September marks the end of my fifth year in Boston, and after some change of pace in my life this spring, I have been looking to try something new. As a musician myself I wanted to dig deeper into the local scene, and so here I am in my first piece as a contributing writer to Allston Pudding.
On Wednesday, I swear I was going to do some research before I showed up to Great Scott for my first show as a writer. But, due to bus 66 and its seemingly eternal delays, I showed up as a blank slate with no preconceptions or expectations to check-out four bands that I’d never heard before.
Headband, Boston local since 1996, kicked off the show with some sweet, deep fuzz. I think Headband is what the Beatles would have sounded like if they never made it big, and became more grungy and distorted. (It might have just been that the guitarist/frontman Matt Byers looked a lot like Paul McCartney to me). Driving, relentless rhythms in the toms and guitar riffs; sudden stops and violent starts; guitar solos with building delay and feedback leading into a wash of cacophony; …the music felt like a brutal landslide. Headband’s tunes have a lot of unison singing, and a lot of unison guitar and bass riffs. Their playing is not what I would call spectacularly tight, but there’s something about the looseness of their playing that adds a double-vision like depth to their music. I chatted with frontman Matt Byers after the show, and he didn’t really hesitate before telling me that the band hadn’t had a chance to rehearse much beforehand. I guess it’s just that they’ve been doing this for so long that they’re tight within their looseness. I liken the sound to a stuffed animal or a hand towel from your youth that’s tattered and stained, but it’s absolutely perfect in a way you can’t quite express. As for those unison vocal lines, Matt said that they just “sing along ’cause it’s a party.” I liked that.
Brenda, from Portland ME came next. In contrast with Headband, Brenda executed their music with clinical precision, but with no less passion or warmth. Their stage presence is very stoic, with very little movement besides those necessary to play an instrument. It seemed as though the band members were completely absorbed inside the tight canvas of notes and emotions that they were weaving together. I think I would need a bunch of descriptors like “shoegaze” and “alternative” to talk about Brenda’s sound, but let me keep it simple; this is music you want to have handy in your car, for when you are driving really fast with the windows rolled down. In particular, there was one song where the drummer DJ played with his tambourine laid on top of his floor tom, and the constant sizzling reminded me so much of the wind rushing through my hair. A lot of Brenda’s songs that night closed out with an instrumental jam on the main riff of the song. The vigorous rhythms during these moments seemed to resonate with feelings beyond the realm of words that where shared by all of us in the room. People were gently swaying and keeping time, sucked into that same calm and pseudo-meditative state the band adorned the stage with.
Brenda released their new album Fix Your Eyes on LP and cassette at this show from Teenarena Records. This is their second album, following their debut Silver Tower (2010) that caught the ears of Jeff Tweedy (Wilco). Frontman Josh Loring shared with me that the band worked on this album for two years, while touring on and off in the Northeast and on the west coast. The band is currently working on a new EP, and acclimating to working back and forth between Portland and New York after Josh recently moved back to the Empire State. Check out their music on Bandcamp (www.brendabrenda.bandcamp.com), and at Teenarena Records (www.teenarenarecords.com).
Up next came Fat Creeps. Now, I had no idea who these people were, and my mind had drifted to expect hearing/seeing something like Fat History Month. I was clearly pretty far off (except for the fact that both Fat Creeps and Fat History Month are awesome bands). As of yet, I’m not clear as to why the band is called Fat Creeps. All I know is that seeing this band made me feel like a fat creep; in the best way possible. The ease and grace with which the trio shat out gnarly and groove-able music was astonishing, and by the end I was just jealous. It felt like I was back in high school, gawking at those popular/beautiful people that seemed so holy and impeccably cool. Fat Creeps had the biggest crowd of the four bands, and never have I seen so many people at an indie show with their iPhones, cameras, and Flipcams fixed on the stage. Mariam Saleh and Gracie Jackson cooed and yelled up front with tight oblique harmonies, calmly gazing out over the crowd like there was a horizon beyond them. Behind them, Jim Leonard diligently chugged away on the drums, serving as the backbone of the band that bound all the sounds into coherent music. At parts I thought they sounded like Nirvana, and those parts made me want to jump up and down on my bed and prance/dance around my room like it’s nobody’s business. When their set finished, Doug the sound guy put on some Yeah Yeah Yeahs in the house, which also share a vibe with the Fat Creeps. The band seemed like they were one viral video away from the limelight, but the one thing that I didn’t enjoy about Fat Creeps was… that they just went on hiatus. WHAT!? When I came home from the show, I looked at my roommate and drummer Gavin and sighed. It’s tough to tell a guy like him who is so passionate about music that his (probably) new favorite band just went on an indefinite hiatus. When I talked with Gracie and Mariam after the show, they said that they are “bummed out” now that their last show is over.
Finally, Metal Feathers (also from Portland, ME) came up to close the night. Here again, I was expecting metal or something hardcore; I mean, they’re called Metal Feathers. But again, I was pleasantly wrong, as this band’s music is like a friendly hug after a long day. Vocalist/Guitarist Jay Lobley casually laid out melancholic vocal lines, punctuated by meticulous guitar work. These were seamless and jelled in a way you only get when one person does both. Three of the four bands on this bill were trios, including Metal Feathers. My least favorite element of trio rock bands is the guitar solos, because not all bands are able to fill the space of the chunky guitar chords once the guitarist transitions to playing melodies. However, all the bands that night nailed the guitar solos through various means; mainly big round bass sounds and thick solo tones. Metal Feathers in particular was really great at this. Moments of fluttering furious notes emerged in and out of the steady 4/4 rock beat, and I loved the way the band played with tempo at the beginnings and ends of songs. Between songs, the trio would banter on stage about what to play next, and the audience was right there with them, calling out songs and chiming in with comments and comebacks. Everyone in the audience seemed so happy to be seeing this band. In particular, after the third or fourth song, Matt Byers from Headband came running over to me and exclaimed that the previous song was a cover of Headband’s song “Raised in a Cave”. He seemed so elated about the music this band was making, and that was a consensus amongst the crowd, judging from their expressions.
Metal Feathers also released their latest album Handful of Fog on LP and cassette at this show. Check out the music on Bandcamp (www.metalfeathers.bandcamp.com), and purchase the LP and/or cassette through Teenarena Records (www.teenarenarecords.com).
At the end of the night, I was really impressed with the consistency and the quality of the whole bill. Every band delivered good rock and roll; music that consoles, inspires, and revitalizes. Last but not least, I would like to quickly thank Alex, the door guy at Great Scott, who was kind enough to take my word and let me into the venue to review the show.
