Three years ago when I first started writing for Allston Pudding, I was just getting involved in the Boston music scene. I quickly found myself submerged into the gritty, underground basements of Allston. When I say submerged, I don’t mean lightly or slowly. I was dunked and thrown into an area of discomfort. I always felt like an outsider in the bros of the Allston scene with their kegs and their red shorts. Since then, I’ve slowly become more at peace with myself. It’s been a year and a half since my last drink (for several reasons, the most important of which was getting in control of my life.) I wanted to be more aware of myself both physically and emotionally, instead of puking out last night on the corner of Linden St.

It was two years ago that I first discovered Parasol. I don’t remember how, but it happened. I wouldn’t know it yet, but this was going to prove important. A few months later, I traveled to the Lily Pad in Cambridge to see them play with Fake, a side project of Ally and Victoria from Potty Mouth. I ran into Jake Bison, a guy I knew from high school. Whoops, it turns out he drummed in Parasol. I was instantly hooked. Parasol takes all the catchiness of adolescent pop punk and gives it new life in my lost and isolated young 20’s. Lily Richeson’s lyrics spoke to me more than any new band I had discovered that year.

I kept going to see Parasol, but it was never in a traditional venue after that. They inhabited different basements in Allston, Jamaica Plain and Somerville where others just like me gathered to sing along at the top of their lungs to the words that made them feel whole and comforted. Soon I felt… comfortable. I no longer felt like a weird, placeless member to the Boston music scene. At first, I thought I was too normal for this punk scene. I don’t even own a studded jacket for Christ’s sake. But over time, it became apparent that these thoughts were me just feeling more contented in this environment and deep down more aware of myself. I could go alone to these basement shows with Parasol or any one of their comrades playing and feel like I knew everyone there or inevitably would.

Now in this scene, an emptiness is starting to form in the pit of my stomach. Jake, Josh, and Vicky of Parasol along with Sadie (Baja Blatz and Peeple Watchin’) move to Olympia soon. With their move, Parasol is at a bit of a stand still. With a new album recorded, Parasol will exist despite being separated by coasts. No longer will I be able to see Parasol once a month in a sweaty basement. That same connection will form with new bands in the scene in time. Bands come and go in Boston, but that feeling and that community will remain. Parasol, Rash Tongue, Peeple Watchin’, Baja Blatz, Fleabite, Springsteen and Congratulations are separated by thousands of miles but deep down the roots of Lower Allston will never break.