hard prog are now determined to be of sound mind and Eric Carmen shall be seen in public with Eric Clapton for the very last time.

AW: Synth pop as power pop is a welcome addition. Who did you draw on for it?

AB: It was Gary Numan’s “Cars” that got me started playing music, yet my first-ever Ant song was a very wobbly Buddy Holly ripoff. On the Power Pop!!! album, there are a few influences-on-sleeve, like OMD and New Musik. In fact, the track called “Slash Zed Zip” is for the proper OMD detectives out there. I love many of the classic era synth bands and have been digging back into those records. I only discovered New Musik recently, really, but Tony Mansfield is now one of my fav producers. My song “Never Crying Wolf Boy” has me wearing that homage hat.

AW: Could you talk a little about the tribute to Julian Cope? And I agree, he’s great.

AB: He’s such a major influence for me, a true hero. He’s a very free and fearless dude and I admire that about him. His Jehovahkill record will always hover near the top of my list of Things. His recent album, Self-Civil War, is brilliant and would likely please Cope fans who may have lost track of his output. That’s what was in my headphones in the crazy days before I left Berlin. Anyway, my song is, to be blunt, about getting stoned with him when I toured with him in England a decade ago! Write what you know, right? Incidentally, Julian’s longtime/sometime right hand man, Donald Ross Skinner, appears as a guitar sample on my song about Julian, and Donn-Eye appears for real on the title track of Power Pop!!! He sent me eight or ten guitar tracks and they each and all sounded fab. It was delightful challenge to fit them all back together.

AW: A reissue of the Loud Family’s What If It Works? comes out the same day as Power Pop!!! What did you get from working with Scott Miller on that album?

AB: It’s been such a joy to be immersed in memories of those days again. It was a fun record to make, relatively easy and generally very enjoyable. We laughed a lot, shared many abstract and surreal jokes and had a good time, all the time, singing and playing. To try and answer succinctly, I got an extended dose of the same Scott I’d always known and I’m grateful for that.

AW: Would you agree that as great as What If It Works? sounded in 2006, when it was first released, it sounds even better today?

AB: I’m sure Omnivore’s mastering engineer would be happy to hear that!! But in so many ways, yes, I do think it sounds better. There’s more story told, more context presented. Kristine and I had an extended chat about the making of the album and that conversation was turned into liner notes. The bonus tracks, for the most part, give hints into the making of the album. These new elements, I’d say, go towards bringing the songs closer to the listener’s ear. Information makes the song grow fonder!

AW: Do you have any plans to tour?

AB: I haven’t got a single gig booked, which is weird, even this far into the pandemic. I’m back in Berlin at the moment, working on songs and trying to get my book going. I just heard today that the one gig I had booked in my hometown has now been canceled. I’d like to get back to Spain… I used to tour there twice a year. England, too. But the pandemic knocked everybody out of action and it’s simply been too wobbly in my eyes to jump back in yet.

AW: Do you have anything else to say about power pop, the genre?

AB: Out with the old, in with the old again!

 Anton Barbeau

Power Pop!!!

Big Stir Records

Anton’s latest is another wonderful offering which, while not a concept album on power pop, does use it as something of a theme, for examples, the title track, or his tribute to Julian Cope, one of his heroes, one of the best songs on the album.

There is also synth pop, which could be power pop at it’s most experimental. While, as a whole, I’ve never been a huge fan of it (I like guitars), the synth pop here is just dandy, a lot more natural and organic than usual, and worth the price of admission.

There is also a suite, the “Teen Suite” imagining Anton as a teen, and a very mind expanding piece at that. And “mind expanding” is the best way to describe the lyrics on this album, even as I wouldn’t call them trippy. They’re too sensible for that.

So if you’re a fan of Anton, get this, and Julian Cope fans take note of this album too. Or anyone who is a fan of power pop and just wants something a little bit different. You'll have a lot of fun listening.

Andrea Weiss

 The Incurables “Stop The World”

Kai Danzberg “(Not) The Kind OF Guy”

Big Stir Records

These two singles, both of which benefit Ukraine, are very good examples of today’s pop/rock, and each is very different from the other.

