Palmyra Delran and The Doppel Gang

Palmyra Delran is inciting espionage. “Come Spy With Me is an invitation to come for the ride and listen to the record with me,” says the trash-pop maven of her new album on Steven Van Zandt’s Wicked Cool Records, out November 9. “Plus, spying is all the rage these days. I know there’s a movie from 1967 with the same title as my album, but I haven’t seen it.”

Spy builds on Palmyra’s growing notoriety within the Garage Rock universe, which has seen many of her tracks named “Coolest Song In The World” on Little Steven’s Underground Garage. One of them, “Baby Should Have Known Better,” was even SiriusXM listeners’ choice for “Coolest Song Of The Year” in 2008. Another fan favorite, “You’re My Brian Jones,” was a highlight of her last full-length effort, 2013’s You Are What You Absorb.

The New Yorker (by way of Philadelphia) with a penchant for mod and Vespa scooter culture has recruited so many spies to conspire with her that nearly every track on this new self-produced tour de force of a platter with backing band The Doppel Gang boasts one or more guest stars. Blondie’s Debbie Harry lends vocals on the first two songs, and contributions abound from a who’s who of punk, garage and power pop demigods including Kim Shattuck (Muffs), Cáit O’Riordan (Pogues), female rock pioneer Genya Ravan (who brings it all full circle on a cover of early ’70s girl-rockers Fanny), Peter Zaremba (Fleshtones), Paul Collins (Paul Collins’ Beat), Eddie Muñoz (Plimsouls), “Speedie” John Carlucci (Fuzztones), Ben Vaughn and even Little Steven himself.

Far from the soundtrack to the next James Bond flick, though, the songs on Spy tend more toward relationship stories. “They’re not necessarily mine – I like to eavesdrop,” Palmyra admits. “Even a little snippet of random conversation can turn into a set of lyrics. I like to span time frames and imagery, mix past and present. Leave questions unanswered. Blur the lines so that songs can mean different things to different people. It’s about connecting. It’s gotta make you laugh, cry or think. Maybe even at the same time!”

The music she’s made with her coterie of friends on Spy stays true to her longtime artistic vision. “It’s an extension of what I was doing in the Friggs,” she says of her ’90s girl punk group. It was a vision that landed them spots opening for legends like the Ramones and Cheap Trick while earning sync placements in watch-’em-till-you-memorize-’em films like Superbad and Jawbreaker.

The cast of New York characters known as The Doppel Gang anchors the album, fleshing out Delran’s demos. “I’m like the Ed Wood of home recording,” she says. “My guys in the band take the basics and make ’em better.”

The Doppel Gang consists of bassist Michael Lynch (“a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who’s been in tons of cool bands and released a few records of his own”), drummer Mark Brotter (“he’s played with Hem, Evie Sands, Alan Merrill who wrote “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll” and Bowery Boys”) and Richard Dev Greene (“true rock ’n’ roll to the core, he was in Pale Face Of Youth who re-formed as Pale Moon Gang, and he’s doing gigs with the re-formed Plimsouls”).

In addition to East Coast shows, Palmyra will tour Come Spy With Me out West this fall with Wicked Cool labelmates (and fellow Philly area natives) Soraia. L.A.’s honeychain is also on the bill. For those dates, Palmyra’s lined up a left coast combo comprised of John Carlucci and Laura Carlucci along with two of the Pandoras, Melanie Vammen and Hillary Burton, the latter also of honeychain. The Carluccis are also in Bubble Gun, a Palmyra band that’s scored a “Coolest Song” of their own in a duet with The Mighty Manfred of the Woggles. A drummer-turned-frontwoman, Palmyra also still does a gig or so a year with her old Philly-based punk band Pink Slip Daddy.

Another recent Palmyra project of note is the children’s punk album KinderAngst, a 2012 collaboration with NYC songwriter Rachelle Garniez who also co-wrote “Brian Jones” and her 2017 Christmas single “Coal In My Fishnet Stocking.” She even brought the swingin’ ‘60s Spanish song “Chica Ye Ye” to the Spy sessions.

When she’s not writing, recording or touring, Ms. Delran brings the rock to the people as host of Palmyra’s Trash-Pop Shindig on Little Steven’s Underground Garage channel, Sunday mornings 8 a.m. to noon EST on SiriusXM. “I get to unleash the geek and not just bore my friends with music facts!” she says. Her recent listening for fun has included East Coast beach music like Bill Deal & the Rhondels and the Tams, with staples like T. Rex, the Velvet Underground and ’60s British Invasion bands never far from her turntable.

“I’ve played in front of 30,000 people – opening for Cheap Trick – and for two people – the sound man and his girlfriend – so I try to make the best of whatever is going on around me. Luckily the highlights have outweighed the low points.”

The next full-length release in Wicked Cool Records’ ongoing partnership with The Orchard as distributor, Come Spy With Me catapults Palmyra Delran from the garage into the driver’s seat of the most souped-up set of wheels this side of 007’s Aston Martin.