Welcome to the last in a series of posts previewing the 2016 Rock And Roll Rumble, our city's annual throw down that doubles as a monthlong local music festival unlike any other. This year's Rumble goes down April 3 to April 22 at ONCE Ballroom and Lounge in Somerville, is organized and presented by Boston Emissions with Anngelle Wood, with the Verb Hotel and Vanyaland on board as official sponsors. For our full Rumble coverage, click here; for tickets and venue information, click here.
What You Need To Know:
Rock And Roll Rumble Preliminary Night 6
Saturday, April 9 at ONCE Ballroom, 156 Highland Ave. in Somerville MA
With Courage Cloak, the Knock Ups, The Devil’s Twins, usLights
Doors at 8:30 p.m., 21 to drink, $10 in advance and $15 at the door
Advance tickets, Facebook event page
How The Night Stacks Up:
It's the last night of the week-long preliminary round, and any bit of Rumble fatigue should be cast away right as the first band takes the stage. It's no secret that we love the "randomness" of the Rumble lineups, and the Saturday night party delivers a bill that's oddly cohesive and batshit bonkers at the same time. This is the lineup of some hotshot's birthday party, the type of guy or gal who loves everyone and thinks they all love him or her back, and shows off some gall by booking disparate styles all together under one show: the intelligent rock band (Courage Cloak), the balls-out guitar punks (The Knock Ups), the throwback noir-punk trio (The Devil's Twins) and the electronic project (usLights). Things will probably get silly. Things probably already are.
Get To Know The Bands:
10:15 p.m.: The Knock Ups
HOMETOWN: Boston, Massachusetts
SONG YOU NEED TO HEAR: “1969”, off their recent self-titled LP.
BIO: Formed in 2012 The Knock Ups are a female fronted, self proclaimed GLAM punk band. Bringing back the energy and sound of the riot grrrl movement, The Knock Ups deliver a performance that will give even the shy person the courage to want to dance or sing along. Maybe you haven’t seen them before but their name sounds familiar? In July of 2015 Gretchen made local headlines for being called up onstage to join U2 for the song “All I Want is You” and the next night Adam Clayton could be seen wearing The Knock Ups shirt he was given. When you see this band you are now just one degree of separation from U2.
VIDEO YOU NEED TO WATCH: The Knock Ups’ Gretchen Shae performing with U2 at the Garden, hey no big deal.
WHY THEY CAN WIN: Well, you know, there’s that whole thing about Shae sharing a stage with Bono and the boys during U2’s show at the Garden last summer. So if the Knock Ups are good enough for U2, they should be good enough for the Rumble, right? Ok, so, aside from the whole U2 thing, the Knock Ups have something else they should be known for, and that’s knowing how to write a killer song; “1969” gives us some A-plus Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel vibes, while “Shut Up (and put your dress on)” is a 5 p.m. fuck-work bitchslap of a song that smacks us right in the face.
TWITTER: Follow The Knock Ups on Twitter @knock_ups