The Incurables are from Detroit. “Stop the World” sounds like the Ramones with “My Brain Is Hanging Upside-Down (Bonzo Goes To Bitburg),” and rocks just as hard. Like the Ramones song it protests horrible situations – the former the devastation of Ukraine, the latter Ronald Reagan’s visit to a German cemetery where Nazis are buried. Both are powerful statements, but the Incurables get the edge, because their song is even more heartfelt.

Kai’s song, which is also very good, is a cross between Elliott Smith’s “Baby Briton” and Todd Rundgren. It’s about resisting sexual temptation, and in the end not being able to.

The money raised by the sales of these singles is for the most important cause around today, so please consider donating by buying these songs. You’ll also be happy, because you’re getting some great music. https://www.bigstirrecords.com/united-help-ukraine-benefit-store

Andrea Weiss

 I've been a fan of Jim Basnight’s eclectic power pop ever since I first heard it. I'm rewarded every time I listen. You will be too. I strongly urge you to get Pop Top and his other albums.

Jim was kind enough to answer a few questions for me.

Andrea Weiss: Is there a backstory to Pop Top?

Jim Basnight: Pop Top was a cross section of the best of the latter stages of the Moberlys and the band I put together after the Moberlys (Toby Keil bass, Glenn Oyabe guitar, Dave Drewry drums, and Roger Burg keyboard) hung it up. Some of the tracks were ones I cut with the Moberlys, which I worked on after the band broke up, and others were ones that were finished (outside of some re-mastering that I just did in 2022) by the Moberlys. The majority of the tunes on Pop Top I recorded after the Moberlys.

That band, which went by The Jim Basnight Band, The Skyscrapers, and Crank on various live gigs in Seattle and L.A., was primarily former Concrete Blonde and Moberly bassist Al Bloch, former Fuzztones drummer and longtime writing partner Mike Czekaj, and former Perry Farrell band mate, guitarist Kelly Wheeler. There were also a number of important contributors to the album, including producer, backup singer, and guitarist Rand Bishop, producer Peter Buck (REM), producer and bassist Jeff Eyrich (Plimsouls), engineer/producer Ian Gardiner, engineer Mike Morongell, backup singer Carla Olson, percussionist Arno Lucas, pianist Ted Bishop, guitarist C.J. Buscaglia, keyboardist Fred Mandel, guitarist Tim Pierce, harmony singer Jimmy Garcia, and songwriters Joey Alkes, Ted Myers, and Patrick DiPuccio.

When I moved back to Seattle in 1992, to be with my ailing dad, who outlived the three months he was projected to last by 15 months, I compiled the album and then finally released it on CD in early 1993 on my Precedent Records label, which I formed in 1977, when I cut my first 45 single.

AW: Your songs cover very diverse subjects, which I like. Love, politics, life – they’re all there. Which one do you like to write about the most?

JB: The one that inspires me to write a good melody to the words, or the music which best fits the words I’ve written if that’s the way it goes. I’ve written songs many ways. Sometimes it happens all at the same time. Sometimes I write some words and play some music which I think will fit the feeling behind it. Sometimes I write music, with no words, then go through a few possible topics for that song until I find the right one that fits it best. Sometimes I help other people finish my song ideas or add sections from one of their songs. Sometimes I finish other people’s songs or take them and change them fundamentally. Sometimes I take pieces of songs which are good and merge them with pieces of bodies of other songs of mine, or sometimes other people’s tunes.

I guess my songs are about those topics, because that is what’s on my mind when I happen to be writing songs.

AW: Your music is also diverse, which is great. I hear the blues, pop, rock, punk, and even some boogie-woogie. Do you find that all of them come naturally to you?

JB :To the extent that I am able to perform them, I believe so. Over time I have become more proficient as a musician and singer. I have grown to understand more about the blues, in no small way from my extensive research on “Sonny Boy” Williamson over the past ten years, but I’ve always had a strong respect and affinity for American Roots Music, especially the blues. I love pop and have always had a soft spot for a catchy pop tune. The Beatles were the first band I really obsessed over and to me they defined pop rock and laid the groundwork for power pop, more than any other. I love rock and roll. I feel it brought people together and changed the world in its first two decades of mass popularity (1955-75). That’s when punk and, at roughly the same time, funk and dance/disco pretended to go a different direction, but essentially extended its life.

