MTV Buzzworthy Blog › Cheap Trick

The folks at MTV Iggy had the fine idea to get the wonderful indie rock band Surfer Blood to play its jam "Floating Vibes" at the Lower East Side club The Delancey and capture the whole thing on camera.

Surfer Blood's breakout debut album, Astro Coast, is full of jangly, slightly askew pop-rock gems that recall the best moments of classic indie bands like Pavement, while tipping its musical cap to classic rock stalwarts such as Cheap Trick. I know I've mentioned Cheap Trick a lot recently, but that's because Cheap Trick is awesome.

Anyway! Surfer Blood ran through "Floating Vibes" as well as "Take It Easy," and its single "Swim (To Reach The End)." Check out the videos below. You can check out the MTV Iggy blog post about the filming of the live session right here. Astro Coast is out now.

Tags Cheap Trick, Pavement, Surfer Blood, video

The Midwestern pedigree of Every Avenue shines through on its debut album, "Picture Perfect." This quintet from Michigan work the same equation as Illinois power-pop pioneers Cheap Trick; make the melodies sticky sweet and pour some serious volume on top.

They may look like your average pop-punk-emo providers, but Every Avenue has a classic rock heart, one that beats to rhythm of bands like Cheap Trick, The Beatles and The Cars. On songs like "Tell Me I'm A Wreck" or the single "For Always, Forever," the band's incredible mix of classic-rock power chords (courtesy of guitarists Joshua Randall and Jimmie Deeghan) and song structures with pop-punk exuberance make for some delirious listening.

"Picture Perfect" is out now, and the band is currently taking part in the Alternative Press tour along with Never Shout Never. Check out the video for "For Always, Forever" below.

Tags Cheap Trick, Every Avenue, Never Shout Never, The Beatles, The-Cars, video

Ari Shine has rock and roll written all over him. Really. He's got the Rush song "Free Will" tattooed across his knuckles. So you know this cat is serious.

He's also seriously talented. The Los Angeles singer-songwriter is a multi-instrumentalist, playing all the parts on his two albums, Rocket Summer and A Force Of One.

Shine's sound is a contemporary take on a classic template: literate, tuneful power-pop in the vein of Cheap Trick, Elvis Costello and The Kinks.

MTV Iggy caught up with Shine and chatted with him about (among other things) his early, early days gigging around L.A. as a teenager, negotiating the tension between writing with one eye on success and one eye on aesthetics, and the challenge of re-inventing the three-minute pop song over and over again.

Check out the MTV Iggy video as well as a great performance of Shine's "Here With Me" below.

Tags Ari Shine, Cheap Trick, Elvis Costello, The Buzz On, video

Just a few days ago I went on and on about Silversun Pickups being the second coming of Smashing Pumpkins. How weird to come to the end of Thursday and find original Pumpkins bassist James Iha on my desk, along with Taylor Hanson (Hanson), Adam Schlesinger (Fountains Of Wayne) and Bun E. Carlos (Cheap Trick). Together they are supergroup Tinted Windows (we warned you!) and, surprisingly enough, they kinda sound like a bubblegummy... you guessed it, Smashing Pumpkins. Or wait... is it Siamese Hanson?

Either way, it's about to get in your head with a vengeance. The ooh-ahhs in the chorus are sonic barbs -- like the ones they put on the ends of fishing hooks -- and they're about to tear your brain to shreds in the sweetest and gentlest way. This may seem like a lazy cop-out, but the honest truth is that this band combines Smashing Pumpkins' edge with Hanson's pop sensibility, Fountains Of Wayne's quirky light-heartedness and Cheap Trick's ballsy muscle. It's first grade math. And it sounds amazing. Brace yourself for pop-rock perfection.

Tags Cheap Trick, Fountains of Wayne, Hanson, Silversun Pickups, Smashing Pumpkins

What do you get when you cross Taylor Hanson with one of the founding members of Smashing Pumpkins? It isn't "Disarm," but it sure ain't "MMMbop" either. The answer is Tinted Windows, the pop-rock outfit formed by the middle Hanson (now a father of four), James Iha, Fountains of Wayne bassist Adam Schlesinger (he also wrote the Jonas Brothers' "I Am What I Am") and Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos, who joined Cheap Trick about two decades before Taylor Hanson was born.

If you're expecting Middle of Nowhere Part 2, expect to be disappointed (also, let it go already!) Their debut single, "Kind of a Girl," sounds far more like Fountains of Wayne than a screechy teeny track (thanks to no pint-sized Zac on vox.)

Watch for Tinted Windows' April 21st full-length debut on S-Curve Records (which means they'll be in the same family as We The Kings!) and SXSW performances before that.

Until then, listen to "Kind of a Girl," and Hanson fans, talk to me: Is Tinted Windows your version of the Second Coming, or are you a Hanson purist?

+ PLUS: Watch Hanson's MTV.com Live performances!

Tags Adam Schlesinger, Cheap Trick, Fountains of Wayne, Hanson, James Iha, Jonas Brothers, Smashing Pumpkins, Tinted Windows, We the Kings