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.
Saturday, April 8: Doors at 8 p.m., music at 9 p.m. [event page]
9:00 p.m.: City Rivals
Location: Boston, MA. Bio: City Rivals were born in early 2014 when guitarist Greg McKenna (Letters To Cleo) enlisted vocalist Michael Coen and bassist/singer Matt Diekman (The Bleedin Bleedins/Midatlantic) to collaborate on a handfull of songs he had in his music catalog. After a few rehearsals, City Rivals went into the studio and recorded their first round of songs. Inspired to complete their line-up, City Rivals welcomed multi-talented musician Max Toste on drums & vocals and John Coen on guitar and vocals. After writing and recording another round of demos with the completed line-up, City Rivals realized that they were on to something. A sound of their own. Displaying an adept ability for writing powerful melodies and vocals, the band is establishing themselves as a strong songwriting outfit that delivers an exciting show live. This spring, City Rivals are going back to Ice Station Zebra to record with Ducky and producer Ed Valauskas to record the final songs on City Rivals debut EP.
9:45 p.m.: Carissa Johnson
Location: Boston, MA. Bio: Carissa Johnson is addicted to playing rock and roll. The sweaty, turbulent, in-your-face kind of rock that bothers uptight people. She got her start playing bass in Boston bands for a few years before stepping out to pursue her own music. With influences evident in her songs, her sound pays tribute to seventies punk and new wave, yet remains authentically her own. It’s an aesthetic that’s proven appealing to fans of all ages. Carissa Johnson is known for her straight-forward lyrics and her driving, four on the floor melodies, her “heartening anthemic rock” stands out among her contemporaries. Determined to share her music with the world, she continues to book her own tours and play shows throughout the country – with or without a band. Carissa toured across the US in support of her sophomore release, Only Roses (May 2016).
10:30 p.m.: Heavy Necker
Location: Peabody, MA. Bio: Heavy Necker burst onto the unsuspecting rock world in 2011 as a three-headed, rip-snorting party-beast fueled on classic rock, heavy blues, and the sweet narcotic of youth. Too hot for Peabody, MA where there are too few rockers, they wave their freak flags high with sparkling bruised drums and electric guitars set to stun. It’s ROCK. It’s easy, it’s sleazy, and it gets you right where you’re going, every single time. Since then the three hip young dudes who keep this infernal machine ablaze have been tearing up stages all over the East Coast, blowing minds, breaking hearts and delivering high-contact, high-velocity, high-impact rock n’ roll shows that leave audiences sore in the hip and satisfied, every time.
11:15 p.m.: The Humanoids
Location: Boston, MA. Bio: The Humanoids are a creative life force the likes of which the world has yet to understand. Their magnificence is a testament to the sleazy underbelly that is the soul of rock and roll. Their ideas are numerous, demented and well thought out, or they just scratch the surface and abandoned to the stack of questionable notebooks. As a band they honed their craft in basements, lofts, watering holes and long gone venues from Maine to Virginia, from Brooklyn to Youngstown. They forge ahead in the epic battle for the soul of rock and roll, a soul that desperately needs saving. The Humanoids are built to last and as always will fight for Heavy Metal, advocate Wild Times, and will continue to utterly destroy their enemies and anything else that stands in their way for decades to come!