The biggest change happened when digital technology shifted so much of the focus away from it from the late ‘90’s until today. This was as earth shattering as the introduction of amplification, records and radio to American Roots Music in the 1920’s and 1930’s, also technological in nature. Whether it was rock and roll electric blues, country and western (as we knew it going back to the era when the early rockabilly artists went country and brought with them electric guitars and drums) or soul music, it’s all been boogie woogie, a style which derived from African Americans in the late 19th Century, as played on a very European instrument, the piano. Rock and Roll alluded to “rockin’ the boat,” a term also from the African American lexicon, which meant upsetting the social order and its norms. I love all this music and that’s why I’ve done my best to learn to play it. That and because it makes people happy on live gigs, which gives me the most satisfaction of all.

AW: Who did you draw on the most musically when you made this album?

JB: Of course I tried to be myself. I’ve had a lot of role models over time in music.Too many to name, but the Beatles will always be the ones who got me going to try to learn songs and sing and play them. If I made a list it would have to be way too long to make much sense, but the Beatles were the ones who got me started. When I wrote my first songs in 1975, just after graduating from high school, I drew inspiration by playing Beatles songs for an hour or so, before I dug into finding the inspiration in my own soul. The Beatles stood up for good things, despite being flawed individuals. Their hearts and souls were good, they were incredibly talented, and they worked as a team until they couldn’t, when they had the good sense to not continue.

AW: These songs are from the 90s, and don't sound dated at all. Did you think about that when you recorded them or wrote them?

JB: Yes, just as I did when I recorded Not Changing, my most recent all original material album. I’ve always tried to make music that would sound good in the future and avoid fad technology. Every time a producer has convinced me to try it, I’ve been disappointed and it has devalued or eliminated from consideration the work. I seek to record music which is not pigeon-holed to a time in history, even if it’s “The Cutting Edge.”

AW: How did Power Popaholic come into the picture?

JB: Social media, in the case of Power Popaholic’s Aaron Kupferberg, was how we connected. I saw his name on one of the power pop pages on Facebook and asked him in a private message if he was related to the Fugs' Tuli Kupferberg. Aaron said no, but that started a conversation about music, which led to me working with him on all my intangible album releases to this point. I did do one deal with the NY-based Disclosed label in 2008, which was also available intangibly, that being my career retrospective at the time, We Rocked and Rolled.

At the time I started working with Aaron, I also started working with Big Stir for intangible singles, as well as a few compilation CDs. Big Stir has been a major reason for whatever success I’ve had in the online music world over these past few years. I sincerely appreciate the work that Rex Broome and Christina Bulbenko have put in behind my music, as well as Irene Pena, who got involved on my most recent single release with them, “Rebel Kind” and “Middle of the Night.” I was introduced to Big Stir by my longtime friend and songwriting partner Patrick DiPuccio, who I mentioned in regards to my songwriting partners on Pop Top. In fact my first single on Big Stir was a song from Not Changing, “Never Get Lost,” and “Restless Night,” a song from Pop Top co-written with Patrick, or “Pooch,” as he is often called by his friends.

AW: Do you have any plans to tour?

JB: Yes, I am constantly playing, though not at the same pace as before COVID, but at a steady rate in the NW US. I’m looking at Summer 2022 to go to Europe and the British Isles to play dates, and hope to continue to work there on a regular basis, once COVID is down to a dull roar. I also hope to play dates in other regions of the US and possibly Canada. I had a run of dates scheduled in NYC for April of 2020, which have yet to be re-scheduled, but I hope to do that at some point in 2022.

AW: What would you tell someone who’s had success with their music, going forward?

JB: Be yourself and deal with the fallout if what you do isn’t good enough to get what you think you deserve. That is much better than trying to be something you are not, just to get a gig or have a successful record that you probably shouldn’t have.

 Jim Basnight

Pop Top

Power Popaholic Productions

Originally released in 1993, it’s now available for download and streaming on Power Popaholic Productions at Bandcamp.com. It was worth the wait. I reviewed this album in the past, and am glad of the chance to review it again.

I like the diversity of subject matter in the lyrics. It's not just life and love, how hard life can be, how hard love can be, or how good, as on “Hello Mary Jane.” On “Mr. Resident” the guy walks away from being #1. He wants to be ordinary. Ditto for “Stop The Words,” on which he doesn’t want to be hip. “Jasmine Perfume” examines a woman’s life.

