It’s finally here. Rock N’ Roll Rumble 2013. I’m still shaking in my Chucks from the crazy amount of music thrown at me over the last three nights. Between Sunday and Monday night, prescription there was plenty of rocking to be done. Three diverse bills and three semifinal spots at stake meant that each band was going to have to bring their A-game if they wanted to advance. Let’s get to it!
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Night One – Sunday (4/7)
The Okay Win were tasked with kicking off this year’s Rumble, which they did with “Cliff,” a ballad-esque tune combining soft verses and layered guitars with gritty, distorted choruses. There was no denying the intensity of the bad, as they ran headfirst through their new EP, Leveled, with the melancholic “Seeds” making way for the slow sway of title track “Leveled.” Lead singer Stephen Macdonald and co. picked up the tempo again with the catchy indie-dance beat of “Please,” before closing out their set with the wall of noise that was “Your Voice Becomes Vibrations.” It was a fitting, and loud, start to this year’s Rumble.
Cancer Killing Gemini were up next. They wasted no time in showcasing their bass-heavy, synth driven dark industrial sound, with “Christcontrol” finally giving me a reason to headbang. Their songs had a lot more groove than your standard industrial rock, with the slow beat of “Broken Condom” taking the foot off the throttle just a little. From the get-go I admired the attitude of CKG, who wasted no time between songs, with frontman Eric Michael Cohen choosing instead to hold up cue cards and say “I know we don’t have a lot of time between songs, so this is a song about Puke,” before diving into the synth grooves of “Puke” and “Again Today.” “Queen of Heartbreak,” with its groove-inspired verses and Nine Inch Nails-styled intense choruses paved the way for the bass and synth-dominated “Prescription Drugs.” They closed out with the speedy, punk-inspired “Put Out or Get Out,” which Cohen assured the audience, was “a song NOT about having sex with Guns N’ Roses.”
Next up on the night: The New Highway Hymnal. It was clear they were going to be intense, as lead singer Hadden Stemp belted out their opener, “Through Stained Glass,” threatening to burst the always-bulging vein in his neck with the sheer force of his singing. Their heavily-distorted sound took on a Dead Kennedys vibe after that with the foot-stompin’ beats of “More” and the echo-fuzz of “Whispers.” The three piece kept pulling kickass songs out of the garage with the slower, psychedelic reverb of “Out With The Lights,” and the massive, distortion-heavy closer that was “Hey Kid (Gotta Run).” In an act of fantastic punk defiance, the band turned “not giving a shit about their instruments” into an art for, dismantling the drums, running through the crowd with the mic, and giving off a huge wave of feedback that my somewhat-deaf left ear is still recovering from.
Last but certainly not least was Velah. Mixing indie pop rhythms with equally-compelling harder rock riffs, they opened up with the harmony and keys-tinged “Wanderlust.” The vocal harmonies between Jen Johnson and Nick Murphy continued with the morphing bass and crashing choruses of “Calm Down.” The next song was new, keeping with their trend of dancey-pop verses and heavier choruses, throwing in some piano and reverb-laden guitar. Hearing Johnson’s voice echo through the clean verse and distorted chorus with the lyrics “I forget myself when I’m with you” contrasted beautifully with “Skeleton House.” Velah put forth Death Cab-esque soft instrumentation with subtle guitar accents, lining up perfectly with Johnson’s clear soprano. Their next song was also new, a faster-paced, more bass-driven track that incorporated a lot more fuzz and distorted guitar than we were used to hearing from Velah. It rocked pretty damn hard. They ended their night with the dark and beautiful “Glass Heart.” With all the makings of a great unrequited love song, from the subdued instrumental introduction to the brilliant chorus of “Can’t find love on the ground,” the song cut through TT’s with the energy that only a great closing song can. Add in the upbeat, punk-infuse ending of the song and you’ve got yourself one great closer.
After some careful deliberation and what I can only assume is quantum physics-level math from the judges (seriously, how can they pick just one band to advance each night?) Prelim Night 1 and the first semifinal spot went to the fuzztastic noise punk of the New Highway Hymnal. It was a great way to start off the Rumble, and left every Rumble-goer wanting more. Luckily, there were five more nights of prelims.
