Back in the early 1990s, the Gin Blossoms hits\u2019 \u201cHey Jealousy\u201d and \u201cFound Out About You\u201d were topping the charts and reaching gold sales, as listeners connected with the songs\u2019 ominous, claustrophobic portrayals of relationships gone wrong.<\/p>\n
Gin Blossoms are likely to offer these songs and more of the nine Top 40 hits they had on various charts when they share the stage at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks, Bethlehem, with fellow 1990s\u2019 hit-makers Blues Traveler (\u201cRunaround\u201d) and Spin Doctors (\u201cTwo Princes,\u201d \u201cLittle Miss Can\u2019t Be Wrong\u201d), 6:30 p.m. Aug. 25.<\/p>\n
These days, when the Gin Blossoms play \u201cHey Jealousy\u201d and \u201cFound Out About You\u201d in concert, audiences frequently greet them gleefully, singing along in celebration, not sharing in their desperation.<\/p>\n
Gin Blossoms\u2019 singer Robin Wilson says that doesn\u2019t surprise him, given the fact that redirection, such as making obsession sound catchy, has always been one of the band\u2019s trademarks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always been a part of what we do, even just reflecting on the name of the band, Gin Blossoms.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt sounds sort of clever on the surface, but it represents something that\u2019s kind of dark.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gin blossoms refers to an enlarged, bumpy, reddish nose linked to heavy alcohol consumption.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think a lot of our music, it makes people happy, but, you know, a lot of it was written while we were depressed. And lyrically, the songs reflect some longing, and that\u2019s just part of what we do.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s cool to have some mystery and misdirection in our presentation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group\u2019s hits, which include \u201cAllison Road,\u201d \u201cFollow You Down,\u201d \u201cUntil I Fall Away\u201d and \u201cTil I Hear It From You,\u201d gave Gin Blossoms a four-times-platinum debut album, \u201cNew Miserable Experience,\u201d in 1992 and a platinum, Top 10 follow-up, \u201cCongratulations, I\u2019m Sorry,\u201d in 1996.<\/p>\n
They also made the alt-rockers an unlikely staple on commercial radio.<\/p>\n
The band\u2019s lineup includes, in addition to Robin Wilson, lead vocals; acoustic guitar, percussion, harmonica: Scotty Johnson, lead guitar, backing vocals; Jesse Valenzuela, rhythm guitar, backing vocals; Bill Leen, bass, and Scott Hessel, drums.<\/p>\n
If some of the songs\u2019 stinging original meanings have been softened by the years, the band still seeks to \u201cdeliver a quality and honest performance for anyone who comes to see us,\u201d Wilson says in a phone call from a tour stop in Malone, N.Y., where the band was playing the Franklin County Fair.<\/p>\n
\u201cConnecting with new fans is always a pleasure. It\u2019s great to see young people out in the audience,\u201d he says. \u201cBut mostly we\u2019re just a humble working band and glad to have people who want to hire us to come to their county fair and casinos and stuff, and we\u2019re going to keep going as long as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
While commercial success slowed after the 1990s, the Gin Blossoms has continued to release new music. The 2006 album \u201cMajor Lodge Victory\u201d and 2010\u2019s \u201cNo Chocolate Cake\u201d each hit the Top 15 on the Indie Albums chart, and its last disc, 2018\u2019s \u201cMixed Reality,\u201d peaked at No. 36.<\/p>\n
Some songs from those albums, such as \u201cLearning the Hard Way\u201d and \u201cBreak,\u201d have become fan favorites.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think \u2018Mixed Reality\u2019 is a solid record and it holds up to our classic catalog, and it was a pleasure to make,\u201d Wilson says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good every once in a while to do that. Nobody\u2019s sitting around waiting for Gin Blossoms to release a new record. But we\u2019ll do it because it\u2019s part of the basic fabric of being in a rock band. It\u2019s something we want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
