Evan Kenney didn’t intend to start a new band. He’d already hit creative pay dirt with both post-punk outfit Read Yellow and party group Bodega Girls before his last project, Thunderbloods, proved short-lived. But the singer began working on songs at Thunderbloods guitarist Steven Lord’s Salem studio, and it all clicked.
“When you record something with two people, you think, ‘Maybe we just like it,’ ” Kenney says, but other people seemed equally enthused. “We were getting gig offers, and we didn’t have a band.”
That changed just as quickly. Kenney pulled in Read Yellow and Thunderbloods guitar foil Jesse Vuona while Lord drafted guitarist/bassist Ben Voskeritchian and drummer Rob Motes from his other group, These Wild Plains. Dirty Bangs were born, and they were off to Texas to play SXSW as well as shows arranged through San Antonio Spurs forward Matt Bonner and his brother, who’d caught Bodega Girls in a Northampton bar and became well-connected friends.
“It was like a camping trip with a bunch of guys,” Kenney says of Dirty Bangs’ maiden voyage in Texas. “Our personalities melded well together.”
That’s evident in songs like “I’m in Love with the Summertime” and the arch “We’re All Gunna Die Sometime,” which slay as dreamily distorted glides. “We found such an affection for simple soul and rock ’n’ roll,” Kenney says. “Kind of like what the Jesus and Mary Chain did, which was taking Ronettes songs and putting really loud music over it. That’s a formula I always loved.”
Dirty Bangs truly connect live, when the guitarists dabble on effects pedals for orchestral interludes and Kenney hops offstage to engage people face-to-face as he sings. “That whole aspect is from my old punk-rock days,” says Kenney, whose band plays Boston Calling in September. “We started focusing more on the old soul tactic where the band watches where the singer goes, just kicks ass, and brings it back when it’s time.”
Sound Check
From the Allston underground to the platform of Boston Calling, from soul-pop to folk-rock and garage-punk, our city produces scores of great original
By Paul Robicheau July 17, 2015
Dirty Bangs
Evan Kenney didn’t intend to start a new band. He’d already hit creative pay dirt with both post-punk outfit Read Yellow and party group Bodega Girls before his last project, Thunderbloods, proved short-lived. But the singer began working on songs at Thunderbloods guitarist Steven Lord’s Salem studio, and it all clicked.
“When you record something with two people, you think, ‘Maybe we just like it,’ ” Kenney says, but other people seemed equally enthused. “We were getting gig offers, and we didn’t have a band.”
That changed just as quickly. Kenney pulled in Read Yellow and Thunderbloods guitar foil Jesse Vuona while Lord drafted guitarist/bassist Ben Voskeritchian and drummer Rob Motes from his other group, These Wild Plains. Dirty Bangs were born, and they were off to Texas to play SXSW as well as shows arranged through San Antonio Spurs forward Matt Bonner and his brother, who’d caught Bodega Girls in a Northampton bar and became well-connected friends.
“It was like a camping trip with a bunch of guys,” Kenney says of Dirty Bangs’ maiden voyage in Texas. “Our personalities melded well together.”
That’s evident in songs like “I’m in Love with the Summertime” and the arch “We’re All Gunna Die Sometime,” which slay as dreamily distorted glides. “We found such an affection for simple soul and rock ’n’ roll,” Kenney says. “Kind of like what the Jesus and Mary Chain did, which was taking Ronettes songs and putting really loud music over it. That’s a formula I always loved.”
Dirty Bangs truly connect live, when the guitarists dabble on effects pedals for orchestral interludes and Kenney hops offstage to engage people face-to-face as he sings. “That whole aspect is from my old punk-rock days,” says Kenney, whose band plays Boston Calling in September. “We started focusing more on the old soul tactic where the band watches where the singer goes, just kicks ass, and brings it back when it’s time.”
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