Stream: Irontom, ‘Full Moon’

Kevin Bronson on August 14th, 2020

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Explosive L.A. quartet Irontom have always played their arty hard rock with the fierceness of men possessed, especially animated singer Harry Hayes, who never met a riff that didn’t make him convulse. It’s as if some higher force is at work.

As Irontom this week announced the Sept. 25 arrival of their sophomore album “Cult Following,” the band pulled the curtain back on a powerful new single that also suggests some special alchemy.

“Full Moon” was written in the home studio of the late Tom Petty. Yes, it seems Hayes caught a bit of Petty’s “Full Moon Fever.”

“A few years ago when Tom was still alive, I worked as a personal assistant for his tailor and clothing maker, Glen Palmer,” Hayes says. “Glen lived in a bungalow on Tom’s property and through working for Glen, I got to know Tom over a couple years. After a while, he began allowing me to go into his studio and use his piano whenever I had some free time. I wrote quite a number of songs in there and ‘Full Moon’ is one of them. He was so kind and always very encouraging about songwriting (he was also working with my friends The Shelters at the time). I cherish all the time I got to spend with him, and ‘Full Moon’ is a very special song to me because it came from the musical temple that was TP’s studio.”

It’s a tune filled with typical Irontom bravado. The quartet — Hayes, Zach Irons, Dan Saslow and Dylan Williams — excel at creating space in their songs and then delivering big payoffs, be they Irons’ searing riffs or Hayes roof-rattling vocals.

“Cult Following” is the follow-up to the quartet’s 2017 debut “Partners.” Last year, Irontom released the “Kid Midnight” EP before ramping up this year with “Big Shot,” “Down for Whatever” and “Loverboy.”

||| Stream: “Full Moon”