November 16, 2009

Mod-A-Day: The Pillbugs

If you like your sixties rock tinged with freaked out guitars, spacey reverb, and healthy dose of psychadelia than The Pillbugs are for you. The band has been making music for more than a decade and have several releases to their credit. The sound is pretty typical sixties stuff, very much in the vien of The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour and The Who's Sell Out and Tommy. Other psychadelic bands like Plasticland have gone head over heels into the exoticness of psychadelia and end up being way overproduced at times. Not The Pillbugs, they maintain a firm grasp on the pop song framework. Their songs benefit from the band's grasp of The Monkees and The Beatles, as well as their love for the more trippy late sixties psychadelic sounds of Syd Barret, The Move, and Cream. This makes all the difference in the world, keeping their songs tight and listenable, while at the same time giving you a taste of more experimental sounds from the fringe. Their 2007 album Monclovia is the one to pick-up, a sort of "best of" compilation of the band's work. "Life As It Happens" is a very Who-like tour de force of guitars, drums and keyboards, while "All In Good Time" is more power poppish with it's bouncy melody and catchy hooks. Sadly, one of the members died from cancer last year, so I'm not clear on whether the band will continue on or if there are any new recordings in their future.

The Pillbugs -- LIfe As It Happens


The Pillbugs -- All In Good Time