The Lackloves

Milwaukee's Lackloves feature the singing and songwriting talents of Mike Jarvis, former co-leader of the much-beloved Blow Pops, whose two early-'90s albums are considered minor classics by the power pop underground. Unlike his former partner Tim Buckley, who moved to Virginia to form the space rock experimentalists Maki, Jarvis remains true to his power pop roots in the Lackloves, playing catchy guitar pop tunes with an unselfconscious devotion to the British Invasion, late-'70s new wave, and all points in between. The Lackloves formed in 1996, two years after the Blow Pops' dissolution, around Jarvis and a fellow ex-Blow Pop, drummer Nick Randazzo, along with guitarist Bob Eickhoff. After a period of woodshedding and occasional gigs, the group recorded their first album, As Far As You Know, which came out on the North Carolina indie Endora's Box in early 2000. Shortly thereafter, another former Blow Pops member, bassist Jack Rice, joined the Lackloves just as his ex-bandmate Randazzo was leaving to be replaced by new drummer Nick Verban. The reconstituted group was signed to Rainbow Quartz Records as the venerable U.K. garage pop label was opening its New York office and recorded their second album, 2002's Star City Baby, during the latter half of 2001. The album's release was slightly delayed due to yet another personnel shakeup, as Eickhoff left the group, replaced by another Milwaukee pop stalwart, Don Moore. 2004's The Beat and the Time marked their second release for Rainbow Quartz, and both Rice and Moore amicably left the group two years later. The Lackloves soldiered on as a power trio with the addition of bassist Kevin Ponec, and Cathedral Square Park arrived in early 2008.