Editor’s Note: In May 2013, Boston underwent a music revolution. Award-winning digital arts magazine Vanyaland and game-changing major-league music festival Boston Calling launched within 10 short days of each other, completely altering and elevating the landscape where music and culture intersect in a city that had previously gone relatively stale. In the near-decade since, the two entities have been a defining feature of our city, both for its residents and how it’s perceived everywhere else. In Spring 2022, Vanyaland and Boston Calling team up to showcase the homegrown bands and artists that help shape the most Boston lineup of Boston Calling ever. Boston Calling’s ’22 headliners — Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, The Strokes — and its solid undercard are well-known and established; but over the next few weeks, keep it locked as Vanyaland profiles the homegrown talent that decorates the lineup like never before. Nine years later, Vanyaland and Boston Calling continue to showcase Boston in new ways, and we have the sounds to prove it.
The Chelsea Curve
Performing on Friday, May 27
What can fans expect from your set at Boston Calling?
“Fans can expect a mashup of Boston meets Brixton with a mod inspired sound and look. Dress sharp, act flash!” — The Chelsea Curve
Artist bio:
The Chelsea Curve want to make you move. But how you do it is up to you. Inspired by Boston and British culture, the mod-pop trio switched on in 2019 with a singular mission to create infectious, punchy, sing-along rock and roll. Armed with an arsenal of catchy tunes appealing to both the clubs and the pubs, and properly bonded over a love of ‘70s punk and the mod style of sound, The Chelsea Curve are composed of Linda Pardee (bass and vocals) and Tim Gillis (guitar and vocals), with Ron Belanger (drums) holding down the steady backbeat.
An immediate fixture on Boston’s live music circuit, the fledgling Chelsea Curve joined the Whistlestop tour at the start of 2020. But as the pandemic shook up the music landscape, the trio shifted gears from the stage to the screen, linking up with New England-based independent label Red On Red Records to outline a grand plan of releasing colorful new music while the clubs remained dark. With a full album’s worth of material at the ready, Pardee, Gillis, and Belanger launched The Singles Scene in 2021, an eight-month rollout of one new song every four weeks, earning a steady presence on both social media and in-the-know radio stations and shows around the world.
In March 2021, The Chelsea Curve kickstarted The Singles Scene with the rambunctious “Girl Cavedog,” staying the course with new music through the year before wrapping the series in October with the melodic thump of pub-rocking rave-up “Top it Up.” As the world slowly re-opened, The Chelsea Curve returned to stages as varied and diverse as their own driveway (Melrose Porchfest), local breweries (Red on Red’s summer showcase at Craft Food Halls) and the much-missed rock clubs like The Jungle in Somerville, where they warmed up the winter and welcomed 2022 with a three-night residency.
With The Singles Scene songs now out in the wild – and finally performed for live audiences – each are featured, alongside some brand new cuts, on The Chelsea Curve’s debut record “All The Things”, released March 2022 on Red on Red Records. It’s clear that everyone who listens to The Chelsea Curve connects the band’s influence to their own personal favorites of yesterday. But with the debut LP out now and global radio play amplifying their presence louder with each mod-pop offering, The Chelsea Curve are quickly forging their own rock and roll path connecting the past to the present. And in their world, there is no standing still.
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