Mobile DIY Antifolk Rockers Celebrate 10 Years
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Mobile DIY Antifolk Rockers Celebrate 10 Years Durham, North Carolina based folk rockers Beloved Binge will be stopping in RI on their country wide tour. The couple, who describe their music as, “rubble pop in a punk pot,” have been compared to Olympia, WA indie record label k-records, placing them somewhere in the ranks of indie folkies and shoegaze rockers. Beloved Binge is celebrating 10 years of making music, their 10 year “bandiversary”. Their music spans the rolling sounds of folk, and extends out to the feedback filled backbone of garage rock. The constant that winds through their recent album Pockets is the way the duo’s voices come together, part folk chorus, part rock anthem. Eleni Vlachos is the self-identified drummer of the multi-instrumentalist duo, which will be gracing the stage at AS220 this Wednesday. She and husband Rob Beloved, quit their jobs and got in an ‘82 camper van with their dog, to tour the United States in celebration of making it 10 years. Beloved Binge does more than just make music. Both members are vegan and work to raise awareness of the suffering of animals, especially as part of the high production food system. On a trip while touring they were traveling from LA to San Francisco and passed a feedlot for dairy cows, the conditions in which the animals were being kept convinced them to take the step from vegetarianism to veganism. “One of our interests is reducing suffering in the world,” Vlachos explained. Animals make up a lot of life on the planet, and the members of Beloved Binge believe that with increased awareness of plant- based food options, people can make the switch. “It’s hard to change,” she acknowledged, “Every meal is choice.” Vlachos is also interested in film work. She has made two films, one called Seeing through the Fence which focusses on the reasons for switching to vegetarian and vegan diets, and why people are reluctant to do so. She will be giving out free copies at the show. While they are on tour this fall she is working on a new project called Big Talk. She is asking the artists they meet while touring questions off her “big questions” list, such as “What is the hardest part of being alive?” Vlachos grew up in Seattle, working the cash register at her father’s pizza place. Her mother’s family had many classical musicians. She started playing the drums at age 21. In 1998, Vlachos traveled to Crete, as part of a trip around Greece to get to know the country and visit her father’s family, there she bought a bouzouki (μπουζούκι, pronounced: boo-ZOO-kee), a Greek instrument resembling a lute. “My father was embarrassed,” she joked, the instrument is usually played by men. Vlachos met Rob while they were both still living in Seattle. She was looking to get involved with a new band. After the third member of their group left, they re-located to Durham, North Carolina. “We were kind of broken-hearted,” Vlachos said. They decided to move somewhere new. They had heard nice things about the weather in North Carolina, so they packed up their stuff and moved. “When we got there it was like a ghost town,” she remembered. But the town opened itself up and revealed a welcoming arts community that has helped them feel at home. When planning their tour to celebrate 10 years of music making slotting Rhode Island in was an easy choice. Rob’s father lives in the city. They have played AS220 before and are fond of its DIY ethos. The DIY movement is a large component of what they do. Their tour is self-organized and they are traveling by camper van with their dog. Looking back on ten years of writing and performing Vlachos finds that the biggest changes are those of perspective. “You look for ways to entertain yourself,” she said. Tired of playing gigs the same exact way every time they incorporated a theatrical element. Once, they put on a show of Three’s Company inside their performance. But touring is a major draw when for Vlachos when it comes to going around the country. “Playing shows is a way to connect with a community that you don’t get when you’re just traveling.” Beloved Binge will be playing AS220 Thursday August 14. Check out their music at belovedbinge.bandcamp.com. Cruel Hand Throws Down at Firehouse 13 By: Khrysta Ryan Providence hardcore locals Waste of Life and Black Celebration opened up a killer show at Firehouse 13 in Providence this past Wednesday. This small three day tour headlined by Maine hardcore band Cruel Hand, who joined Swamps from Springfield MA, and Street Sweeper from Boston. Although it was a weekday show it didn’t stop people from all over New England to show up and throw down