Are car concerts the wave of the near future? The Weeklings will find out when they perform May 31 at Tupelo Music Hall in Derry, New Hampshire. The band is touring in support of their third studio album, the aptly titled 3, which was released earlier this year on JEM Records.
and are treating fans to weekly ‘isolation videos’ via their YouTube Channel, which has garnered attention from outlets such as American Songwriter who stated, “The Weeklings will have you smiling and longing for simpler times.”
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 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 Studios' 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.
PHOTO BY ANTHONY PARISI
