Artist: Paul Collins

Click here to view the video on YouTube . New York City "King of Power Pop" Paul Collins (The Nerves, The Beat) will have the 2nd Annual Power Popalicious Festival at NYC's Cake Shop on February 1 & 2. Power-pop-A-Licious 2 is ground zero for the growing DIY power pop scene, and a welcome addition to the collective of music festivals, including IPO (International Pop Overthrow) and our own Power Popaholic Fest. In the extensive interview we talk about the origins of the festival, and his [...]

Conceived and curated by power pop legend Paul Collins (co-founder of THE NERVES, THE BREAKAWAYS and THE BEAT), the fest will bring together some of the finest young guitar-driven power pop, garage rock and punk-pop bands from the eastern seaboard and Canada. Of the lineup, Collins says, "Power Pop-A-Licious 2 is a unifying rally cry for the thriving rock-n-roll subculture, and is a means for power pop fans of all ages to discover a wealth of talented new acts in one power-packed weekend." Power-pop-A-Licious 2 is ground zero for a burgeoning DIY power pop scene fueled by [...]

Paul Collins shows no signs of slowing down. The current king of power pop got his start in the iconic combo The Nerves - with Peter Case and Jack Lee - a band that grew out of the late-'70s Los Angeles power pop scene. From there came The Breakaways and, finally, The Beat - one of the most beloved original American power pop bands. After years of on-and-off touring and recording with The Beat and as a solo artist, Paul is gearing up for multiple dates with Paul Collins' Beat and [...]

We got another late start on the day after the whatever-eth consecutive night of going to bed at dawn and waking up 4 or 5 hours later and, following some homemade sangria and venison burgers (appropriate fare for our next destination), made our way to Spider House for Burgermania, a daylong, seven stage muzak extravaganza put on by L.A.’s Burger Records and Austin’s Burger City Rock and Roll and encompassing a mind-boggling 76 bands in total.  When we arrived, Mean Jeans was just finishing up in the Ballroom bar stage.  We were lucky enough to make [...]

In addition to his work with groundbreaking power-pop act the Beat, Paul Collins 's paired with a pre-Plimsouls Peter Case in the Nerves. While that act's best known for the fact that Blondie covered their remarkably catchy "Hanging On the Telephone," it's astounding to think that just two men could be part of three seminal acts.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Two legends of powerpop Peter Case and Paul Collins , from playing in bands like The Nerves, The Beat, The Plimsouls and The Breakaways, played their hearts out to a happy audience at Rhythm Room, PHX last night. I didn't take notes, but Collins and Case played their guitars like it was 1978 again. They sounded great, all four band members vocals were clear (though Collins was having some monitor issues on his side of things), and the rhythm section pumped up the beat sweetly. [...]

Fine fare for your Wednesday: ► Portland sextet Blitzen Trapper visits the Troubadour behind their 2011 album "American Goldwing" — that's director Brian Adrian Koch's video for "Taking It Easy Too Long," above. Opening are the Parson Red Heads, the former L.A. residents whose recent turn on "Portlandia" had everybody buzzing. ► Two influential rockers whose careers date back to the ’70s —  Peter Case and Paul Collins — head up a quartet headlining the Echo, where they will perform songs from their legendary bands, the Plimsouls, the [...]

[PHOTO CREDIT: Amie Althaea] What began as a potentially precarious and non-commital show blossomed into a legendary, manic rock event. Saturday evening's performance at the Star Theater in Portland built slowly to a boiling point at which Peter Case and Paul Collins began to tear through the power-pop gems that spangle their respective, nearly 40-year careers. The energy, skill and conviction of their show transcended both time and male pattern baldness, proving that an intelligent, youthful spirit can persist to incite future generations to dance like it's 1964, or '74, or '84. Hell... [...]

On their debut self-titled LP out via Burger Records, sisters Chelsea and Justine Brown - aka Summer Twins - deliver dreampop rock & roll songs drenched in California sun. In March, Summer Twins hit the road with Paul Collins of The Beat and Peter Case of The Plimsouls bringing their 50s and 60s inspired pop [...]

Paul Collins has been through all the highs and lows that the music industry has to offer. With Collins' first band, the Nerves, they penned the song "Hanging on the Telephone," a track that would later be a hit when Blondie covered it on their album Parrallel Lines . His band, Paul Collins' Beat, would later have their song "There She Goes" featured on the soundtrack to Caddy Shack and it looked like everything was coming up Millhouse, but the commercial success never came. Collins and his band were dropped from Columbia Records before [...]

Beirut is often grouped with other bands whose front man has become a synonym for the band itself. Bright Eyes has Conor Oberst, Bon Iver has Justin Vernon, and indie rock outfit Beirut has Zach Condon. Though Beirut started as Condon’s personal brainchild, bassist Paul Collins has been a part of the Sante Fe-based group for nearly as long as Condon himself. Now fresh off the release of Beirut’s latest EP, The Rip Tide , Collins has witnessed first-hand how the band’s songwriting has slowly morphed—and continues to morph—from a one-man show to a collaborative effort. Just as [...]

​Seems like most indie music fans had no idea that the Balkan's had their own unique brand of folk music before Zach Condon started mining that territory for sonic gold under his Beirut moniker.... Continue reading "Beirut's Paul Collins Names The Five Records He and His Band Have Most Listened to in 2011" >

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If there is a guy who quintessentially sums up the idea of “Mature Hipster” as Rocker Magazine defines it, Paul Collins is it. Slogging away at the fine art of power pop for more than 35 years Collins has been become not only an icon, but the writer of some of the greatest power pop songs ever. From penning the seminal Blondie single "Hanging on the Telephone" as a member of The Nerves to the defiantly perfect "Don't Wait Up For Me", to the fact that Collins continues to tour into even now in his mid-502s there is nothing [...]

Tweet At the time of Beirut's debut album release it didn't take long for me to find out, and subsequently feel extremely unaccomplished in life about, the fact that Beirut 's songsmith and main man Zach Condon was only 19 years old. Add into the mix the fact that he did everything himself just made me want to quit life altogether.  At 21 I was chasing squirrels at 3am, stealing hoods from cars, stealing shoes from billboards, and stealing skating ramps from Universities and taking [...]

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Peter Case - The Case Files From The Breakaways to The Nerves to The Plimsouls to his solo career, Peter Case has always weaved a web of quality, roots based rock. The Case Files collects demos, out-takes, one live shot & other rarities from the 1985-2010 span of Case's solo career. Compiled by Peter himself, this long-overdue collection combines rockin’ full band electric tracks with a selection of dynamic acoustic performances, and also features collaborations with many of Peter's friends, such as Stan Ridgway, [...]

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cover by ward robinson This wild little guy has been out for a second but we were so busy with shows , shows and shows that we didn't get a chance to make a huge deal about it! So behold—L.A. RECORD 104! First issue of our sixth year of printing with busting-through-the-mold L.A. transplant KING TUFF on the cover and a very provocative MIA DOI TODD on the poster! Must it be seen to be believed? Or must one first believe to see? Order a copy and all will be revealed [...]