Artist description A dash of Cheap Trick, a sprinkle of Pink Floyd, some Jellyfish on the side, and a big dollop of the Beatles describe the new Los Angeles band Maple Mars.

Music Style Psychedelic pop rock

Musical Influences All the Bs - Beatles, Badfinger, Bowie,

Similar Artists Foo Fighters, Pink Floyd, Badfinger

Artist History A dash of Pink Floyd, a sprinkle of Cheap Trick, some Jellyfish on the side, and a big dollop of the Beatles describe the Los Angeles band Maple Mars. Veteran singer-songwriter Rick Hromadka (formally of LA pop treasure Double Naught Spies) fronts this psychedelic rock outfit with drummer Mike Fletcher, bassist Scott Halper and guitarist Zane Drake. Signed by indie label Kool Kat Musik last spring, the 2nd installment from Maple Mars entitled "Circular Haze" will be released on July 15th. Their debut album entitled "Welcome To Maple Mars" was released on Permanent Press Recordings in the summer of 2001, and received rave reviews by industry mags such as Billboard, Album Network, Hits Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, and several online publications including Miles Of Music and Fufkin.com. Some critics named "Welcome To Maple Mars" one of the best indie pop-rock albums of 2001. Songs from "Welcome To Maple Mars" were also featured on NBC's Thirdwatch last season. The band has played on both coasts in the US and plans for a tour of Europe are in the works

Group Members Rick Hromadka - lead vocals, guitar Zane Drake - vocals, guitar Scott Halper - bass Mike Fletcher - drums

