Can’t get enough of the Rock ‘N’ Roll Rumble? Have I got a treat for you! Here’s a word search featuring the twenty-four participants in this year’s event. Pretty great, right? Print one out for yourself. It’s fun! Share it with a friend. Give it to your kids. Maybe they’ll ask you who Airport is and you can play them “Knot Again.”* Maybe they’ll ask you what goddamn means because they already know Dracula is awesome. Or give it to a friend’s kid. When they ask who Gondoliers are you can show them these pictures.
Anngelle and her crew are making The Rumble a special event. Again.
How was your Rumble prelims week? Pretty great, right? The semifinal round gets going at TT’s on Thursday with Await Rescue, Petty Morals, Western Education and When Particle Collide(wildcard). Friday will find Barricades, Goddamn Draculas, Tigerman Woah and Feints(wildcard) taking the stage. Until then, here are a few thoughts on the second half of the preliminary round.
Old Favorites Gondoliers’ set was comforting.
It’s always fun to see bands I’m familiar with rise to the occasion that is The Rumble. Butterknife put on the best set I’ve ever seen from them. Slowdim followed with another goodie. It was the second time I’ve seen these bands play together. I’d love to see it happen again. Gondoliers and Harris Hawk both had gut-check sets. Intense, powerful stuff. It had been about 3 years since I saw Vary Lumar on the TT’s stage. Apparently I’ve been missing out on some inventive electro-indie rock. Feints ripped it up to open the show on Friday night. They earned themselves a wildcard spot in the semifinals.
New Faces Petty Morals: Expectations Exceeded
I had high expectations for Petty Morals. They blew right past them. Damn, that was fun. Summoner was amazing. These guys play my favorite type of metal: loud, riffy and melodic. Yellabird sound way bigger than two guys should sound. Western Education generated enough excitement closing out Prelim Night #4 to take home a win.
Return of the Riff Harris Hawk atop Riff Mountain.
If the early prelim nights were dominated by hooks and texture, then the second half found the participants climbing Riff Mountain. Summoner were the first to reach the peak, ascending on the back of the elusive Winged Beast Of Doom. Saturday night found Harris Hawk, Yellabird and Await Rescue feeding on the blow minds of would-be air guitarists. Await Rescue will carry that momentum into the semifinals.
Fun With Numbers Butterknife, the first of three trios.
See Three Trios: There were 3 trios in the second half of the prelims. Butterknife, Slowdim and Gondoliers played back-to-back-to-back on Thursday night.
Eight Is Enough: 46 performers took the stage in the second half of the week. That’s 8 fewer than the first three nights.
I Can’t Count That High: Again, riffs.
Play Me Out
The Color And Sound are one of the most lovable bands in town. When they played “Graves” on Saturday night I thought the place would burst. Here are some songs that have been running through my head from the second half of the prelims.
No time for Rumble weariness. Harris Hawk just launched a blistering barrage of riffs to kick off the final night of the preliminary round. That’ll get ya goin’.
The 2014 Rock ‘N’ Roll Rumble starts Sunday night. Here are 13 things about the 24 bands playing this year’s shindig…
Airport, Slowdim, Butterknife and Sinnet are all in The Rumble. That means you can catch four of the bands writing the best songs in the city at TT’s next week. Sinnet plays Sunday, Airport on Tuesday. Butterknife and Slowdim go head to head on Thursday. We’re a lucky bunch.
I’ve seen Doom Lover twice, bothtimes without Nikki Dessingue. I still haven’t had the full Doom Lover experience. I’m sure this is my loss. The Rumble will see this remedied on Monday night.
Riffs, riffs, riffs. I gotta have riffs. Color me excited to hear what Summoner and Yellabird are laying down. Summoner is up Friday. Yellabird is the last band of the whole Rumble on Saturday.
Harmonies, harmonies, harmonies. Goddamn Draculas (Monday) and Airport have some of the best I’ve ever heard.
Z*L(Tuesday) and Petty Morals(Friday) are two bands I’ve been dying to see. I really dig what the folks in these band have done in the past. I’m excited to (finally) see what they’re doing now.
The Color And Sound played one of the most energetic sets I’ve ever seen. They’re going to impress a lot of people on Saturday.
What will Gondoliers do on Thursday night? Seriously, what are they gonna do? You never know with these guys. They’re masters. Definitely one of my most anticipated Rumble sets.
It seems like there’s been a big surge of prog-influenced rock in this town. Emma Ate The Lion will be repping the movement on Monday night.
Getting through the early part of Rumble prelims week can be tough. With three bands-I’ve-never-seen-much-to-the-dismay-of-friends-who-have-seen-them in the first two nights, I think I’ll make it through okay. Tigerman Woah and Guillermo Sexo are on Sunday. When Particles Collide follow on Monday.
