Manchester-by-the-Sea spawns more than the dysfunctional relationships depicted on the silver screen. Take the Rupert Selection. Guitarist/singer Reilly Somach, bassist Peter Crofton and drummer Zak Brown met in the sixth grade and launched the band after high school in 2011. It’s a union rich in chops-heavy chemistry.
“We’d lock ourselves in Zak’s parents’ garage, and we’d practice three or four days a week or more, four hours at a time—it was insane,” Somach says. “It’s all kind of unspoken… We don’t write anything down. We don’t know [music] theory.”
He’d been into alt-rock (the Nirvana influence remains) before getting into Phish and psychedelic rock with Crofton, while Brown was more of a metal guy. Add the influence of prog-rockers like Porcupine Tree, the Mars Volta and Frank Zappa, and you have the genre-shifting sonic fights of the Rupert Selection.
“We all get bored easily, so we try to write stuff that keeps us excited and makes it fun,” Somach says. “We were always too heavy for a certain group or too jammy for another—and over the years have managed to blend everything together.”
They even made the finals of the Rock & Roll Rumble in April, a month after the release of the trio’s five-song EP Baseball Practice. Less classically psychedelic than the band’s 2015 debut single, “Funeral Party,” the record spans the nightmarish instrumental “Tree Hands” (“I really like abstract guitar sounds,” Somach says) and the stop-start rush “Sacred Geometry,” a showcase for Brown’s dynamic drumming.
As for the band’s mysterious name, Somach demurs, “Zak had this story about a friend’s cat who selected us to be in a band together.” Smart cat, that Rupert.
Listen Up!
By Paul Robicheau | Photo Credit: Skylar Coons | July 21, 2017
The Rupert Selection
Manchester-by-the-Sea spawns more than the dysfunctional relationships depicted on the silver screen. Take the Rupert Selection. Guitarist/singer Reilly Somach, bassist Peter Crofton and drummer Zak Brown met in the sixth grade and launched the band after high school in 2011. It’s a union rich in chops-heavy chemistry.
“We’d lock ourselves in Zak’s parents’ garage, and we’d practice three or four days a week or more, four hours at a time—it was insane,” Somach says. “It’s all kind of unspoken… We don’t write anything down. We don’t know [music] theory.”
He’d been into alt-rock (the Nirvana influence remains) before getting into Phish and psychedelic rock with Crofton, while Brown was more of a metal guy. Add the influence of prog-rockers like Porcupine Tree, the Mars Volta and Frank Zappa, and you have the genre-shifting sonic fights of the Rupert Selection.
“We all get bored easily, so we try to write stuff that keeps us excited and makes it fun,” Somach says. “We were always too heavy for a certain group or too jammy for another—and over the years have managed to blend everything together.”
They even made the finals of the Rock & Roll Rumble in April, a month after the release of the trio’s five-song EP Baseball Practice. Less classically psychedelic than the band’s 2015 debut single, “Funeral Party,” the record spans the nightmarish instrumental “Tree Hands” (“I really like abstract guitar sounds,” Somach says) and the stop-start rush “Sacred Geometry,” a showcase for Brown’s dynamic drumming.
As for the band’s mysterious name, Somach demurs, “Zak had this story about a friend’s cat who selected us to be in a band together.” Smart cat, that Rupert.
6 of 10
NextStay a step ahead with our newsletter on the latest in Boston living.
Sign me upView All Events
Related Articles
Fountain of Youth
A record industry icon and trumpet idol spreads his rich influence...
Live Review: Nostalgia takes very different forms
Mott the Hoople and Trey Anastasio contrast the old and new at Orpheum...
Full Course
Amanda Palmer unapologetically plunges into the personal and political...
Live Review: Fleetwood Mac keeps rolling at Garden
Stevie Nicks shines, while Neil Finn and Mike Campbell flesh out band's lineup...
Winter Olympics - Feb. 11
Weekend Ideas: January 8, 2014
Standing Tall
Troy Andrews credits New Orleans mentors for fueling his own mission...
Boozy Bonds
Meryl Streep tanks in John Wells’ adaptation of August: Osage County...