Most folks around the country spent the past holiday weekend cracking open cans of Bud to the patriotic ’80s sounds of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” But Tim Oxton of Boston surf-pop project Wakes shifted his attention to a different Boss 1984 classic on July 4, rolling under the covers and deep into a gloomy haze for a darker twist on Springsteen’s already-rather-sinister hit “I’m On Fire.”
The cover follows-up Wakes’ surfy 2013 reboot of Grimes’ “Oblivion” (back when they were called Polaroids) and last month’s full-length debut, Feral Youth. The song’s mood strikes an appropriate angle for the holiday’s washout, and carries over nicely to this morning’s gray Monday.
“I always love me a rainy day and what better way to celebrate the birth of ‘Murrica than with a cover of the American man himself, ol’ Bruce Boss Bruce man,” Oxton wrote on July 4. “Free to download cause it took me about an hour. But buy the full length while you’re there so I can still have free time and record covers like this.”
You can order the Feral Youth full-length here, and listen and download the Bruce cover via the Bandcamp embedded below.
Catch Wakes playing the Funky Jungle in Providence this Wednesday with Surf Curse, Dry Bones, and others. Wakes’ next closer-to-home gig arrives August 20 at T.T. The Bear’s Place with Bent Shapes, IAN, and more.
