The new album from Maple Mars on a vinyl LP in a deluxe gatefold sleeve.
$20.00
MAPLE MARS (Los Angeles, CA)
Arriving by time machine from the psychedelic era – and yet always thrillingly ahead of their time -- MAPLE MARS landed on the Los Angeles pop scene with a multi-colored bang! Fronted by singer-songwriter Rick Hromadka, their psychedelic pop/rock debut album Welcome To Maple Mars (Permanent Press Recordings) was recorded in guitarist Steve Berns' apartment. Industry mags such as Billboard, Album Network, Mojo, Hits Magazine, and Entertainment Weekly touted the album as one of the best indie pop-rock records of that year. As their journey progressed, Maple Mars recorded three more albums echoing the likes of Pink Floyd, The Who, The Move, and The Beatles. Their fourth album, Galaxyland (2010), received college/internet radio play and garnered accolades across the global pop rock scene, hailed as “a psychedelic masterpiece and their most acclaimed album yet" by Twirl Radio.
Producer/guitarist Steve Berns, drummer Ron Pak (Double Naught Spies), bassist Joe Giddings (Theme Music, Ruby Free), and Rick Hromadka (Double Naught Spies, Ruby Free) are the travelers who take their influences to new territories on their forthcoming 2022 LP Someone’s Got To Listen. It's their fifth record overall and their first for Big Stir Records, who are delighted to welcome the hometown heroes to their roster. And it's no wonder: the label itself was born out of the LA live scene, where Maple Mars has long been renowned for massive, stadium-worthy performances whether headlining the label's concert series or opening for the likes of The Tubes.
Hromadka is also a three-time Emmy Award winning sound designer who began penning songs for TV teen shows like Breaker High, Sweet Valley High, and the Power Rangers, also landing a track on the Power Rangers movie Turbo. Maple Mars’ music has also been featured in TV shows like ER, Third Watch, Felicity and Friday Night Lights. The band has appeared on a variety of pop compilations from countries like Sweden, Germany, Japan, Australia, and Canada, winning international attention along with tours of both coasts of the US and in Europe. And the band's already back on the road in advance of the new album. Someone's Got To Listen indeed, and with a clutch of invigorating new songs and their commanding stage presence, MAPLE MARS can be sure that fans worldwide are going to do just that.
The new album from Maple Mars on CD in a gatefold album replica package.
$12.00
Big Stir Records invites you to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of LA pop-psych titans MAPLE MARS with an all-new two-track single from the band: “Couldn't Have Been A Better Time” and “Tidal Wave”, a one-two punch Read more
Big Stir Records invites you to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of LA pop-psych titans MAPLE MARS with an all-new two-track single from the band: “Couldn't Have Been A Better Time” and “Tidal Wave”, a one-two punch demonstrating both the power and the pop that have made them longtime favorites onstage and on record. The 25th Anniversary Double Single is out August 22 on all digital platforms worldwide and is up for pre-order and pre-save now:
It seems impossible that it's been a quarter of a century since MAPLE MARS rose from the ashes of frontman RICK HROMADKA's beloved '90s outfit Double Naught Spies, and the new songs presented here are as full of youthful rock and roll energy as ever. But it's a reality worth celebrating, and the current lineup of the band – HROMADKA on vocals and guitar, STEVE BERNS on guitar and vocals, longtime drummer RON PAK and returning bassist JEFF LEGORE – do so in their customary bracing rock style. Legendary as a fiery and mesmerizing live act as well as for the five acclaimed albums they've released, including their most recent LP (and first for Big Stir Records) SOMEONE'S GOT TO LISTEN, they're set to show off both sides of their appeal for the occasion, with a live gig in LA scheduled for the day after this single's release (with their BSR labelmate Nelson Bragg opening the show).
The songs presented here display the band at the absolute top of their game, too. The A-side “Couldn't Have Been A Better Time” is a pure guitar-pop delight, with soaring hooks and a sense of palpable joy permeating the performance. The title telegraphs a look back at the band's history, but there's more going on here, however coy Hromadka may be about it. “I gave away too much personal info about some of the songs on the last Maple Mars album,” he says of the personal journey detailed in music on SOMEONE'S GOT TO LISTEN. “Gonna keep this one a secret. Although listeners can probably figure out that it's about someone special in my life.” The song simply radiates warmth, and the blend of trippy touches and Beach Boys-like glee are pure Maple Mars.
