Interview: Band Of The Week - Throwback Suburbia

It's not very often in these the days of Karo syrup pop and vacuous celebrity-ism that you come across a band that is just interested in making real rock & roll. Throwback Suburbia is such a band. Blending their pop sensibilities with a rock & roll attitude, they manage to capture the essence of retro-pop and make it modern rock.

Brought to life in early 2005 by Mike Collins and Jimi Evans from the ashes of their former band, Mike (drums) and Jimi (guitar & vocals) set out to create the kind of sounds that they felt modern music was missing. After spending the best part of a year writing and producing demos, Mike and Jimi decided it was time to recruit the rest of a band; bassist Eric French and guitarist Paul Bond were all that was needed to complete the line-up.

Throwback Suburbia are the archetypal power-pop group and in their sound you can hear many influences, Tom Petty, Cheap Trick, Queen, Ok Go maybe a bit of David Bowie and Jellyfish. And this Neo-power pop sound has attracted a lot of attention. Since their first live gig in February 2006 and their debut EP Eight Tracks, Throwback Suburbia have accumulated accolades and attention from webzines — most notably Garageband.com --  internet radio stations, and producers. Throwback Suburbia have announced New York/Toronto based producers The Macchiato Kids will be producing the band’s first full length album this winter. The Macchiato Kids have produced for the likes of The Cure, Sheryl Crow, Quincy Jones, Prince, Janet Jackson and David Bowie.

With so much going on for this rapidly rising future mega-band I was happy when founding member and drummer Mike Collins agreed to an interview with me. Mike is a funny and intelligent former massage therapist who strongly recommended I get a massage.

So tell me about Eight Tracks. It's an EP?

It's an EP, yeah. It's a little longer than most EPs which tend to be five or six songs. We didn't want to really call it a full-length 'cause nowadays full-lengths are at least 12 or 13 songs.

And how many songs are on Eight Tracks?

Article Author: A.L. Harper

I'm a writer and music journalist originally from Salt Lake City, but now living in Scotland. I was a Punk/Goth in the '80s and these artistic influences have stayed with me; although a love of Chopin, chamber music, and Spanish guitar would seem to belie this. …

Visit A.L. Harper's author page — A.L. Harper's Blog