Instruments Guitar, piano, synths, bass, drums, vocals

Albums Welcome To Maple Mars, Circular Haze

Press Reviews All Permanent Press bands have one thing in common: melody. Not just little melodies, or a smudginess of melody, or minute residue of melody, but big, tidal wave-size, freakin' Technicolor melodies. Maple Mars, a.k.a. guiatarist/songwriter Rick Hromadka, is no exception, and obviously has the classic pop albums in his collection to draw influences from. He seems to be a particular fan of the Wish You Were Here-era of Badfinger, favoring bright, sparkling sheets of blended electric and acoustic guitars that echo and thunder in all the right places. "I Thought I Knew You Well", "Fly", and the great you-used-me rocker "Souvenir" draw not from the epic, romantic side of Badfinger's Pete Ham, but rather from the sweet, down-to-earth touch of that band's Joey Molland and Tom Evans. As such, this album has a cozy, user-friendly feel, not something you put under glass and admire from a distance. Underneath the gloss, there's real emotion here. Brad Harvey (The Big Takeover) PERMANENT PRESS - When it comes to releasing cool pop albums, few labels have it as together as California-based Permanent Press. Among the label's latest and greatest releases to date is the self-titled 2001 debut CD from L.A.-based Maple Mars entitled Welcome To Maple Mars. Spotlighting the talented singer-songwriter and guitarist Rick Hromadka, Maple Mars cuts loose with a set of high octane cutting edge paisley-pop that recalls the best spirit of bands like The Raspberries, Klaatu, Jellyfish and Cheap Trick. Hromadka handles much of the guitar chores with super backing from Matt McKenna (guitars), Mike Fletcher (drums) and others. Featuring twelve vital tracks, many bursting with catchy melodies that dance around your head, Welcome To Maple Mars signals the arrival of an exciting new group while providing mucho sonic support for power pop devotees. www.permanentpress.net Robert Silverstein - 20th Century Guitar Magazine Welcome To Maple Mars opens with the spoof live show sound of the title track. Strong, hooky, loud, spacey, with vocals on vocals. It's powerful stuff. Thereafter the album occasionally slips into the Pet Sounds-DIY netherland that has already been (and continues to be) well charted by plebt of other LA artists, That's not to say that it ain't fun, 'cause it is! Ex-Double Naught Spies man Rick Hromadka, who more of less is Maple Mars, writes sway-inducing tunes and he's not afraid to let rip with some heavy duty guitar sounds - which is where his approach differs from most of the LA pack. In fact the searing noise makes the fourth track, Souvenir, a real standout. Other picks include All Brand New, with it's rumbling bass and jangling guitars, the hard-edged rocker Perfect Song, and the two tracks, Fly and Afterglow, recorded with Mr. Cloud Eleven Rick Gallego. (The bonus track is cool too.) The more I listen to the CD the more I find to like about it. Well worth shelling out for. Bucketfull of Brains Great power pop with edge and an identity all it's own. If I said it sounded like Material Issue ot The Plimsouls or Cheap Trick (which it sorta does in a vague way) it wouldn't help describe what comes out of the speakers. It's a familiar warm inspired guitar-oriented pop deal, but there's a real pulse behind it. One of the best of it's genre. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah Magazine Maple Mars main man Rick Hromadka has tie-dyed his skinny tie as of late, as his new project is alot more psychedelic and moodier than that of his old band, Double Naught Spies. Hromadka makes this transition with ease on Welcome To Maple Mars, delivering twelve (plus bonus track) sturdy psych-pop tunes. Fans of Cloud Eleven will love the dreamy ballads "Fly" and "Afterglow", (with Cloud Eleven's Rick Gallego singing background on these tracks) while others, like "All Brand New", add a little jangle and "Souvenir" is spiked with a Guided By Voices styled wall of guitars. Hromadka reveals a tender side on both "When Atlas Falls" and the beautiful sparsely arranged "Midsummer Day Dream". Only "Perfect Song", "Absolute Zero" and the aforementioned, cheeky bonus track will remind longtime fans of his old work. An admirable, groundbreaking disc indeed! David Bash (Amplifier Magazine) All Permanent Press bands have one thing in common: melody. Not just little melodies, or a smudginess of melody, or minute residue of melody, but big, tidal wave-size, freakin' Technicolor melodies. Maple Mars, a.k.a. guiatarist/songwriter Rick Hromadka, is no exception, and obviously has the classic pop albums in his collection to draw influences from. He seems to be a particular fan of the Wish You Were Here-era of Badfinger, favoring bright, sparkling sheets of blended electric and acoustic guitars that echo and thunder in all the right places. "I Thought I Knew You Well", "Fly", and the great you-used-me rocker "Souvenir" draw not from the epic, romantic side of Badfinger's Pete Ham, but rather from the sweet, down-to-earth touch of that band's Joey Molland and Tom Evans. As such, this album has a cozy, user-friendly feel, not something you put under glass and admire from a distance. Underneath the gloss, there's real emotion here. Brad Harvey (The Big Takeover) PERMANENT PRESS - When it comes to releasing cool pop albums, few labels have it as together as California-based Permanent Press. Among the label's latest and greatest releases to date is the self-titled 2001 debut CD from L.A.