BLAKE JONES & THE TRIKE SHOP, Fresno's torchbearers of quirky, hooky guitar pop, continue to build anticipation for their forthcoming album with the new single “Mock Stoner Voices”. It follows the band's previous indie hit single “Record Cover Girl” in setting the stage for the LP to come this summer, and sees release June 28 on all digital platforms. “Mock Stoner Voices” is up for pre-order and pre-save now:
The wit, whimsy and melodic facility of TRIKE SHOP leader BLAKE JONES – surely the only frontman on the global pop rock scene routinely described as a “singer-songwriter-guitarist-thereminist” -- is on full display on “Mock Stoner Voices”. So are his heart and soul: not only is the tune a sweetly nostalgic love story, it kicks off, like the band's previous single “Record Cover Girl” (and several other tracks on the forthcoming LP) in a setting that might be considered Jones' natural habitat: a record store. The song encompasses decades of a lasting relationship with an unlikely origin, and it does so with breathtaking brevity: at under a minute and a half, it's the shortest single Big Stir Records has ever released, and the pop scene with its proclivity for lean, no-nonsense hooks is sure to embrace it. The approach here is akin to the cleverly humorous, attention-grabbing quick blasts from early They Might Be Giants albums, but the sound hearkens back to the '60s, straddling the line between Beatles melodicism and Zappa eccentricity. In short, it's The Trike Shop doing what they do, and leaving the listener wanting more.
JONES expands on the song's origins: “It's a true story. A love story. My wife and I had not yet begun dating. She overheard a friend and I while we were being obnoxious in a record store. Her friends had some made-up ideas about me. I went to the ‘stoner’ high-school, she went to Clovis West,” referring to the Central Valley communities of his youth, where he creates his musical art to this day. That he speaks so casually about the culture of Fresno, decades ago and in the present, tells you how much the idea of “community” means to Jones. Indeed, the details, characters and locales of his hometown loom large across the songs on the soon-to-be-announced album, and throughout the band's full back catalog as well. But “community” also means artistic collaboration, and that's front and center here, too, as his band provides the perfect lurching musical setting for the lyrics. And the creative drive behind the tune unites Blake's communal vision with that of countless bands on the worldwide pop scene who share stages and sentiments with him, in California, the greater US, the UK, Europe, and beyond.
The new album from BLAKE JONES & THE TRIKE SHOP is the long-awaited followup to their 2018 LP MAKE, which was the first-ever vinyl release from the then-embryonic Big Stir Records. Like its predecessor, the record will be available on Vinyl, CD, and Streaming, and it'll hit Blake's beloved record store shelves this August. Details are coming very soon, but for now, heed these “Voices”... and get ready for the latest big-hearted collection of art-infected pop from a true master – and restlessly inventive innovator – of the form.