Flashcubes A Cellarful of Boys The Basement Tapes 1977-1980 CD Able Al's Sound Shop Syracuse NY Music

The Flashcubes Band CD CDs discography biography Syracuse NY
Able Al Sound Shop On-Line
126 Robbins Lane, Syracuse, NY 13214
(315) 440-1024
Email: Able Al's Sound Shop
Able Al's (TM) has been officially in business for you since 1995.

Flashcubes - A Cellarful of Boys The Basement Tapes 1977-1980
CD $19.99 (2009, Japanese import)
22 Tracks are Christie Girl, Social Mobility, I Need Glue, On The Run, Guernica, Damaged Beyond Repair, One More Try, Face To Face, I Don't Want To Be A Human Being, Got No Mind, Baby Blue, I Can't Stop Wanting You, I Don't Want To Break Your Heart, Student Rape, About Your Head, No More Lonely Nights, Tell Me To My Face, Radio, Boy Scout Pinup, Tell Me It's Alright Now, Born To Cry, It's You Tonight.

The Flashcubes Biography

The Flashcubes may be the great lost power pop group of the 1970s. Formed in 1977 in the sleepy little city of Syracuse, NY, the Flashcubes combined their love for the timeless British Invasion rock 'n' roll of the Beatles, the Kinks, the Hollies and the Who with the high-energy sounds of the punk rockers just starting to make a big noise around that same time. Throw in a healthy reverence for classic power pop acts like Big Star and the Raspberries--and a healthy irreverence for everything else--and you've got a fair picture of what made the Flashcubes shine so brightly.

The Flashcubes are guitarists Paul Armstrong and Arty Lenin, bassist Gary Frenay and drummer Tommy Allen. During their initial life span of 1977-1980, the Flashcubes released only two singles, "Christi Girl" and "Wait Til Next Week," on their own Northside Records label. They always seemed on the brink of bigger things--everyone who knew them just presumed the Flashcubes would become stars - but the big things never materialized. Paul was replaced by Mick Walker in '79, and the 'Cubes were history by 1980.

The individual Flashcubes each pursued their own separate visions. Tommy moved to L.A., where he became involved in artist management and production; he worked with the Sighs on their great power pop debut album. Paul started his own band, the Richards, and moved to Boston; the Richards released a great CD, Over The Top, in 1995. Arty played with power pop icon Paul Collins, appearing on the Paul Collins Band's 1993 From Town To Town CD and later producing his own solo CD, A Life Of Ease in 2000. Gary became a solo acoustic act, with two SAMMY (Syracuse Area Music) Awards for best songwriter and two acclaimed CD's, Armory Square and Jigsaw People, distributed nationally by Tangible Music, and a Frenay & Lenin CD, Live At Pastabilities in 1999.

And all good things come to those who wait. In 1993, Paul, Arty, Gary and Tommy reunited to record four new tracks. One of those tracks, "It's You Tonight," appeared on the first volume of Yellow Pills, Big Deal Record's justly acclaimed series of power pop compilation CD's. Rhino also dug up "Christi Girl" for inclusion on Come Out And Play, a collection of 70's vintage power pop in the label's D.I.Y. series. The 'Cubes also recorded tracks for The Beat Or Not The Beat, a Paul Collins tribute disc recently issued in Australia, and for a Raspberries tribute disc, Preserved.

The Flashcubes' next project, Bright Lights, was the long-awaited first album from the greatest power pop group you'd never heard. Bright Lights offered all of the best of the Flashcubes, then and now. Fans of pure pop delighted in the Raspberries groove of "No Promise," unrepentant punks shook their fists to the angry clatter of "Got No Mind," while anyone who remembers ever being a teenager in love swooned along to "Christi Girl." And that was just for starters, as the old stuff had been remixed for maximum punch, and the new stuff simply proved that a great band was always a great band. Then and now, the Flashcubes are a great band.

The renewal of their recording career coincides with a renewed commitment to live performances. The past few years have brought appearances in Syracuse, Boston, New Jersey, New York City, Rochester and Los Angeles (where they were one of the featured acts at the International Pop Overthrow, a pop festival of over 100 bands from around the world).

In 2002, the band is celebrating their 25th anniversary with a tour of Japan (that yielded a live CD, Raw Power Pop) and with the release of an all-new CD, Brilliant (Dec 2002).

Bill Holmes, Pop Culture Press , March 2003
Brilliant captures their intensity and smart pop chops. They're at the top of their game.

Mark Bialczak, Syracuse Post Standard, January 2003
Brilliant proves that Arty Lenin, Gary Frenay, Paul Armstrong and Tommy Allen got older AND better!

Album Description
Just imagine: a dynamic rock 'n' roll band, combining the most captivating elements of the mid-'60s British Invasion and late-'70s new wave, occupying a really cool DMZ between The Who, The Hollies, The Romantics and The Ramones, playing live shows that convince you that you've witnessed the most exciting rock & roll on the planet, and making records that fully capture the giddy thrill of those live shows.

Now imagine that all started 25 years ago, and you never even heard of the band responsible. Until now.

That band is The Flashcubes--the great lost power pop group of the '70s. And now, they�re back, with a brand new studio album with a self-descriptive title: Brilliant.

The Flashcubes originally formed in Syracuse, NY in 1977, inspired by the heady rush of punk rock and by their mutual love of great rock 'n' roll, from Eddie Cochran through Big Star, The Sex Pistols and beyond. They wrote a lot of terrific songs, played a lot of sweaty, transcendent gigs, and released two singles in their aggressive bid for stardom. In the minds of The Flashcubes' fans, there was never any doubt that this band was gonna be huge. But it was not to be, and The Flashcubes broke up in 1980, their promise unfulfilled.

But even as The Flashcubes seemed destined to fade away, their legend grew. By the early '90s, more people had heard of The Flashcubes than had ever actually heard them. When Rhino Records included their first single, "Christi Girl," on a power pop retrospective called Come Out And Play, The Flashcubes themselves decided it was time to live up to their legend by hitting the road, and gaining an ever-increasing new bloc of eager fans via incendiary live appearances in New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, and even Japan, where The Flashcubes were treated like stars.

That point is made with Brilliant, the first real studio album of The Flashcubes' long, brilliant career. Bursting with 12 new original Flashcubes tunes, Brilliant makes the case that not only were The Flashcubes one of the greatest rock 'n' roll groups to make the scene in the late '70s, they're still one of the very best around. An opening cover of the Eddie & the Hot Rods classic "Do Anything You Wanna Do" serves as both a statement of intent and a gauntlet thrown. Who could resist such a powerful call to arms? Who would wanna resist?

Brilliant. Legendary. The Flashcubes rule again.