Shades of the past

BSKINNY TIES THAT BIND Iha’s favorite power-poppers from his youth are Eddie and the Hot Rods’ “Do Anything You Wanna Do” and Bram Tchaikovsky’s “Girl of my Dreams.”

A dude with a guitar and eyeliner? He’s emo. A dude with a guitar, eyeliner and a mohawk? Punk rock. Genre tags are assigned liberally, and it’s no different with power-pop. Anything remotely amplified and hummable seems eligible. The handle has been used to describe everything from Nelly Furtado to Neko Case, Katy Perry to Kings of Leon—though it doesn’t apply to any of them.

In 1967, Pete Townsend coined the term to describe the Who, but “power-pop” really became its own little niche of rock & roll in the ’70s. As U.K. groups went heavy metal or glam, Americans never quite got over the British Invasion. Bands such as Big Star, the Raspberries and the Beat defined the sound: gooey bubblegum melodies and ripping riffs. But since the Carter administration, it’s been a cult concern. Until now?

Ex–Smashing Pumpkin James Iha has teamed with sugar-rock baton-carrier Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne, former Tiger Beat pinup Taylor Hanson and one old schooler from the field’s heyday—Cheap Trick’s Bun E. Carlos—to lead the revival of skinny ties, tight pants and tra-la-las. Dubbing itself Tinted Windows, the quartet meets every prerequisite for what we consider the tastiest grade-A power-pop. We rung up Iha and confirmed that his new band passes the test.

Be both powerful and poppy.
Yes, it seems obvious, but the formula often goes overlooked. Amps should be cranked to 11, and choruses should stick better than Sesame Street sing-alongs. In TW, Iha brings the volume, rubbing fuzz up against the boyish “MMMbop” soprano of Hanson. The 41-year-old guitarist admits the twosome reads like an unlikely pair on paper: “I’m known for the Pumpkins and A Perfect Circle, much heavier bands.” But rip out the vocals from Tinted Windows, the band’s self-titled debut, and little has changed.

Put teen and girl in song titles.
With its first single, “Kind of a Girl,” TW kicked off with a candy-coated bang. The song’s “she” is never specified beyond “a girl,” but the hormonal genre aims for universal appeal, not bleeding confessionals. Flip through power-pop records and the demographic is clear: Big Star’s “Thirteen,” the New Hearts’ “Just Another Teenage Anthem,” the Exploding Hearts’ “(Making) Teenage Faces,” the Shivvers’ “Teen Line.” Okay, TW never uses the word teen, but consider the inclusion of Hanson. In most people’s minds, he’s still that androgynous kid with the falsetto. And he still sounds like it. Of course, most power-pop, like that on Tinted Windows, is written and sung by guys in their twenties or thirties. Yes, it’s a little eerie, hearing men wail about crushes, but that leads us to…

Be unafraid to be painfully uncool.
If you’re looking for sex, danger or politics, turn the page. Power-pop is pink and geeky, an arena for those who dissect radio hits and think Paul is the best Beatle. Its willfully shallow songs center on puppy love and Friday nights. “It’s just been fun, nothing serious or dramatic,” Iha says of the songwriting process. “We haven’t thought about it much.” Exactly. One TW chorus only offers, “You’re my cha cha,” and when the band members all shout “C’mon!” on “Without Love,” bet your ass that “…to the Pitchfork Music Festival” does not follow. Brooklyn art-punks are not impressed with Badfinger references and boy-band harmonies.

Come from Middle America.
The greatest power-pop is born in dead-end towns where there’s nothing to do but cruise, drink and daydream. Early template-setters 20/20 and Dwight Twilley crawled out of Oklahoma. Like Iha, Pezband, Shoes and, of course, Cheap Trick came from the strip malls and subdivisions of Illinois. So scoring Cheap Trick’s drummer was a coup. “I’m a very all-American suburban guy at heart,” Iha admits, “much as I don’t wanna be.” Even after moving to New York in 2001, Iha kept a place in Chicago. “I miss the pizza,” he reasons.

Fail.
Building word of mouth can be difficult when nobody wants to confess their guilty pleasures. Perhaps for this reason, and all of the above, power-pop bands tend to fade into obscurity. The two best major-label-backed practitioners of late—the Pink Spiders and the Click Five, for whom Schlesinger ghostwrote—bombed. Not to jinx his band, but we bring this up to Iha. He humbly agrees: “It’s sincere and melodic, but it’s always below the radar.” We’d advise getting it while it’s hot, but most of you probably turned the page at “Hanson.”

Tinted Windows’ self-titled debut is out now. The band plays a sold-out show at Double Door Thursday 30. For more with James Iha, read our interview.

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