The Weekly Nod
by Gabe - November 6, 2008 1:08pm
It has always been tough to be a fan of live indie rock and reside in Worcester, Massachusetts. If you want to satisfy your thirst and don’t want to constantly be driving out to Boston, Northampton and Providence you must really pay attention to what is going on in the city as indie isn’t something you can gorge yourself on like like you can in Beantown. There isn’t a whole lot for homegrown talent and while New England itself is an indie hotbed many bands tend to stay away due to personal experiences of dismal crowds, mismatched bills, and an overall stigma that has been attached to our area known to most outsiders as “the 508.” You pretty much have to take what you can get, support what needs to be supported, and hope that every once in a while you get to see something great or hear some songs that may become part of the soundtrack of your life.
Due to this of course the scene can get a little stale and by the time you get sick of the old bands it might be years until something new comes along that gets you excited enough to leave the house, pay that cover charge, and stand up front and bob your head to the the well crafted songs that a lot of these folks work so hard on. There are more than two good shows in the city this week, but in this weeks Nod, we are only going to talk about two of them featuring two bands who are releasing brand new albums this weekend. In the two shows we have a good selection of the old and the new when it comes to indie rock in our fair city.
On Friday night at the Lucky Dog, Hey Now Morris Fader release their sophmore CD “Ride The Fader.” HNMF are a keyboard/drums duo with definite similarities to Ben Folds but to shrug them of as a Ben Folds clone is to do them a disservice. First of all, there only two of them making a whole lot of awesome racket. Morris Fader are without a doubt one of the absolute bright spots of the past couple years on the local stages. They are joined Friday by Boston’s the Luxury who followed up their spot opening for Coldplay at the TD Bank North Garden with a West Coast tour in September and come back to Worcester for the first time since their exciting summer. You can’t even mention indie rock in Worcester without talking about The Curtain Society. They have been doing it for longer than just about anyone, and have remained a vital band not just in Worcester but regionally and nationally as well. TCS is one of the few of our own that can claim fans not just here but abroad as well, and we are fortunate to be able to see them down at the bar every couple months. Sometimes you have to think about how lucky you really are. Rounding out the bill are Boston’s Preacher Roe and opening the show will be an acoustic set from Michael Thibodeau of the Bee’s Knees and Scott Riciutti of Huck.
Scott and Michael’s set Friday will be a nice warm up for Scott because on Saturday his band Huck release their 6th full length eponymously titled album. Six albums. On a local unsigned level, in a city the size of Worcester, this an amazing accomplishment. That is a whole lot of material. The fact that Scott Riciutti seems to be able to write pop hooks in his sleep I am sure helps a lot. The fact that Huck have done what most musicians would love to be able to do, combine immense talent, musicianship, and songwriting chops with a sincere love of playing music is why they will remain the band that they are for years to come. To add to that, a Huck show is an almost guaranteed good time. Lots of smiles, lots of dancing, their songs have truly become part of the sound track to many peoples lives in this city, as have the Curtain Socety’s.
Bands Like Hey Now Morris Fader, The Luxury and Preacher Roe are just starting down that road and I hope that ten years from now there are a whole bunch of people out there who cherish their songs as much as people cherish the work of the Huck and The Curtain Society. If you are a fan of indie rock in Worcester, it’s weekends like this that make it all worth it. Two nights of great music, fun times, and smiles all around you. Do not sleep on these shows Worcester.
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