The Plimsouls at the Bowery Electric

After leaving the Nerves, whose 1976 single "Hangin' on the Telephone" was later popularized by Blondie, vocalist/guitarist Peter Case formed the Tone Dogs, which became the Plimsouls. The Plimsouls started as a power pop trio in 1978 in Paramount, California, and shortly before recording an EP in 1980 the band added lead guitarist Eddie Munoz of the Skunks, a band from Austin, Texas. The Plimsouls achieved regional popularity first, then national popularity in 1983 when the song "A Million Miles Away" was included on Valley Girl's motion picture soundtrack. Case then left the band to pursue a solo career, effectively ending the Plimsouls until a variation of the band recorded a little-noticed album in 1996. Munoz periodically assembles a touring band to play the Plimsouls' music. The current band consists of Munoz, vocalist/guitarist Richard Dev Greene (Pale Moon Gang, Palmyra Delran), bassist Cait O’Riordan (The Pogues, Bitchface), and drummer Florent Barbier (The Road Runners, Ivan Julian). The Plimsouls' most recent album, Beach Town Confidential, recorded live in 1983, was released in 2012.

The Plimsouls returned to the Bowery Electric tonight, and did right by the brand's legacy. Deriving the set principally from the Plimsouls' first two albums, the band brought life to the 35-year-old songs. Slicker than the initial versions, the songs were now more polished guitar-led pop than the original garage rockers. Greene was an animated front person, keeping the visual element lively, and Munoz offered exuberant guitar blasts to electrify the old catalogue. The encore was different, however, with O'Riordan first singing the Pogues' "Haunted" and then the band covering Iggy Pop's "I Wanna Be Your Dog." Thirty five years later, the music of the Plimsouls is still all about rock and roll.