TONYA MOSLEY, HOST:

That is FRESH AIR. Rock, punk and funk – our rock critic Ken Tucker has provide you with examples of three genres musicians are exploring in new methods. Mike Campbell, the previous member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, because the lead of his band, the Soiled Knobs, newly minted TikTok sensation Tommy Richman, and two brothers, Jeff and Steven McDonald, who’ve been main the band Pink Cross on and off for greater than 4 a long time – Ken says they share a knack for sounding upbeat and spontaneous. Let’s begin with Mike Campbell and the Soiled Knobs.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ANGEL OF MERCY”)

MIKE CAMPBELL AND THE DIRTY KNOBS: (Singing) I am hanging on a promise. You hung me out to dry. I can not hold round right here. I am operating out of time. You blow like a hurricane by way of my burning mind.

KEN TUCKER, BYLINE: Mike Campbell got here to prominence as lead guitarist for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Rising up about an hour away from one another in Northern Florida, Campbell and Petty share an analogous excessive nasal croon. For the previous decade, Campbell has been making Petty-esque music along with his personal band, the Soiled Knobs, first as a aspect mission, and after the demise of Petty in 2017, as his bread and butter. Campbell and the Soiled Knobs’ new album, “Vagabonds, Virgins And Misfits” has quite a lot of songs so good they transcend the Petty comparability. And probably the greatest of them is “Dare To Dream.” It options lyrics powered by positivity – traces about how these are the most effective of occasions, and that is the nice life, whilst his tone suggests he could imagine there are hidden pitfalls in daring to dream too naively.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “DARE TO DREAM”)

MIKE CAMPBELL AND THE DIRTY KNOBS: (Singing) Right here comes a model new day. You possibly can throw the final one. It may be all proper so long as nobody tries to tug a quick one. And that is what you’ve got waited for. There is no ready anymore. These are the most effective of occasions. That is the nice like. And all you dare to dream can come true. Dare to dream.

TUCKER: That is Graham Nash singing on the catchy refrain. Talking of catchy, there is a new tune known as “Million Greenback Child” by Tommy Richman that has already given beginning to lots of, most likely hundreds, perhaps hundreds of thousands of TikTok movies of individuals dancing to this irresistible hit. The music is a deceptively languid groove fashioned by keyboards, bass, and drums that basically will get going when Richman’s elastic voice bounces in. Richman begins out singing in a smoky Robinson soprano that drops a lot decrease in spots. We’ve undoubtedly received a brand new candidate for the tune of the summer season right here.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “MILLION DOLLAR BABY”)

TOMMY RICHMAN: (Singing) I ain’t by no means rep a set, child. Ain’t do no flawed. I might clear up good for you. Oh, I do know proper from flawed ‘trigger I wish to make it so badly. I am a million-dollar child. Do not at me. Hell no. You rep my metropolis for thus rattling lengthy, however you continue to do not discover me. My sound subsequent. VA subsequent. I am at they neck. Yeah, yeah. I am operating up a verify. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I see a nasty little mama. She a diva. It doesn’t matter what occurs, he can not come between us once more. I do know we’re higher than associates – higher than associates. I took her to queen’s gambit – yeah, yeah – confirmed round my associates.

TUCKER: That music is without delay as much as the minute and redolent of basic late ’70s, early ’80s funk. Suppose Cameo or Lakeside or The Hole Band. The lyrics of “Million Greenback Child” are as shrewdly optimistic as Mike Campbell’s “Dare To Dream.” Tommy Richman sings, I wish to make it so badly. He’s the million-dollar child, in his personal thoughts no less than.

One other act whose music reaches throughout a long time is Redd Kross, a 45-year-old band led by brothers Jeff and Steven McDonald. The important thing tune on their new album is the autobiography titled “Born Harmless.”

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “BORN INNOCENT”)

REDD KROSS: (Singing) After I was 15, I hated faculty, knew what I wished to do. However a destiny set a solid at simply 40 bucks a 12 months. I wrote a tune, performed a present, give up the one job that I might ever identified. I am rejecting your old style knowledge excuse. We’re born, born harmless. All of us are born harmless. We’re born, born harmless. All of us are born harmless, unique innocence.

TUCKER: Now of their 50s, the McDonald brothers started their careers as youngsters, enjoying alongside West Coast hardcore acts like Black Flag and Worry.

I noticed these youngsters thrash their method by way of a number of loud, quick, quick songs once I lived in LA within the early ’80s. Redd Kross’s new copious 18-song album known as “Redd Kross” is loaded with candy harmonies and thunderous guitar riffing. Like Mike Campbell and Tommy Richman, the Redd Kross guys are making music rooted in a deep information of the previous and an appreciation of the laborious work required to make pleasure sound so spontaneous and so exhilarating.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “STUNT QUEEN”)

REDD KROSS: (Singing) It is fairly apparent the issues that you just say. Yeah. You’re only a stunt queen with the annoying video games that you just play. I do not blame you. I do not blame you for attempting to make a reputation for your self (a reputation for your self). Searching for some disgrace in motion, so predictably off the shelf. I say yeah (yeah), no (no), hey (hey), whoa.

MOSLEY: Ken Tucker reviewed new music by Mike Campbell, Tommy Richman and Jeff and Steven McDonald. Tomorrow on FRESH AIR, President Biden and Donald Trump will face the nation of their first presidential debate this season. We’ll speak with Shane Goldmacher with The New York Instances about what to anticipate from tomorrow’s debate and the swell in donations for Trump’s marketing campaign after his felony convictions. I hope you’ll be able to be part of us. To maintain up with what’s on the present and get highlights of our interviews, comply with us on Instagram @nprfreshair.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MOSLEY: FRESH AIR’s govt producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our interviews and opinions are produced and edited by Amy Salit, Phyllis Myers, Sam Briger, Lauren Krenzel, Ann Marie Baldonado, Therese Madden, Thea Chaloner, Susan Nyakundi, Joel Wolfram and Kayla Lattimore. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Roberta Shock directs the present with Terry Gross, I am Tonya Mosley.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

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