Over the years we’ve heard Massachusetts pop ensemble Eddie Japan stand with union workers in Wisconsin (“Fight Song”), fight against futility in the name of Albert Camus (“Albert”), and, with the help of a certain Morrissey, lament a gang’s first in-house death “First Of The Gang To Die”). Now the 2013 Rock And Roll Rumble victors have compiled all those aural emotions — sans the Mozzer, of course — for a new long-player titled, appropriately enough, Greatest Hits.
The new LP, which you can buy and/or stream below via the Eddie Japan Bandcamp page, features the band’s previous singles and four new tracks, packaged together just as they set to hit the road for a seven-date December swing with Martha Davis and the Motels. The tour starts Thursday in Fall River, rears locally Friday at Johnny D’s in Somerville, and wraps December 12 in Philadelphia.
“Over the last few months, we had been putting the finishing touches on four news songs, but rather than put out another EP,” says frontman David Santos, “we decided that it would be cool to offer a full representation of our sound to the folks who come to The Motels shows, most of whom will have never heard our music. We are also approaching 10 years as a band, so it felt like a good time to sort of celebrate our longevity with an audaciously-titled release.”
The new songs, recorded in guitarist Eric Brosius’s home studio, include three live faves (“The Passion of Dorothy Parker”, “Hanging On a Name”, and “These Happy Days”, and a new one (“Suburban Lady”) that features a few Eddie Japan firsts: “It’s the first song we’ve recorded without having played it live,” Santos says. “It’s the first song to feature another songwriter in the band (bass player Charles Membrino wrote the music), and Emily Drohan and I share lead vocals.”
The Greatest Hits LP also represents a bit of a fresh start for the crew.
“Here in late 2015, we also feel like we are closing chapter,” Santos adds. “Bart LoPiccolo and I are the only original members at this point, and the new year will see us moving in a new direction musically. We are very excited about our current line-up — Aaron Rosenthal and Eric Ortiz stepped in on keyboards and trumpet respectively earlier this year, and both have played a huge part in the development of our sound. Our vocalist Emily Drohan will also be playing a much more prominent role moving forward. We have already begun recording a full-length and have a new video in the can, and we are hoping to release both in the first half of 2016.”
Stream the full LP via the first embed, or check out the new tracks below.
