Crocodile Tears and the Mixolydian lift
G up to A
Crocodile Tears was our second single as Stoke Club, out July 3, 2026. It's in G and slower than Polaroid: 93 BPM on the record, though we play it at 97 live.
The verse
The verse rocks between G and C twice, then goes to A and back to C. G to C is about as normal as it gets in G. The A is the odd one out. You'd expect A minor there, and we play it major, which brightens up the end of the line.
The chorus
The chorus is G, A, C, four times. That first step, G up to A, is two major chords a whole step apart. If you hear A as home for a second, G is its flat seventh, so it's the Mixolydian move, just going up instead of down. It lifts the chorus without any strain.
Then C opens it up and the loop starts over. Nothing in there lands hard, which is how it gets away with going around four times.
The ending
After the solo we play G, A, C as hits, then sit on C over and over before one last G. After a whole song of floating, that G is the only real landing.
The chords are in Crocodile Tears chords, and the theory is in The Mixolydian mode. Listen on Spotify or Apple Music.
We're Stoke Club, an indie surf rock band from Newport Beach, Southern California. All our songs and upcoming shows are at stokeclubband.com.