Only Three Lads - Classic Alternative Music Podcast

Recycling is good, kids. Sometimes that even applies to song titles, as we look at pairs of tunes that share a title. Totally random example: "The Promise" is a fantastic song by both The Numbers and When In Rome.

OK, we can't get anything past you. That wasn't random, because our Third Lads this week just so happen to be Terry & Larry Tutor from the aforementioned Numbers.

L.A.-by-way-of-Texas band The Numbers cut some absolutely crucial singles between 1963 and 1967, as well as a couple of highly sought after albums. They were truly ahead of their time, crossing paths with The Who (whom they sued to , The Easybeats, Billy Gibbons, and the Grateful Dead. They were originally shoo-ins to be cast as The Monkees. Although they didn't get their due in their time, their influence on legions of power pop bands that followed is immeasurable.

That is, of course, if you were to believe the extraordinarily detailed, myth-building liner notes and discography on the back of The Numbers' album Anthology '64-'67 , released on Bomp! subsidiary label Voxx Records in 1983. Truth is, the band, led by twin brothers Terry & Larry were barely old enough to remember the '60s. Yet, proudly wearing their influences on their paisley sleeves, they created one of the best, most collectible releases of the era (that part's true). Anthology is prime 1983 mod/power pop - brilliantly crafted, melodically rich, and harmonically deep pop music.

Although the Tutors would only release one Numbers album in the '80s, they would morph into the "electrified Americana" of The Bordersnakes. Fast forward to 2025 (prompted by a rediscovery by YouTuber Matthew Street), The Numbers released their first new album under that moniker in more than 42 years, Mad Day Out (Bomp! Records). It finds the band with all of their strengths firmly intact, a chiming, harmony-filled blend of joyous folk rock and power pop.

The guys say that this is the most fun they've ever had on a podcast...and who are we to argue with that?

Plus, for those of who are into O3L games, we've got TWO for you this episode: "O3L by the Numbers", a Price Is Right-style trivia game; and "Twintuition", in which our twin guests reveal how much they know about each other. Turns out it's a lot!
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Spice up your Valentine's Day weekend with six proverbial vials of Love Potion No. 9...it's a brand new O3L Weekend Six Pack! This "show within the show" spotlights six new songs that we think you need in your life!

Brett chats with the wildly talented brothers Matheus and Thiago Khouri from Brazil's Banda AL9. Over the past few years, Banda AL9 has earned millions of social media followers, streams, and viral video views with their irresistible blend of Beatlesque songcraft, tight brotherly harmonies, and fun, infectious energy. Now it's time for American audiences to catch up with their upcoming album on Little Steven's Wicked Cool Records, Hey ! Hey! We're Banda AL9, due on July 17th. The first taste of the new album is their sublime cover of labelmate Kurt Baker's "She Can Do It All." Those of you fortunate enough to be in the New York area can check out the phenomenal pop combo live at the Cutting Room on February 19th!

This six pack consists of:

1) Banda AL9 - "She Can Do It All" (from the forthcoming LP Hey! Hey! We're Banda AL9, Wicked Cool Records)

2) The Scarlet Goodbye - "She Is Fire" (The Label Group/Virgin)

3) Randy Klawon - "Spoonful Of Love"

4) Railcard - "Day Dream" (from the LP Railcard, Skep Wax Records)

5) Brighton Strangler - "Georgie Best" (from the forthcoming LP Moves Like Lovers)

6) The Blue Herons - "Willow" (from the forthcoming LP Demon Slayer, Shelflife Records)
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Ramones. Blondie. Television. Talking Heads. Patti Smith. New York Dolls. Everyone knows the big names that made New York City THE epicenter of American punk rock in the 1970s. But that's only a part of the story...

For every band that "made it" in some way, there were hundreds of bands who either faded into obscurity or never got the break they deserved. They shared the same stages at legendary clubs like CBGB and Max's Kansas City. And their stories are essential to the NYC punk revolution of the era.

One of those bands was Manhattan's The Rousers, whose drummer, Jerid O'Connell, joins us as Third Lad today!  Rousers 1979 Sire Session is out now on Left For Dead Records on both black and translucent white individually numbered 12” LP vinyl and 2 x CD set (with bonus tracks).

Inspired by the New York Dolls, Ramones and such immortal ‘50s rockers as twangy guitar hero Duane Eddy, the Rousers were woefully under-documented in their prime. A few major labels sniffed around, including RCA and Warner Bros. subdi­vision Sire. But no one committed them to vinyl until their single “Party Boy” b/w “Don’t Let The Band Stop Playing” 45 (produced by Wayne Kramer of the MC5) via Jimboco in 1981. 

This oversight is corrected with the release of the demos that the original Rousers lineup cut for Sire in the label’s basement studio on New York’s Upper West Side in 1979.  Never before released, the tapes sat shelved in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Sire archives for decades, digitized and re­stored in 2024. This is not a footnote. It’s a rescue mission.

Tracked to tape under the sharp ear of Ed Stasium, hot off sessions with the Ramones and Talking Heads, the 1979 Sire demos are raw, radiant, and long overdue for release. They captured the Rousers in full dragstrip ignition mode: dueling Gibson guitars plugged into Fender amps for maximum punk twang, hiccupping Elvis/Buddy Holly vocal inflections, and a rhythm section built for backseat makeouts and beer-splashed dance floors. 

We celebrate the true underground of NYC punk this week, including Jerid's incredible stories ranging from hanging out with Sid Vicious the week before his death to the Rousers' neighbor Madonna opening for them.

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What makes a great frontman? A technically perfect voice? Good looks? Someone who can work the stage and crowd? Someone who oozes personality, charisma, and showmanship? Does your mind instantly go to classic frontmen like Mick Jagger, Roger Daltrey, or Robert Plant?

This week, we look at some of those frontmen who carried the torch during the classic alternative era. One of those guys is this week's Third Lad, Adam Sherman, the frontman for Boston power-pop rockers Private Lightning, who released an excellent underrated self-titled album for A&M Records in 1980. Following Private Lightning, Adam was the lead singer and songwriter in Americana band The Souls and a member of Boston rock n' roll institution Nervous Eaters. Adam's song from the last Nervous Eaters album, "Don't Need To Make You Mine" was named as the "Coolest Song in the World" on Little Steven's Underground Garage in 2024. Adam has also released the acclaimed solo albums Songbird, River of Dreams, and Triangle Sky - with a brand new record, Sorrows And Smiles, due the week of this episode's release (Feburary 5, 2026).

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Welcome to the first Weekend Six Pack installment of 2026 - the "show within the show" where we spotlight six new tracks that have rocked our proverbial knickers off! Valentine's Day is coming a couple weeks early this year, because we've got two electrifying new tracks from Marc Valentine album bookending the show - the man who Vive Le Rock calls "the new king of British power pop". Both singles will feature on Marc's upcoming album Uncommon Side Effects, due April 10th from Wicked Cool Records. Better yet, Marc joins Brett to discuss the tunes!

In this six pack:


Marc Valentine - 'NY UAP' (from the upcoming LP Uncommon Side Effects, Wicked Cool Records)


Blindness & Light - 'Fly Paper' (single, from their upcoming LP)


Hauntees - 'All Over Again' (from the forthcoming LP Shadows Forming, Xonoring Records)


The Legal Matters - 'Stuck With Me' (from the forthcoming LP Lost At Sea, Big Stir Records)


Would-be-goods - 'Dr. Love' (from the forthcoming LP Tears Before Bedtime, Skep Wax Records)


Marc Valentine - 'You Are The Jet'
(from the upcoming LP Uncommon Side Effects, Wicked Cool Records)

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