At 7pm the Garden was half filled, fans meandering noncommittally around their seats. Most wore old tour t-shirts and, in lieu of speaking to those that they came with, stared expectantly at the empty stage. It was a quiet and docile crowd for a Friday night. A seemingly unremarkable observation, this was no indication of what was to come.
Once the lights faded and Peter Wolf opened the show, he wasted no time. The band dove directly in to the song “Thick as Thieves” and didn’t come up for air until several songs later. Wolf’s set was thick with traces of his history; complete with four J. Giels Band songs and a story about playing the old Boston Garden. Unmistakable was the energy that Wolf brought to the stage. The way his black sequined blazer caught the light when he danced was irresistible, leaving anyone who was paying attention no choice but to enjoy the band. It’s not often that an opener can bring a crowd to their feet the way Peter Wolf did.
Then came Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. Several words immediately come to mind to describe their set, including well lit. However, only one word is needed to summarize: epic. Tom Petty played every song the crowd was hungry to hear, the excitement of each spilling over in to the next.
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, whose newest member has been a part of the ensemble for 23 years, were well practiced and seemingly infallible. Celebrating their 40th anniversary, their set was stacked with favorites from the Heartbreakers catalogue and Petty’s solo catalogue alike. Every song could be listed as a highlight, but hearing the entire crowd sing along to classics such as “You Don’t Know How it Feels”, “I Won’t Back Down”, and “Free Fallin’” that set them a cut above the rest. The room finally bust wide open during the encore, where Petty played “You Wreck Me” and then tore in to “American Girl”. Especially notable during the last song was the video playing behind the band, which sewed together visions of every type of American girl.
There was something distinctive in the air when the lights came up on the crowd after Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers took their final bow. A previously quiet, half filled crowd was now full, loud, lively, and young. Applause for the band continued on long after they had left the stage. There was electricity in the air, the electricity of a shared experience— of knowing we had just seen a legend.
Massachusetts and Florida have this intrinsic connection. Florida is the place where Mass locals buy condos on eroding beaches, while the Bay State becomes a home to transplanted, Floridian twenty-somethings in search of seasons, among other things. Enter Haley Honeycutt, the founder and lead singer of Orlando, FL band, Baby! Only now, she’s ditched the humid, oversized peninsula for Allston, where she’s lived for just over a year. She’s since rounded out Baby!’s surf rock sound with the addition of guitarist Lea Jaffe, drummer Chris Chew, and Ari Blut on bass.
Honeycutt, Jaffe, and Chew sit across from me at FoMu, on those metal seats that stick to your skin when it’s 85° outside. They’re each eating dairy-free ice cream — a chocolate chip cookie dough/salted caramel combo, “F’oreo,” and the George Howell Cold Brew, respectively. And my task is to to ask Kaley as many questions as possible before it all melts.
Allston Pudding: What about Boston do you find inspiring?
Kaley Honeycutt: Probably the DIY scene around here. It’s huge and really awesome to see. I feel like you could go find a new band to see every week here. Last night there was like, five house shows. And a fest. And it’s really inspiring to see so many people working so hard and taking music so seriously here.
AP: Oh yeah, who did you see yesterday?
Kaley: I just had a show at my house, so I played it. This band called Ploy played it. A new band called Broadband, it was their first show. And Nick Owen. Love Nick Owen.
AP: What do you miss most about Florida?
Kaley: Dang. That’s hard. I miss Will’s Pub. It’s this bar/venue and it has a patio with seating outside. You can go there any night and all your friends are on the patio. There always there, waiting for you.
AP: What do you miss the least?
Kaley: It’s a tough music scene. I was booking all my own shows and doing the posters, and playing the shows. It’s really small, and if you want to do something, you have to do it yourself. It’s really nice to be part of a bigger community here.
AP: Favorite season?
Kaley: Summer.
AP: How do you mesh with the other people in the band when bringing new material?
Kaley: So, the album that’s about to come out, I wrote and recorded all of it and just brought it to them and said “learn it.” But the EP, I let them collab and write their parts. But I usually bring a demo that has guitar, bass, and me singing and I send it to them.
AP: What do you hope for with each new song?
