The Blusterfields - The Vicious Afterglow (2022)

Bands like The Blusterfields usually aren’t thought of as what the youth-oriented market of music consumers are streaming and downloading these days. Yet... years of experience in performance and songcraft give the Blusterfields a solid calling card centering on their performances and recordings. They do it on their own terms, defiantly refusing to play the usual major label/name producer/big time studio game.

While praising The Blusterfields, critics often try to pigeonhole them with the “Power Pop” label. While there are plenty of driving, poppy melodies, chiming guitars and close harmonies, The Blusterfields' recordings feature many different styles of original material, from mildly psychedelic excursions to throaty garage rock to quirky new wave stylings.

Formed after the dissolution of Mike's band Arrow Beach, The Blusterfields' material is written by Mike and singer Todd Jones-Jones. Jackson McGee's drumming and bassist and backing vocalist Gary Miller round out the rhythm section. Todd co-fronted the popular 80's NC new wave pop band the X-Teens. Mike was the guiding force of Stratocruiser as well as Arrow Beach and has three full length solo instrumental releases to his credit as well as doing stints in The Doleful Lions, The X-Rayons, Bullwinkel Gandhi and as touring guitarist for Hüsker Dü's Grant Hart. Jackson, a Cleveland, OH native, served as drummer for the seminal power pop group The Wild Giraffes as well as for Savoy Brown, Sarah Shook and the Devil, The Stars Explode and more. Also a former member of the Stars Explode as well as Gumption and Seattle's Shake Some Action, Gary has made a name for himself as an independent musician in his native East Tennessee, Chapel Hill and Seattle.