Deli: Parlour Bells has a retro-style, unique sound, kind of like David Bowie meets Roy Orbison or vice versa. How did you develop this sound? When did you start singing and song-writing? Who are your influences?
GD: The sound of Parlour Bells is really about my longtime songwriting partnership with Mr. Nate Leavitt, who is probably best known for his work with The Blizzard of 78. Nate and I have been writing songs since high school and Parlour Bells is simply the latest incarnation of that long-running creative partnership. It's our sound. As for influences, we probably have more than we can cite here. But I will say that while our influences (Nate and mine) are often very similar, they are just as often quite different. That's what makes our collaboration kind of interesting, and what I think makes our songs unique.
Deli: You are one of my favorite "Facebook Personalities". You seem to have several creative projects including an interview series, a god-fearing alias and an entire Facebook page dedicated to your hair. Are these publicity stunts? How do these side projects fuel your fan-base? Can you tell me more about the webisodes you have coming up?
GD: Well, first of all, thank you. To be anyone's favorite anything is an honor. I do have a lot of creative video projects in store for 2011. The ones I most excited about are Louder Now Boston, a new web show about local music that I created with Anngelle Wood. She's the real deal when it comes to being a proponent of local rock, and it's been great collaborating with her. The second project is a sitcom I am working on with Richard Bouchard, Mike Bishop, Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein. We just named it "Special Friends" and we begin production soon. As for Goddamn Glenn and my globe bar, I'll say this. A lot of nonsense comes out of me, which people seem to find humorous. If they think it's funny, then I'm going to roll with it. I really didn't intend for these to be publicity stunts, but if they work like that...great. But if you're only going to "like" 3 of my Facebook pages, I'd prefer that you focus on Parlour Bells, Killer Suit (my video production company) and Louder Now Boston.
Deli: You are also a videographer. Do you have any advice for musicians and bands who are looking to make a music video?
GD: Capture as much content as possible and think of ways you can differentiate it from the rest of the content out there. YouTube is awash with live music videos, which is partly why Killer Suit shies away from doing these anymore. Find a way to make them stand out. Humor is a good angle. If you're actually funny, that is.
Deli: Why is the name of your band Parlour Bells?
GD: I liked the sound of the words together. It actually doesn't mean anything. I always liked bandnames that people seemed to pull straight out of the ether. When you take on a name that brings no previous connotations, that name can become synonymous with the band's sound and songs. All that said, "Parlour Bells" sounds kind of loungey. We've been told we have that vibe. Finally, originality, especially on the web is hard to come by these days. We were pretty sure there wasn't a parlourbells.com when we first attempted to purchase the domain.
Deli: Which Boston band would you love to share a stage with?
GD: There is so much great local talent in Boston, we would feel honored to play with a number of bands. I guess that two that come to mind immediately are Gene Dante & the Future Starlets and Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling. Gene is the consumate rock star and an incredible showman, and I think the Bells and Starlets on the same bill would be sexy. DNFMOMD is just one of my favorite bands out there and I love Sophia's sultry Prisoner-themed stage persona. It's amazing how she and Michael J. Epstein can get that much sound out of vocals, drums and bass. Very raw and very noir.
Parlour Bells are releasing the EP this Saturday the 15th at Rosebud in Davis Sq. Somerville SUPER TRIPLE CD release with St. Helena (CD release) Sarah RabDAU & Self-Employed Assassins, Parlour Bells (CD release) Low Static Romance (Brendan Boogie & Magen Tracy(CD release)).
Last Tuesday night marked the beginning of The Wild Sea’s month long residency at long time Cambridge institution, Toad. Ruth Peterson and Todd Russell have been performing and writing songs together since their band was called Amusia over ten years ago, and their dedication to the craft of songwriting shows. Each tune is arranged purposefully, Peterson’s lyrics are thoughtful and performances are always stellar.
Expect some covers peppered in during the two sets The Wild Sea plays during their residency at Toad this month. Last week we heard Fleetwood Mac and Led Zeppelin stripped down to the bones, along with a jazz-infused rendition of Michael Jackson’s "Billie Jean". With instrumental support from Adam Moss (fiddle), Chris Anzalone (percussion) and Sean Staples (mandolin) you never know what flavors might creep in. Rumor has it there will be more surprise guests as the month goes on, so make sure you catch The Wild Sea at least once this month, Tuesday nights at Toad in Porter Square. Supporting The Wild Sea this month at Toad: The Blue Ribbons
We started publishing the results of the open submissions for our Best of NYC Emerging Artists 2010 Poll. As we received about 500 submissions we decided to organize the rating process by genre. As things are getting a little scattered around the site we though it might be useful to gather all the links to the various result blurbs in one place on top of our NYC site - here we go:
We decided to enter the top ten bands from the Open Submissions poll in the Best of New England Emerging Artists 2010 Poll which will be posted sometime next week. In case you missed the last post, here are the bands in order of how they were ranked by other Deli editors (Chicago and LA). But in my opinion they are all stellar and I'm happy to add all of them to the poll next week. The Best of New England Emerging Artists Poll will be voted on by a cocktail of local bloggers, scenemakers, Deli readers and Deli staff. Stay tuned.
