New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Asbury Park, NJ foursome The Weeklings has shared three new videos for the title track of their new (and third) studio album 3 out now on JEM Records - three wildly different takes on what it's like to have your heart broken in three.
One "3" video finds fans from across the globe alongside Willie Nile and Michael Imperioli +
Vincent Pastore of The Sopranos, all of whom submit their best Tik Tok dance routine The second takes a trip down to the Jersey Shore boardwalk. The final creation is an animated lyric video where the biff bam pow! Marvel Comics aesthetic meets Yellow Submarine.
Having taken to the road in January as part of Light of Day Foundation's winter concert series, The Weeklings have announced a run of east coast dates extending from spring to autumn. [View all dates below.]
The Weeklings have been together for only five years, but each member has decades of musical and touring experience. Veteran rocker Glen Burtnik (Lefty Weekling) boasts an impressive resume that ranges from a series of solo albums on A&M and a long tenure with Styx to writing smash hit songs like "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Good Enough," recorded by Patty Smythe and Don Henley, and "Spirit of a Boy, Wisdom of a Man," recorded by Randy Travis. As the left-handed bassist who played
Paul McCartney opposite Marshall Crenshaw's
John Lennon in the Broadway production of Beatlemania, Burtnik takes on a similar role opposite The Weeklings' co-founder Bob Burger (Zeek Weekling). Burger is a Gold Record-awarded songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist with songwriting credits for Styx, Donnie Iris and HBO Pictures, as well as performance credits with Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, and Jon Bon Jovi.
The duo teamed up to co-write most of the band's originals. Burtnik penned many of the songs musical hooks as "the starter," and Burger added lyrics and music as "the finisher. "We've been collaborating for more than 30 years, but we were never in the same band," says Burtnik.
"This is just a straight-out rock 'n' roll power pop record," adds Burger, an Erie, PA native transplanted to New Jersey. "It turned out that Glen and I had very similar musical tastes and influences. We liked all the same bands. We come from the same roots. That's why our styles are so simpatico."
The two remaining key elements for any great rock and roll band, a brilliant guitarist and killer drummer, came into the mix when Burtnik met Brooklyn-born lead guitarist/singer/songwriter John Merjave (Rocky Weekling) at one of the annual Fest for
Beatles Fans shows and when Burger recruited Ringo-channeling drummer/singer Joe Bellia (Smokestack Weekling), with whom he had played countless gigs on the Jersey Shore.
The Weeklings recorded 3 in large part at London's famed Abbey Road Studio 2, with some tracking at Daryl's House, House of Vibes, and Sirius/XM Studios. The title track is (naturally) the third cut on the album. It hits you with a hard and memorable guitar riff that can't help but get the blood moving! The Merjave/Burger-led "1000 Miles Away" boosts a rockabilly feel reminiscent of Dave Edmunds' Rockpile. "
Change Your Mind" and "In the Moment" lean towards FM classic rock or even progressive rock. "Baby Let Me Take You Home" has a centered, power-pop feel that recalls groups like Badfinger, The Raspberries, and Cheap Trick. Their powerful cover of the Easybeats' classic "Friday on My Mind" features lead singer
Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits, and the closing cut "765... (4321)" channels a bluesy,
Chuck Berry vibe, evoking Brit Invasion stalwarts like the Stones, T. Rex, and The Move.
The Weeklings mix their Beatles/60's inspired originals with a healthy dose of
Beatles music, some never released by The Beatles, some rearranged to suit the bands unique character and some played by the book as well as other 60's gems that turn a Weeklings live show into a seamless, authentic celebration of rock 'n roll.
Tour Dates:
04/26 - Red Bank, NJ @ International Food & Beer Fest
05/01 - Atlantic City, NJ @ Hard Rock Café at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
05/02 - Beacon, NY @ Towne Crier
05/08 - Bordentown, NJ @ Record Collector
05/17 - Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse
Music Hall
05/25 - New York, NY @ City Winery in The Loft
05/28 - Philadelphia, PA @ City Winery in The Loft
05/29 - Boston, MA @ City Winery in the Haymarket Lounge
07/03 - Atlantic City, NJ @ Hard Rock Café at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
07/10 - Washington, DC @ City Winery in the Wine Garden
07/11 - Monroe Twp, NJ @ Regency at Monroe
07/13 - Asbury Park, NJ @ Springwood Park Summer Concert Series
07/24 - New York, NY @ Rockin' The River
Music Cruises at Pier 83
08/08 - Chicago, IL @ Fest for
Beatles Fans
09/04-05 - Brookville, NY @ Abbey Road on the Island (Tilles Center for the Performing Arts)
09/20 - Staten Island, NY @ Hamilton House
09/25 - Atlantic City, NJ @ Hard Rock Café at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
10/16 - Tuckerton, NJ @
Lizzie Rose
Music Hall.
