Studio 52 is a community artist space located in the heart of Allston, and is proud to support the Boston music scene and local artist community.
Last week we met the bands. Now we meet the battles.
Yes, Boston, Rock And Roll Rumble season is in full swing.
Last night on 100.7 WZLX's Boston Emissions, host and Rumble curator Anngelle Wood selected the six preliminary week lineups for next month's "World Series of Boston Rock," which kicks off Sunday, April 2 at ONCE Ballroom in Somerville. Twenty-four bands will do battle over six preliminary nights, with a winner from each group moving on to one of two semi-finals. Two wild card bands -- one from Nights 1 to 3 and a second from Nights 4 to 6 -- will round out the prelim lineups. But that's getting ahead of ourselves.
We've long said the best part of the Rumble, a Boston institution since 1979, are these first preliminary nights, where four bands from across the music scene spectrum throw down in the name of friendly competition. It brings together bands that have likely never performed on the same bill as one another, and fans and friends who may never have partied in the same room. The lineups -- drawn at random by Wood live on Boston Emissions -- represent a cross-section of the music scene, and usually break down any sort of genre barrier.
It's a good time for all. So, how does the 2017 Rumble's preliminary week shake out? Scroll through the full list below, and get all ticket information, including Six Pack passes, through the official Rumble page at ONCE. [Note: All bios below pulled from the Rumble page at WZLX.com; featured photo of Tom Baker And The Snakes.
Friday, April 7: Doors at 8 p.m., music at 9 p.m. [event page]
9:00 p.m.: Biltmore
Location: Providence, RI. Bio: Biltmore are a new rock band proudly born out of the emerging Providence music scene. Formed by Boston music veterans, guitarist & singer/songwriter Phil Ayoub, guitarist Glenn Bernard, and drummer Scott McCue, with the additions of bass player Jonathan Serbst and guitarist Kevin Mattos to round out the lineup; Biltmore recorded their 2016 debut release, Revolutions & Romantics, at renowned Q Division Studios in Somerville, MA with the incomparable Boston Music Award-winning producer Ed Valauskas at the helm. So who do they sound like? If you ask the band what they sound like the answer will be something like, “Coldplay with more guitars. Foo Fighters without the screaming. The Killers, but not as handsome.” Called by one reviewer, “Swirly ecstasy rock, …a parade of dark sunshine pop, swoony and delirious, a musical feast. Highly recommended.”
9:45 p.m.: no hope/no harm
Location: Boston, MA. Bio: no hope/no harm is a Boston four piece lead by Aaron Perrino of The Sheila Divine and Dear Leader, and longtime Boston journalist Luke O’Neil, formerly of the band The Good North. “I suppose it sort of sounds like the Sheila Divine meets the Good North, surprisingly!” O’Neil explained in an interview with Vanyaland. “At least on our first song ‘This Living Wage’, for sure — that same sort of melancholy grandeur.” The project began out of the duo’s shared love of emo — James F. Forbes, and Adam Hand, of The Field Effect, were brought on board after a singalong at O’Neil’s Emo Night Boston. Traces of all permutations of that broad genre — from twinkling, prettier sad songs, to screaming post-hardcore, and tightly-wound pop-punk show up throughout their material, at turns literary-minded or arch and self-referential, but always meant to break your heart.
10:30 p.m.: Stars Like Ours
Location: Boston, MA. Bio: Stars Like Ours are a 3 piece, female-fronted, 90s-influenced, driving rock band with pop sensibility from Boston, MA, whose influences include Sugar, The Amps, Superchunk, Dinosaur Jr., and The Breeders. Featuring some Boston rock vets – Michelle Paulhus (The Decals, The Marvels, The Real Kids, The Dents, and Andrea Gillis Band) on bass and lead vocals, Kristin Holliday (DRAGO, The Blue Bloods, and Full Body Anchor) on guitar and backing vocals and Rice Edmonston (Darkbuster, Big Wig, Senior Happy, Heidi, Linus, Full Body Anchor, Mill Pond Falls, and Abbie Barrett Band) on drums – Stars Like Ours have been credited as having a solid, tight live set with comical, witty banter which keeps fans returning to see their show again and again. Their songs are loud, gritty, with strong hooks and pleasing pop melodies that get stuck in your head for days.
11:15 p.m.: Diablogato
Location: Boston, MA and Rhode Island. Bio: In the spring of 2014, five friends with long, diverse rock and roll pedigrees – pedigree to the tune of Lost City Angels, The New Alibis, The Sickabillys, The Alrighters, Medicated Kisses to name a few – and seemingly identical record collections met up to shed out song song. Having no plan or idea what would come of it, only the hope that it would nothing any of them had done before. The sound that developed was not rockabilly. It was not punk rock. It wasn’t garage, soul, gothic southern swamp darkness, or straight mid-century American rock and roll…it was all those things. It was the echo of the record collections, the artists, and the aesthetics that they loved. To Watch City Studio they went, to track the old fashioned way…on vintage analog gear, straight to the tape with moments of brilliance, inspiration, rough edges, and wonderful mistakes all given the same respect. Diablogato are hard at work writing songs for a new 7” and full-length record, continuing to hit the stage, feeling sanctified pouring it out, and wandering wherever their rock and roll love affair takes them.
