Power Pop Hall Of Fame inductees THE SPONGETONES, fresh off the success of their acclaimed live album THE 40th ANNIVERSARY CONCERT... AND BEYOND, return to make good on the promise of that album's trio of new studio bonus tracks by kicking off an ongoing series of standalone singles with “So Long,” an all-new track featuring all three founding members and showcasing the songcraft and pitch-perfect retro stylings that have made them mainstays on the indie pop and power pop scene for decades. The single is out March 13 and is up for pre-order and pre-save now:

https://orcd.co/spongetones-solong

THE SPONGETONES – singer-songwriters JAMIE HOOVER (guitar), STEVE STOECKEL (bass) and PAT WALTERS (guitar), joined in recent years by full-time drummer/vocalist ERIC WILLHELM – have been crafting, recording and performing neo-classics in the British Invasion mold together since well before their iconic 1982 debut album BEAT MUSIC. They've maintained that legacy across the decades on a series of well-received studio albums (nearly ten, depending on how you count them, the most recent being 2009's SCRAMBLED EGGS) and built a catalog of new pop rock classics brilliantly captured with all the band's esteemed onstage prowess and energy on the live album released last year. The real treasure for longtime fans was the inclusion of three brand new studio tracks, also released as singles: “Lulu's In Love,” “Help Me Janie” and “Honest Work,” all hits on global indie radio and tantalizing signs that the album was not just a career summary but a step forward for THE SPONGETONES as well.

And indeed, after the album's release, the band went back into the studio for more. “It made perfect sense,” Jamie Hoover says. “We have the ability to record new material together, and with four songwriters in the band, we felt energized. After such a long period between previous releases, it was time.” And so, like many of the British Invasion and pop-rock legends who inspired them (you can hear strains of both the tender side of Beatles-era McCartney and the primal drive of the early Who on “So Long”) THE SPONGETONES return to taking it one song at a time, with brilliantly radio-ready results.

“The song 'So Long' is about a failed relationship, a tune that starts wistfully but quickly changes in tempo and tone to a rocker, then gently descends into a final goodbye,” says STOECKEL, who sings the lead vocal here and co-wrote the song with HOOVER. “Driven by the vocal harmonies, guitars, and keyboards that are Spongetones hallmarks, the song’s irony is that it’s not so much 'so long' but rather 'welcome back' from us, as a band that’s been writing and recording for decades.” With all hands on board and Hoover's deft production (not to mention a double turn on piano and organ from WALTERS), it's an emotive mini-epic with plaintive acoustic passages framing a surging rock core, still barely clearing the three-minute mark in classic SPONGETONES style. And it's the first of many new singles on the way as the band enters an all-new era of Beat Music. Stay tuned!