for each band. Fans from Connecticut, Mass, and NH came out and filled the place up. Black Celebration opened the show and hyped up the crowd even without a packed floor. The first band of the night sets the mood for the rest of the show, and that is exactly what they did. This Providence band knew how to keep the crowds attention. Still new to the scene, they had a memorable performance with their opening and closing song be a tribute to a “black celebration.” Their self titled EP, released in early April, is out on Bandcamp, which you can download for free. Following was Waste of Life: only playing three previous shows, the crowd was impressed by the stage presence of the entire band along with the amount of interaction the vocalist had with the fans. Their short and sweet set gave the crowd a taste of what is to come from this local hardcore band. The only vocalist to actually get off the stage made Waste of Life’s set one of the best to watch. Their debut EP Nothing to Gain released in early April, people have been able to hear how this Providence band puts their own twist on the classic hardcore style. With each member having different musical influences they mix their ideas together to create this different take on hardcore. Playing with Cruel Hand, Rude Awakening and Capsize, all bands who are nationally known in the hardcore scene, this band is moving in the right direction; quickly in the hardcore scene. Following Waste of Life was Street Sweeper who killed it with their Boston hardcore sound; fast paced and higher pitched vocals resembling hardcore legends Have Heart. The energy in the room picked up at the start of their set, and didn’t stop until the night ended. The crowd didn’t stop moving and was screaming along for the entire set. Following Street Sweeper was Swamps. Their entire set was mass hysteria, the best kind of course. Firehouse was one entire pit for their whole time on stage. The entire room was on their toes for the whole show–the stage presence of the band was outrageous, you just couldn’t look away. The vocalist Andy captured the audience’s attention, constantly jumping and shoving the mic into crowd. This was the perfect way to lead into the headliners, Cruel Hand’s set. The Maine hardcore band started off with well known songs, getting the crowd to pick up their feet and sing along. Cruel Hand is known for their crazy sets and groovy take on hardcore. The vocalist and entire band left the crowd wanting more after playing some new songs from their upcoming album. Out in early September, this will be the first album since 2010. https://www.facebook.com/Cruel Hand https://www.facebook.com/swampsma https://www.facebook.com/pages/StreetSweeper/294644739539 https://www.facebook.com/wasteoflifehc https://www.facebook.com/blackcelebrationri https://www.facebook.com/LighthousePhotographyUS Local Band; Violent Sons Get Signed to Record Label By: Khrysta Ryan Newest addition to the Providence hardcore punk scene, Violent Sons got signed to Bridge Nine Records early July. In late 2013 members from local acts Verse, Raindance and Suicide Pact got together for a collaboration resulting in Violent Sons. Using their past experiences to relate to one another, the guys thought this combination of musicians would be the perfect outlet for a, “therapeutic experience.” Members of the band felt as though something was missing from their lives. Violent Sons are veterans in the hardcore punk scene in Providence and Mass; most of the members having been in the scene since the early 2000s. The new group is paving its way with their own twist on what Verse and Raindance have already done. A more powerful punk influence creates the new sound that Violent Sons debut LP; Nothing As It Seems gets across Quoted from Bridge Nine Records, Violent Sons’ lead vocalist Sean Murphy’s “exasperated, incensed sociopolitical frustration” pulls the record together. Without any merch and only one track up on their Bandcamp page that hasn’t stopped Violent Sons from playing shows. “It was nice to just get up there and blast through our set with minimal knowledge of who we are as an introduction of our band,” Murphy explained, wanting to give people a live first impression. “We started this band to write cohesive music without boundaries.” Incorporating a wide spectrum of music, Violent Sons have less interest in “sticking to any particular template.” Bridge Nine quickly picked up this band, after having signed Verse in the past. This semi- secretive project with the record company was just released to the public only a week ago on the July 2 Although it was just recently announced, the band has been playing local shows around New England for a few months now.