The B-side “Tidal Wave” is something else, diving “into the dark that you took to be sunshine,” as the lyrics have it. It's a riff-powered example of the melodic psych rock at which MAPLE MARS excels, framed in epic imagery and prog-adjacent production touches, and one can only imagine how this arena-ready rocker with its immediately compelling chorus will hit when the band debuts it as part of their live set. Both songs show off the remarkable guitar chemistry between Steve Berns and Rick, and Ron Pak's powerhouse drumming is a marvel as always. Bassist JEFF LEGORE returns to the fold, his sophisticated but driving parts gelling instantly with Pak's drums to propel both tunes to the next level.
Between the new single and the band's return to the stage, there's more to celebrate than just the Silver Anniversary of the band: MAPLE MARS clearly has more to offer, and they've never sounded better. We'll be thrilled to bring it to you.
Someone's Got To Listen
Maple Mars
CD - Maple Mars "Someone's Got To Listen" Download |
$12.00
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Vinyl LP - Maple Mars "Someone's Got To Listen" Download |
$20.00
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Please join Big Stir Records as we celebrate the return of MAPLE MARS, with their first album in over a decade and their debut for the label, SOMEONE'S GOT TO LISTEN. The new album, featuring the lead single “Gliding” and Read more
Please join Big Stir Records as we celebrate the return of MAPLE MARS, with their first album in over a decade and their debut for the label, SOMEONE'S GOT TO LISTEN. The new album, featuring the lead single “Gliding” and last year's teaser “Goodbye California”, is out July 22 and up for pre-order as a deluxe vinyl LP and CD at www.bigstirrecords.com and everywhere now, and will be streaming worldwide on the street date. The long-awaited record delivers everything fans have been waiting for: it's big, with a bigger sound, bigger hooks, and bigger themes – not only in comparison to the band's own fine catalog, but to any other band in their field – and we at Big Stir expect big things. Welcome back to Maple Mars: the journey they have in store for you is at once familiar and thrillingly new.
MAPLE MARS are long-standing legends on the LA live scene for good reason. They have, in RICK HROMADKA, a world-class frontman, lead singer, songwriter and guitarist, whose 2020 solo record Better Days raked in honors like Power Popaholic's Album of the Year. But it's the chemistry within the band that makes Maple Mars soar onstage and on SOMEONE'S GOT TO LISTEN: the guitar interplay between Hromadka and STEVE BERNS is explosive, RON PAK is simply one of the best drummers on the LA scene with his rare combination of power and empathy for the songs, and newly-minted bassist JOE GIDDINGS brings his well-honed vocal prowess to the deep harmonies that've always been a component of the band's massiveness. Hear it on “Gliding”, as aptly named a song as there could be: vocals and twin guitars taking flight with the syncopated wind of Pak's propulsive drums under their wings. The hooks are huge, and they're all over this expansive travelogue of an album.
Maple Mars have described themselves since their 2001 debut (Welcome To Maple Mars, praised in the pages of Mojo, Entertainment Weekly and more) as “arriving by time machine from the psychedelic era,” and they have all the swirl and swagger to back up that claim. But there's more to their sound than that. You can hear the stadium-sized influence of Wings, traces of the pop-punk drive of Hromadka and Pak's '90s vehicle Double Naught Spies, more than a little Big Star and even hints of glam and prog rock on the new record. The first taste of the SOMEONE'S GOT TO LISTEN's heady brew came last fall with the achingly bombastic, string-laden single “Goodbye California” (a love-hate letter from Hromadka to his adopted home state) and the well of potential radio-ready followup singles is dauntingly deep.
The band and its members have hardly been musically idle since 2001's Galaxyland. Hromadka has released rapturously-received records under his own name and with side project Ruby Free (also featuring Giddings, whose renown as a solo artist predates his joining the MM fold) and Berns has been busy as a successful producer and studio engineer. More importantly, the band has continued gigging and burnished their reputation for bringing arena-level bombast to club stages of all sizes, headlining festivals and opening for the likes of The Tubes and The Psychedelic Furs. It's the power of that collaborative connection that lends effortless but electrifying sonic heft to the new record's tales of metaphorical travel in a dazzling array of forms. The journey is couched in terms nautical (the invigorating “Anchors Aweigh”), cosmic (the driving “Silver Craft”), automotive (in the crashing groove of “Someone Take The Wheel”), aeronautical (“Gliding”) and somnambulistic (“Sleepwalking”, with its glam-pop flourishes)... but always deeply personal.
