Simultaneously indie and anthemic, The Flashpot Moments creates every song as if it’s meant for a capacity crowd at, say, Madison Square Garden or Castle Donington. We don’t care if that’s delusional. That’s the mission statement.
With roots in NJ, Minneapolis and Boston, the Flashpot Moments is a long-simmering studio project of Boston-based singer / songwriter / guitarist / drummer Tim Cawley.
The Flashpot Moments’ music has been played on over 60 independent radio stations and featured in 100-plus network and cable TV shows.
You know when you’re at a concert, and there’s an over-the-top moment – a soaring vocal, shift in dynamics, dramatic key change, crescendo into the final chorus – and the fireworks go off? Those pyro cannons are called “flashpots.”
I used to subscribe to a magazine called CMJ.
Before each of their reviews was a header titled RIYL: “Recommended If You Like.” Always loved that.
In my opinion, this is our official RIYL list:
REM, Thermals, Guided By Voices, Soul Asylum, Weezer, Menzingers, The Hold Steady, Cheap Trick, Tom Petty, Gaslight Anthem, Green Day, Butch Walker. (Brian Charles thinks I sound like Michael Penn.)
And here’s a bunch of artists that, to my ears, we sound nothing like, but have influenced our efforts: Catherine Wheel (Happy Days and Adam & Eve), Beatles/Wings, Cars, Boston, Manchester Orchestra, Jenny Lewis/Rilo Kiley, Springsteen (particularly Born to Run through the River), Queen, Stereophonics, Elvis Costello, Replacements, Simon & Garfunkel, ABBA, Kiss, Hole, U2, 3EB, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Kansas, Matthew Sweet, and Pearl Jam.
I’m also obsessed with Neal Schon and the song “Walk Away Renee.”
— Tim