-based Maple Mars entitled Welcome To Maple Mars. Spotlighting the talented singer-songwriter and guitarist Rick Hromadka, Maple Mars cuts loose with a set of high octane cutting edge paisley-pop that recalls the best spirit of bands like The Raspberries, Klaatu, Jellyfish and Cheap Trick. Hromadka handles much of the guitar chores with super backing from Matt McKenna (guitars), Mike Fletcher (drums) and others. Featuring twelve vital tracks, many bursting with catchy melodies that dance around your head, Welcome To Maple Mars signals the arrival of an exciting new group while providing mucho sonic support for power pop devotees. www.permanentpress.net Robert Silverstein - 20th Century Guitar Magazine Welcome To Maple Mars opens with the spoof live show sound of the title track. Strong, hooky, loud, spacey, with vocals on vocals. It's powerful stuff. Thereafter the album occasionally slips into the Pet Sounds-DIY netherland that has already been (and continues to be) well charted by plebt of other LA artists, That's not to say that it ain't fun, 'cause it is! Ex-Double Naught Spies man Rick Hromadka, who more of less is Maple Mars, writes sway-inducing tunes and he's not afraid to let rip with some heavy duty guitar sounds - which is where his approach differs from most of the LA pack. In fact the searing noise makes the fourth track, Souvenir, a real standout. Other picks include All Brand New, with it's rumbling bass and jangling guitars, the hard-edged rocker Perfect Song, and the two tracks, Fly and Afterglow, recorded with Mr. Cloud Eleven Rick Gallego. (The bonus track is cool too.) The more I listen to the CD the more I find to like about it. Well worth shelling out for. Bucketfull of Brains Great power pop with edge and an identity all it's own. If I said it sounded like Material Issue ot The Plimsouls or Cheap Trick (which it sorta does in a vague way) it wouldn't help describe what comes out of the speakers. It's a familiar warm inspired guitar-oriented pop deal, but there's a real pulse behind it. One of the best of it's genre. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah Magazine Maple Mars main man Rick Hromadka has tie-dyed his skinny tie as of late, as his new project is alot more psychedelic and moodier than that of his old band, Double Naught Spies. Hromadka makes this transition with ease on Welcome To Maple Mars, delivering twelve (plus bonus track) sturdy psych-pop tunes. Fans of Cloud Eleven will love the dreamy ballads "Fly" and "Afterglow", (with Cloud Eleven's Rick Gallego singing background on these tracks) while others, like "All Brand New", add a little jangle and "Souvenir" is spiked with a Guided By Voices styled wall of guitars. Hromadka reveals a tender side on both "When Atlas Falls" and the beautiful sparsely arranged "Midsummer Day Dream". Only "Perfect Song", "Absolute Zero" and the aforementioned, cheeky bonus track will remind longtime fans of his old work. An admirable, groundbreaking disc indeed! David Bash (Amplifier Magazine) Album Network This L.A. power-pop collective's debut is an inviting batch of hooky, ultra-melodic guitar rock. Taking a tongue-in-cheek arena-rock stance to kick things off, the band namechecks itself on the title track, then justifies the pomp by segueing into the soaring, Badfinger-esque "I Thought I Knew You Well." Throughout, singer-songwriter/guitarist Rick Hromadka delivers the goods with a nice mix of emotiveness and self-aware humor. Other standout tracks: the spiky "Souvenir," the gorgeous piano ballad "When Atlas Falls" and especially, the kinetic "Perfect Song," which will have all but the most stoic listeners playing air drums and "ahh-ing" along with the backup vocals. Simom Glickman - Hits Magazine Maple Mars - Welcome To Maple Mars (Permanent Press) permanentpress.net Wide screen powerpop with a sci-fi jones, in the tradition of great 'outer space' rockers like "L5" by Fools Face and Ross' "Supersonic Spacewalk." Former Double Naught Spies dude Rick Hromadka is the protagonist - an ordinary looking guy with the magical ability to take classic influences like Electric Light Orchestra and Cheap Trick and make fresh and compelling songs with universal appeal. Joined by trusty drummer sidekick Mike Fletcher, this Maple Mars dynamic duo navigates its way through a diverse collection of excellently produced tunes. In addition to the two aforementioned influences, Maple Mars evokes scads of other favorites. That is, Maple Mars isn't copying these favorites, as much as MM shares the same characteristics (great vocals, rocking guitars, hummable melodies, etc.). In fact, here are some of the artists who came to mind during my most recent spin of this disc: Chris Von Sneidern, E'Nuff Z'Nuff, Splitsville, Mark "The Bird" Fidrych, Weezer, The Shazam, Winston Churchill, The Beatles, 10CC, The Shazam, Thurman Munson, Jason Falkner, Edmund Teller, Love Nut, Sweet and Jerry Manuel. (Please note, while listening to the disc, I was channel surfing between ESPN Classic and the History Channel, so this may have clouded a few of these evocations). What's my point? This album offers something for everyone, not because it's pandering, but because Hromadka is spectacularly talented. So talented that in a blindfolded taste test, I'd bet that Jeff Lynne would swear he wrote "I Thought I Knew You Well". And wish he wrote the lush "When Atlas Falls", with its anthemic chorus. "Perfect Song" doesn't live up to its title, but it comes pretty damn close. The soft acoustic beginning sets up the theme: "I finally wrote for you the perfect song/it's just a shame that you're not here to sing along." Hromadka's electric guitar looms behind the second couplet, before the song explodes (add The Merrymakers and Eggstone to the list two paragraphs up) into guitar heaven. The song has a hooky chorus, an even better middle eight, dynamics, cool backing vocals, nifty effects and a driving guitar solo. Other than that, there's not much to it. "Fly" is a soaring mid-tempo tune, countering the ascending melody in the chorus with an urgent guitar riff and Hromadka's best vocal - I hear bits of Tom Petty, David Gilmour and Chris Von Sneidern - a