Kaley: Dang. I don’t really write intentionally, like I’m planning something out. I just write when I’m feeling a certain way and I want to get it out. I don’t go in like, “Ok, this is going to be about ‘blah, blah, blah.’” I usually just start and keep going.
AP: How did you meet your band?
Kaley: I met my bassist, ride-or-die Ari, at a house show at Grandma’s House, which is now dead.
AP: RIP.
Kaley: We met outside and she was like “Oh my god, you have to come inside and see this band, daephne.” It was one of my first shows in Boston. This is so Boston, but she had a big piece of La Befana in her hand, and she had pizza in her mouth and was like “C’mon let’s go downstairs, you’ve got to see daephne.” And I was like, “Ok!” Once I met Ari, she just took me under her wing and I met a lot of people in the scene through her.
AP: If you had to describe Sunny F.L. in a sensation, how would you describe it?
Kaley: Whoa. I’m trying to think of the word. The whole album is about me wanting to move away, and finally taking myself seriously, and becoming more confident in my music and myself.. So it’s newness and excitement and breaking out.
AP: Sounds like a good breakout album.
Kaley: Exactly *laughs*
AP: Tell me about when/how you wrote the songs on the new album?
Kaley: I wrote them over the course of five or six months. Some of them were old songs, and some of them weren’t. I had a friend named Nicole Devorak, and she lived right up the road from me. She’s a teacher, so she was off for the summer. And so, everyday I would bike over to her house when I had a new song, and I’d be like, “I wrote and new song.” And she’d be like “Sweet, let’s play it.” And I would flesh it out and she’d play the drums with me and then I would record the demo and bring it to Riley Corcoran who recorded the whole record. And he would listen to my demo and we would record it. He would play drums on the recordings but Nicole was sort of writing the drum parts. It was about a year and a half ago that I wrote and recorded it, over the course of like 5 months.
AP: How do you like touring?
Kaley: I’ve only been on one really small tour. I’m about to go on my second tour, and I’m really excited because I’m very nomadic. I like hopping around and meeting new people. I think it’s a good time. I like it.
AP: Where are you planning on making pit stops?
Kaley: No plans. I’m not the planner.
AP: Who is?
Kaley: Ari.
AP: Anything else you feel like AP readers should know?
Kaley: They should know that the album comes out August 25, and I put whole heart into it. I know I’m not from Boston but I really care about this scene. And I’m really excited to play this record out here.
HipStory is the local collective that’s host to some of Boston’s hottest hip-hop acts like Cliff Notez and Oompa. You can see those two and more from the collective on Saturday, July 29th at a show hosted by East Boston arts non-profit ZUMIX.
The show is being hosted by ZUMIX’s radio station, WZMR, and celebrates the end of HipStory’s first tour. After performing shows in cities all down the east coast, Tim Hall, Forté, Cliff Notez, and Oompa will be back on their home turf for a show at ZUMIX’s headquarters in East Boston.
The artists that make up HipStory all became a part of the collective in order to build a community for the burgeoning hip-hop scene in Boston. Cliff Notez’s debut album, When The Sidewalk Ends details the experience of a black male and the mental and physical hardships that can accompany that. On his Bandcamp page, Cliff Notez states: “This album is a testimony of existence, protest, and survival and how they all become synonymous and unified in the prolonging of the black body.” “Nostalgia” features Forté, another HipStory artist. Cliff Notez’s vocals float crystal clear on top of muted piano and percussion. The song builds, harmonies swirling in and out, never deviating from its sunny disposition. It’s nostalgia in a wistful sense, reflecting on one’s past but not forgetting to look ahead to the future at the same time.
Tim Hall’s music is more spoken word than melodic, but this style emphasizes the power in his words. “Keeper of My Brother” is another exercise in nostalgia as Hall speaks about his growth into himself and how he grappled with his identity before coming into his own true self. His voice is steady and strong as piano chords are gently cycled underneath. The song eases out as gently as it begins, setting itself in contrast to some of the other tracks on Colors Of My Soul. The entire album is self-reflective, each song exploring a different aspect of Hall’s identity and memory.
