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.
It’s been a white hot minute, but we think the last time we caught up with the indefatigable Gene Dante, he was busy telling us we were all whores. It wasn’t any sort of argument, and lord knows we’ve all been called worse (don’t read the comments), but it was a call to action for our sordid, sassed-out, selfie-sexual times.
But where once there was a private message of nope, now there’s a double-clicked message of hope. Sir Dante returns to our sensitive spot today (April 13) fronting his glam-rock brigade The Future Starlets, offering up a slice of new video pizzazz in “Hand Me Your Razors”.
The clip, directed by Herschel Smith Jr., satirizes the bullshit going down at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in grainy ’80s-style VHS footage. But like the underside of that old family friend who showed you how to self-love as a teenager, there is a silver lining among the confusion. Optimism is the fuel for any resistance, and the core of the song is one Dante says is about self-preservation and care. As such, proceeds from the digital downloads will go to the American Foundation For Suicide Prevention.
“Despite what the name might suggest, this is anything but a sad song,” Dante says. “It’s a song of hope, of beauty, and of truth… we carried that vibe for the shoot, loaded the cast into a white house, incidentally, dressed up in togas, and mocked the president. It was a ball.”
Experience Dante — one of our city’s true proper showmen — live on that rock and roll stage May 12 at Shaskeen Pub in Manchester, and then closer to home fronts traditional and otherwise June 23 at ONCE Ballroom in Somerville alongside Parlour Bells, The Gala, and DJ Gang of One.
Bring your own toga, dear, and drape it around your heart.