Boston Rock Photos And Stuff
These guys have to be some of the best musicians in town. Heck, Jeff Berlin’s drum check before the set started would put a lot of drummers to shame. Individually and collectively, the guys from Bow Thayer and Perfect Trainwreck are playing at the top of their game right now. It’s impressive.
Bow Thayer and Perfect Trainwreck take Rumble Semifinal Night #1.
Thick Shakes got Rumble Semifinal Night #1 started with a bang. This outfit is a garage rock firecracker ready to take off some fingers. Pop! The songs came rapid fire, drenched in Farfisa and fuzz. The remnants of “Go Back To New York” and “Banned From The Laundromat” are still ringing in my head….
Semifinal Night #1 Winner: Bow Thayer And Perfect Trainwreck
The 2012 Rock ‘N’ Roll Rumble Semifinals start tonight! Here’s the schedule. I posted some random rumble thoughts on the Rumble day of rest. I thought I’d do the same for the second half of Preliminaries.
Old Favorites
The 2012 Rumble saw a few of my favorite bands play the sets of their lives. Parlour Bells got all glammed up to rock out on Thursday night. One set later The Fagettes threw a big old rock n’ roll party on the TT’s stage that blew out a bass amp and the womb of a giant cardboard robot. In a testament to the strength of the Boston music scene, those sets didn’t even take the night! Cask Mouse got the nod from the opening slot for a shaking and stomping good time. The next night had Brownboot leading the crowd into hard rock excess like six-stringed pied pipers. The Bynars had synth-heavy power pop down to a science. Saturday night had back-to-back sets by Motherboar and neon post-punks Streight Angular that made me question the structural integrity of the club. I sure am glad I didn’t have to clean up after that show.
New Faces
The Grinds! Hell, yeah! I’m so glad I finally saw this punk n’ roll outfit. So good. The Rumble also introduced me to the modern Americana of Bow Thayer And Perfect Trainwreck, the angular indie of Pray For Polanski and the heavy riffage of Sherman Burns and Never Got Caught.
The State Of Heavy
Speaking of heavy, the two heaviest bands of this year’s Rumble both advance to the Semifinals. Motherboar was just plain devastating. It’s amazing how colossal they sounded after just having witnessed the how-the-hell-are-they-doing-this flying hair and riffs attack of Sherman Burns. I can’t wait to see how this plays out in the next round.
Fun With Numbers
Play Me Out
Here are some Rumble tunes that I haven’t been able to shake. It’s quite the varied collection. We’ve got suave pop from Parlour Bells and brutal metal from Motherboar. We’ve got indie rock both manic (Streight Angular) and unsettling (Pray For Polanksi). Top it all of with the searing hard rock of Brownboot and you’ll be humming these tunes for days. Now get thee to TT’s!
* Unless you pay them lots of cash, but you’d have to be a D-Bag to do that…
Butterknife
Do the Needful
2012
Butterknife’s Do The Needful is an exceptional collection of emotionally unsettling power pop. It’s the sound of a relationship exposing its flaws. The songs have a humanity to them. So often songs of this genre become caricatures of themselves in an effort to aggrandize or diminish the virtues of romance. Butterknife manages to keep love’s bittersweet nature intact.
Musically, these songs are polished gems. A fine sense of song craft is on display from the opening snare hits of “$100” through the sea of guitars that carry away “This Was A Romance”. Butterknife can play it straight (“Coattails”) or off-kilter (“June 4”). For the 4:55 duration of “Restless” all of these elements come together in one damn near perfect song. Bittersweet.
Where to get it:
OldJack
“Take A Bow”
2012
It’s only fitting in the midst of all this Rumble mayhem to have a listen to OldJack. Last year the band had one of the most improbable runs in Rumble history.
When Dan Nicklin sings “Take a bow/Tell ’em they can’t count you out” you listen. He’s been there, after all. There’s an honesty to OldJack’s music that comes across in Dan’s voice. Behind it all, the band are their usual smoldering selves, settling into a verse groove that rides a “The Ballad Of John & Yoko”-esque bass line. OldJack wisely play to their many strengths on “Take A Bow”. Tasteful guitar leads and trademark backing vocals find their space. Just when you think you’ve got the song figured out, the band pulls the plug on the expected electric Twangcaster solo. In it’s place is an airy acoustic guitar section that sets up the big payoff: a wall-of-sound inspired middle eight. It’s the kind of sequence that reminds you of the unexpected places good songwriting can take you.
Where to get it:
Well, the Preliminary Round of the 2012 Rock ‘N’ Roll Rumble has drawn to a close. Congratulations to The Rationals, Garvy J. And The Secret Pockets Of Hope And Resistance, Ghosts Of Jupiter, Cask Mouse, Bow Thayer And Perfect Trainwreck and Motherboar for taking their nights. Thick Shakes and Sherman Burns earned themselves a chance to continue on in the event by snagging the wildcard selections. With that, the Semifinal round is set:
Semifinal Night #1 / Thursday, April 12
9:30 – Thick Shakes (Wildcard)
10:15 – Bow Thayer and Perfect Trainwreck
11:00 – Cask Mouse
11:45 – Motherboar
Semifinal Night #2 / Friday, April 13
9:30 – Sherman Burns (Wildcard)
10:15 – Ghosts of Jupiter
11:00 – The Rationales
11:45 – Garvy J.
Both shows are at TT’s. Doors at 8:30pm. Tickets are available at the TT’s website: www.ttthebears.com
In case you missed any of the action, here are links to the photos and recaps of each Preliminary round set. I was lucky enough to catch all of the bands. Thanks to Anngelle Wood for putting the whole thing together and to all of the bands for making it a blast.
Sunday, April 1
The Grownup Noise (withdrew due to injury)
Endless Wave
The Rationales took Night #1.
Cooling Towers
Monday, April 2
Thick Shakes took the wildcard.
Animal Talk
Garvy J. And The Secret Pockets Of Hope And Resistance took Night #2.
Grey Valley Ghost
Tuesday, April 3
The Susan Constant
The Tin Thistles
Ghosts of Jupiter took Night #3.
Letterday
Thursday, April 5
Cask Mouse took Night #4.
Never Got Caught
Parlour Bells
The Fagettes
Friday, April 6
Pray For Polanski
BrownBoot
Bow Thayer and Perfect Trainwreck took Night #5.
The Bynars
Saturday, April 7
The Grinds
Sherman Burns took the wildcard.
Motherboar took Night #6.
Streight Angular
Streight Angular and their DayGlo entourage took to the TT’s stage to close out the Rock ‘N’ Roll Rumble preliminary round. I couldn’t think of a better band for this slot. Streight Angular didn’t take their night, but they threw one hell of a party. Something tells me they’re OK with that…
Preliminary Night #6 Winner: Motherboar
I’m going to keep this one short. Motherboar took Prelim Night #6 with the most ferocious Rumble set I’ve ever seen. Awesome.
I don’t know what I was expecting from Sherman Burns on Preliminary Night #6 of The Rumble, but it certainly wasn’t this. This was a full on sonic assault delivered with deadly precision. It was impressive. I kept watching bassist Andrew Mildenberg wondering what would happen first, him flubbing a note or his head flying off. Thankfully, I don’t think either happened.
Preliminary Night #6 Winner: Motherboar
How have I not seen The Grinds before? I’ve seen everybody in the band perform before. I’ve intended to see them before. Thank you Rock ‘N’ Roll Rumble for finally getting me to see The Grinds. Their set to open Preliminary Night #6 proved what I always suspected. I really like The Grinds.
Preliminary Night #6 Winner: Motherboar