The show will also feature ZUMIX’s own youth hip hop group Project Method. Tickets are available for $12 in advance or $15 at the door and can be purchased here. But for fans who are 18-years-old and younger, the concert is free. ZUMIX and HipStory are equally committed to making the music scene more accessible to younger crowds, as too many venues around Boston are age-restrictive hosting shows for 18+ or 21+ crowds. Follow the Facebook event for updates and get tickets (for those over 18) here.
Just eight days before the release of their fourth full-length album, New Hampshire band, Badfellows drops a real teaser of a track. Out today, “Something Natural,” comes in at just over three minutes and certainly checks some boxes: it’s got that catchy af indie-rock hook, relatable af lyrics, (“all I ever wanted was some sleep / all I ever needed was some company”) and the addition of Jess Hesse’s harmonies underneath the sound of melancholic rock. Sounds like a step forward for the Manchester five-piece.
If their previous three records landed them in Manchester Orchestra, LVL UP or Rozwell Kid territory, then their most recent effort, called Good Grief puts them somewhere closer to Tigers Jaw and Forth Wanderers. Their sound and lyrics are a little more lived, a little more disenchanted. But defeatism doesn’t overwhelm. Especially combined with their penchant for storytelling, it creates an atmosphere capable of singing about subjects like isolation, self-reflection, friendship, and loss.
So, “Something Natural” seems to introduce just that. A single is a lil preview to a new record — this one previews perhaps the most natural thing: growth.
Listen to “Something Natural” and see their upcoming tour dates below. Pre-order Good Grief (out July 29th via Midnight Werewolf Records) here. Catch Badfellows play with Hemingway, Idling, and Little Lamb at O’Brien’s on Sunday, July 30th.
Record Release Tour
7/29 @ Shaskeen, Manchester NH 7/30 @ O’Brien’s. Allston MA 7/31 @ Aurora, Providence RI 8/1 @ Blind Moose, Bloomfield CT
A few years ago, Elliot Taylor ventured to Jamaica Plain from Newcastle Upon Tyne, a small university town in northern England. The little pleasures that Taylor has come to love in his corner of Boston moved him to take his songwriting to the next level and we are lucky to have him here.
Taylor’s chilling roar and raspy verses carry his first studio single, “Holy or the Broken” to its climax. Surrounding a feeling of content with the unknown, the song is perfectly complimented by the slices of life portrayed in the video that has been premiered today.
Check out the video for “Holy or the Broken” below and be sure to check out Elliot Taylor at the Red Room on Saturday, July 22nd.
A torrential downpour and flash thunderstorm could not stop Gorillaz – everyone’s favorite cartoon band (that is actually composed of very real, very talented musicians) – from putting on an exciting, danceable gig. Since the debut of their self-titled album in 2001, the collaboration between ex-Blur frontman Damon Albarn and cartoonist Jamie Hewlett, the “band” has consisted of 2D, Noodle, Murdoc and Russel – the cartoon element of the band, who featured prominently in the show’s visual displays.
It was up to Vince Staples to get the night started. Though many attendants were still finding their seats, Staples boosted the energy of the venue with some of the more raucous tracks from his latest album Big Fish Theory, as well as some of his biggest songs from the past few years, most notably the infectious “Senorita” and “Norf Norf.” He also brought out Kilo Kish, who appears on several of Big Fish‘s tracks. Kish would later return as a guest the headliner’s “Out of Body.”
Once Gorillaz took the stage, Albarn and Co. treated the audience to some truly unique moments, including the live debut of two songs. The first was Humanz bonus track “Ticker Tape,” which features vocals from the legendary songwriter and Martha’s Vineyard resident Carly Simon, who joined the band’s seemingly endless stream of guest musicians.
The second was “Revolving Doors,” a song that Albarn wrote about Boston on the last Gorillaz tour (featured on the album The Fall). The song features the line, “It’s stormy on the eastern seaboard,” which felt all too poetic as sheets of rain slid off the overhead tent of the BHBP.
While the band played a generous sampling of tracks from the new album, they didn’t shy away from fan favorites off their old albums, kicking the night off with “M1A1” from their self-titled debut and closing with the final two songs from Demon Days, which sent the crowd out like that final gospel hymn after Sunday church service. Other notable throwbacks were “19-2000,” “Rhinestone Eyes,” “Stylo” and, of course, “Clint Eastwood,” one of the hits that started it all for the band. Though they played a recording of Del the Funkee Homosapien’s first verse from this song, the second verse was an entirely new live rendition with more help from Vince Staples.