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Night Two – Monday (4/8)
On Prelim Night Two I could tell that this week would seriously test my endurance, and this is coming from someone with extremely bad sleeping habits to begin with. Night Two started out heavy. My main takeaway from this night was that I had noticed most bands sets were limited to about 6 songs, because of the half-hour time constraint. Endation, the first band on the bill for the night, essentially decided to say “Fuck it, we’ll play 12 songs in 30 minutes.” And they did. The 2-person noise machine blasted from song to song with ferocious intensity. Immediately starting off with the dissonant chords of “Staab,” Endation would show how a 4-string guitar could be a bass and a lead guitar, and that you don’t need a whole mess of people onstage to blow people’s hair back with grunge-inspired tunes like “49 Maggots,” and the dark, brooding stab of “Machete.” By the end of their set, frontman Anthony Conley was all but swallowing the mic, screaming his vocals like he was about to pop a gasket.
After the onslaught of noise from Endation, the dark indie vibe of the Deep North was a welcome respite for my ears. They immediately won over the crowd with their catchy backing melodies complementing Rebecca Frank’s powerful voice. The band kept us on our toes, going through both new tracks and established crowd favorites. The beautifully-crafted “Wake Up” was a live emotional powderkeg, bringing together the best of their harder rock and indie-pop sensibilities. With its piano-tinged undertones, the band sounded like a rejuvenated Jack’s Mannequin. They weren’t afraid to speed it up and pick up the volume with several new tracks, and closed out their night with “Silent Film Star,” with its toned-down harmonies and subdued melodies sending the crowd into a nice, slow sway, before launching into the high-powered, pop-punk-inspired finale of the song.
Herra Terra, the night’s third band, immediately set themselves apart with their multicolored fluorescent light show onstage, but they were clearly much more than a light show. I also hate dancing (and suck at it) so if a band can make me want to dance and move in any way that isn’t just walking to the bar, they’re doing something right. The stage exploded in a massive wall of synth and infectious drum beats with “Hyperborean” as TT’s became immersed in a dance party vibe. The dark, ominous, “You Were the Accelerator” showed off the band’s range as a rock group while still maintaining their electro-pop dance beat. The floating synth hooks and interrupting guitar blasts of “Lost In Labyrinth” contrasted hauntingly, while “Portals” was an experiment in how many different layers of synth and guitar they could get on a chorus while still having a beautiful verse characterized by subtlety.
The lighthearted pop rock of Camden was a complete change from Herra Terra’s dark yet dancey beats, and they took to the stage to close Night Two with their catchy tunes. The indie rock dance party started at TT’s with the fast “Mustangs,” which had the room bopping in a head-shaking frenzy. It essentially dictated the speed of the whole set, which Camden delivered. “Talking About You” slowed down the show just a little while still keeping the same poppy rhythms and guitars, while “(Talking on the) Telephone” sped everything up again with its garage-style urgency. Closing with “You’re So Fine,” Camden displayed that perfect blend of incredibly catchy singalong lyrics and catchy indie-garage riffs.
Once again, a lineup spanning several different genres, with a little bit of indie-pop crossover tossed in. Camden wound up winning Night Two, joining the New Highway Hymnal in next week’s semifinals with their simple yet catchy tunes winning over the judges.
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Night Three – Tuesday (4/9)
On the last day of prelims before the Wednesday break, the faithful Rumble-goers were treated to a very different musical cornucopia than the previous nights. As much as I love all things loud and punk, I’ve believed for a long time that listening to and liking only one kind of music will make you one-sided as a musician and as a person. That’s why I was so excited to see Tuesday’s lineup of the Rumble. It literally (to quote Parks & Rec’s Chris Traeger) had everything, starting off with the always smooth R&B-laced pop rock of Eddie Japan. They were definitely different from some of the more noise-oriented groups we had seen the first two days, but I’m sure everyone at TT’s enjoyed them immensely. With several members that were veterans of previous Rumbles, Eddie Japan was well-versed in winning over a crowd.
