The Weightlifters – Last of The Sunday Drivers

A while back I got an email from Adam McLaughlin, who I didn’t know, but he was super cool and asked if I’d be interested in recording drums for a project he was working on, which turned out to be this really cool EP, “Last of The Sunday Drivers”, that he released in 2007. I recorded all the drum tracks in my studio and wound up playing on 5 of the 6 songs from this EP, with Jim McCarty playing drums on the other one, which is the title cut, “Last of The Sunday Drivers”.

Here’s a bit of info about Adam:

The Weightlifters is the brainchild of Chicago’s Adam McLaughlin, former guitarist for the Philly power pop band, Idle Wilds, which was signed to the Ardent record label by Big Star drummer Jody Stephens in the mid 90s. In addition to releasing a couple full-length records, Idle Wilds notably appeared on the well-received ‘Poptopia!: Power Pop Classics Of The ’90’s’ compilation with bands like Jellyfish, The Posies, and Matthew Sweet, as well as on the recently-released Big Star tribute album, ‘Small World’, with Wilco, Teenage Fanclub and others.

From a few reviews of the record:

Last of the Sunday Drivers’ is the 2007 debut from Chicago indie-pop group, The Weightlifters. It’s an ambitious, self-released 6-song EP; the music is moody and melodic with 60s tunefulness and 70s atmosphere – not retro, but not unfamiliar. It takes chances and will surprise you, but not just for the sake of doing so.

IndiePages calls ‘Last of the Sunday Drivers’ ‘a masterpiece of grand yet understated pop’.

CDReviews.com’s Kirsten Klym calls ‘Last of the Sunday Drivers’ ‘a small debut collection of exquisite indie pop songs that stand easily with the best that The Pernice Brothers or New Pornographers have offered to date.’

Indie-Music.com Magazine says about ‘Last of the Sunday Drivers’: ‘With beautiful imagery, inspired melodies, and clever lyrics, this EP should not be passed up by any music lover.’

Openingbands.com says: ‘This truly is an excellent EP and will leave you desiring more and more music from a soon-to-be famous artist’ New-Noise.Net says: ‘This is a great example of American pop at it’s sunsoaked, laidback best. Think of a smiling Elliott Smith jamming with The Shins.’

The SMU Daily Campus calls ‘Last of the Sunday Drivers’ ‘the best, most ‘indie’ music I’ve come across in some time’ Absolute

Powerpop says the following about ‘Last of the Sunday Drivers’: ‘There is a bit of a Big Star sound here, but more like Big Star by way of Teenage Fanclub. It’s really quite good stuff…’.

Kool Kat Musik says: ‘Can’t wait for a full-length! EXCELLENT!!!’ Whisperin & Hollerin gives ‘Last of the Sunday Drivers’ 8 of 10 stars and says that it ‘serves notice that McLaughlin and his compadres are folk of taste and refinement who know more than a trick or three where the great US power-pop lineage is concerned.’ 

Track List

Undefined
Low
Last of the Sunday Drivers
Weightless and Easy
September
Oblivion Shines