When it comes to local bands and immersing yourself in a scene, it’s hard to know where to start. Western Education, an alternative rock band with an electronic edge, recently released their first full length album, and have been steadily performing and gaining some traction in the Boston scene. But they too are still acclimating themselves to all of the other artists who call Boston home. The four members met while studying at UMass Lowell, but used Boston as a launching pad: they played clubs all around town, and even participated in the Rock ‘n’ roll Rumble, sponsored by WZLX and Boston Emissions, last year. Before their weekly band practice, Western Education called us up and we talked about dinosaur concept albums, secrets, and their show this Saturday at the Middle East Club.
Allston Pudding: Introductions: Did you guys grow up in the New England area? What was your take on music here growing up?
Greg Alexandropolous (vocals): We all grew up in the New England area. I’d like to say that we were all kind of late bloomers though. Western Education was kind of my first serious band and I was already 21. Georgio [Broufas, guitar] wasn’t in a band before either. We were fans of more alternative rock but it was the huge bands we were into. We didn’t really go to local shows. But ever since we started [this band] we’ve been into that stuff. We studied music and loved music, but I guess we weren’t the type of people to go to shows.
Will Hunt (bass): I grew up in a small town in Maine and there wasn’t much of an underground punk scene. There was a really small hardcore community that kind of came up and I kind of got involved in, so that was kind of nice to have.
AP: Georgio, as a music teacher, what’s your approach: more Jack Black in School of Rock, or Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music?
Georgio Broufas: Yeah I teach music in the Lynn public school system. I’m definitely more like Jack Black School of Rock but I also try to teach real stuff like counting quarter notes. I’m not trying to scheme and make a student rock band and play battle of the bands. But I use my acoustic guitar a lot and I’m pretty energetic and enthusiastic with the kids. So if it was between those two I’m definitely more like Jack Black.
AP: What was your favorite memory as a band in 2014?
GA: The [Rock ‘n’ Roll] Rumble. For me it was definitely the Rumble. They pick 24 bands and it’s kind of like a festival. It was awesome on the preliminary night to win our night and to go on to the semifinals. That was probably my favorite.
GB: That was really fun. That first night might have been the biggest crowd we ever played for. That was like a sold out crowd at TT the Bears. When we opened for The Ataris that was cool, too. That was our first opener for a pretty big headlining act. I remember entering Brighton Music Hall to load in my stuff and they were already up there rehearsing and I was looking Kristopher Roe right in the eye and I’m like ‘holy shit I can’t believe I’m playing with them tonight.’ And then, honestly, releasing the album [Let Your Secrets Out]. Our album release party was really cool. There were a lot of good things this year. It was a good year.
AP: If you could learn something from any musician living or dead, who would you choose?
GA: A lot of the musicians I admire aren’t professionally trained.
WH: I’m going to say Charles Mingus.
GA: I’d pick Max Martin. You know why? That guy wrote hits for Ace of Base, Katy Perry… He writes all these hits. I would just like to watch him make something. He has like 41 hits but no one knows who he is. I would just like to see him work. Just see him do something, that would be interesting. That guy’s crazy. He’s done it all. What about you Georgio?
GB: That’s a hard question. I guess maybe I’d try something totally different. Someone like Schoenberg, early 20th century stuff with quarter tones. Maybe John Cage. It’d be cool to pick their brains.
GA: I would hang out with Chopin, but then you’d get Tuberculosis.
AP: You’ve played the Middle East a few times, and The Last Safe & Deposit Company in Lowell a few times too. Where have you played the most shows?
GA: It feels like for the Middle East Upstairs and Downstairs it’s a combined 8 or 10 times, and The Safe we play a lot… we just started playing at The Safe recently though. When we first played there we didn’t really know about it and it’s a small bar but a lot of people from the Lowell area show up there. We were expecting maybe 10 or 15 people to come hang out but when we played our set it was packed. There aren’t many places to play in Lowell. You either play the Tsongas arena to 6,000 people or you play at Gemstones for no one. So The Safe being a thing is really good.
AP: Where do you guys practice?
GA: We’re at Kennedy Studios. We recorded our album here at Kennedy Studios in Burlington.
WH: They let us rent out practice space like once a week. They’re great guys and we’re really glad to be here.
GA: We’re mostly polishing up our set list for our upcoming shows. Before we work on new stuff, we still want to be promoting Let Your Secrets Out and working on videos as much as we can.
AP: Your songs make me think they could be part of some awesome concept album, and I’m sure there are common threads connecting some of your songs. But have you ever considered a concept album? Or are you fans of concept albums?
GB: Let Your Secrets Out wasn’t a concept album, but in general… there are varying degrees of concept albums. For me personally, if I made one it’d be not an obvious concept album. It’d have various interpretations.
WH: I kind of like the crazy specific ones.
GA: Obviously we haven’t talked about it yet [laughs].
GB: I like albums being cohesive and each song transitioning nicely. So in way, I don’t know if that’s a concept, but I’m into that.
GA: Mark [Ragusa, drums] is actually really into it. Mark had a dream about a dinosaur apocalypse. He had 12 songs mapped out in his head. One was called something like “Stegosaurus Rumble.” It was all going to be called “Eye of the Predator” or something. It’s been an inside joke for us now. If anyone asked us what album #2 was going to be like, we were gonna tell them it was a dinosaur concept album.
AP: Inspired by the name of your latest album Let Your Secrets Out, are there any secrets you’d like to let out? Don’t worry. This will only shared on the Internet. Forever.
WH: Greg has 6 toes.
GA: All of my promo photos are fake, because I straighten my hair.
GB: I don’t think I have any secrets. And if I do, I’ve probably repressed them so much that I wouldn’t blurt them out now.
It’s not a secret that you can check out Western Education at their show at the Middle East Upstairs on Saturday 1/17 with The Firing Line and Seconds To Stand.