The Pop Group celebrate their first album in 35 years at Echoplex

Post-punk pioneers, The Pop Group, took over the weekly edition of Part Time Punks at The Echoplex this past Tuesday. The UK based band are touring in support of their first record in 35 years, Citizen Zombie.

The imposing frontman, Mark Stewart, took to the stage like an animal let loose from its cage as the band ripped into their seminal hit, “We Are All Prostitutes”. While the Echoplex wasn’t as packed as it probably should’ve been, the mostly older crowd went nuts. It’s always fun to be surrounded by guys that are old enough to be my father and look like they are well respected pillars of society, and then watch them lose their shit at a show.

The Pop Group’s style is a bit more of an avant garde / funk / jazz mix than I like. You can see how much of an influence they had on people like Nick Cave and Mike Watt. Stewart even dedicated “Thief of Fire” to Mike Watt and Mike Watt’s mum.

Opening for The Pop Group were Sex Stains and Peaking Lights. While both bands are entirely different from each other, they are both cut from the same cloth which makes Part Time Punks one of the more exciting weekly’s Los Angeles has to offer. The Sex Stains blast through short and sweet punk tunes, while Peaking Lights performed long form nuanced dub dance music.

POP GROUP SETLIST

We Are All Prostitutes
Citizen Zombie
Thief of Fire
Mad truth
Words Disobey Me
Age of Miracles
She Is Beyond Good and Evil
Shadow Child
Spanish Inquisition
S.O.P.H.I.A
Colour Blind
Nowhere Girl
Trap
We Are Time

Check out the photos below of all three bands!

Photography & Words: Ceethreedom

The Pop Group