Big Stir Records is proud to once again join forces with Power Pop Hall Of Famers THE FLASHCUBES, this time for a bittersweet celebration of founding member, guitarist and songwriter PAUL ARMSTRONG who passed away earlier this year. In honor of Armstrong, the band, joined on lead vocals by friend and legendary voice actor TOM KENNY (SpongeBob himself), present a new single on 7” 45rpm Vinyl and Digital Streaming with a new version of Paul's signature tune “Got No Mind.” It's backed by the wax debut of his final contribution to the Flashcubes canon, the 2025 single “Reminisce,” on the B-side. All formats see release on November 13 and are up for preorder and pre-save now:

https://orcd.co/flashcubes-gotnomind

Debuting in 1978 with the oft-anthologized classic single “Christi Girl” and delivering their recent hit covers collection POP MASTERS (2023) with exactly the same lineup – Armstrong, bassist Gary Frenay, drummer Tommy Allen and guitarist Arty Lenin – THE FLASHCUBES have become as much a beloved institution as a band. Across the five decades in which they've performed and recorded, they've won induction into both the Syracuse Music Hall Of Fame and the Power Pop Hall Of Fame (alongside heroes like Raspberries and peers like Cheap Trick) and most recently they've been the subject of a tribute album: last year's MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN! A TRIBUTE TO THE FLASHCUBES, curated by author, DJ and official band historian CARL CAFARELLI. The collection not only saw the band's classic tunes reimagined by the likes of Graham Parker, The Spongetones, The Kennedys and Sorrows as well as Kenny and his band The Hi-Seas, it showcased THE FLASHCUBES themselves with, amazingly, three new tracks to stand with their best. Among them was the Armstrong-penned indie hit “Reminisce,” whose sound and sentiment immediately made it a latter-day anthem for the band as well as so many of the fans who love them.

Paul Armstrong passed away in April of this year, at a time of renewed celebration of the band he co-founded and with many anticipating yet more new music from the reinvigorated Flashcubes. The surviving members have rallied to make that happen in memory of Paul. Drummer/producer TOMMY ALLEN explains the genesis of the new single: “After the initial shock of Paul’s death, I had the urge to honor his legacy in some small way, and to me it meant recording what I consider to be one of his very best songs. 'Got No Mind' is a work of punk novelty genius, and I hope P.A. would approve of our homage to his youthful rebellious  spirit. Gary suggested Tom Kenny to sing and he enthusiastically delivered. One of Paul’s musical heroes Mark Doyle stepped in on guitar as an honorary Flashcube, and his Boston buddies Mike Gent (The Figs) and Sal Baglio (The Stompers) were enlisted by Gary to join in our tribute.”

Flashcubes co-founder and bassist/vocalist GARY FRENAY picks up the tale: “While still reeling from the loss of one of our founding members, I take consolation in the fact that we were still intact as a recording unit and, more importantly, as close friends, 49 years from our inception in the summer of 1977. Paul Armstrong was a force of nature, onstage and off. He was a type A personality who loved the spotlight and GOT THINGS DONE! He was our spark plug on stage - constantly in motion - and our rock & roll spirit leader. But, instead of just mourning the loss of our friend, we will honor him by throwing ourselves into new projects, something he would’ve advocated himself. For me, that meant a long blog about our friendship, helping with his funeral arrangements and obituary, recording a single of his most provocative song, 'Got No Mind,' and planning a memorial concert in his honor featuring songs from every phase of his long musical life, played by everyone he performed with: the 'Cubes, 1.4.5., The Richards, and The Most.

About the new recording for the single, Frenay adds: “This new version of 'Got No Mind' is a microcosm of that family of bands, featuring the surviving Flashcubes; his local guitar idol Mark Doyle; our dear, famous friend, Tom (SpongeBob) Kenny; and even Paul’s son Chris on guitar, playing just like his Dad! Like the traditional Irish Wake, we’ll be sending PA out in style, on vinyl, and on stage, just as he would have loved!”

Indeed, the new single featuring “Got No Mind” on the A-side and Armstrong's “Reminisce” from MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN! on the flip marks the first Vinyl release under the Flashcubes name in many years, brought together with sleeve and label art by Marge Finer, Paul’s longtime partner and an ace of a graphic designer (a labor of love for her). That's emblematic of the community and family coming together for the month-long celebration of Armstrong's life and music. The all-star live concert tribute event at The Lost Horizon in Syracuse is scheduled for November 7 (follow the band for more details), and the new 45 itself will be offered by Big Stir Records along with rare Vinyl copies of the band's long-0ut-of-print 1979 single “Wait Till Next Week”, offering fans a pair of highly collectible bookends on wax. It all goes to ensure that Paul Armstrong will be remembered as he would wish: through rock and roll and the music of THE FLASHCUBES. Join us, fire up your turntable, and reminisce.

