If you could distill Bobby Mahoney’s flourishing career down to a single moment, it might well have happened in the middle of a blistering set at the legendary Stone Pony in Asbury Park. The crowd was bouncing along to a thunderous backbeat and Mahoney - the songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist - was blasting his way through another fiery solo on his battered Gibson SG. With fans in a frenzy and the song at a crescendo, he looked back to the Pony’s stage manager and flashed a sweat-drenched, mile-wide grin that said it all in an instant; Bobby Mahoney was exactly where he was meant to be.

It’s a moment that thousands dream about but few experience, and it’s a moment Bobby Mahoney didn’t arrive at without putting in the work.  Bridging the gap between the stereotypical teenage desire and musical reality requires dedication, belief, talent and drive; qualities he’s always had in great supply.

When you grow up within earshot of the Jersey Shore, and just a bridge or tunnel away from New York City, inspiration comes in waves. For Mahoney, an East Brunswick, New Jersey native, the music of Springsteen and Bon Jovi mixed seamlessly with Gaslight Anthem, Against Me! and the Menzingers; generating a ground-breaking approach. He wasn’t going to take the time-worn route of jumping into the first band that could manage three-chords and half a dozen songs. Instead he chose the long game. Like the legends who inspired him, he would hone his musicianship and songwriting first, then fuse everything with a punk sensibility to create something innovative, something new. The result has led to Mahoney joining the robust roster of New Jersey icon Stevie Van Zandt’s (The Sopranos, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul) Wicked Cool Records and releasing Another Deadbeat Summer, his first album with the label.

It’s a record that features road-tested songs sharpened and perfected on tour, with stops in New Orleans, Chicago, Miami, Canada and up and down the Eastern Seaboard. Mahoney has spent the last decade honing his live performance, and his prowess has not gone unnoticed. When he wasn’t blowing the roof off dive bars, college basements, and music halls - along with his band, currently consisting of Andrew Saul (guitar), James McIntosh (drums), and Jon Chang-Soon (bass) - he was opening for Against Me!, Frank Turner, Bon Jovi, and Steve Earle. Most recently, Mahoney played The Continental Club in Austin, TX as part of the Wicked Cool Records Rock & Roll Revue for the 2024 South By Southwest festival. Never once did he take those opportunities for granted. He wasn’t just soaking up the adulation of the built-in crowds or moon-facing at his musical mentors. In Mahoney’s own words, “We approach every show as a chance to improve, to learn, and to strengthen our bonds within ourselves and our audiences.” He was going to school and learning what it takes to get ahead in a business that’s as brutal as it is exhilarating.

- Gord Hunter

Bobby Mahoney | Guitar, Vocals

James McIntosh | Drums

Andrew Saul | Guitar, Vocals

Jon Chang-Soon | Bass, Vocals