The Bubbles

Memorial Day has come and gone: Time to brush away the crumbs of Spring, put those shorts and flops back on the top of your clothing rotation, and cruise on into Summer with a bit of The Bubbles' power pop in your ears.

The Bubbles formed back in '07, after William Glosup had compiled his loose collection of pop-flavored songs and needed some like-minded souls to give live vehemence to his bedroom compositions. Over the years, the cast has changed ("We have had 6 drummers, and 4 bassists so far", says William) but the power-pop emphasis, and stalwart Christopher Balcom, have remained intact.

When we say "power pop", we mean the summer-ish, feel-good sound that's all over this track from their latest, "Daydreaming in Technicolor":
For that sound, that poppish clarity, coupled with Glosup's vocals, we couldn't imagine a more fitting moniker than "The Bubbles".

The name The Bubbles came from a few different places. First of all it was a simple tangible image that rolled off the tongue nicely; secondly it was inspired by two different songs which are "Think About Your Troubles" by Harry Nilsson, as well as "Bubbles" by the 60's bubble-gum pop band The Free Design.
-- William Glosup

Let's not dump these guys to the "pop" bin just yet. Give this track a bit (about 2:40), and watch it transform from sing-along ditty to psycho-thrash:
You can see where the "pop" label comes from: Catchy, simplistic, guitar+vocal driven tunes that drag you along for the fun, sometimes even against your will. But with The Bubbles if you start in the land of saccharine, it's a safe bet that the train won't stop until you've been drug through some of the seedier parts of the musical landscape. Check out the optimistic "We're All Gonna Die" for a great example of this:
Now for something a little different, yet still not out of character - Watch how this piece relaxes you with the woodwind/guitar counterpoint, then turns into a psychedelic treat before it's over:
Another thing The Bubbles do well is production: Notice that "loud & clear" sound? These tracks were recorded the old fashioned way, in a studio; Superpop Records studio, to be exact, watched over by the experienced eyes of Seth Gibbs. Then mixed by Danny Reisch, and finally mastered by Erik Wofford at Cacophony. With those kinds of hands on your audio, you can bet they'll coax the best out of your sound.

And you can expect more: They're putting the finishing touches on their new EP, "Darker Days", which is "coming out really soon":

You could definitely say it is enormously different. We have done 2 straight-ahead/semi-psychedelic pop records, and this is much more dark, loud rock and roll. Definitely a little something we needed to get out of our system.
-- William Glosup

William says the live band is in the process of reforming, but you should be able to catch them at their usual haunts (The Mohawk, Emo's, 29th St. Ballroom), or at the very least, they'll be at the "Top of the Pops" at 29th Street Ballroom on July 15.

We'll leave you with the music video for the excellent (and appropriate) "Never-Ending Summer":

Never-Ending Summer (official music video) from The Bubbles on Vimeo.

Find out more about The Bubbles on FaceBook, MySpace, and BandCamp.

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