The Mayflies USA are back, share first new song in 23 years, “Calling The Bad Ones Home”

Chapel Hill indie rock greats The Mayflies USA reunited in 2024 for their first tour since going into hibernation in 2002, including dates opening for old friends The dB’s. Now they’ve announced they’ve re-signed with YepRoc, the label that released three of their four original albums, and are working on a new record.

While full details of the album are still to come, The Mayflies USA have have shared a new song, “Calling the Bad Ones Home,” which is a lovely two-minute power pop earworm. They haven’t lost their touch!

“‘Calling the Bad Ones Home’ is about a night in my teenage years when I may have consumed a little bit too much of a certain substance, and I found myself on the phone—an old school landline with a curly cord, to paint the picture—with a girl I did not know,” says bassist Adam Price. “Maybe the sister of a friend I’d called, then forgotten who I was calling? But I vividly remember, decades later, the feeling of being trapped on the line for eternity with this person, who started to warn me about the Bad Ones, who were coming. ‘The Bad Ones are coming home,’ she said. A terrible experience, but it provided inspiration for this song, which we approached with a somewhat counterintuitive upbeat ’70s Steely Dan/Stones feel, including slap bass and a funk clavinet.”

You can watch the animated video by Max McMichaels below.