Rebuilder is the pop-punkiest pop punk band to play The Rumble in a while. They’ll get the whole thing started on Sunday night.
I always enjoy seeing a band for the second time (for an explanation, see reason #18 here). In addition to the previously mentioned Sinnet and The Color And Sound, I’ll be catching second sets from Feints(Friday), Vary Lumar(Friday) and Await Rescue(Saturday).
Between The Life Electric(Tuesday), Barricades(Tuesday) and Western Education(Thursday) there’s a pretty impressive variety of highly polished modern indie rock on tap for this year’s Rumble.
Harris Hawk will be kicking off the final night of the Rumble prelims, thus ensuring that any Rumble hangover from nights 1-5 will be quickly smashed to bits. Pay attention Saturday night. They don’t mess around.
That’s all I’ve got. The full 2014 Rock ‘N’ Roll Rumble schedule can be found here. Maybe you should go to one or all of the shows.
Who will advance in the 2014 Rock ‘N’ Roll Rumble? Go ahead, guess…
OK, here we go. This is where it gets real. We already knew the bands participating in the 35th edition of the Rock ‘N’ Roll Rumble. Now the preliminary round schedule is set. Now we’re reminded why The Rumble is so special. Now we get to see the types of bills you just don’t see every day. Now we get to pretend to know who the favorite is to win each night, only to realize such a task is but a fun and foolish game. Ready?
Thirteen is a lucky number, right? I hope so. You see, it’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Rumble season again. Last night on Boston Emissions, Anngelle Wood announced the 24 participants in this year’s competition event. For the first time since I can remember (probably ever), I actually managed to catch live shows from more than half of the bands vying for the tiara. Thirteen of ’em. I don’t know if more excited because I know these acts can deliver the goods or that there are still 11 bands that I get to check out for the first time. At their best. In The Rumble. Awesome.
Oh, did I mention that it’s the 35th edition of this storied franchise? Well, it is. That’s pretty amazing.
The nine night pass is still available (for now). The individual show lineups will be announced Sunday night on Boston Emissions. In the meantime, here are some handy links to get you ready for the 35th installment of the Rock ‘N’ Roll Rumble…
Snow. Let’s get that out of the way. A nasty little storm blew in at the worst possible time. That couldn’t stop Indie Rock Ranger’s Holiday Spectacular, though! The show plowed ahead* with Harris Hawk rattling the metal in the mouths of the intrepid concert-goers gathering at The Middle East Downstairs for a remarkable night of music.
* Did I really just type that? Oof. I blame sleep deprivation from a long weekend at The Sinclair. More on that later.
Realize it’s been a year since your favorite site closed up shop
Hang head like Charlie Brown
The above happens to me a few times a month. Old habits die hard, I guess. This time last year, the folks at Boston Band Crush presented their final show, with Freezepop, Sidewalk Driver, The Field Effect and Emily Peal and The Band of Skinny Men bringing some much needed holiday cheer to a sold out crowd at Brighton Music Hall. It was a fitting send off, put together by Richard Bouchard (AKA Indie Rock Ranger AKA The Biggest Supporter Of The Boston Music Scene Since Billy Ruane).
Over the past year, Richard has put together some of the finest shows in the city under the Indie Rock Ranger Presents banner. Thankfully, he’s readied another humdinger of a bill to fend off the holiday blues. Freezepop and Sidewalk Driver are back. This time they’re joined by Parks, Animal Talk and Harris Hawk. That’s a whole lot of awesome on one bill. The Indie Rock Ranger Holiday Spectacular happens Saturday night at The Middle East Downstairs.
Sounds good, right? Of course it does. You love rock ‘n’ roll and the possibility of a Glamta sighting. I’m going to go out on a limb and wager that you also want to help some kids in need this holiday season. Thank you! You can do so at this very event. Anngelle Wood will be holding her annual toy drive for the DCF Kids Fund at the show. New (unwrapped) toys, gift cards, electronics, books and just about anything else a kid might enjoy will all be collected. Don’t have time to get to the store? Pick up a print of Nicole Anguish’s amazing Empire Strikes Back-inspired poster at the show (it’s at the top of this post, in case you missed it). All of the profits from poster sales will be donated to the cause. Plus, you’ll get to go home with a wampa.
I’ve been listening to Harris Hawk’s Feeder a lot, but I must confess it makes me a little uncomfortable. I feel like I’m eavesdropping on the band’s therapy session. It’s not going well. Someone keeps yelling “You’ll never keep me here!” I’m afraid outbursts like that aren’t going to help her cause. I want to walk away and pretend I don’t feel guilty about listening in, but the songs are just so damn compelling. There’s a level of agitation to the riffing that keeps me on my toes. I’m just going to hide over here and hope the band doesn’t notice me.
