Hop Along have an abiding love for their hometown of Philadelphia. The multi-genre band came up in the city’s basement show scene, gaining fans organically through the ‘10s prior to their signing with Saddle Creek, who offered the band’s most recent pair of releases, Painted Shut and Bark Your Head Off, Dog, to a large and eager national audience. Alongside groups like Dr. Dog, The War on Drugs and Japanese Breakfast, Hop Along are now one of the City of Brother Love’s finest indie exports; the band have proselytized about Philly and its rife creative energy throughout their rise. As part of their fall tour, the band displayed some not-so-subtle hometown pride, cheekily covering a classic of Philly Soul for their encore: “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” written by the inimitable songwriting partnership of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff (alongside lyricist Cary Gilbert). Continue reading »