When he used to sell T-shirts and manage bands on tour, Ryan Bambery watched musicians teach each other guitar parts before the show. “It stuck with me,” he says. “OK, if they can do it this way, I’ve got nothing to lose.”
Learning guitar basics on the side proved helpful when he met up with fellow restaurant staffer Ben Voskeritchian to make music. “We’d just write songs together before we even had a name,” Bambery says. “Mean Creek had a big sold-out show at Great Scott, and they said, ‘Hey, don’t you guys have a band?’ We had songs. But they gave us a show, and we had a month to put a band together.”
Three years later, These Wild Plains are making strides with their just-released second album, Distant Ways, furthering what co-frontman Bambery calls their “American rock ’n’ roll.” For his band, that means an Americana-steeped sound that’s both rugged and winsome, inspired by My Morning Jacket and the Band.
“We were into the blues when we started, and it wasn’t until a year or two in that I got started on a Willie Nelson kick,” says Bambery, who turned his love for slide guitar into playing the lap steel. “The whole band just got kicked into the wide world of country, and we haven’t turned back since.”
Stylistic shifts are par for the course, as drummer Rob Motes and guitarist Nick Mercado also join co-singer/guitarist Voskeritchian in the shoegaze soul-rock outfit Dirty Bangs. “Different roles keep it fresh and interesting,” says Voskeritchian, who handles bass in Dirty Bangs, where Mercado switches to keyboards.
But there’s no doubting where These Wild Plains are rooted—in more ways than one. “I had a girl from Nashville come up and tell us that [the music] reminded her of home,” Bambery says. “I said, ‘Good, it reminds me of home too.’ But I grew up in Braintree.”
Striking a Chord
Catch 10 Local Bands Making Waves.
By Paul Robicheau Aug. 1, 2016
These Wild Plains
When he used to sell T-shirts and manage bands on tour, Ryan Bambery watched musicians teach each other guitar parts before the show. “It stuck with me,” he says. “OK, if they can do it this way, I’ve got nothing to lose.”
Learning guitar basics on the side proved helpful when he met up with fellow restaurant staffer Ben Voskeritchian to make music. “We’d just write songs together before we even had a name,” Bambery says. “Mean Creek had a big sold-out show at Great Scott, and they said, ‘Hey, don’t you guys have a band?’ We had songs. But they gave us a show, and we had a month to put a band together.”
Three years later, These Wild Plains are making strides with their just-released second album, Distant Ways, furthering what co-frontman Bambery calls their “American rock ’n’ roll.” For his band, that means an Americana-steeped sound that’s both rugged and winsome, inspired by My Morning Jacket and the Band.
“We were into the blues when we started, and it wasn’t until a year or two in that I got started on a Willie Nelson kick,” says Bambery, who turned his love for slide guitar into playing the lap steel. “The whole band just got kicked into the wide world of country, and we haven’t turned back since.”
Stylistic shifts are par for the course, as drummer Rob Motes and guitarist Nick Mercado also join co-singer/guitarist Voskeritchian in the shoegaze soul-rock outfit Dirty Bangs. “Different roles keep it fresh and interesting,” says Voskeritchian, who handles bass in Dirty Bangs, where Mercado switches to keyboards.
But there’s no doubting where These Wild Plains are rooted—in more ways than one. “I had a girl from Nashville come up and tell us that [the music] reminded her of home,” Bambery says. “I said, ‘Good, it reminds me of home too.’ But I grew up in Braintree.”
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