Look, we really like our local bands. A lot.

Depending on who you are, it might border on unhinged worshipping, but it’s built into the AP DNA to love what this rat-infested patch of turf offers. If our fandom was concentrated into a laser beam last week, ours was aimed at Black Beach with enough iridescence to form a rainbow from Brighton to Cambridge. The fuzz rock kings definitely deserved the hype: we got to premiere their LP, Shallow Creatures, on Wednesday followed a release show that Friday worth an entry in the ol’ dream journal (if your dreams mostly involve pools of sweat meeting beer and greasy hair).

While Shallow Creatures is a winning amalgamation of the band’s psychedelic-leaning, distortion-heavy worship of guitar with bits of surf rock thrown in, we get that some people might not be as enthused as we are. Unfortunately, our resident Father critic found himself in that camp, giving a few songs off Creatures a shot with slightly less interest. This week, the Father offers a bit of advice over their album’s title track, suggests band names for potential Rat City musicians, and throws out various sickly musings (he was fighting off a cold at the time of our conversation).

Maybe if he accepted the Beach into his heart with a ‘Gansett in hand, he wouldn’t have felt so sick…

Black Beach’s “Shallow Creatures”

Tim: Alright, so is Black Beach a fun band to hear while sick?

Dad: Okay, so I listened to it twice this morning. I jotted down some notes, whatever came in my head really. It may be because I’m a little tired and more under the weather this morning, but my second note was “Isn’t America a great country when anyone can start a band?”

Tim: [laughs] Oh no, what made you say that?

Dad: Let me finish. My first note was that it started like a song out of a Quentin Tarantino movie. Y’know, like Pulp Fiction or something… and that’s not a diss. It’s sort of a compliment. It’s got a driving beat, but it’s certainly not a Sunday morning listen. You pop a song like this in when you’re ready to lift weights or get pumped up.

Tim: You wanna get swole to Black Beach, Dad?

Dad: Yep, I would. It started out really good, but then the guy opened his mouth.

Tim: [laughs] The singer… it’s always the singer with you.

Dad: I was like, “Oh my god.” It’s like that TV commercial slogan: “I could do that!” I couldn’t believe this guy was doing this and I kept thinking how I could do it. But, you know, America is a very good country!

Tim: I dunno, America’s been having a rough few weeks. It was his vocal style you didn’t like?

Dad: Well, first of all, you know I’m not a fan of whatchamacallit… heavy reverb? It sounded like he was in space.

Tim: Okay, wait, you’re not a fan of reverb, but you dig rock from the ‘80s and modern bands like Thirty Seconds to Mars and Angels and Airwaves?

Dad: I may not be using the right term. When it sounds like he’s in the back of a hall and his vocals are hitting all the walls…

Tim: That’s reverb!

Dad: But I couldn’t understand a freakin’ word he was saying! It was echoing and his voice is not the greatest. If you’re going to have an extended chorus like, “ahhh, ahhh, oh oh oh oh” at the end, you gotta nail that. You gotta stick to those notes. Man, I feel like one of those American Idol judges, but it was a pitch problem there.

Photo by Madison Mcconkey

Tim: Y’know, when the band first sent me this song, I immediately thought, “Ooh man, he’s gonna comment on the screaming.” I know you just love screaming in songs.

Dad: We are talking about that “Shallow Animals” song, right?

Tim: Close, “Shallow Creatures”. You listened to more than that?

Dad: I listened to a few songs and it had screaming, but it was the “hitting notes” thing I had more of a problem with. Let me continue though; I have a compliment here.

Tim: Okay, let’s hear it.

Dad: It seems with the bands you listen to that they’re real good musicians despite the vocals. I thought the music here was solid. I could definitely see myself lifting weights to this if it was an instrumental. That guitarist is talented, for sure. At 1 minute and 44 seconds in, there was this awesome guitar solo.

[Sidenote: I think he might’ve listened to “Self Portrait”, the song before it, because I just checked and… uh, there’s no guitar solo at 1:44. Don’t blame the Dad too harshly, he had a cold when this was recorded]

Tim: But that’s the kind of band they are! They fill the basement shows or small bars, they absolutely shred, and people really move. I’ve never seen a local band make a crowd move like Black Beach.

Dad: I could see that. I mean, the drum and bass are the whole heart and soul of a song and man, those guys were good. It has potential, but then, at the three minute mark, it just flips a switch and changes completely. It sounded like Black Sabbath or Iron Butterfly or something.

[2nd sidenote: “Shallow Creatures” is two minutes and fifteen seconds, so yeah, we think he decided to go with “Self Portrait” without telling us. We’ll post that song right here…]

Tim: Wait, do you mean Iron Maiden?

Dad: Nah, go back further! Iron Butterfly! “In A Vida De Gada”?

Tim: Oh, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida”?!

Dad: Yeah, something like that. It was like they totally shifted into an Iron Butterfly song though. Like, all I could think about was listening to this with my black light on, lava lamp going, and looking at a velvet poster. But also, it was like if the Ramones did beach music… but that would never happen because The Ramones were so freakin’ pale. They’d get sunburnt if they did surf stuff.

Tim: [laughs] I mean, all these bands are based in New England, so they’d get burned just as bad. It all makes sense; Black Beach is a pretty prominent band in the local psych rock/fuzz rock scene.

Dad: Okay, psych rock! I even wrote “this is psychedelic rock” in my notes! There was one other song I heard called “Nervous All The Time” that was like beach punk. It was so up your alley.

Tim: Absolutely. You nailed it with that Pulp Fiction reference too; the surf rock influence is big, but it’s got some grimy proto-punk in there as well. It fits the mood of Allston Rat City. There’s actually a rat on my windowsill right now!

Dad: Are you gonna knock it off?

Tim: Nah, that’s mean. The rats are one of us. They’re, like, among us.

Dad: Sounds like a band or album name. The Rats Are Among Us.

Tim: Okay, so winding down: if you were their manager or American Idol judge, what would you suggest they change?

Dad: I would like to compliment them first. I think they’re very accomplished musicians and they played a really good song. Actually, it felt like two songs with that second part. Can the vocals though and be an instrumental band. Wait, does the singer play anything?

Tim: I wasn’t gonna tell you, but yeah, he’s the guitarist that’s doing all the solos.

Dad: Hmm… I dunno, it still wouldn’t be so bad instrumentally.

Tim: I’m afraid to show you any of the other psych rock bands in Boston then. They just layer on the reverb, the words are often times unintelligible, and it almost becomes its own instrument in all the noise.

Dad: Oh… wow. That’s, uh, something. You know how I am about the vocals.

Tim: Oh, of course I do. But all things considered, what would you rate this band?

Dad: Considering this is not my type of music, it gets a 6. I’m waffling between 5 and 6, but the musicianship won them a 6.

Tim: I’m surprised!

Dad: And hey, I didn’t mention “melody” once this time! I’ve still got some surprises.

Tim: Well shit, you just did and now I have to end it on that note.

Dad: Aww, c’mon…