If I’m honest, this EP (three-track single? Tringle?) didn’t grab me at all the first time through. The three tracks sound like three different bands. They each have a different lead singer. That’s weird, but in the case of Superstar Crush it works. To be clear, the problem was with me, not the band. I’m just slow to catch on sometimes.

They’re from Hamilton, ON, and the three-track single (maxi single?) is the only commercial release they have. The first track hooked me with the rushed feel of the whole thing – every element feels like it’s racing with everything else:

Turns out it’s the drummer singing that one, which kind of makes sense. At this point I thought I knew what I was getting into. It was jazzy, kind of anxious-sounding, straight-ahead 1970s retro guitar rock.

Then the next song, Do What You Wanna, features a female singer and a chorus straight out of 80’s hair rock radio, almost like a Heart single I hadn’t heard before.

Then the third song (C-side?) came on — yet another lead singer (the guitarist!), with a kind of Elvis-Costello-sings-the-50s vibe, and it sounded like a whole different thing. It threw me for a loop, and I kind of moved on and forgot about it.

Hours later I went back to hear it all again, and now I’m a fan. Yesterday I spent a million hours in the car, and I must have listened to these three songs 5 times each. It’s a really fun listen, and the band sounds like they’re having a blast playing. I wonder if Mass Romantic was part of the inspiration — there are more than a couple similarities.

They look like they’re fun live too. Here’s a recording of a show last summer – it’s not the best recording, but the band’s energy is contagious, and their stage (um, floor) antics are fun. The first video in the playlist has two of the tracks from the release:

They really sound to me like a band that has built their skill and bond playing covers in bars — I used to hire corporate bands in my job, and now and then you hear one and think, “they’re too good for this gig“. This is what the music reminded me of, both musically and in stage presence. It’d be great to see them on an actual stage.

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