Sneak of the Week: Chris Moffa & The Competition

How an underground New Jersey trio cut a lost ‘80s power pop classic.

In the early ‘80s, there was an explosion of artists at the intersection of power pop and New Wave on the Garden State music scene. Bands like The Bongos, The Smithereens, The Individuals, The Cucumbers, The dB’s, The Cyclones, and others were making their stand not only at the usual NYC hotspots but at New Jersey rock ‘n’ roll havens like Maxwell’s in Hoboken and City Gardens in Trenton.

But one band that gets left out of the conversation when the topic arises is Chris Moffa & The Competition. In terms of the trail they left behind, it’s like they were hiking through a national park where the prime directive is “leave no trace.” There are only a couple of 45’s left to tell the world about the sound that swelled up when singer/guitarist Moffa bashed it out with bassist Frank Roselli and drummer Jim Ohm, but that’s enough.

In the early ‘80s, Moffa’s power trio was banging around the same circuit as the aforementioned bands, and their style was right in tune with the times. “You Know How Hot (It’s Been Getting Around Here,” the A side of their 1981 debut single, hits the sweet spot at the center of a rocking Venn diagram populated by the early Joe Jackson/Elvis Costello/Graham Parker triumvirate, the neo-Mod moves of The Jam and Secret Affair, and the poptastic but punk-savvy sounds of their East coast peers.

With a vocal delivery falling somewhere between Joe Strummer and ‘70s Paul Weller, Moffa rides the see-sawing melody of the verses into a chorus filled with so much snap, crackle, and pop you could eat it for breakfast. And at the chorus ending, when the words “around here” begin repeating, the six-string tintinnabulation and hazy smear of vocal harmony open things up and take the track soaring skywards. If you isolated that moment and put it on an infinite loop, you could probably solve all the planet’s problems by the third or fourth go-round.

Ira Robbins, editor of the era’s coolest and most influential U.S. New Wave magazine, Trouser Press, was so taken with the tune that he chose it to open the cutting-edge 1983 compilation album Trouser Press Presents The Best of America Underground, alongside the esteemed likes of Shoes, The Nerves, and Pylon. By that time, the band had a second record out, a three-song EP headed up by “Places to Live.” But by the next year, Moffa had joined the short-lived band Soul Attack, which released one EP and included two future members of highly touted roots rockers The Brandos.

Over four decades later, “You Know How Hot (It’s Been Getting Around Here)” still packs as much electrifying power and pop pizzazz as it ever did. And whenever anybody aims to tally up ‘80s classics by New Jersey rockers, the song deserves a seat at the table.

-Jim Allen

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