poppy voice, but with a bit of an edge. "Silver Spy Satellite" is another pretty stunner, Steve Berns playing a delicate rhythm on the drums (kind of a lunar bossa nova) while Hromadka's slide guitar work adds to the wistfulness. Meanwhile, "Souvenir" is a bopping rocker, which is a must for future Maple Mars gigs on the Planet Budokan. The contest for best debut platter of the year will be quite the battle. This is one of the major contenders. Mike Bennett (Fufkin.com) Possessing Welcome To Maple Mars, the debut from L.A.'s Maple Mars, is like having your very own International Pop Overthrow (the annual City of Angels power-pop shindig) in a handy 12-song package. Maple Mars main man Rick Hromadka previously fronted Double Naught Spies, and guests on Welcome To... include members of 20 Cent Crush and Chewy Marble, as well as Rick "Cloud Eleven" Gallego. If those names mean nothing to you, no matter -- you're going to enjoy the visit anyway. Highlights for me are the jangly "All Brand New" (a frequent dead ringer for '70s hit "Hitchin' a Ride") and "Absolute Zero," which finds Hromadka coming off like a poppier version of one of his old favorites, the Replacements. "Souvenir" demonstrates that when nice guys write angry songs, they still come out sounding, well, nice. And after several trips, you just might think that "The Perfect Song" ("I finally wrote for you the perfect song/It's just a shame that you're not here to sing along") comes close to living up to its title. Rick Cornell (MoMZine - Miles Of Music) Don't let the cozy Mars-scape on the cover or the floating astronauts pictured in the liner notes fool you. The closest this album gets to the future is - like 8-track players, wicker hanging chairs and black light posters before it - a retro version of it. Rick Hromadka, brainchild of Maple Mars (he essentially built the band and gave it a name after making this album solo; this band debuted at the International Pop Overthrow festival this week) and once founding member of L.A. locals Double Naught Spies, has remorselessly created a tableau redolent of the past in Welcome to; there's the spacey sounds of ELO in here and the Beatles just as they began to get trippy. There's a little Roy Orbison in Hromadka's voice and - heck, why not? - a goodly amount of '70s power pop (think Cheap Trick, Styx even) thrown in for measure. Thankfully (Who-like drum solo please) it comes out sounding good. Once you get over the fact that you've been taken on a space coaster ride filled with albums from Hromadka's youth (and that some of the songs are so poppy it sometimes feels as if they are actively tricking you into liking them), Welcome to feels like a stoney flight of imagination taken from the comfort of your own bean bag while wearing oversized woodgrain headphones -"Welcome to Maple Mars" is a great tune and so too is "When Atlas Falls," "All Brand New" and "Absolute Zero." Also, be on the lookout for a hidden track; Groovy, man, groovy. Aaron M. Fontana - Entertainment Today (Los Angeles) This is new band formerly known as 00 Spies, a long time Not Lame favorite and now back with this killer 2001 release that blends and bleeds similar sounds of the previous band's sounds and throws a bit more panache, power and confidence into corners and fresh, more worked-out arrangements. Folks will hear Jellyfish's vocal masterings, Cheap Tricky chords, sprinkles of ELO and The Beatles throughout. Featuring the talents of Rick Gallego (Cloud Eleven), Derrick Anderson(The Andersons, Chewy Marble) and Phil Rosenthal (20 Cent Crush) on the platter. This is classic all the way through and will broadly appeal to a majority of folks reading this now...bottom line: Extremely Highly Recommended. Not Lame Recordings Speaking of right now, we also served up a THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO debut from MAPLE MARS, a new project from Rick Hromadka (formerly of The Double Naught Spies), due out in July from Permanent Press. Right from the first track, WELCOME TO MAPLE MARS earns that coveted THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO Thumb's UP!...and furthermore just SOUNDS like it should be a Permanent Press release--and we mean that as a compliment to all parties. WXXE-FM/WXXC-FM (Syracuse, NY) When you hear MAPLE MARS, you'll probably think that Jeff Lynne took members of Jellyfish, Cheap Trick, Foo Fighters and ELO into the studio and came out with this pop masterpiece (he didn't, by the way)! Ray Paul (Permanent Press Recordings) The brainchild of Rick Hromadka, Maple Mars' debut may not make you forget the brilliant Double Naught Spies (Hromadka's previous outfit) but there's some solid material here that reveals an ambitious talent worthy of more than a few spins. Hromadka goes for more adventurous arrangements here, perhaps best served by the likes of the title track and it's charging guitars and crashing drums - both distracting enought to make you stop wondering what the hell a "Maple Mars" is. In fact, Welcome To Maple Mars succeeds best when the guitars do most of the talking. Hromadka can turn out a hook with the best of them, and one need not look further than Perfect Song or the Weezer-like Souvenir for proof of that. Where Welcome To Maple Mars succeeds a little less is when we find the proceedings driven by ballads like When Atlas Falls and the acoustic Silver Spy Satellite. Under this guise, Maple Mars becomes a little more ordinary and ultimately forgettable. The "highs" here are high enough to bring a smile to almost any pop fan, and Hromadka remains a talent that definitely deserves to have his music heard. It will be interesting to see where his muse takes him. (* * * out of 5) Claudio Sossi (Shake It Up) September 200

Additional Info booking: 818-954-7865

Location Los Angeles, CA - USA

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