Greg Pope & The Popmonsters New & Old

Greg Pope and The Popmonsters will be back on the road again this fall, performing new and old material. Their recent performance in Winston-Salem’s Heyday Guitars provided a glimpse of what’s to come. Consider the video below to be your “heads-up”.

Firstly, Heyday Guitars proved to be a great little place. The space was altered to accommodate the band and frankly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the acoustics in the room. Surprisingly, the room sounded pretty good.

And The Popmonsters kicked ass.

Greg Pope & Co. drew from a wealth of material spanning about 8 years and 7 releases. Throw in a few well chosen covers and a new original and you had what amounted to a great evening of pure pop.

The set started with “Fall Into Your Arms”, one of a couple of songs from 2009’s excellent Pete EP. The band performed tracks from their Monster Suit LP as well as the title track to 2015’s superb Fanboy LP. Covers included songs from Queen, Led Zeppelin, Genesis and a terrific performance of CCR’s “Have You Ever Seen Rain” with Asher Pope performing admirably as lead vocalist.

Best of all, Pope performed some new material. The new track, “If You Want Answers” is included in the video I’ve provided here so if you’d like a preview of the next Greg Pope & The Popmonsters release, check out the video at the 3 minute mark.

The Popmonsters are Greg Pope, Asher Pope on bass and David Sprouse on drums. Noah Pope joined in on harmonica for some of the covers, adding a whole other dimension to the sound.

As mentioned earlier, they have plans to tour in the southeast and beyond this fall so be sure to check them out. In the meantime, you can stay abreast of the band’s activities through their Facebook page.

On a side note, if you’re looking for a guitar, consider a visit to Heyday Guitars in Winston-Salem. Located at 414 Brookstown Ave, the staff is very accommodating and they have quality guitars coming in and out all the time. The staff was very helpful as I shopped for an acoustic there, providing me with the space I needed to hear myself as I examined each one. Simply put, it was a really good shopping experience. I will be going back there, for sure. Call before you go. They don’t keep normal store hours.