Last month, Massachusetts ska band — oops, excuse us, “island power-pop” band — the Pomps released their latest record, appropriately titled Indie Rock Is Dying. Today, they prove that while indie as we Americans know it is certainly going out of fashion, modern classics from the United Kingdom’s famed Britpop era will, ahem, live forever.
So with the Stone Roses set to return to America for a June 30 show at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the Pomps took a familiar tune from their live sets and gave it a proper recording, throwing some cool island breeze on 1989 anthem “She Bangs The Drums.”
The bassline, without much surprise, totally works as it dances along with the reggae tone. We’re premiering the track, recorded recently in Los Angeles with Brian Dixon (the Aggrolites, Western Standard Time), today on Vanyaland, and you can listen to it below via the Pomps’ Bandcamp.
The Pomps’ Alex Stern makes no bones about his love for the pioneering British rock band, and in particular, “She Bangs The Drums.”
“It’s been a staple of our live show since day one,” Stern tells Vanyaland. “I think it’s the Roses’ song that makes most sense for us: beloved, but, not so epic as to risk utter sacrilege.”
Click it up below, and take note: the Pomps will play a handful of dates this fall with ska legends the Toasters, including a September show at the Middle East. Confirmed dates are below.
The Pomps fall mini-tour with the Toasters:
September 23: Wilkes-Barre, PA F.M Kirby Center
September 24: TBA
September 25: Cambridge, MA, The Middle East