About Pez Band

Before the power-pop movement kicked into high-gear with the success of 1979's Get The Knack and Cheap Trick's Live at Budokan--pioneering Chicago-based group, Pezband, had already blazed a three-year trail of hard-edged, hook-laden and harmony-drenched pop-rock on three critically-acclaimed albums and two ferocious live EPs. Unfortunately, Pezband was caught in-between the power-pop boom of the early '70s--when Badfinger and The Raspberries were churning out hit singles--and the resurgence in the very-late '70s, when The Knack and Cheap Trick had singles success. Had Pezband debuted a few years earlier or later, they certainly would have found a larger audience. Further, the group's choice of record company [the long-defunct New Jersey-based Passport Records] probably hurt their chances--as the label lacked the promotional resources to break the band (or any of their acts for that matter). Though Pezband's "Baby It's Cold Outside," and "Stop! Wait a Minute," are staples of every "best-of power-pop" compilation--it took Japanese label Air Mail Recordings to release the long out-of print catalog of 50 Pezband tracks on three CDs in 2005. In the United States, pop-savvy Not Lame Records is the catalog's online distributor.