Bands Nominated for Next Phase of Best New England Emerging Artists 2010 Poll
Good Kids Sprouting Horns from Portland, ME gained the most votes for the open submissions poll amongst New England based artists that submitted to be considered for our Best of New England Poll 2010. They will therefore access the next stage of our poll. The votes were cast by two other Deli editors, the editor of the Los Angeles Deli and the editor of the Chicago Deli out of 25 bands.
Good Kids Sprouting Horns (taken from the lyrics of an Andrew Bird song) are a dreamy, creative indie-folk band from Portland, ME. Good Kids Sprouting Horns is a little keyboard crazy (but in a good way). They've recently announced that they will be putting out a new album as soon as (hopefully) Spring.
Here's how the rest of the bands fared in the Open Submissions voting process:
This year, our local Year End Emerging Artists 2010 Polls are proving to be more challenging than ever, with 10 US scenes involved and 1,500+ submissions between our own system and the Sonic Bids applications. We spent a significant portion of the recent Holidays listening to your music (thanks for that by the way!), and we haven't even had the chance to check out the bands selected by our jury of local promoters, bloggers and scene makers yet...
ANYWAYYYY... we have the results of the Open Submissions at hand and we are slowly going to publish them in the next few days. Sonic Bids selections coming soon. Whether you were selected or not, always remember that in 1961 The Beatles were rejected by Decca with the following gems: "guitar groups are on the way out" and "The Beatles have no future in show business." Just a friendly reminder that there is no final authority on music, despite what pitchfork.com would have you believe.
Year End Poll Next Phase: The Fans' Poll
The next phase of the Poll - a vote open to the fans - is likely to start towards the end of this week and the end of the next. We'll spread the cities out a little bit to minimize contemporary traffic spikes that repeatedly brought our site down last year. So stay tuned. We should have the final results for our two separate final charts (fans poll and composite chart including the jurors' vote) by the end of January.
Also, of course all this is possible also because of our sponsors - many of them are providing free studio time and prizes for the winners. Here they are God Bless 'em!
The Deli -- New England is happy to announce a new installment by local scenester, booker and tour manager, Danielle Freudenthal called Invictus Pics. Danielle will choose her favorite songs, shows or bands at the moment that she finds striking and will share with the Deli on a weekly basis. First up,The Bitch Brothers out of Worcester. -- MC
The Bitch Brothers are my homies from Worcester, the three-piece frenzied, frantic live show is worth the trek from Boston to Worcester to catch them in their element at the gritty Hotel Vernon or some DIY space like the Firehouse. As they describe themselves: "Essentially, the b.bro's are just three dudes working the night shift to make a sound that is new yet still heavily influenced by the artists we love. Following the ethos laid before us by bands like Fugazi, Minutemen and Can. We jam econo, doing just about everything ourselves (writing, recording, booking & merchandise)."
Once again the kindness, generosity and incomparable sense of community that defines the unique Boston music scene comes together to support a dear friend and drummer, John Sands, who in November suffered a terrible heart attack. He is expected to recover, but the recovery is going to be long and arduous and the medical bills are building up.
Two legendary Boston musicians, Aimee Mann and Lori McKenna (also two artists Sands has played with) will be preforming during a very special benefit show for his family at the Paradise on 1/21. Other performers and special guests will be announced later. There will also be a silent auction. More info on that at the bottom of this post.
“John’s family and friends are touched by the love and support they’ve received from the community during this very difficult time,” said local bassist and longtime Sands friend Richard Gates, who has spearheaded benefit efforts. “John faces a tough road ahead, but I can’t think of a better way to help him and celebrate him on his way to recovery than with a benefit show featuring a lineup of some of his favorite artists and collaborators. He’s a passionate about the artists he accompanies, and he’s a musician’s musician. Plus, he’d be the first guy to pass the hat for anyone else in need, so we’re happy to help do exactly that for him.”
Tickets are $40 and are available via Ticketmaster, and the Paradise Rock Club box office. Concert organizers are looking for additional items for the silent auction. Anyone wanting to donate items can contact concert organizers at teamhuggybear@gmail.com. Information on how to make individual or corporate donations to the John Sands Care Fund is also available at: http://www.teamhuggy.com
One of the most hardest working Boston bands, The Lights Out, are releasing Primetime (produced by Benny Grotto Boston Music Awarded best producer in 2010), their self proclaimed “best album of their lives” on New Year's Eve (album to be officially released at midnight) at Church on 69 Kilmarnock Street in Boston. The release party is sure to be one of the best nights in Boston music the end of 2010 will see. Primetime is a concept album that speaks to many about what the reality is of being in a band. It also touches upon what their motivations are for doing what they do, and how it affects the people around them. In addition to a great show, the guys in The Lights Out also have their tricked-out 2000 Dodge Ram “///PRIMETIME///” van for sale here. If interested please send an email with what you'd like your dream tour van to come equipped with to tim@thelightsout.com. The music starts at 9pm with the female punk trio Apple Betty, and white wigged Boston rock veterans The Upper Crust close out the night and help bring in the New Year at 11:30pm.
