Yale, Massachusetts is the product of a scene whose bands aren’t as hungry for fame as bands in LA or as self-consciously cool as those in NYC. The bands in their home city of Boston are – more often than not – in it for the music, the shows and the community. They’re in it to write what excites them and to play to a never ending stream of young, energetic and often wildly drunk college students eager to have their ears boxed by something new. With “fun” as its guiding light, the city’s produced some of the biggest names in rock, pop, punk and hardcore.
The guys in Yale, Mass. have bubbled up out of that stew with a five song EP “Act Like You’ve Been There” that mixes the speed and fury of a punk band with the atonal, lyrical focus of hardcore and slathers the blend on to the pop structures of mid-90′s indie.
The songs are stuffed full of doo-doo-doos, handclaps and sing-a-long choruses, but instead of being polished to a sheen, they’re thrown to the sticky floor of a VFW hall and left to fight for themselves. The lyrics are as grumpy as a grandpa but delivered with the fervor of a preacher, and the songs are over before you get too tired to dance.
And as the song says, dance you must. Or at least sing along:
If you still doubt the band’s energy and dedication to a good time, I got a chance to ask the guys a couple questions over email. Their answers might be the most entertaining thing you’ll read all week.
1. The EP cover photo was taken at a Renaissance Faire. Y/N?
Roger (Guitar/Vocals): We were wandering, as many our age do, half in the bag at King Richard’s Faire, carelessly spending our money on the tickets that serve as currency there when we saw a chance to get our photo taken with Archimedes the Owl. The rest, as they say… is history.
Ben (Drums/Vocals): We almost replaced PJ (Guitar) with that owl. What a great bird.
Jeremy (Bass/Vocals): I think it’s pretty safe to say that a significant amount of our band’s time outside of playing music is spent playing Skyrim or watching Star Trek, so it’s only fitting that we ended up with this photo as the cover of the EP. Plus, we’re all virgins.
2. Influences. I hear Piebald, beer, and at least 50% Hall and Oates. How wrong am I?
Roger: I think that all four of us listen to an awful lot of powerpop/pop-rock/poppunk whatever you want to call it. In my head I’m always hoping people hear Weezer, Jimmy Eat World, Superchunk, The Get Up Kids, The Weakerthans, Braid. I think as a band we really wear our influences on our sleeves and just hope that there are other people out there who like that stuff enough to listen to a new band doing their own version of it.
Jeremy: Piebald. Funny story about that. One time, Roger and I (Jeremy) were out at a bar, drinking beer, and these girls came up and asked if we were in a band. Then they said “are you guys Piebald?” Unfortunately, we weren’t. Sucks for those girls. I feel like that story comes through in our music a little bit too. But in all seriousness, I think our biggest influences come from years and years of listening to great punk and pop-punk bands both locally and on a national level and using those sensibilities to channel how depressed we are into our own sound.
Ben: Jeremy gives me a beer whenever I don’t say we were heavily influenced by A New Found Glory.
3. The songs are so organic and loud – how do you guys write?
Jeremy: The band actually started off as just PJ, Ben, and Jeremy just sort of dicking around without knowing what we were doing. We had a bunch of skeletons of songs that we didn’t really know how to take to the next step. Then our big sexy superhero Roger came along and asked if he could jam and since then it’s been golden. He was the missing link.
Roger: Most of the time I’ll write 3 or 4 different guitar parts that are in vaguely the same key, put them together and bring those ideas to the rest of the guys. We build and arrange the song basically as we learn it together. Once it’s solid I’ll start working on some vocal ideas, atonally yelling nonsense over the otherwise good song. Once those words become sentences, we figure it’s safe to play in front of other people. I think the songs and performances really grow into themselves that way.
4. What’s the Boston scene like right now? Is it easy to find good shows?
Ben: Nice try, officer.
Jeremy: The Boston scene is pretty rad right now. It’s pretty hard to complain, no matter what kind of stuff you’re looking for. There are handfuls of great DIY spaces that consistently get local bands shows and no matter what you can always find something to do involving music. Unfortunately, we recently had one of the better smaller independents venues (Harper’s Ferry) get taken over by ownership that does almost exclusively Livenation shows, so that’s always a bummer, especially for people like me who can’t personally get behind that kind of shit. But, like I said before, there’s always something going on and you can usually find something to do for $5 and a six pack.
Roger: Yale, Massachusetts: always looking for something to do for $5 and a six pack.
5. Holy shit are those horns in “Fool Me Twice”?
Roger: On one guitar take for “Fool Me Twice” Ben asked me to play “folksy” or “folky” or something and I guess that just sort of stuck with me. I mentioned it to J. (Mendicino, who produced Act Like You’ve Been There) and the next thing I know there’s a cold piece of metal in my mouth and J.’s yelling at me through headphones.
Jeremy: I don’t even know how those got in there. Sometimes we get confused and have an identity crisis as a ska band. Speaking of ska, did you hear that Reel Big Fish put out an acoustic best of album? Who the fuck demanded that??
6. Anything lined up for 2012? More music, tours, American Idol auditions?
Ben: We’re all getting laid by prom night.
Roger: I’d love it if we get to do at least one release in 2012. In the meantime I’ll be on tour with my other band and I know that Ben and Jeremy’s band Shambles is about to put out some cool stuff as well.
7. Pay it forward – who should we check out next?
Jeremy: I’ve been waiting to get to this question. So fucking many. Some of my favorite bands in Boston right now: Awful Man (Dillinger Four if they hated everything way more),Save Ends (awesome band with awesome people AND they’re recording new stuff soon!), Make Do and Mend (you probably already know these dudes, they are blowing up, and rightfully so), Ghost Thrower (maybe the only band more miserable than us), and last, but certainly not least Choke Up (just listen to them. You won’t regret it).
Roger: Jeremy kind of hit the nail on the head but I’d have to add my two favorite Boston bands right now, Four Eyes and The Clippers.
Ben: I always enjoy watching the Stereo State and The New Warden. We recently played with this amazing band called Disarmer, out of Baltimore.