All the songs are set to various kinds of pop: heavy, poppy, a bit of boogie-woogie on “Opportunity Knocks.” Neither music nor lyrics sound dated, not even a bit. It’s also punky, one of the best kinds of power pop.

Beyond the lyrics, there is a lot to like in general on this album. If you’re new to power pop, this album is a good place to start. You’ll get it all, and get a new musical world into the bargain. And a good bargain it is. too!

Andrea Weiss

 I’ve been listening to the Bye Bye Blackbirds since 2013, when I heard them for the first time on their album Take Out The Poison. I’ve been a fan ever since. Their albums never disappoint, and their new album, August Lightning Complex, is one of their best.

Bradley Skaught, the leader of the band, was kind enough to answer a few questions for me.

Andrea Weiss: Your music has a lot of meaning. What do you think goes into it that makes it signify so much?

Bradley Skaught: Wow, that’s a remarkable compliment. I guess I’m not entirely sure, but I know that I have to feel really connected to a song I’m working on to see it through. It can’t just be something I think is interesting or cool or a fun idea, it has to resonate, so hopefully that carries through to the listeners who eventually get to hear it?

AW: The same goes for the lyrics. What do you and the band do that makes them so meaningful?

BS: Well, everything we do as a band is really focused on the songs and the songwriting. Whatever we can do that brings out the best in a song and makes it come to life is our priority, and I think that ends up creating a foundation where the lyrics can really shine and do their work.

AW: Who were you listening to while making this album?

BS: I don’t honestly remember exactly what I was listening to! It was recorded in the summer of 2021 and I know I had a lot of playlists that I would listen to on the way to and from work around then. I made this one playlist of Alex Chilton solo stuff – the really unhinged, damaged-sounding stuff from the late 70’s – and I always love how that stuff is somehow simultaneously a tribute to his favorite music and a kind of piss-take deconstruction of it at the same time. I have a couple Beach Boys playlists that are heavy rotation favorites. I was also listening to a lot of Richard and Linda Thompson around then – especially the albums I didn't know quite as well, like First Light and Pour Down Like Silver.  A lot of the stuff I was listening to doesn’t really show up as an influence at all – a lot of African music, Brazilian music, Blue Note jazz. I’m not sure I can always draw a straight line between what I was listening to and the making of the album.

AW: How did Matt Piucci get involved with the album?

BS: I had the basic verse idea for "We Got Lost" and for some reason it just struck me that Matt was the guy to help me write it. Something about the melody and the drone-y D guitar stuff. And then when we were getting ready to record I felt like we really needed to have him on it – especially the crazy psychedelic guitar stuff in the reprise. We just cranked him up and let him cut loose and he didn’t disappoint.

AW: Ditto for Doug Gillard playing on the album.

BS: Doug produced the last record and so I wanted him involved again. He’s really just a magician when it comes to coming up with the exact little detail that elevates a song. Particularly with little melodies and things;they’re always a special part of the song and I think anyone who’s listened to Guided By Voices is probably really familiar with his genius for arrangements.

AW: I recognize the names Scott Evans and Scott Hirsch as engineer and mixer respectively. How did they come to be on the album?

BS: Scott Evans is a friend of mine and one of my favorite engineers and people to work with. We did Take Out The Poison with him and I had kept it in my mind to work with him again. Scott Hirsch was recommended by my friend Tom Heyman – I knew his work from way back in his days with a band called Court & Spark and I thought it would be fun to bring a totally different perspective in at the mixing stage.

 The Bye Bye Blackbirds

August Lightning Complex

Self Released

This album almost overflows with meaning and significance. The music is heavy pop, but nothing is overdone. There isn’t a wasted note, and it's produced with a lot of common sense; it rocks out, but isn't macho, it's mature.

Lyrically, these romantic up and downs aren't melodramatic or overwrought, just looked at in a clear-eyed way. Even when there are relationship problems, they know they can be talked out, not fought about. In other words, life and romance aren’t a horror movie, even on the album’s darkest track, “Marching,” with its haunted refrain of “gone, just gone.” When something is gone, it’s just gone, and that it, nothing else to say. Let’s put everything in proper perspective is a theme that runs through the entire album.

It’s wonderful in a memorable way. These songs and what they represent will stay with you. You’ll want to hear this album over and over.

Andrea Weiss