Expected release: November 13, 2026

BIG STIR RECORDS and producer/curator Carl Cafarelli bring you a very special collection saluting – and featuring – Power Pop Hall Of Famers THE FLASHCUBES: the all-new new album MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN! A TRIBUTE TO THE FLASHCUBES. Joining the legendary Syracuse band's three hit 2025 singles “Reminisce,” “The Sweet Spot” and “If These Hands” are 21 new covers of 'Cubic classics by a dazzling assortment of the band's peers from the '70s onwards (GRAHAM PARKER, THE SPONGETONES, SORROWS) and leading lights of the current indie pop scene (THE KENNEDYS, sparkle*jets u.k., CHRIS VON SNEIDERN, LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS and more). The album is set for a September 12 release on CD and Streaming, and it's available for pre-order and pre-save now:

https://orcd.co/flashcubes-tribute

Many will recall THE FLASHCUBES for their oft-anthologized classic early singles “Christi Girl” (1978) and “Wait Till Next Week” (1979) while others will know them from their recent, acclaimed covers album POP MASTERS or the fresh sounds of their new singles from this very year. Compilation producer CARL CAFARELLI, co-host of WSPJ's This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl and a noted power pop authority (Goldmine Magazine and his own Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) blog), has long been the band's preeminent booster, and he tells the tale best in his liner notes for MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN!

“The Flashcubes lit the spark of the Syracuse new wave rock 'n' roll scene, inspiring new groups and delighting delirious, giddy fans,” writes Cafarelli. “Guitarists Paul Armstrong and Arty Lenin, bassist Gary Frenay, and drummer Tommy Allen burned a hole through the roof of every venue the Flashcubes played. From The Loft in rural Middleville, NY to Max’s Kansas City in New York, the band blazed a rock 'n' roll trail from Syracuse to Boston to Detroit to Cleveland, to CBGB's, to Los Angeles, and even to Japan. Forty-eight years on, the band still features all four original members.”

Indeed, THE FLASHCUBES have been firing on all cylinders in recent years, and that's why they're one of the few long-running bands capable of stealing the show with all-new material on a tribute album to themselves. The trilogy of new singles from the band – the nostalgic but revved-up “Reminisce,” the soaring textbook power pop of “The Sweet Spot” and the drop-dead gorgeous ballad “If These Hands” – have been all over the global pop indie airwaves all summer long, and they're sprinkled like jewels across this album. MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN is thus a remarkable document of nearly half a century of kickass performances and songwriting alike.

And the songs, of course, take center stage here, this being a selection of fresh spins on decades of the band's material. What emerges is a songbook rich with a depth of craft and sentiment that is too often overlooked in favor of THE FLASHCUBES' melodic acumen and onstage firepower. That ends now, thanks to the amazing range of artists here (recruited from Cafarelli's own impressive Rolodex as well as the renowned roster of Big Stir Records, eight of whose artists including The Flashcubes themselves contribute tracks). Listeners will be treated to a variety and flexibility of styles likely to surprise those not immersed in the band's catalog. It's immediately striking that, within a genre so often thought of as a “boy's club,” women take lead vocals on no fewer than five tracks. All of them – Maura Kennedy of The Kennedys, Meegan Voss of The Verbs, Susan West of sparkle*jets u.k., Christina Bulbenko of The Armoires and Lisa Mychols in collaboration with Super 8 – reframe the originals in surprising ways, teasing out new textures ranging from sweet to fierce, and give wings to some amazing melodies penned by all three of The Flashcubes' world class songwriters.

