Artist description Guitar driven power pop!

Music Style Power Pop/ Rock

Musical Influences Beatles, The Who, Badfinger, Squeeze, The Rolling Stones

Similar Artists Beatles, Squeeze, Crowded House, Badfinger, Raspberries

Group Members Andy Goldberg - Guitar, Vocals Dean Basil - Bass, Vocals Todd Bauer - Drums, Percussion

Instruments Guitars, Bass, Drums

Albums Bask, Stupid Grin

Press Reviews Newsday: Performance: A Songwriting: A Sound Quality: A In these cloudy days of subgenre rock and roll, it's very nice to hear from the likes of the Sun Kings. These boys are certainly schooled in the finer points of power pop. (Teenage Fanclub, please take note). From the get-go, and throughout most of the disc's 15 tracks, singer-songwriters Andy Goldberg (guitars) and Dean Basil (bass) recall a Lennon-McCartney chemistry. But the faux-Brit accents don't sound at all pretentious. "You're the One," a song so pretty and exciting it just may be lifted from a long lost Split Enz songbook. And Cleveland Rocks again, sort of, with "Only a Night," which will get a rise out of Raspberries fans. Lest these guys be pegged as only Anglophiles, a horn section adds a south-of-the-border suggestion to "Latest Love Affair." Memo to local promoters: Get the Sun Kings on a bill with the Montgomery Cliffs and Junk Male, then fly in Alex Chilton to host the show. It'll be a slice of power pop heaven. Good Times: Does anyone make good pop records anymore? They sure do, and surprisingly this local trio does it exceedingly well. Andy Goldberg (guitars/vocals), Dean Basil (bass/vocals), and Todd Bauer (drums/percussion) are the Sun Kings, a multi-talented local Long Island band. Destined for greatness if they can find a radio station that still plays pure pop, or anyone under fifty that still listens to it, this band has it all together. Right from the very first strands of the first song through the last notes of the last song, this CD is entertaining and fun. Lyrically sharp and musically tight, the songs and styles are reminiscent of solo George Harrison, Badfinger, and the ever-popular Squeeze. Listening to "Latest Love Affair," sounds eerily like the early Beatles, and Monkee Bridge" could easily be mistaken for a Monkees song. Creative instrumentation, like the pedal steel guitar on "Out of This World" is a touch the works really well. While the songs may sound like something someone else might have put out, as writer Tom Ryan points out in the liner notes, the Sun Kings "ultimately sound like the Sun Kings." These guys are pure pop pleasure! The Long Island Entertainment: Nowadays it's cool again to be a "power-pop" band, even as the Goo Goo Dolls are considered of "power-pop descendence. However, on "Stupid Grin", The Sun Kings serve up real-deal "power-pop" that is quite comparable to artists like David Bowie, Badfinger, and Big Star at times. In other words, at times you'll be convinced that you're listening to Splitsville or even a Mathew Sweet album. For some people, that may be thought as an insult, but I personally give that as a compliment of almost the highest regard. But The Sun Kings definitely show distinction from other bands of the sort by incorporating Max Weinberg 7-loke horn arrangements into "Never Again", "Latest Love Affair, and their personal nod to the Monkees, "Monkee Bridge." While the beats, melodies, and chords progressions may be very predictable at times, they become irresistible in each listen. Along with the great drummer that is Todd Bauer, Andy Goldberg and Dean Basil may indeed be the late nineties indie-rock equivalent to the songwriting duo that was John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

Location New York, New York - USA

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