New Friends: “Won’t Go Home Without You” (Maroon 5 Cover)

When talking about Friends, it’s usually easiest to say something about how this Tokyo-based group takes lots of cues from surf rock. I’ve done it countless times…see The Japan Times today…but the funny thing is Friends don’t just worship at the temple of Brian Wilson. They’ve covered The Suicide Machines before, and they’ve professed a deep love for Japanese punks Hi-Standard. Now comes a new cover song that finds them tackling a surprising song. Turns out…Frineds got the moves like Jagger (sorta).

Yep…they covered Maroon 5’s “Won’t Go Home Without You,” a 2007 single. Truth be told, I never would have noticed this was a Maroon 5 joint because 1. Friend’s feedback-blasted take makes it sound more in line with the songs on Let’s Get Together Again and 2. I completely missed the Maroon 5 song…it came after “Makes Me Wonder” which I’ll cop to liking a bit (great chorus)! So for the most part this sounds like another jaunty Friends’ song that happens to have Maroon 5 lyrics. On the band’s Facebook page, they wrote “a girls pop band’s playing maroon 5 in my head. then made it.” Nice little surprise. Listen below.

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