Equally eye-opening are the artists who step outside of the expected genre boxes with resounding success. It's no surprise that the great Graham Parker, aided and abetted by Mike Gent of The Figgs, brings a gritty soulfulness to “Pathetic” or that The Peppermint Kicks get even more muscular with “Muscle Beach” than the original, but there's more. Who would have expected “Walking Through The Park” to be pushed into bossa nova territory by The Kennedys, Librarians With Hickeys transforming “Gone Too Far” into a garage-psych nugget, or a horn-fueled tear through “Welcome To The Working Class” fronted by SpongeBob himself, Tom Kenny? Elsewhere, Super 8 remodel “When We Close Our Eyes” into a lovely chamber pop shuffle, Dolph Chaney steers “Girl From Germany” down the Autobahn into Kraftwerk-land, and The Armoires veer onto Revolver terrain on “You're Not The Police”, blending in a nod to The Flashcubes' fellow Power Pop Hall Of Famers Cheap Trick as if to level the playing field of fame. And then there's Hamell On Trial's not-safe-for-work lo-fi acoustic re-working of “Got No Mind,” a truly delightful outlier that The Flashcubes themselves count as one of their favorites on this tribute.

That said, it will inevitably be asked: “is it power pop?” Of course it is, including all of the above, but if it's the pure crunch-jangle-hooks-and-harmonies sound you crave, sterling examples abound here. Just cue up genre master Chris von Sneidern's take on “No Promise,” Joe Giddings' shimmering “You're Not Grounded,” or Robbie Rist's majestically Queen-like whimsy on Ballzy Tomorrow's version of “Five Personalities.” There's more, but it's apt that the record closes with tracks from two of The Flashcubes' closest still-kicking analogues as power pop pioneers on the late '70s scene: SORROWS with “Radio,” and the 'Cubes' fellow Hall Of Famers The Spongetones with “Nothing Really Matters When You're Young.” Both bands and both songs stand as proof positive of the restorative and cathartic power of music... and so, of course, do THE FLASHCUBES themselves. All the evidence you could ever need is here, as all the artists – including the band being celebrated – MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN.

The full list of artists featured: THE FLASHCUBES, sparkle*jets u.k., LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS, CHRIS VON SNEIDERN, GRAHAM PARKER & MIKE GENT (The Figgs), JOE GIDDINGS, BALLZY TOMORROW, THE KENNEDYS, THE VERBS, DOLPH CHANEY, POP CO-OP, THE PEPPERMINT KICKS, TOM KENNY & THE HI-SEAS, THE CHOOSERS, HAMELL ON TRIAL, THE ARMOIRES, ROB MOSS AND SKIN-TIGHT SKIN, THE MAYFLOWERS, SUPER 8 featuring LISA MYCHOLS, CALLAN FOSTER, SORROWS, and THE SPONGETONES.

With a keenly awaited, star-studded salute to power pop legends THE FLASHCUBES – the aptly-titled MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN! -- on the way on CD and Streaming in mere weeks, the band themselves return with the new single “If These Hands.” Out August 29 on all digital platforms, it's the third in the trilogy of new tunes to be included in the collection alongside new versions of their classics recorded by their acclaimed friends and fans. “If These Hands” is up for pre-order and pre-save from Big Stir Records now:

https://orcd.co/flashcubes-ifthesehands

By now the indie pop world has had a look at the artists lined up to put their own spins on the FLASHCUBES songbook on MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN! A TRIBUTE TO THE FLASHCUBES (out September 12 on CD and streaming). It's an impressive roster, including the band's fellow veterans The Spongetones, Sorrows, The Kennedys, Graham Parker and Mike Gent (of The Figgs) alongside the leading lights of the current scene (Librarians With Hickeys, Chris von Sneidern, sparkle*jets u.k. and many more). At the same time, THE FLASHCUBES have been enjoying robust worldwide indie radio airplay and chart action for two completely new singles: “Reminisce,” from guitarist PAUL ARMSTRONG, and “The Sweet Spot” with bassist GARY FRENAY in the spotlight. They're the first two of a promised trio of singles, and the third arrives now, two weeks before all three bow as part of the tribute record, and as one might expect, the brand new “If These Hands” sees the third world-class songwriter in the band's, guitarist ARTY LENIN, step to the forefront.

What's more, “If These Hands” completes a well-rounded portrait of all the strengths that have made THE FLASHCUBES worthy of a tribute album to begin with. If “Reminisce” is the rocker and “The Sweet Spot” is the anthem, this new track is the ballad... and a gorgeous one at that. Heartfelt and soaring, dripping with hooks in both its vocal melody and the guitar lines, it's an instant Flashcubes classic and one of the strongest tracks on an album that is, by definition, a distillation of the very best these Power Pop Hall Of Famers have to offer. The production, handled as on the band's most recent hit album (the acclaimed covers collection POP MASTERS) by drummer TOMMY ALLEN, hits the perfect balance between rock energy and pop sweetness.

