I Like Ike

Not so many years ago (9 to be exact, 1999, the year Jenn and I were married) we saw Matthew Sweet at a now defunct Midtown venue. I’d have to check the ticket stub for the name, but it was just north of 10th on Peachtree, but I digress.

The opening act that night was the cleverly-named trio The John Faye Power Trip fronted by, you guessed it, John Faye. Their blend of rocking and melodic power pop was the perfect stage-setter for Matthew’s current (at the time), amazing, seminal & wholly underrated album: In Reverse.

I’m still waiting for a better body of work from him. I’m talking to you Rock Bottom!

Jenn and I listen to TJFPT’s eponymous debut every time we go on a road trip. It’s a great soundtrack to open roads and singing along with the choruses (chorii?).

I haven’t thought much about the band in the intervening years because the strength of that one album is so good and because, you know, we have two kids and jobs and other responsibilities. They were a tiny opening act and we love the dozen tracks we have; why get greedy?

Then I remembered they have the internet now. On computers and such. So I went looking.

Turns out the trio is now a quartet (or foursome, you pick) and they’re called IKE. Try searching for them on Hype Machine and you get a ton of Tina’s ex and not at all what they’re about.

Still, they are on “the MySpace” (thx, Dad!) and a smattering on Last.fm if you’re into that kind of thing. They’re also doing it independently and they sell tracks via snocap, which is cool.

There are some vids on YouTube, notably Deathbed (Na, Na, Na).

Interestingly (and cooly) enough they financed the production of their album Parallel Universe via fan contributions. “Patrons” as the band called them.

They’ve recorded a few more CDs since Parallel Universe and don’t appear to be slowing down in their pursuit of gigs, new albums or fan converts. I highly recommend checking them out.

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