Lit’s Jeremy Popoff On The New Album “Tastes Like Gold,” Van Halen, Future Goals & More
The Orange County, California-based quartet known as Lit — as co-founded by brothers Ajay (lead vocals) and Jeremy Popoff (lead guitar) and Kevin Baldes (bass) — is considered one of the preeminent bands to have come out of the post-grunge era of the late 1990’s, helping to define an entire generation of SoCal power punk with hard-charging hits like “My Own Worst Enemy,” “Miserable,” “Zip-Lock,”, and “Lipstick & Bruises.” The band has released 6 studio albums, including the platinum-selling full-length A Place In The Sun. Its double platinum mega-hit “My Own Worst Enemy” is one of the most broadcasted, covered, karaoke’d, recognizable rock hits of the last 20 years and won the group a Billboard Music Award for “Modern Rock Song Of The Year,” while “Miserable” — its music video featured Pamela Anderson — was one of the top 10 most played songs of 2000.
Fast forward to late 2021, and Lit released a new single, “Yeah Yeah Yeah,” via Round Hill Records, and announced a big 2022 UK tour with Bowling For Soup. In addition, it was declared that Lit was the focus of a new multi-part podcast documentary titled My Own Worst Enemy, which featured contributions from musicologists, music industry professionals, and artists who the band had toured alongside — including Noodles from The Offspring, Adrian Young of No Doubt, and singer/songwriter/producer Butch Walker — about the longevity and lasting power of the earlier-mentioned song “My Own Worst Enemy”; the series wonderfully included content about Lit’s founding drummer Allen Shellenberger, who tragically passed away from brain cancer in 2009. As if that were not enough activity for prominent rock band for a year, June 17, 2022 marks the release of a new full-length studio album by Lit via Round Hill Records, Tastes Like Gold, which includes “Yeah Yeah Yeah.”
On May 27, 2022, I had the pleasure of speaking with Lit guitarist Jeremy Popoff about Lit’s then-forthcoming album, rock influences and plenty more. More on Lit can be found here, here and here.
About the Author
Darren Paltrowitz Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. Since then, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer. Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal. Beyond being "Editor At Large" for The Hype Magazine, Darren is also the host of weekly "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" series, which airs on dozens on television and digital networks. He has also co-authored 2 published books, 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press), and co-hosts the world's only known podcast about David Lee Roth, "The DLR Cast."
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