Endless seven-inchers (Slumberland, Merge, etc.), countless compilation tracks, and a brilliant debut album on Sub Pop brought them loads of indie respect. That album Copacetic (1993), made waves with its raw wall-of-sound guitars and bubblegum pop sensibility. It seems that no one can find anything bad to say about Velocity Girl, and I don't blame 'em. Velocity Girl are the saviors of today's pop music, rescuing us from another rehashed Rolling Stones. Don't you think that it's kind of ironic that they're named after a Primal Scream b-side? ("I really haven't liked anything since their first album which was recorded around the same time as the 'Velocity Girl' song," confesses Archie).

Simpatico! is Velocity Girl's new album, delivered with help from producer John Porter (Smiths) and a recording budget larger than that of the standard indie album. The result is something a little cleaner, a bit more focused, and a lot more produced. "Bob Weston would be the first to tell you that he's not out to produce records," recalls Archie. He was recording Copacetic and it was a mixture of him and us mixing the record. Both parties had a say in how it came out, whereas John Porter is definitely someone who wants to be a producer-type and have a significant influence on the way the record is going to sound."

Simpatico! is, I dare say it, better than Copacetic. It always seems that Velocity Girl is taking a step forward, always progressing toward becoming the ultimate pop machine. Simpatico! strays fromt the garagey sounds of the first record, yet maintains all of their power. It's just re-directed. Sarah Shannon, whose favorite snack is apples and peanut butter, has one of the most distinctive voices in music today. It's alternately muscular and sweet. "Labrador", "Sorry Again", and "The All-Consumer" are just the highlights of what will be this year's sweetest success, Simpatico!.

"It means friendly, in agreement with, basically the same thing Copacetic meant, with more of a happy, jubilant tone, I guess," says Archie. "Obviously a lot of people are going to consider the new record to be quite different sounding for us. It's definitely a lot cleaner, and more produced, but live, basically I don't think we've changes at all. It's going to be the same kind of guitar-heavy, over-distorted kind of thing. I think it's just the nature of our sloppy playing live. Everything sounds loud, distorted, and noisy, no matter what."

"We hope people really like the record." he continues. "We're not afraid but we're anticiapting that a lot of indie type people are going to think that it's a sell-out kind of record or whatever. In complete honesty, it's the sort of record we've always wanted to make and if our other records didn't sound like that it's because we didn't know how to make them sound like that."

Archie's fears are unwarranted. Simpatico! will only go over the heads of those people who want it to. Great pop stands the test of time, no matter what shape it takes or what label it's on and Simpatico! is great pop music. And as is the case so often, the band members don't seem to know what they've hit on.

We're incredibly boring people," admits Kelly Riles, thoroughly male guitarist and bassist for Velocity Girl. "We watch a lot of television and we go out to the bars. That's our like, incredibly unexciting, unintellectual proceedings go on. We buy lots of records, that's about it."

These geeky, indie-rock collectors have even become collectable themselves. "It's kind of funny," says Archie. "It's kind of flattering in a way to see that people would consider our records to be worth that much, but it's also very embarassing and sad to see them on walls. That's why we try to keep everything available on CD; that way nobody has to go out and buy an expensive seven-inch. For six dollars you can get our six song CD. Down here (Maryland DC Area) one of the stores has a section on their wall that's all Velocity Girl type stuff. It's kind of scary. It's very flattering actually."

Velocity Girl's flatterable pop confection has launched them into a five album deal with Sub Pop when they easily could have stuck their heads in the major label feeding trough. But mega-stardom was never part of the plan; Velocity Girl just want to make their music.

"Right before we signed to Sub Pop we were planning to just release our own records and that kind of thing," says Archie. "So the idea of somebody paying us a good deal of money to make records and send us to other countries and get us on MTV and stuff like that is more than we ever expected or hoped for. When you have low expectations, it's even nicer when you end up doing well."