This is the second installment of my new column, Sophia’s Rock Beat. The point of this is to highlight the shows I saw the week before and the video I took at those shows. Here’s last week’s (which recapped most of January), if you missed it. Also, please “like” the facebook page!
Sunday, January 30th with MUCH consternation (Sunday night, yucky weather, etc.), we trudged out to Great Scott in Allston for Mr. Sister, Bunny’s A Swine, and Banditas – and we were very glad we did. Mr. Sister were already playing when we walked in – transfixing the crowd (and an enthusiastic audience member named Kevin) with banjo (video 1 and video 2). We’ve been meaning to catch Bunny’s A Swine for some time now – as one of the members has become a bit of an internet buddy. They are based out of Northampton. Midway through their set, I leaned over to Mike and said, “this is a band that would never have formed in Boston” – this was a high compliment! I can’t really find the words to explain what that sentence means, but I will tell you that I loved BaS – lo-fi alt-college-rock (when “college rock” meant something cool in the ’80s) – lots of dual vocals singing/speaking different lyrics over each other AND the drummer plays with the exact configuration that I play with in DNFMOMD. Don’t miss them when they come back to town!
Here’s a playlist of most of their set:
Banditas closed out the night – and debuted a new rhythm section -the ladies of Banditas are a perfect pairing as they sing beautifully together – video 1, video 2, video 3.
Saturday, 2/5 we raced back to Allston, this time to Brighton Music Hall to catch Sarah Rabdau and Self-Employed Assassins. I loved Sarah and SEA when SEA was really just Matt Graber, her drummer extraordinaire but she’s recently added two new members to her line-up – Eric Donohue on bass and Peter Moore of Count Zero fame on keys. The new sound is tastefully fleshed out and delegating some keyboard duties (as well as adding low-end) allows Sarah to move around, get up, sing unhindered when the song demands it – which is really great. The highlight of the night may have been their awesome cover of Bulletproof by La Roux.
Here’s the playlist:
Sarah played with New York acts, The Spring Standards and Wakey Wakey.
On the agenda for this week:
Tuesday, Feb. 8th is the Rock ‘n’ Roll Social at The Model – read about what it is on Boston Band Crush.
Thursday, Feb. 10th at TT the Bear’s is Walter Sickert and The Army of Broken Toys (always a favorite), Rob Potylo (have you been watching Quiet Desperation on MyTv?), Casey Desmond, and Second Day Venom (FB event)
Saturday, Feb. 12th at Great Scott is the highly anticipated CD Release for Naked On Roller Skates‘ debut, I lost my heart in the battle. Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling is opening up this show, which includes the arena-worthy jams of The Lights Out and the drink-’til-you-fall-over-rock of Mellow Bravo (FB event).
Finally, here’s what I’ve personally been up to recently:
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