Rocheter’s The Isotopes released their ninth studio album Fireworks Factory in 2023 and celebrated all forms of instrumental rock. Now they’ve unleashed a covers EP called Now That’s What I Call Familiar Vol. 2, containing selections from artists as diverse as The Weeknd, The Allman Bros. Band, and Jackson 5, along with a few Sci-Fi classics. Surprising covers have always been a staple of The Isotopes’ legendary live shows, and so have dancers, lights, and picking confetti out of your drink.
It seems like just yesterday that their fifth album, The Isotopes Overstay Their Welcome, was released on vinyl by Archive Records and voted Best Local Album of 2013 by the readers of City Newspaper (and they’ve been insufferable ever since.)
But just who are the Isotopes? Are they super sweet instrumental rock stars? Are they scientists performing an experiment gone haywire? Are they skirt-chasing sociopaths with no conscience or sense of right and wrong?
Yes.
They’re the Isotopes, Rochester’s premier instrumental rock band featuring gyrating go-go dancers, hilarious announcements, stage effects, nerd glasses and panty-dampening rock choreography. From traditional surf music first made famous by the likes of the Ventures and Dick Dale, to heavier rock riffs taken straight from the playbook of Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, there isn’t a dry seat in the house as the Isotopes journey through an array of genres.