It's a testament to THE FLASHCUBES that their own newest material, crafted well into their fifth decade as a band, stands so tall amongst the songs collected by producer/curator CARL CAFARELLI for the tribute album. “If These Hands” leaps out of a track sequence that's stacked with hooks and harmonies as an essential standout. It'll likewise surely follow THE FLASHCUBES' recent hits onto the airwaves and into the hearts of fans worldwide while they count the days until MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN! brings the band's full story – for now! – to their doorstep.

THE FLASHCUBES are back once more with the second single of their Summer 2025 trilogy of new tracks: “The Sweet Spot”. Out July 25 on all digital platforms worldwide, it follows their recent indie hit “Reminisce” in paving the way to a unique album release celebrating the legacy (and the modern day renaissance) of the Power Pop Hall Of Fame inductees. With one more new single to come and the album announcement in the wings, “The Sweet Spot” is up is up for pre-order and pre-save now:

https://orcd.co/flashcubes-sweetspot

It's already been a banner year for THE FLASHCUBES as they storm back onto the airwaves with new music and the same lineup as when they burst onto the Syracuse scene in 1977 (guitarists Paul Armstrong and Arty Lenin, bassist Gary Frenay and drummer Tommy Allen). While the band won accolades in recent years for their fan-favorite covers album POP MASTERS, they hadn't released any new originals for years until June brought the surprise hit “Reminisce,” masterminded by Armstrong who shared the lead vocal with guest Mike Gent of The Figgs. Now the 'Cubes are popping off all over, and the radio-ready perfection of the aptly named “The Sweet Spot” brings bassist GARY FRENAY front and center, on a terrific tune that's as relatable as it is personal. Frenay explains the song's origins:

“The main inspiration for this song was the book Pulse!, by my brother Bob (Robert C. Frenay - 1946-2007) published in 2006. In the book he talks about the future of technology and how many systems mirror processes in the natural world. One phrase he kept using was 'the sweet spot:' that place where everything sits in its perfect place and just feels right. I had that title floating around for years but couldn’t make it into a song. Enter B.D. Love. “Buddy” Love, as he was known when we first met in 1977, was a Syracuse University professor with a taste for rock & roll. He found The Flashcubes early on and would jump onstage during our encores. That led to him starting his own band, Buddy Love & The Tearjerkers (and later, My Sin), and a lifelong friendship - even though, for most of it, he lived 3,000 miles away in Los Angeles. Buddy was a published poet, author and celebrated educator.”

“We had talked about collaborating for years but we never quite made it happen,” Gary continues, “until 2022. I told him I was stuck on starting a song with the concept of the Sweet Spot. I asked for help and he said he’d think about it. In fairly short order, he sent me the lyric that expressed my sweet spot idea in three different ways: music, baseball and romance. It was perfect!  When I sat down with a guitar, the song seemed to write itself; I didn’t have to change a word. I made a quick demo and sent it to him. He loved it and shared it with everyone he knew, reveling in the fact that he was finally getting to contribute to a Flashcubes song, 45 years on! Unfortunately, Buddy, in poor health later in life, suffered a fall at home in August, 2023. My friend never got to hear our finished recording. After a long hospitalization Buddy passed away on Memorial Day, 2024. Let’s hope he’s listening now.”

The global pop community is certainly listening to everything this legendary band is up to now, and followers of DJ/journalist Carl Cafarelli have more than an inkling that the band – and a veritable host of their friends and fans – are truly about to “make something happen.” For now, we will say no more, and leave you right where THE FLASHCUBES want you... in “The Sweet Spot”!

BIG STIR RECORDS and Power Pop Hall-Of-Famers THE FLASHCUBES are proud to announce the August 11 release of the first full-length album of their partnership: POP MASTERS. The single-most requested release in the label's history, the new album collects all of the long-running NY State band's recent guest-star-studded singles covering the guitar pop classics of the past five decades, together with new tribute tracks (including the current single “Forget About You”) for the definitive presentation of the beloved collaborative covers series. Hitting record store shelves and online retailers worldwide as a CD and all streaming services on the street date, POP MASTERS is up for pre-order/pre-save now (https://orcd.co/theflashcubes-popmasters). Guest shots from many of the original artists on these fresh versions of underground classics by SHOES, PILOT, THE SPONGETONES, PEZBAND, PALEY BROTHERS and more make the album a must for fans of THE FLASHCUBES, the artists celebrated here, and perfect, short-and-sweet guitar pop in the past, present and future tense.