That being said, it\u2019s been eight years since the band\u2019s last album.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, what the hell? How did time go by so fast? That\u2019s twice as long as anyone\u2019s in high school,\u201d Wilson says. \u201cYou would think we\u2019d be able to make more records than this. But I can\u2019t even tell you why or how that happened. You just wake up one day and realize, \u2018We\u2019re not very productive. Let\u2019s get on it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The Gin Blossoms are again writing new music, with recording probably to happen next summer, Wilson says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t really have anybody asking for it. We haven\u2019t got a record company paying for it. We\u2019re going to have to do it entirely ourselves, but, you know, we\u2019re experienced professionals, so it shouldn\u2019t be that difficult,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Asked about the new music, Wilson says, \u201cThere\u2019s not much more to say than that. Everybody\u2019s kind of writing. \u2026 We\u2019re not going to try and reinvent ourselves like U2 or something like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do what comes naturally to us without overthinking it and we stay pretty loyal to our original intentions as songwriters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Next year will mark the 40th anniversary of the Gin Blossoms\u2019 founding.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been awesome,\u201d Wilson says. \u201cIt\u2019s humbling and, you know, there\u2019s just a sense of relief and gratification that it wasn\u2019t all for nothing. When I dropped out of college, my dad told me I was a \u2026 idiot.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I proved him,\u201d he says, quoting a line from the FOX-TV animated sitcom \u201cFuturama,\u201d which he says is \u201cone of my favorite TV shows.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe definitely have a legacy, you know?\u201d he says. \u201cWhen you have some success in getting your songs heard, you create a legacy right there.\u201d<\/p>\n
More important, Wilson says, is the Gin Blossoms\u2019 legacy in their home state of Arizona. The band formed in Tempe, Ariz.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe set out just to be the best band in our home state,\u201d he says. \u201cI used to read the papers, look at all the ads for the local clubs, and I always admired all of the local bands and I wanted to be a part of that. I just wanted to be in the mix somehow.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we went on to have, by any reasonable standard, enormous success. And it\u2019s still \u2013 we have some small part in the big rock story.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe accomplished something back home in Arizona that very few bands get to do. And so being able to show people that it\u2019s possible and inspire other local musicians is one of my favorite things that we\u2019ve ever done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson says he recently helped program the Gin Blossoms\u2019 Pandora channel, picking out \u201cabout 150 songs from just dozens and dozens of groups I wanted people to hear.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd so I would hope that anyone who\u2019s interested in our music and our story would have an opportunity to hear the Gin Blossoms\u2019 channel on Pandora and have some sense of where we came from and why we do this.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I meet young, up-and-coming Arizona musicians, and we had some effect on them and inspired them, it means as much as much or more than anything that we accomplished. Because, again, I remember being that teenager, dreaming about being in a local band. And now we\u2019re the standard.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, let\u2019s say Jimmy Eat World [from Mesa, Arizona] is the standard, and we\u2019re swimming in their wake. But we\u2019re doing OK.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gin Blossoms, Blues Traveler, Spin Doctors, 6:30 p.m. Aug. 25, Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks presented by Lehigh Valley Health Network part of Jefferson Health, 789 E. First St., Bethlehem, Pa. 18105. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. Tickets for general admission standing: https:\/\/www.artsquest.org\/event\/blues-traveler-and-gin-blossoms-with-spin-doctors\/<\/p>\n
PHOTO BY SHERVIN LAINEZGin Blossoms, from left: Scotty Johnson, guitar; Robin Wilson, lead singer; Jesse Valenzuela, guitar, and Bill Leen, bass.<\/p>\n
PHOTO BY SHANE MILJEVICThe Spin Doctors<\/p>\n
CONTRIBUTED PHOTOBlues Traveler<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Back in the early 1990s, the Gin Blossoms hits\u2019 \u201cHey Jealousy\u201d and \u201cFound Out About You\u201d were topping…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120],"class_list":["post-270988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}