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.
Alexander Whitelaw is closing in on a major life-changing move, and he’s excited to see what’s ahead of him — even if the lyrics of his brand new song “Falling” don’t exactly emit that feeling.
The new track is a chronicle of mounting stress and “shit just piling up,” but the Providence native, better known by his stage name Spirit Ghost, is relieved that the tune came out so well, and is excited to share the end result.
“There’s always those little things I wish I did differently, but overall I am very pleased with how this song came out, specifically, and that is huge part to the man who recorded it, Joey Distasio,” Whitelaw tells Vanyaland during a recent interview. “He’s a good friend of mine, and had been saying for awhile that he wanted to record my music, and that he didn’t feel it had been done justice yet, so we just sat down and banged out the album in, like, a week, and I think that’s why I still like these songs, because it didn’t take a year to record them.”
Whitelaw relocated from Providence to Amherst five years ago, and due to the lack of a full-on established venue, he’s had to play out and tour more than lay the foundation for building up his name in his hometown. With that difficulty of establishing hometown support, Whitelaw began to feel like it was a hinderance for him to be in Amherst as a recording artist, so he’s packing his bags, and making the Lone Star leap to Austin, Texas, after a pair of farewell shows in Massachusetts, aptly dubbed the “Farewell New England” shows, this week.
Following a show at Northampton’s Iron Horse Music Hall on Friday (February 2) with support from Court Etiquette, Spirit Ghost will haunt Mass Apparel in Allston on Saturday (February 3) with Today Junior and Beeef, before bidding adieu to friends and family — and a harsh goodbye to the New England weather he’s happy to leave behind.
“I’m sad that I dropped the ball on booking a show in Providence, but these two shows seem to be the two main places that people congregate to us, and one going away show just didn’t really seem like enough,” says Whitelaw on his decision to make his Northeast farewell a two-part, two-night event. “Plus, the Allston show is free, which is exciting!”
Whitelaw isn’t sure what the move will bring (“It’ll either be a huge success or a huge failure”) but he’s looking forward to bringing his musical arsenal to a place where can be a musician full-time. And he’s intrigued by the competition he’s expecting to face in what is regarded as the live music capital of the world.
New England’s loss is Austin’s gain.
SPIRIT GHOST + TODAY JUNIOR + BEEEF :: Saturday, February 3 at Mass Apparel, 383 Cambridge St. in Allston, MA :: 6 p.m., all-ages, no cover :: Facebook event page :: Featured image by Sarah Addi
