This week’s *Smallpox* cover is their version of the Dead Milkmen’s “Dean’s Dream.”

Daniel Smith relates “At one point, Bob (Diamond, drummer) and I had this idea about starting a Dead Milkmen tribute band, but that went down the shitter pretty fast, because of a few inherent problems.

First, we were probably going to have a hard time finding two more band members who were willing to learn their catalog and not get paid very much (or at all).

Second, we were definitely going to have a hard time finding gigs, because aside from “Punk Rock Girl,” most people generally don’t give a shit about them.

So instead, we’d just jam on Milkmen covers from time to time, make inside jokes about Milkmen lyrics that nobody else understood, and act like dickheads.

Anyway, if I remember correctly, we were going to record a cover of “Life is Shit.” That didn’t exactly work out, either. But we did do “Dean’s Dream.”

You can download “Dean’s Dream” for a buck “here”:https://dromedaryrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-covers-album – or buy the whole album, with a new download every other week, for $18.

Last year, we were stoked to release the “Bait”/”Couch Cooking” 8″ by New Jersey’s *Glazer*. We’d already thought they were among New Jersey’s best bands, and after playing their various records on the *Signal to Noise* radio show on WFDU and having them as guests, we got to know them a little and they’re among New Jersey’s *nicest* bands as well.

When Jeff Hersch shared his first *Civic Mimic* release, it blew us away to the point where we almost immediately asked if he’d be into doing something on Dromedary. _Deep Clean_ is the result of that initial discussion. Three outstanding songs that showcase the angsty, math-punk of Glazer but with a more angular edge. It’s available now in all digital and streaming formats, but we highly recommend the limited-edition lathe-cut 7″. Just be sure to pick it up quickly, because we don’t repress lathe-cuts – when they’re gone, they’re gone!

_Big Takeover_ premieres the new track “New Paint” by *Civic Mimic*, from the _Deep Clean_ single, which is out TOMORROW on all digital formats, plus limited-edition lathe-cut 7″.

Check it out “here”:http://bigtakeover.com/news/VideoPremiereNewPaintbyCivicMimic

This week’s *Smallpox* cover is a song that virtually everybody likes.

It’s “Don’t Change,” originally recorded by INXS.

Smallpox’ Daniel Smith explains “INXS always seemed like one of those bands that, aside from a handful of songs, weren’t really all that great. But that handful of songs? _Damn_.”

“The first thing I remember hearing was ‘The One Thing,’ which was sort of good in an ‘eh’ kind of way. It’s not like you’d change the channel if the video came on MTV but it’s not like you ere going to run out and buy the album, either.”

“Then they release ‘Don’t Change’ as a single and _holy shit_. One of those fucking perfect pop songs that when you first hear it, every time you get to the end, you have to start over. And then you finally go buy the album, and the rest of it is pretty much blah. And really, that kind of sums um INXS for me – the occasional _holy shit_ but mostly, blah.”

Stream it “here”:https://dromedaryrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-covers-album, where you can buy the download for a dollar or the entire year’s worth of covers – so far, seven – for $18, and have immediate access as we upload them.

We are thrilled to announce the latest installment in our limited-edition lathe-cut picture disc series: _Deep Clean,_ by *Civic Mimic*.

Civic Mimic is the pandemic quarantine project of (new dad!) Jeff Hersch of the band Glazer, who has released *four* excellent titles under this name since the pandemic began. When we heard the first one, we practically fell over ourselves asking him if he’d want to do a Civic Mimic record for our lathe-cut series. Thankfully, he did!

On April 2, we’ll be releasing _Deep Clean,_ our latest lathe-cut and the newest Civic Mimic record. If you purchase the record from our webstore, you get the limited-edition picture disc, plus the digital files in the format of your choice!

You can preorder it now, and we’d suggest you get one quick, because there will be no re-presses – once they’re gone, they’re gone!

If you’ve been following along, you know that since the beginning of the year, we’ve been releasing a new cover song by *Smallpox* every other week, which we are offering for a dollar each, or for $18 for the entire album, imaginatively called _The Covers Album_.

We can promise you that there will be some surprises, and this week’s cover is one of them: Olivia Newton-John’s “Hopelessly Devoted To You,” popularized on the soundtrack to the movie _Grease_.

And while the _Grease_ soundtrack can be found for fifty cents in the used bin of every record store in America, the Smallpox version of this song is only available “here”:https://dromedaryrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-covers-album.

From Daniel Smith of *Smallpox*:

_”No fuckin’ way, dude.”

That was Bob’s (Smallpox drummer Bob Diamond) response about that one. Actually, at first I think he thought it was a joke and just laughed at me. Luckily, his girlfriend at the time was a huge _Grease_ fan.

For the record, it wasn’t a joke. Nor was it meant to be ironic in a hipster kind of way. My childhood crush on Olivia Newton-John goes back to 1974 (way before the movie, in kid years). And as much as I’ve never really been a big fan of country music, I’ve always been a sucker for female vocalists: off the top of my head, Karen Carpenter, Connie Francis, Rita Coolidge, Roberta Flack, Skeeter Davis, Pat Benatar, Teri Nunn, Dale Bozzio, Aimee Mann, Sade, Sinead O’Connor, Fiona Apple, Sara McLachlan, Tori Amos, Liz Phair, Imogen Heep, Bjork, Lana Del Rey…

But growing up, I was in fucking love with Olivia Newton-John. And there goes any street credit that I once might’ve had._