While not every featured artist on these songs made an in-person appearance, the audience could see recordings of Grace Jones, D.R.A.M., Popcaan, Jehnny Beth of Savages and Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays. Unfortunately, the audience didn’t get to hear any of the band’s collaborations with De La Soul.
Though it’s hard to pick a single song as the top highlight of the evening, the nearly-7 minute rendition of “Sex Murder Party” has to be in the running. Joined by singers Jamie Principle and Zebra Katz (whose all-silver jumpsuit made it look like he had just stepped off a soundstage for the ’60s Star Trek series), they brought the house down on what is already one of the album’s most energetic outings.
As a frontman, Albarn still contains all the boyish enthusiasm and energy that endeared him to fans as far back as his days with Blur. He was hopping around stage, descending into the audience on more than one occasion, engaging his fellow band members (sometimes with a loving kiss on the cheek) and overall, having as much fun as anyone who paid for a ticket. What is clear is that this is an artist doing what he loves.
The lesson of this show – and of Humanz as an album – is we can still rejoice and revel in the musical experience while keeping a dreadful eye on world events going on around us. Albarn has his eyes set on the future. In response to one crowd member who kept calling for the band to play Blur songs, he replied, “Stop saying ‘Blur.’ That is a figment of the 90s.”
The rest of the band had a cheeky laugh when they started playing the opening lines of a loose, jammy rendition of Blur’s hit “Song 2,” before Albarn stopped them. “This isn’t fucking cabaret,” he said, before releasing his own hearty laugh and getting on with the cartoon music everyone came for.
Tundrastomper’s new video for their second single off O, the band’s second release on Sad Cactus Records, is anything but sloppy. In fact, every second of the video seems calculated — from the elevator music ushering in the title card to the uncomfortable near-silence endured as vocalist Skyler Lloyd nervously enters the office of an impresario he, presumably, wants to impress with his band.
“Myth Of Slop” is the second single to be shared from O, released on July 7th via Sad Cactus. The video for the song is a balancing act between elegance and the eponymous slop: cast in grayscale for a majority of the video, the musicians — save for drummer Max Goldstein’s playful goofiness — adopt a solemnity, which, when juxtaposed with the handwritten sign on the door or the giant pot of…well, slop, creates a dynamic Tundrastomper reflects in their music.
Lloyd’s spare, thin vocals float atop scuzzy, counterpointed guitar and bass while Goldstein’s drumming is frantic and hardly contained. What begins as a saccharine exchange of vocals and guitar grows into a monolith of utter noise, the instruments battling each other in speed and volume, the sound swelling until each individual sound is indistinguishable.
The video bursts into color as the slop is dumped on the unimpressed impresario’s head, all of the band members celebrating their victory over the critic. And because absurdity runs deep in Tundrastomper’s veins, the video closes with the impresario bathing in slop, seemingly content.
O is available now on Sad Cactus Records. You can watch the video for “Myth Of Slop” below.
Five years between albums — and three years between tours — feels like an eternity for bands. Reconnecting with a fan base that very well may have moved on is a task that may prove daunting.
Now, Now was up for the task, and the crowd that packed Sonia to the brim felt it was like picking up where it left off.
Founding duo KC Dalager and Bradley Hale, along with touring band members, were back in full form. (Jess Abbot of Tancred announced her departure from the band earlier this year. In its current form, Hale takes backing vocals and Dalager sings and plays guitars as part of a four-piece.)
Leaning heavily on songs from the standout 2012 album Threads, the set had all of the fan favorites. The songs that make up Threads take on a darker edge – with lyrics like “You take what you can get and then you die with it.” One early highlight was “Prehistoric,” with its quiet verses and a blistering choruses.
If there was any rust on the performance, they were hardly visible – Dalager flubbed a line at one point, endearingly.
This Now, Now tour served a primary purpose: to tell the world that yes, Now, Now is still a band. But it also served as a taster for what’s to come.
