Introducing The Band:
THE WEEKLINGS
While the term “Power Pop” may
have been coined by The Who’s Pete Townshend, the musical blueprint
for the genre can be traced directly to The Beatles. In the
50+ years since The Beatles changed music history, many bands have attempted to
follow the Fabs’ blueprint (The Knack, The Pinkees, The Spongetones, The
Flying Elephants, etc.), pay homage to the legacy of the Fab Four
(i.e., The Rutles, Utopia’s DEFACE THE MUSIC), or go
the ‘tribute’ route and perform the songs of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison (Beatlemania,
Rain, Liverpool, Britain’s Finest, The WannaBeatles, etc). New Jersey’s The
Weeklings, however, decided to take the most difficult route of all:
do all of the above! Made up of four exceptionally talented individuals (see
below), The Weeklings is a labor of love for all involved. Recreating the sound
of early to mid-‘60s era Beatles is their forte, but what they do with that
sound in adding to the Power Pop legacy is what makes them special. Which
brings us right back to the term Power Pop. Are The Weeklings Power Pop? Some
would say no, but they possess all the traits of being one of the finest modern
Power Pop bands in the land. I suppose the verdict is really up to the
listener... but I strongly urge you to vote "YES!" on that
initiative!
For
some, the main draw will be The Weeklings’ performances of songs written
by John Lennon and Paul McCartney but not
actually recorded by The Beatles. Their original compositions alone, however,
are most definitely worth the price of admission. More like a cleaned-up version
of Scotland’s The Kaisers, and less like the glorious parody
that was The Rutles, The Weeklings’ originals are inspired by the Merseybeat
sound, but are more than simple re-writes of classic Beatles tracks. Their 2015
debut album, MONOPHONIC, was one of the finest albums of
that year, with six original songs and six Lennon/McCartney/Harrison songs. Not
surprisingly, their sophomore album, STUDIO 2 (recorded
at Abbey Road!) is even better, and is a step forward rather than a rehash of
the debut album. STUDIO 2 wisely features eight
originals and only four rare Lennon/McCartney-penned tracks that were
never performed by The Beatles (the cassette version of the album adds three
Beatles classics). And the Weeklings’ originals on STUDIO 2 are
top notch, the highlights being the blissful Pop of “Love Can” and Merseybeat
rockers like “Don’t Know Don’t Care” and “Morning Noon & Night.”
Ironically, these spirited originals are more instantly lovable than the songs
they cover at the end of the album!
It
is difficult to try to cram a lot of info on The Weeklings into the intro so I
suggest you go to www.weeklings.com to get the scoop
straight from the fab four horsemen’s mouth. For now, I wanted to
make the introductions here and let the lads talk about STUDIO 2 and
more…
SPAZ: Please
introduce yourselves!
LEFTY WEEKLING (aka GLEN
BURTNIK): I play bass, some other stuff (piano, guitar) and sing.
ZEEK WEEKLING (aka BOB
BURGER): I play rhythm guitar, and also other stuff (harmonica, bass)
and sing.
ROCKY WEEKLING (aka JOHN
MERJAVE): I play guitar – 6-string mostly, 12-string occasionally,
4-string rarely and bouzouki once, only on the first album. I sing a
little, too.
SMOKESTACK WEEKLING (aka
JOE BELLIA): I play drums and sing.
SPAZ: Can you fill
us in on this new little platter of yours?
LEFTY: After
enjoying the experience of our debut album, we wanted to kick things up a
notch. Seeing as how heavily Beatles inspired we are, we thought we’d book time
at Abbey Road Studios and cut in the same room they made all their music in. In
addition to our original songs, we included a few bonus tracks of very rare
Lennon-McCartney songs, three of which have never been properly recorded nor
released by any act at all.
ZEEK: What Lefty
said. We again went for capturing the spirit of the ‘60s recordings,
by recording live in the studio as much as possible, and using the original
vintage gear. Compared to our first LP, we moved this one forward in
time from 1964 up to 1965. Back in those days, you could hear the
difference in a year’s time! The songs are somewhere just shy of
Rubber Soul. Our first record was more like Meet The Beatles..
ROCKY: I think
each song speaks for itself and stands on its own, so it’s quite difficult to
pin down one that defines the essence of the album or the band, for that
matter.
SMOKESTACK: Studio 2
was a labor of love. We worked hard on it. We are very proud of the results!
SPAZ: Which song
off of the album do you feel best defines the essence of the album and/or what
the band is all about, musically?
LEFTY: Yikes.
That’s hard.
ZEEK: Hopefully
none of them. It’s a moving target (especially what the band is
about). The band favorite song seems to be “Love Can”, but it
doesn’t really represent the whole record. It’s a mid-tempo,
delicate song, whereas most of the others are rockers.
SMOKESTACK: “Morning
Noon And Night”: the first song lets you know what to expect.
SPAZ: In this age
of streaming, the concept of the album as an art form seems to have been lost
in the digital shuffle. Did you approach this project as a whole piece of work
or do you view it more like a collection of individual songs that you felt work
together well?
LEFTY: Only
slightly did I ever consider the overall album vibe of this one myself. I knew
we needed a certain amount of up-tempo songs balancing ballads, etc., but it’s
pretty much the record of where we’re at now.
ZEEK: They are
individual songs. It’s not a concept album. What ties it
together is vibe of the players and the way we recorded it. It
definitely has a vibe. But I think that is simply the result of
where we are right now, and the process we applied.
SMOKESTACK: We
recorded 16 tracks at Abbey Road and then picked the songs that fit the vibe we
were looking for.
