Portland Maine band Amiright? played for us on an empty theater stage at Lesley University in Cambridge back in early March. Amiright? is the project of cousins Noah Grenier-Farwell and Quinn Farwell, who share guitar, drum, and vocal duties throughout the record. “The band has been somewhat of a thing for about 4 years. It started with Noah and I making a noise album called pat is rocey iii by Swamp Ass, which is now Noah’s solo project name. We recorded our first album of music in 2015 under the name Amiright?” Quinn recalled. The band remained a duo until November 2017 when bassist Josh Hall joined the band.
Amiright’s debut full length, Amiwrong, which was released last month, was recorded primarily in Quinn’s old bedroom in their parents’ house with the help of their friend Jon Elfers, who has a traveling recording studio setup. Quinn explained “We don’t really ever have time to practice, so we decided to just get nice recordings of all the songs we play at basically every show we play. Noah strained his voice during the recording process so later down the road we recorded extra vocals in the bathroom at my apartment, which was the only thing we overdubbed besides bass since Josh wasn’t in the band yet.”
Our session with the band includes the songs “Crooked Teeth,” and “Gone (Winter Blows),” both songs featured on their newest record. Quinn plays guitar and sings on “Crooked Teeth,” a song quite literally about their teeth and jaw problems. “The whole song kind of just sounds like a teeth related anxiety attack.” Noah plays guitar and sings on “Gone (Winter Blows,” a song originally intended for Noah’s solo project Swamp Ass. “I dunno I tend to ad lib songs. Sue me. (Please don’t, I have no money or anything of significant value),” Noah said. “The winter blows part I wrote because last years winter really sucked and I just wanted the snow to be gone.”
“I really enjoy the different styles Quinn and I have,” Noah expressed. “It never gets boring and I love hearing something different. I know I’m not a master on the drums or guitar but I try to improve and I have fun.” Quinn added: “I think Noah’s songs are much more catchy and chord based. I think I lack the ability to create anything genuinely catchy so I compensate with using a lot guitar effects and abrasive chords and try to make use of funky chord arrangements. I make way too much use of my favorite guitar pedal in the world: the Boss DD-6 delay with the warp setting. I am nothing without that bad boy.”
Portland Maine’s music scene is undergoing major changes with gentrification. Quinn mentioned that a lot of DIY bands move to Western Massachusetts where it’s easier to host and play shows. “The DIY scene is sort of dying in town. The place I book, Hella Good Tacos, used to be sort of a music staple in town, but we can’t host very many shows anymore because we are understaffed and it’s expensive to host shows when some are unsuccessful and leasing is getting expensive. The Apohadion Theatre is one of the saving graces of the Portland music scene. They host probably 4 shows a week on average. Basement shows will still come and go, though.”
Despite the climate of Maine’s music scene, influential bands are still active in Maine. Amiright? recorded a song during soundcheck before our video session with them back in March, which will appear on a split with two Maine bands: Buddusky and Nice Life, plus Lowell MA band Table Trash. The split is out today!
Catch Amiright? at a gig near you:
4/13 – Matthew’s Pub – Portland, ME (split release show)
5/2 – Apohadion Theatre – Portland, ME (w/ Palberta)
5/5 – Bayside Bowl – Portland, ME (Amiwrong release show)
Watch the full session below: