Announcing Pop Zeus
It gives us great pleasure to announce a project near to our hearts that we have been working on for a long time. Our dear friend Michael “Mikey” Hodges aka Pop Zeus tragically passed away in a motorcycle accident in Downtown LA on Dec 18, 2014 and left behind a treasure trove of demos and unreleased material. This has been an emotional and challenging project, but we know how dedicated to music Mikey was and he would want this music out in the world.
Crafting flawless Lo-Fi Power Pop gems was Pop Zeus' specialty, and this homespun 4-track demo of "Foolish" recorded October 9, 2011 is exactly that. In 3min 19sec, Mikey rips an earworm of a guitar lick over a drum machine and belts his lungs out, heart on his sleeve.
POP ZEUS - FOOLISH [ON SPOTIFY]
This single comes as the first of 11 unearthed demos collected into a vinyl retrospective, This Doesn't Feel Like Home (Unreleased Demos 2011-2014), out March 5, 2021, days before what would have been his 36th birthday.
For those who loved Mikey, this is a thrilling look into the vault we never got to see, and for those who never met him, it's the beginning of a love affair with a giant so many hold dear.
We owe a great debt of gratitude to his sister Whitney Hodges and the rest of his family as well as Adam Fithers, Mike Ley, Jodie Love, Vishnu Boray, and Jon Coombs who helped source music, designed the packaging, shot and provided photography, and of course, their endless moral support.
100% of the proceeds from this track (and all future Pop Zeus releases) will go to the Michael T Hodges Instrument Endowment Fund which supplies instruments to students in Lebanon, IN.
P.S. His entire back catalogue is now live on streaming service. GO WILD