SPAZ: When
you began the songwriting and recording process, did you already have a
fully-formed idea of how you wanted the end product to sound like or did it
come together organically?
LEFTY: I kinda
think we knew.
ZEEK: We had a
target in mind, but at the same time it did form itself. You never
really know how an album is going to come together and until you’ve got the
final package. But I think we accomplished what we set out to
do. I might add that we recorded a number of songs that we left off
the album because they weren’t meant for this one.
SPAZ: As a
songwriter working in a group with equally talented writers and performers, is
there a lot of give and take involved with making an album or were you all on
the same wavelength with this batch of songs?
LEFTY: We
work together swimmingly.
ZEEK: It is pretty
smooth. Sure, there is a lot of give and take. There are
so many good ideas offered. Creating and making an album is really the best
part of the gig!
ROCKY: Absolutely
a group effort. Someone brings in a demo, we knock it around, and it
becomes a Weeklings song.
SPAZ: Given the
opportunity, an artist could tinker with an album for years before finally
releasing it to the world. Are you happy with the release of the
album at the moment or are you still in the ‘I wish I could go back and add
this or change that’ stage?
LEFTY: I’m
happy. I used to belabor over every single note on my solo albums. Now I am
free! I’ve been Weeklingized!
SMOKESTACK: Very
happy…
ZEEK: You always
feel that way somewhat, no matter how much time and effort you put
in. But I really wouldn’t want to go back and change
anything. It’s what we did.
ROCKY: Someone
asked me just tonight as we were listening to the CD, “Do you wish you could
have done anything different?” In the past, I’d be criticizing every
note I recorded, much like Lefty. But my answer tonight was simple:
“No. It’s done. It’s released. I’m happy!” And that’s the
truth!
SPAZ: Can
you tell us a little about recording your album at the infamous Abbey Road
studios? How did that come about and what was the general feeling when
recording the album?
LEFTY: It
was like a bucket list item for me. Eventually, the other members joined me in
my dream. Then we made it happen, with help from crowd-funding. We are happy,
fortunate rock gods.
ZEEK: Something I
never imagined I would do! It was so much fun! Such a top
notch organization and so easy to work with. Forgetting the fact
that the Beatles recorded there, it was just a great recording experience of
its own merit.
SMOKESTACK: Recording
at Abbey Road was a dream come true. Very inspiring.
SPAZ: Did you have
any non-musical influences that inspired you during the making of the album?
LEFTY: Besides Donald
Trump’s rise to power, the only thing I really recall was the band
working on music and playing fun gigs.
ZEEK: We’ve been
pretty influenced by Buddy Rich’s tirades. One of
my favorite things about the band is the (sometimes very dark)
humor. I think it’s very much part of the record.
ROCKY: Initially,
it was just a dream come true for me, being such a Beatles fan. But,
over time, as we were preparing for the trip, many fans would come up to me and
say that they were proud of the band making the trip over and recording at
Abbey Road. They were sort of travelling over there with us, in
spirit. So, that just made it a little more special.
SMOKESTACK: A
conversation with (British producer and Beatles engineer) Ken Scott…
SPAZ: Was there a
particular moment during the writing or recording when you realized that you
were definitely making something special?
SMOKESTACK: While
rehearsing the material.
LEFTY: During the
second day of recording in studio 2 I felt like, ‘Holy crap, this is sounding
very good’.
ZEEK: During
recording, I was so concentrated that I didn’t have time to think about
that. I think it’s only now with the fan reaction, and getting some
distance does it seem like maybe we did do something special.
ROCKY: I remember
a very special moment when, while down in the studio recording the 12-string
guitar on “Morning, Noon and Night”, I called up to our engineer (Toby
Hulbert) and asked him to get the guitar to sound more like George
Harrison’s. He did what I requested. When I went back up
to the control room, I noticed that the guitar signal was going through one of
the original REDD mixing consoles used in Abbey Road back in the mid-‘60s which
was then patched through one of the studio compressors that was used in the
‘60s as well. (A Fairchild Model 660, for you tech geeks out
there). That’s exactly how they recorded George’s
guitar. That blew my mind!
SPAZ: What is next for the band?
LEFTY: We
record Weeklings album #3. We are considering naming it Plagiarism.
ZEEK: Yes, next
record! But we’re also playing a lot more and getting to be an even
tighter performing unit. Hopefully, we will split our pants.
ROCKY: I’m hoping
we could tour a bit more and get the music out there to different
audiences. And, of course, get moving on the third album!
SPAZ: What are you
currently spinning on your CD and record players?
LEFTY: STRANGE
DAYS and WAITING FOR THE SUN by The
Doors, Dave Clark 5/ GREATEST HITS, RAINBOW
ENDS by Emmitt Rhodes, “Machine Gun” by Jimi
Hendrix, LOVE YOUR MOM by Denny Braendel and
the ETHEL MERMAN DISCO ALBUM.
ZEEK: “America”
by Yes! I try to listen to new stuff and listen to the
radio. Hard to do sometimes! But I do listen to XM
Deep Tracks a lot too. Newer bands I like are Kongos, The
National and The 1975. Can’t believe he (Lefty)
listed Denny Braendel!
ROCKY: SGT,
PEPPER by The Beatles, ARGYBARGY by Squeeze and
Studio 2 by The Weeklings.
SMOKESTACK: Nick
Lowe
Thanks to Lefty, Zeek, Rocky and Smokestack
2 comments:
#WeeklingsMania is alive and kicking! This band is both skilled and funny, a perfect combination!
Thank you for reading the feature and taking the time to comment. And yes, I agree... GREAT band!
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