They started off their night fast with the Latin dance-inspired “Pushing Years,” and would continue to give the audience plenty of reasons to more. Poppy trumpet and catchy guitar drove most of their set, including “Dead In My Comfort Zone” and “This Married Life.” I was most impressed by their ability to make so few instruments sound like a classic 60’s pop big band; that would all change with the addition of several violins for their brooding baroque pop hit closer, “A Town Called Nowhere.”
It’s tough to imagine a more different follow-up to Eddie Japan than metal, but with Supermachine, that’s exactly what we got. The New Hampshire-based metal machine threw everything at us, their thumping low-end rock shaking TT’s to its foundations. To quote Tenacious D, “You can’t kill the Metal.” This was obviously true, as they ripped through a brain-pouding set that included songs like “Transformer.” They got bluesy with the Ram Jam-esque “Buffalo,” all the while keeping the heavy riffage flowing. With lead singer David Nebbia taking a page out of James Hetfield’s book, they dove into a heavy dose of thrash metal, with “Solution” and “Warlord.” Their closer, “Broken,” was a nonstop train of low-end guitar and bass riffs, backed by some of the loudest drums I had ever witnessed live.
Glenn Yoder & the Western States brought their country-based rock twang to the Rumble next. Drawing from Americana, folk, and good ol’ outlaw country, Glenn and Co. were quickly crowd favorites. Yours truly even started clicking his heels (no square dancing though). Starting off with the Tom Petty-esque “Everything You Want,” they breezed through a set that spanned every aspect of hard-rocking rootsy country, with more alt-country jams like “Younger Brother” and “Just Want You To Love Me.” They broke out the soul for bluesy tunes in “Row” and “Not The Man For You.” Just when you thought the backwoods party couldn’t get moving any faster, they closed out with what I am hoping soon becomes a country radio staple in “Pretty Little Thing.” Incorporating O Brother-worthy singalongs and harmonies, the rollicking beat of this outlaw country ditty had the entire audience stomping along. The six minute-long hootenanny epic was probably my favorite song of the entire night.
Had to get grungier sometime though, right? That’s where the night’s final band, Blackbutton, came in. The former duo-turned-trio was determined to attack the crowd with their aggressive, lo-fi, grungy sound. Their performance spanned all that was great of late 80’s, early 90’s grunge, with some metal, punk, and hard rock elements tossed in for good measure. The angsty, strained vocals and simple, dark guitar of their slow opener, “5am” made way for even louder and faster songs. With their newest single, “Still Kids,” Blackbutton evoked early Biffy Clyro dynamic shifts and dissonant guitars, made even louder live. The high point of their set though, was their cover of “Breed” by Nirvana. Loud, primal, and raw, the song showed exactly where Blackbutton had come from in terms of influence, but their own unique post-punk flavor was what made it a really special cover.
The variety of music on display for this third night underscored what had already been seen the previous two nights, as did the winner of Night Three, which was Eddie Japan. Their catchy pop melodies and baroque instrumentation were too good not to take to the next round. This was an incredibly close night though. The audience responded to every band with the same enthusiasm, whether it was Eddie Japan, the hard rock metal of Supermachine, the rootsy country rock of Glenn Yoder, or the fuzz-laden power of Blackbutton.
A few takeaways from these first three nights of the Rumble:
Although it is a competition, this event is one of the friendliest competitions I have ever laid eyes on. It really is about bringing together the larger community of the Boston music scene. Sure, there’s bragging rights and prizes on the line, but, as I heard one astute Rumble-goer say on Sunday between sets, “Don’t we all win?” Of course we do.
The word “upset” can’t really be used here. Despite any personal preference you might have, it’s impossible to pigeonhole any one night into a single category of music. All the lineups are so diverse that each band has to be taken simply on their own merit. That’s how you get lineups for semifinals that have New Highway Hymnal, Camden, and Eddie Japan all on one bill.
Well, that’s the first three nights of the Rumble. Thank heavens for the Wednesday day of rest, otherwise I might have collapsed from sleep deprivation. If you haven’t made it out to TT’s for any of them…well, I think that’s foolish, but it should definitely give you an incentive to go to at least one of the next three nights of prelims. Even if you don’t know any bands playing, come out, meet some people, get some pictures taken at the “Rock Star Photo Booth” (if there aren’t pictures…it didn’t happen), and hear some great music. I’ll see you all at the next three nights. Later gators.
