THE FLASHCUBES – Power Pop Hall Of Famers and unstoppable icons of the NY State rock scene for over forty years – are back with another single from Big Stir Records. This month, our heroes take a break from saluting their peers and influences in the guitar pop pantheon to show off their own legendary prowess with hooks and high-energy pop rock, at the height of their early live powers in 1979. “Christi Girl (Live)” is out this Friday, July 22, up for pre-order now at bigstirrecords.bandcamp.com, and streaming worldwide on the release date.

It's an urgent vintage recording of the band's biggest hit single, recorded at The Firebarn in the band's hometown of Syracuse, NY just one year after the classic 45's 1978 release. “Christi Girl”, performed onstage here by the band's classic (and current) lineup of bassist Gary Frenay, drummer Tommy Allen and guitarists Paul Armstrong and Arty Lenin (who wrote the tune) will be familiar to even power pop fans who weren't “there”: it's hard to find an anthology of the genre's heyday that doesn't include the original version. It is quite simply, like the tunes the modern-day 'Cubes have been covering by the likes of Shoes, Dwight Twilley, The Spongetones, and Pezband on their recent Big Stir singles, a definitive classic of the form.

And for anyone wishing they had been around to witness the young Flashcubes at the start of it all, this single – an exclusive and specially-edited version of track as found on the terrific live album FLASHCUBES ON FIRE: LIVE AT THE FIREBARN, MAY 26, 1979 independently released by the band earlier this year – is the next best thing. The single's here to showcase why you should add that essential document of the band's early days to your collection, as expressed by Carl Cafarelli (of THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO), who indeed was there, in the record's liner notes:

“On May 26, 1979, The Flashcubes recorded a show at the Firebarn on multitrack, their only 1970s show to be preserved with that level of oomph. You can hear the sweat. The Firebarn's upstairs could get hot. It was never hotter than this night. Bright lights. Guitars, bass, drums. Volume. Your ears are gonna be ringing for days. This album documents that precise moment, that pyrotechnic spark when the band were at their peak: a quartet of rock 'n' rollers dead set for the toppermost of the poppermost. If you were there, you'll never forget it. If you weren't there, just close your eyes, open your imagination, and breathe in the gold.”

You still can, and not just on this new “Christi Girl” single: FLASHCUBES ON FIRE is still available. It's heartily endorsed by Big Stir Records, and we're happy to shine a light on it. For our part? We wouldn't have felt right about issuing series of singles where THE FLASHCUBES play the classics if it didn't include one of their own. Here it is... fire it up, and stand by for more to come from the band next month!