The Flashcubes' "Pop Masters" Cements Their Spot As Pop Legends

Syracuse-hailing band The Flashcubes’ latest release shows a self-awareness of their elusive pop-legend status and proudly fulfills the destiny they never picked.

Words By Callan Nagel-Dubin / Graphic by Bea Kress

The Flashcubes have been known as the band that broke up just on the cusp of fame. With the release of their new record, “Pop Masters”, an album dedicated to covering classic power pop songs with a special twist, The Flashcubes are reclaiming their roots, their past, and all of the serendipity that led them to this point. The Flashcubes’ latest release shows a self-awareness of their elusive pop-legend status and proudly fulfills the destiny they never picked. If it wasn’t obvious before, The ‘Cubes have arrived in the upper echelons of the genre bestowed upon them, and are there to stay.

Starting a handful over 40 years ago, The Flashcubes broke onto the scene in Syracuse, playing at a number of clubs including the Firebarn and Jabberwocky, gaining traction within the punk and new-wave crowd from both SU and downstate. They were on the cusp of real fame when they broke up in 1980. Nonetheless, in the years that they had been together, The Flashcubes penned a number of iconic tunes, and most importantly, put those songs to tape.

Fast forward just over a decade, and happenstance media features in the ‘90s spun up a mild storm of hype for the group, bringing hope that maybe The ‘Cubes might finally get the pioneer status and recognition that they had been just shy of for so long. One thing led to another, and shortly after their Goldmine feature, they reformed and played a set at International Pop Overthrow (IPO), a power pop show organized by pop enthusiast and scene legend, David Bash. 

A couple of Japanese tours and a smattering of records later, The Flashcubes were back in full force, but with a changed attitude. They began to embrace the niche that they were quickly becoming champions of, and have spent the new millennium recording and releasing music chock-full of pop ear candy. 

The Flashcubes have recently been considered pop legends, having been inducted into the informal Power Pop Hall Of Fame in the 2010s, created by the aforementioned Bash. The title of The Flashcubes’ new record holds a double meaning– perhaps even unintentionally. It declares the songs of the record belonging to pop masters, and simultaneously reaffirming The Flashcubes’ ticket in power pop history as masters of pop themselves.

The hook of this record isn’t solely the fact that The ‘Cubes did a smashing job of recreating classic pop tunes with a modern spin – it’s that for more than half of the songs on the record, the original artists were featured on the track that they penned. Having recorded the entire album remotely, swapping tracks back and forth online made some of these unexpected collaborations possible. 

“Each time Tommy would just pick a song, or we throw one at him and he'd say, yeah, let's try that, and it was all just like, you know, back in the old days– when there were cassettes --we used to make mixtapes, to give each other, to give to friends, and to listen to on the way to gigs and they would have all our favorite power pop songs on them,” said band member Gary Frenay. 

According to Frenay, every artist they asked to collaborate with during the process ended up being more than excited to work with them on a cover. Every artist they contacted ended up working out, barring one late Dwight Twilley. As a result of scheduling conflicts, the coordination of the project simply couldn’t happen. Still, Twilley gave his stamp of approval, sharing The ‘Cubes rendition of his track “Alone In My Room” to his socials.

The ‘Cubes cover serves now, as a testament to the amazing musician that Twilley was. Their rendition of this song shows one of the many ways in which Twilley impacted the pop community and will be forever remembered as a legend among power pop fans around the world.

While succeeding with flying colors at achieving its express purpose as a cover album, “Pop Masters” does far more than just this. The record takes well-loved classics and transforms them into something entirely new. The record is chock-full of embellishments and reinterpretations.

The Posies’ classic “Flavor Of The Month” is reimagined as a shimmering, Rickenbacker-driven anthem, retaining only the slightest hint of melancholy that the original is mired in. The backing vocals during the intro of “Forget About You” by The Motors seem to poke fun at the song's inherent similarity to the classic 10cc track “I’m Not In Love”. Even simple changes such as a fuller guitar tone on Pilot’s “Get Up And Go” make the soaring guitar harmonies pop out of the mix, something the original tune doesn’t quite do in the same way. 

Whether intentional or not, it’s the large assortment of small details like these that show The ‘Cubes not only covered a delicious batch of pop tracks but took occasionally dated recordings and transformed the underlying work into clean and sparkling 21st-century pop perfection. The variety of pop classics covered on the record is truly remarkable, spanning a handful of decades from early classics like Cyrus Erie’s “Get The Message” to more modern standards such as “Flavor Of The Month.” The diversity of song choice on this record is representative of a true and unabashed love for pop and dedication to its craft. 

One of the record’s notable cover-collaborations is “Have You Ever Been Torn Apart?” by The Spongetones. Despite The Spongetones recently joining the same label as The ‘Cubes, the connection between the two bands was formed long before they became labelmates. Their relationship was first formed when drummer and producer Tommy Allen while working at the China Club in New York, saw the Spongetones play. A decade later, the two groups were on the same bill at an IPO event in the city, and their relationship was even further cemented.

“Pop Masters” is The Flashcubes’ first release under Big Stir Records, the label that is now home to both bands. Frenay gave the new label high praise.

“They're so active on social media, and they do so much with so little as far as getting the word out. To be honest, we have gotten more notoriety in the last two years than we have in the last 45 years, all because of Big Stir records, which is really cool.”

Just as appealing to fans from the ‘70s as to the youngest generation inhabiting the campus grounds where The ‘Cubes once made their name, “Pop Masters” is a fantastic example of how to honor, own, and completely win at making an album for fun and for the sake of everything that power pop stands for. While The Flashcubes do not have any plans at present to continue the “Pop Masters” project, two members, Allen and Frenay, have continued a new chapter of the project under the appropriately named The Half-Cubes. Their latest single, “Love’s Melody,” originally made popular by The Searchers and penned by Andy McMasters, was released on October 13th. 

Hopefully, the world will hear much more from the group as their careers continue. In the meantime, you can catch shows around Syracuse from two members who have a long-running duo called Frenay & Lenin, listen to “Pop Masters,” or try out the new stuff coming from The Half-Cubes. No matter where The Flashcubes go in the future, their fans can rest assured that their place as pioneers and legends of the power pop genre is firmly established for all of history.