Hailed in the All Music Guide as "the last great unheralded normal man in American rock," Ed Masley of the Frampton Brothers is back with a new band, Pittsburgh’s The Breakup Society, whose debut, "James at 35," combines the most pretentious idea in rock (the concept album) with the least pretentious idea in rock (the "girl" song). “Power-pop bands often toil in obscurity and become popular only after breaking up (ask your parents about Big Star -- or maybe not). Nevertheless, former Frampton Brothers vocalist Ed Masley is trying to buck that trend with The Breakup Society, a group employing harmonies as complex as a Rubik's Cube, ragged British Invasion thrash, shiny, happy jangle and a heaping helping of self-deprecation via the lead singer of Cheap Trick ("Every girl I ever had a crush on Had a bigger crush on you Robin Zander"). "I don't think we're strictly a power-pop band," Masley says. "[Our music is] the trashier, less polite, less well-mannered side of power-pop. I think we may be more legitimately power-pop than Fountains of Wayne, because we're not half as successful as they are." [Annie Zalewski]

When the Frampton Brothers threw in the towel in 2002, Ed Masley wasted no time starting up a new unit. Along with the guitarist, the Breakup Society includes guitarist Greg Anderson, bassist Andy McDuffie and drummer Dan MacIntyre. Anderson and Masley played together with Johnny Rhythm & the Dimestore 45s in the late 1980s, while Macintyre kept time with both the Framptons and Charm School Confidential, another Masley project. McDuffie, whose harmonies factor heavily into the band's songs, played most recently with Kill Bossa.

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