Bobby Mahoney Releases New Album ‘Another Deadbeat Summer’ via Wicked Cool Records

Central New Jersey alternative rock outfit Bobby Mahoney has released its Wicked Cool Records label debut, ‘Another Deadbeat Summer’

by Gord Hunter | bobbymahoneymusic.com | 

If you could distill Bobby Mahoney’s flourishing career down to a single moment, it might well have happened in the middle of a blistering set at the legendary Stone Pony in Asbury Park. The crowd was bouncing along to a thunderous backbeat and Mahoney – the songwriter, vocalist and guitarist – was blasting his way through another fiery solo on his battered Gibson SG. With fans in a frenzy and the song at a crescendo, he looked back to the Pony’s stage manager and flashed a sweat-drenched, mile-wide grin that said it all in an instant; Bobby Mahoney was exactly where he was meant to be.

It’s a moment that thousands dream about but few experience, and it’s a moment Bobby Mahoney didn’t arrive at without putting in the work. Bridging the gap between the stereotypical teenage desire and musical reality requires dedication, belief, talent and drive; qualities he’s always had in great supply.

When you grow up within earshot of the Jersey Shore, and just a bridge or tunnel away from New York City, inspiration comes in waves. For Mahoney, an East Brunswick, New Jersey native, the music of Springsteen and Bon Jovi mixed seamlessly with Gaslight Anthem, Against Me! and the Menzingers; generating a ground-breaking approach. He wasn’t going to take the time-worn route of jumping into the first band that could manage three-chords and half a dozen songs. Instead he chose the long game. Like the legends who inspired him, he would hone his musicianship and songwriting first, then fuse everything with a punk sensibility to create something innovative, something new.

The result has led to Mahoney joining the robust roster of New Jersey icon Stevie Van Zandt’s (The Sopranos, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul) Wicked Cool Records and releasing Another Deadbeat Summer, his first album with the label.

Of the album’s title track, frontman Bobby Mahoney says, “‘Another Deadbeat Summer’ was originally written in two sittings- in 2014 I started the song alone in my dorm room at William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ, and then finished it with Jon Alba at my parents house later. The song is about a wild high school party, and the observations I made as an attendee, feeling like an outsider.

When we initially recorded it and made the first video, it became the first song of ours that people would sing along loudly to at the shows, and became a staple of our set. In the following ten years, the song has covered a lot of ground, including when we re-tracked it in 2017, with Frank Mara at North End Recording in Clifton, NJ, adding saxophone by Zack Sandler. That was the version that Stevie Van Zandt initially heard and brought us to Wicked Cool Records.

For the newest version, Geoff Sanoff, Zack, and I worked together on a new horn line, and Geoff’s mix with Joe Lambert’s master really breathed fresh air into the song. This song just does not seem to want to die, and I am very thankful for it. It was a no-brainer to bring Zack Morrison back to direct the new version of the video, since he did such an amazing job on the initial project in 2014. It is cool to see how far this team has come in the first ten years of ‘Another Deadbeat Summer’, and I am excited to see where the song takes us in the next ten years.”

It’s a record that features road-tested songs sharpened and perfected on tour, with stops in New Orleans, Chicago, Miami, Canada and up and down the Eastern Seaboard. Mahoney has spent the last decade honing his live performance, and his prowess has not gone unnoticed. When he wasn’t blowing the roof off dive bars, college basements and music halls – along with his band, currently consisting of Andrew Saul (guitar), James McIntosh (drums) and Jon Chang Soon (bass) – he was opening for Against Me!, Frank Turner, Bon Jovi and Steve Earle. Most recently, Mahoney played The Continental Club in Austin, TX as part of the Wicked Cool Records Revue for the 2024 South By Southwest festival. Never once did he take those opportunities for granted. He wasn’t just soaking up the adulation of the built-in crowds or moon-facing at his musical mentors. In Mahoney’s own words, “We approach every show as a chance to improve, to learn, and to strengthen our bonds within ourselves and our audiences.“ He was going to school and learning what it takes to get ahead in a business that’s as brutal as it is exhilarating.

That cutting edge attitude, along with a blue collar work ethic and an education that was born out of a relentless touring schedule has given Bobby Mahoney a creative foundation in song craft and a solid understanding of what it takes to succeed. He has done all of this before hitting 30 years old, and is just getting started. Mahoney’s hard work and growth is paying off on a large scale, proving what it takes to succeed in the cut-throat music business. Another Deadbeat Summer is an album of irrepressible sing-along melodies, runaway-train energy and a nod to songwriters like Fallon and Springsteen.

Mahoney is the exception to the rule that reaching the precipice of popularity is only possible by pounding down that same dusty well-worn path. In a world that evolves and changes in microbursts, Bobby Mahoney can turn on a dime, flash that rock and roll smile and reach a place that many only dream about. Sure, it’s where he’s meant to be right now, but just imagine where he’s going.

Bobby Mahoney | Guitar, Vocals

James McIntosh | Drums

Andrew Saul | Guitar, Vocals

Jon Chang-Soon | Bass, Vocals