A ‘New’ experience
This is probably the first time I’ve written about pop band Gin Blossoms without mentioning You Know Who.
The band — vocalist Robin Wilson, guitarists Jesse Valenzuela and Scott Johnson, bassist Bill Leen and drummer Scott Hessell — recently released a new album called “Mixed Reality.” If they’re not breaking much new ground, the recording demonstrates how timeless their muscular, chiming guitar pop — part Byrds, part Big Star and always Blossom-y — can be.
Gin Blossoms play Friday at Foxwoods, and their set should be full of sturdy — even great — tunes by Wilson and/or Valenzuela. At the same time, on this tour, the group is playing their quadruple platinum “New Miserable Experience” CD in its entirety.
No prob there; it’s a genuine start-to-finish masterpiece with tunes like “Lost Horizons,” “Hey Jealousy,” “Until I Fall Away,” “Hold Me Down” and “Found Out About You” — most of which were, ah, composed by You Know Who.
Hmm, guess that strategy won’t work.
OK, You Know Who was Doug Hopkins, who co-founded the Blossoms. Suffering from bipolar disorder and alcoholism, he was fired from the group during the recording of “NME” for blackout drinking and, after signing over substantial royalties and mechanicals and watching as his former band go platinum without him, he commited suicide.
Very sad stuff, and “New Miserable Experience” fairly bursts with his melancholy brilliance. But let’s also acknowledge the Blossoms have survived, written plenty of their own hits, and flourished without him.
Gin Blossoms, 8 p.m. Friday, Fox Theater, Foxwoods; $24-$45; 1-800-200-2882.