THE FLASHCUBES are as venerable and vibrant as they come, bursting out of Syracuse, NY in 1977 with the same lineup they have today – guitarists Paul Armstrong and Arty Lenin, bassist Gary Frenay and drummer Tommy Allen. During their initial lifespan of 1977-1980, the Flashcubes released only two singles, "Christi Girl" and "Wait Til Next Week," both now acknowledged as guitar pop classics. They always seemed on the brink of bigger things - everyone who knew them just presumed The Flashcubes would become stars. And while those big things never materialized, their legend only grew, so that by the time the band reunited in the '90s, as powerful and poppy as ever, they were recognized as the heroes they'd always been. They haven't looked back since, with a string of acclaimed albums and a reputation as a world-class live act to their credit and no end in sight.

For the past two years, THE FLASHCUBES have been delighting global radio audiences and followers of the power pop sound with a series of singles, all pursuing an ingenious gambit: covering the songs of their rough contemporaries in the creation of the modern power pop song, and enlisting the original artists for prominent guest shots. It all kicked off with their July 2021 debut for Big Stir Records, a new version of fellow Power Pop Hall Of Famers PEZBAND's classic “Baby It's Cold Outside” with the tune's original writer and singer MIMI BETINIS sharing vocal duties. Fans clamored for more, and the band and label were happy to oblige: 2022 kicked off with the band going it alone on an artist-endorsed version of DWIGHT TWILLEY BAND's “Alone In My Room” before the guests artists returned for the next whirlwind run of one-off releases. The full classic lineup of SHOES joined the 'Cubes on a rendition of the Chicago darlings' beloved “Tomorrow Night”, both PALEY BROTHERS guested on their own “Come Out And Play”, and THE SPONGETONES – yes, also Hall Of Fame inductees, and yes, now Big Stir Records labelmates with our heroes – brought their renowned vocal firepower to the biggest of the many hits in the series, “Have You Ever Been Torn Apart?”

As THE FLASHCUBES continued to turn the should-have-been-hits of yesterday into indie radio smashes for the 21st century, they dipped back to salute their key influences as well as their contemporaries. The proto-Raspberries outfit CYRUS ERIE's RANDY KLAWON added guitar to a new version of the band's “Get The Message” while New York Dolls guitarist STEVE CONTE ably glammed up the 'Cubes' take on SLADE's “Gudbuy T'Jane.” And PILOT main man DAVID PATON joined the the fun on an inspired reading of his band's “Get Up And Go” (a single from 1977, the year the THE FLASHCUBES came together). The inspired pairings of tunes and collaborators showed no sign of letting up.

By this stage, though, fans were demanding more than just more singles. Clearly a full-length album was in order, and it will come as no surprise that the new album POP MASTERS was in the cards all along. Apropos to their legacy and stature as the the hosts of all the pop party, THE FLASHCUBES in all their four-piece glory have announced the album with the rip-roaring new track “Forget About You,” originally recorded by THE MOTORS. It's one of four new tracks on which THE FLASHCUBES tackle the classics from across the decades as only they can. They bring POP MASTERS to a round dozen never-before-collected artifacts of ageless hooks and harmony, served up anew in the inimitable 'Cubes style and sounding fresher than ever.

On a modern music scene perhaps oversaturated with tribute albums, POP MASTERS is something truly special. Not only is it a new dispatch from a still-vital group of power pop pioneers, and not only is its authenticity burnished by the many guests THE FLASHCUBES have invited to the party... it's also a unique assemblage of songs that could only have been chosen by true fans. Naturally, THE FLASHCUBES could have selected a fistful of far more obvious pop rock chestnuts, all the easier to catch the eyes and ears of “the casuals”... and let's be honest, they would have nailed two sides' worth of Beatles, Byrds, Badfinger and Big Star. But what we have here is something altogether more engrossing and unique. Songs picked by compulsive record collectors with the keenest of ears, ornamented with all-star assistance by friends from their enviable contacts list, and delivered with the swagger and drive cultivated over four decades of legendary live performances, and yet shot through with the youthful abandon the material demands.

It's a loving look at the past, but it's just too palpably “new” and “now” to be mistaken for a mere nostalgia trip. Take the album's title as you will: THE FLASHCUBES themselves are indisputable POP MASTERS, and here they pay homage to others equally deserving of the title. The result is a record which, however you may categorize it – tribute collection, collaborative party, or simply the band's much-anticipated next studio album – will inevitably be ranked among the year's best, and an absolute essential for guitar pop fans of any age. Big Stir Records takes great pride in bringing it to you.