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.
There are some who say you gotta be lucky to make music. There are others who say you gotta play the game. Joe McMahon of Mill Pond Falls was literally both earlier this year, and the result is a new single in “Gone” that gets the release party treatment tonight (September 21) at O’Brien’s Pub.
Incidentally, it was the Allston rock club that helped birth “Gone,” a vibrant, Americana-tinged guitar-rock chaser that recalls the best of American ’90s alternative and finds McMahon’s gravelly vocals opening up a portal to his weathered soul. It marks the first new material from the band — which features guitarist Eric Edmonston, bassist Ben Karnavas, and Deep Ellum co-owner Max Toste on drums — since last summer’s debut EP.
“So I had to look up the date,” McMahon tells us. “It was January 21st!”
It was a night where luck was on his side, and as any great songwriter will tell you, luck isn’t always riding shotgun on the joyride through life.
“I had the night off so I went to see Stars Like Ours at O’Brien’s Pub,” he adds. “They were playing on an awesome bill with Petty Morals and Carissa Johnson — who crushed it, by the way, it was my first time seeing her. Long story short it, was the afterparty for the Boston Women’s March and a benefit for the ACLU. They were having a raffle. My buddy Ryan was bartending that night and quickly pointed out to me that Benny Grotto from Mad Oak Studios had generously donated studio time to the raffle. It was on. A great cause and a chance to record with Benny Grotto. I emptied my wallet and then hit the ATM for more raffle tickets and some more Jameson money.”
McMahon’s number came up.
“I won the studio time,” he says. “I think Kristin from Stars Like Ours is stilled pissed at me as she was in a raffle frenzy that night as well. Anyhow that’s how our new ‘single’ and b-side came about.”
Delivering on the promised reward, “Gone,” as well as its b-side “Everyday,” was produced and engineered by Grotto at Mad Oak, and mixed and mastered by Tom Polce. Listen to it below, and catch Mill Pond Falls tonight at O’Brien’s alongside American Echoes, The Furniture, and Jake McKelvie & The Countertops.