“SGL,” a song premiered earlier this year, takes on a sunnier, poppier tone. Still, the lyrics read as a lament: “I was starry-eyed, I was young and dumb. “Arizona” and “Yours” were the two other new songs that Now, Now previewed.
Dalager and Hale seemed genuinely grateful to be back and to have such a response to the new songs, as well as the old favorites. They also remarked at how polite the Sonia crowd was. This is because Boston and its surrounding cities are bastions of kindness and not because Sonia lacks the ability to sell liquor.
One hopes that Now, Now won’t wait to return to the city, with a new album in tow.
Minneapolis’ Dem Yuut opened the show, with an electronic-infused set of R&B.
Craig Bidiman may use the moniker, Another Musician, but it would be difficult to find an artist who makes similar music. His largely acoustic, spoken-word EP “Farewell” is a tribute to his father, Orrin Wayne Bidiman, and it provides an intimate and complete portrait of grief. In the opening lines of Farewell, he begins: “You know, my dad and I had a very interesting relationship. When he adopted me, they were well beyond their years of truly needing to take in another child/so I’ve always felt that my inclusion in their family was some sort of miracle.” In the EP’s accompanying zine, Bidiman reveals that he considered putting this track at the end of the release, but after recording, it felt like a better beginning. In a way, it does feel like an introduction, as the beginning of Bidiman’s story is crucial to constructing the narrative of the album.
While “Farewell” is a celebration of his father’s life, the rest of the release deals with the loss. On “Active Ghosts”, he reflects on everything that his father gave him, and the song is supposed to be a way to thank him and process his father’s role in his own life. It also deals with denial, and how losing someone is such an enormous emotional experience it can’t be processed all at once. “Bastard Son” similarly tackles regrets, and with the force of the vocals and heavily synthesized background, it’s one of the release’s most powerful moments.
It’s a rich lyrical narrative that Bidiman draws over these tracks, but the sound is equally thoughtful. The EP is an interesting exploration of how instrumental music and verbal storytelling can interact with each other. For example, on the opening track, the acoustic guitar fits the his reminiscing, but at the end, once he’s done speaking, it turns into something more chaotic. It almost mirrors a dive into a more dense emotional space. Bidiman is an expert at refracting emotions through the inflection of his words, but his instrumental pairings bring just as much to the stories he tells.
If you’re intrigued by this EP and want to hear these songs live, be sure to check out Another Musician at O’Brien’s with Shiver, oldsoul, and Pushflowers on August 3rd. The release is also available in CD and Vinyl on the artists’ Bandcamp.
After recording their last EP, upstairs/downstairs, in a Brighton apartment, the members of All Talk were ready to get back into a large studio to work on their new self-titled full-length release. Band members, Tim Mensel (bass, vocals), Cole Maxwell (guitar, vocals) and Dan Shapiro (drums) ended up choosing Big Nice studio in Lincoln, RI as their base of operations. The space this studio provided lent itself well to the sound of the new record.
As Mensel put it, “Big Nice has 30 foot high ceilings so a lot of the character of our new record comes from working the natural sounds of that room.” This more open space is clear as day on Maxwell’s guitar work – often hopping from groovy arpeggios to jangly riffs. It also shines through in moments like the downtempo, calming close to “Endless Love is a Mantra” and the gentle guitar bounces of “Habit of Living.”
Photo by Charlotte Gellene
Though all the instruments find plenty of room in the extra space, the album is really one of introspection. The lyrics often have a dreamlike quality to them, and lines like “a moment will come – you’re in your skin” from “Lens” give off a vibe that is both out-of-body while still inward-facing; there is a narrative throughout of trying to regain one’s center. Perhaps this is due to the interesting situation the band found themselves in during the songwriting process.
Inevitably, the band tried their hand at a more direct approach to songwriting, with 5 of the album’s 9 tracks timing out at under 3 minutes, a new strategy for the band. All Talk‘s best quality is the way this newfound focus balances with the breezy, relaxed sounds of the music itself. Stream All Talk below via Soundcloud, and get out to one of the band’s upcoming July gigs, especially that show at the Middle East Upstairs with Soft Fangs, Blau Blau and Littlefoot.
