Vicky and the Vengents – “You Used to Be My Baby” (audio) (Premiere)

If the antagonists in Grease were punks instead of hair-slicked greasers, Vicky and the Vengents‘ “You Used to Be My Baby” would be their heartsong. The band, who describe their sound as “maltshop punk”, pays homage to doo-wop and classic girl groups from the ’50s, all the while adding in a healthy dose of power chords to enliven the aesthetic.

The band tells PopMatters, “It’s hard for people to describe the bands they’re in. We’ve always explained to people that we’re kinda like the Ramones meets the Ronettes. Mainly because they’re catch-all terms and people usually understand the style when you reference a couple of bands. Where as both of those bands are huge influences, it’s never been a dead on accurate discription. The funny thing about recording is that things are revealed in the process. We discovered in this song we really sound like the Ramones meet the Ronettes! We were very excited about that. It’s hard to incorporate your influences and sound original too. We hope we did that here.”

“You Used to Be My Baby” is out on 27 May via Burger/Weiner Records.

Upcoming tour dates for the Vicky and the Vengents:

05/27 — Continental Room, Fullerton, CA (Official Wiener/Burger Records Release Show)

06/04 — Dollhut, Anaheim, CA

06/06 — Mission Tobacco Lounge, Riverside, CA (Screening party for the Seeds documentary, Pushin’ Too Hard)

10/24 — Boondocks, Corona, CA