“Yes, the central theme would be self reflection and transition,” says Hromadka. Indeed, Someone's Got To Listen is a fundamentally forward-moving affair, sweeping the listener along song by song to the ambitious closer “Redemption”, of which Rick says “At some point I’d love to write a rock opera, but this song will have to suffice for now. All about betrayal, anger, and ultimately forgiveness.” You can feel that arrival at a better place in the psych-tinged acoustic idyll “Crooked Smile” and the hope that fuels “Silver Craft”. The record also has time for nostalgic callbacks like the pitch-perfect power pop of “Teenage Dream” and pointed social commentary – the anthemic opener “Useless Information” is more than just a nod to the Stones, and the question “Can there be atonement for the narcissistic liar who preys upon the faithful” (in “Redemption”) is unambiguously of the moment. The sweep and scope of the album encompass it all.
It was Hromadka's deep understanding of the band's power as a vehicle for the right kind of songs that launched Maple Mars back into the studio. “After so many years away from making new music with Maple Mars I thought it was time. Especially after the writing surge I went through,” explains Hromadka, referring to a prolific period from 2018 through 2020 during which personal strife occasioned an artistic renaissance. “Obviously, when one goes through a lengthy divorce, cathartic lyrics sometimes make their way into the songs, and they were flowing. Half of the songs went to my solo album Better Days, and the other half went to Maple Mars.” The careful and collaborative parsing of the material resulted in a win-win: the more contemplative and bucolic feel of Better Days won widespread acclaim, while powerful tunes of transition, transformation and travel went to the band.
“This is a much more cohesive album from an actual full band. The members of Maple Mars were a lot more involved in this record than any of the previous albums. In the past it’s basically been me doing the lion’s share of recording and mixing. This album was by far much more of a band effort, with Steve Berns doing most of the heavy lifting and mixing.” The crackling dynamic makes the new album the best and biggest in the band's already illustrious career, and the title brings it all home. Someone's Got To Listen indeed, and with this fresh clutch of invigorating songs and their commanding stage presence intact as they return to the live scene, MAPLE MARS can be sure that fans worldwide are going to do just that.
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Useless Information 3:510:00/3:51
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Gliding 3:410:00/3:41
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Goodbye California 4:320:00/4:32
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Anchors Aweigh 3:390:00/3:39
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0:00/4:06
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Teenage Dream 3:360:00/3:36
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Sleepwalking 3:030:00/3:03
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Silver Craft 5:090:00/5:09
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Crooked Smile 4:140:00/4:14
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Redemption 4:310:00/4:31
A split single for the Holiday season, with "Christmastime In The City" by Maple Mars backed with a new version of "Merry Christmas Darling" by frontman Rick Hromadka.
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0:00/3:54
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0:00/3:20
MAPLE MARS begins the countdown to the announcement of their new album – the celebrated LA psych-pop band's first in over a decade! – with the June 17 release of their new single “Gliding”, up for pre-order at Read more
MAPLE MARS begins the countdown to the announcement of their new album – the celebrated LA psych-pop band's first in over a decade! – with the June 17 release of their new single “Gliding”, up for pre-order at www.bigstirrecords.bandcamp.com now, and streaming everywhere worldwide on the street date. True to its name, the tune is a soaring and instantly memorable slice of yearning vocals, churning guitars, and urgent rhythms... the sound of a band set to take the summer by storm. The followup to the band's 2021 surprise return with the hit single “Goodbye California”, “Gliding” offers fans another thrilling preview of what's to come on the forthcoming MAPLE MARS album, due in July on vinyl, CD, and all digital formats from Big Stir Records. Look for an official presale announcement soon!
