[Photo by Daria Kobayashi Ritch for Rolling Stone]
“Boys of Summer” – Don Henley
5songpjct: This question may get a bit repetitive during this interview, but who should do a “Boys of Summer” cover?
Mickey: The case can be made that The War on Drugs is already modernizing this, but I think that they are a bit too literal in their aping of this particular 80s sound. This song has a weird, dark propulsion that would sound great by Haim. They are already great at the tight, guitar/bass/drum rock combo sound and they could nail that chorus.
5songpjct: I was never a huge fan of this song, but I believe in the power of a good cover. I have had my mind changed a few times by very capable artists looking a songs in a new way like Yael Naim’s version of “Toxic” or Kendra Morris’ “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles.)” “I’m Gonna Be” is one of the worst songs ever and it really gets stuck in your head, but the way Kendra Morris does it, she reworked it really changes the song, or in some cases with covers you can finally hear what the words are. What cover songs have you liked more than the original?
Mickey: I can understand the songs that can be pure pop confection and annoying at times, but that can be the best fodder for reinterpretation.
Thinking back there was a propensity for bands in the late 2000s embracing pop hits, like Britney Spears or any kind of pop hit and it was inevitably white guys doing it. One of my favorite bands of all time is Dismemberment Plan, they are from Washington, D.C. and they do a really weird version of that song “Crush” by Jennifer Page which is a club hit that I have always really liked, it is dark it’s mysterious and to hear it through this guys voice gives it a creepy feel. Fountains of Wayne when they did a cover of “Hit Me Baby One more Time” was kid of the progenitor of that particular act of bands like theirs doing covers of pop songs, for better or worse it opened the floodgates of dudes in colleges, myself included, of doing acoustic covers in coffee shops of whatever pop song was funny for them to do.
5songpjct: What was one of your covers?
Mickey: Our band was known for our stirring rendition of “Like a Prayer.” We were not a good band, but we were a funny band and we leaned heavily on our charisma and humor to cover over the musical ineptitude we had on stage. It was very fun. We also did the Backstreet Boys and Nelly, songs like that, but poorly. I often performed in a bee costume..
5songpjct: Like the Blind Melon bee costume?
Mickey: Very similar, but we did not cover Blind Melon because that would be a little on the nose.
5songpjct: That is awesome. I was just thinking too about Ben Fold’s “Bitches Ain’t Shit.”
Mickey: Yes, also another strong one in that category. He also does a cover of “Such Great Heights” with a prepared piano with all of these nails and screws and a couple people helping him.
I THINK we have given you a lot of music to listen to in this post. Next up, maybe it takes the saddest band alive to sing something so yearning.