The truth is that there are no Weightlifters to speak of. This is the brainchild of Adam McLaughlin, a Philadelphia-area transplant living in Chicago. Adam plays most of the instruments on the first Weightlifters disc, Last of the Sunday Drivers, getting help from a few exceptional musicians found scattered around the country. Drums are flown in from Texas and California. Strings come by way of Oregon. His wife, Carol, also makes a few appearances on the record.
A bit of history... Adam is the 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.
What's Adam been doing since then? Well... that would be a long story. Skipping up to a couple years ago, he built a small studio and began to record demos of songs he’d been working on. Back in the summer of 2006, he decided to make a record, because it’s more fun if people actually hear the music. He continues to write and record songs, work on his studio, and intends to make more records.
Last of the Sunday Drivers, is now available at CD Baby and other outlets.
It's an ambitious, self-released 6-song EP; the music is modern, moody, melodic indie-pop/rock 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. You can listen to the entire record on the home page. Lyrics can be found here.
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