“Gliding” kicks off a season of intense activity for MAPLE MARS that will include a high-profile video release for the song, and the band's return to the live stage at a gala record release party in LA on July 30. The renowned live energy and chemistry of MAPLE MARS – singer-guitarist songwriter RICK HROMADKA, guitarist STEVE BERNS, drummer RON PAK and bassist JOE GIDDINGS – is a big part of what makes “Gliding” (and the new album) a leap forward, even for a band that's been a favorite of critics and power pop scenesters since their 2001 debut. The sound is bigger, brasher, and tighter than ever before, and won't be mistaken for Hromadka's equally fine but more subdued solo output: this is unmistakably a band record, of just the kind we've been desperately needing for the past two years, and one of the most exciting albums of the year.
And what a rush the single its, unfolding first with a lush piano-and-moog introduction teasing the song's melody before driving drums, pulsing bass and intertwining guitars kick in and the song takes flight. “The song is a metaphor for being free after a relationship gone bad,” explains Hromadka, and you can hear that freedom both in his impassioned vocal delivery – aided and abetted by the whole band on shimmering harmonies – and the lyrics. “Ascending, sailing / Through the bright white clouds cleansing my reason / Off to brighter skies,” he sings, on the way to a completely unforgettable chorus.
The soon-to-be-released video for the song lends yet another layer of emotional resonance to the lyrics (keep an eye open for its premiere). And the theme of travel and transformation evident on “Gliding” suffuses the entire forthcoming album from MAPLE MARS. Musically, emotionally, philosophically and perhaps even spiritually, it may be just what the world needs. Someone's got to listen... and soon, fans of the band – and impassioned, finely crafted pop rock with energy to spare – will be delighted to do just that.
Big Stir Records is proud to welcome LA's own MAPLE MARS to our roster, bidding adieu to 2021 with “Goodbye California,” the band's first release since their landmark 2010 album Galaxyland and the first taste of their Read more
Big Stir Records is proud to welcome LA's own MAPLE MARS to our roster, bidding adieu to 2021 with “Goodbye California,” the band's first release since their landmark 2010 album Galaxyland and the first taste of their forthcoming 2022 album on BSR. The brand new single will be available for streaming everywhere on December 10, but is now up for download exclusively at www.bigstirrecords.com on the band's artist page and at www.bigstirrecords.bandcamp.com. It's accompanied by a music video, up at the Big Stir Media YouTube channel now.
Arriving by time machine from the psychedelic era – and yet always thrillingly ahead of their time -- MAPLE MARS landed on the Los Angeles pop scene with a multi-colored bang! Fronted by singer-songwriter Rick Hromadka, their psychedelic pop/rock debut album Welcome To Maple Mars (Permanent Press Recordings) was recorded in guitarist Steve Berns' apartment. Industry mags such as Billboard, Album Network, Mojo, Hits Magazine, and Entertainment Weekly touted the album as one of the best indie pop-rock records of that year. As their journey progressed, Maple Mars recorded three more albums echoing the likes of Pink Floyd, The Who, The Move, and The Beatles. Their fourth album, Galaxyland (2010), received college/internet radio play and garnered accolades across the global pop rock scene, hailed as “a psychedelic masterpiece and their most acclaimed album yet" by Twirl Radio.
Producer/guitarist Steve Berns, drummer Ron Pak (Double Naught Spies), bassist Joe Giddings (Theme Music, Ruby Free), and Rick Hromadka (Double Naught Spies, Ruby Free) are the travelers who take their influences to new territories on their forthcoming 2022 LP Someone’s Got To Listen. It's their fifth record overall and their first for Big Stir Records, who are delighted to welcome the hometown heroes to their roster. And it's no wonder: the label itself was born out of the LA live scene, where Maple Mars has long been renowned for massive, stadium-worthy performances whether headlining the label's concert series or opening for the likes of The Tubes.
Hromadka is also a three-time Emmy Award winning sound designer who began penning songs for TV teen shows like Breaker High, Sweet Valley High, and the Power Rangers, also landing a track on the Power Rangers movie Turbo. Maple Mars’ music has also been featured in TV shows like ER, Third Watch, Felicity and Friday Night Lights. The band has appeared on a variety of pop compilations from countries like Sweden, Germany, Japan, Australia, and Canada, winning international attention along with tours of both coasts of the US and in Europe. And the band's already back on the road in advance of the new album. Someone's Got To Listen indeed, and with a clutch of invigorating new songs and their commanding stage presence, MAPLE MARS can be sure that fans worldwide are going to do just that.