“This Boston band just flat out rules. British Brains is arguably one of the best EPs released this year and will appeal to fans of Nine Inch Nails and Muse. Check out the song “Even” to get a good overall feel for their style; rhythmic verses and epic choruses with haunting vocals. If you’re looking for some new alternative rock jams, pick up this EP.”
(Review by Nicholas Fritz)
Words and photography by Pete Legasey
“[…] RIBS, the only local outfit on the bill, set the table and showed why they’ve been generating so much momentum in recent months.
Formed by Atlanta transplants and longtime pals Keith Freund and Blake Fusilier, RIBS has earned a steady flow of positive reviews and radio play (both terrestrial and webcast) since releasing their debut album British Brains earlier this year. Far from being the dinner-themed band I imagined them to be when I first heard their name, the group’s moody-but-dynamic brand of atmospheric rock has garnered comparisons with Joy Division, Queens of the Stone Age, and Deftones.
RIBS played an ideal opening set for a chilly October night in the middle of the workweek – far from cheery, but hardly a bummer. This was my first time seeing the guys in concert, and the live setting definitely allows for a much bolder contrast between their moments of murky ambiance and frenzied ruckus. It was those latter moments of chaos that stirred the crowd’s blood to an adequate consistency for the blitzkrieg that awaited. Fusilier’s bass was a much more grisly and battle-ravaged creature than anything that roams the album, and Justin Tolan (reportedly a touted shred prospect before joining RIBS) let his chops fly with a goody-bag of arpeggios, resonant speed picking and rain-soaked chord combos.
Although the two bands could not be mistaken for one another, RIBS and Intronaut struck me as an ideal match in retrospect. Like RIBS, Intronaut’s sound is rooted in the post-metal experimentation of bands like Isis. But whereas RIBS’ style is also informed by a mix of (mostly British) alternative and post-rock elements, Intronaut’s deviations take us in a brazenly hellish direction, falling much more in line with Mastodon than Muse….”
FULL ARTICLE: http://playgroundboston.com/2010/11/01/helmetrev/
October 20 // 8 PM // 18+ // Cambridge, MA
472 Mass Ave Cambridge, MA
Helmet: http://www.helmetmusic.com
Intronaut: http://www.myspace.com/intronaut
SOURCE: http://blogs.sonicbids.com/blog/indie-pick-of-the-week-ribs/
Revenge, obsession, and betrayal are the themes of the music of the band RIBS. The band was formed by two friends with a common love of music in a high school in Atlanta. But soon after moving to Boston and fleshing out the rest of the group, they have taken the city by storm. Darkly energetic and possessing a shifting ambiance, the band has drawn approval in its year of performing for increasingly rabid audiences. We had a chance to talk with Keith Freund (lead vocals/guitars) and Chris Oquist (drums) about their best gig, their success with social media, and where they’re heading to next.
When/How did you first start playing music?
Keith: [Bassist] Blake [Fusilier] played violin when I met him. Then out of nowhere he picked up a bass and informed me that we were starting a band, and that I had better figure out how to play my guitar or else he would be kicking me out of our band. We played with a couple drummers throughout high school, did a couple gigs, but mostly focused on writing songs. Then we moved from Atlanta to Boston and met [guitarist] Justin [Tolan], who had just been featured in Guitar Player magazine as this shred guitar prodigy, so I didn’t think much of it until I heard he was actually into a lot of the stuff I was into at the time like Muse and Radiohead, not metal. That instantly piqued my interest. And Chris was the same way. He came out of the metal scene but was always talking to us about Paul Simon and pop stuff.
What’s the best gig you ever played?
Chris: Newbury Comics invited us to play their flagship store for Record Store Day this year, opening up for Circa Survive. We got to celebrate independent music, support maybe the best indie retailer in the country, and play with a band we look up to all at once. That’s probably been my favorite show so far.
Keith: Yeah, that one was a lot of fun. And it was an interesting contrast since normally we’re in some dark club with bright lights, going on late, but this was a bright, well-lit record store with a bunch of young kids that can’t wait to see Anthony Green a foot away at 4:30 in the afternoon. And all the guys in Circa Survive were humble, laid back dudes. I thought they were roadies until they hopped on stage and the crowd started going crazy.
How has social media affected the way you market/promote your music?
Keith: Social media is a multiplier of all the real-life stuff we do. When we play a good show, everyone can instantly Twitpic it and everyone that follows them can say “Oh wow, I didn’t know RIBS has live piranhas on stage. I’m totally bringing my grandmother to the next show because she loves wildlife” or whatever. And when someone gets a flyer from us, they can scan a QR code on it with their phone, which allows them to listen to us right there and RSVP to the Facebook event.
Chris: It’s like the digital and physical realities are coming together. Combining social media with the support we’ve gotten from local retail and press made British Brains a really successful debut release. It’s pretty crazy that our first album was one of Boston’s biggest releases that week. Things like Reddit have had a lot to do with that.
Keith: Yeah, we have to give a shout out to the Reddit community specifically. Reddit is a “social news aggregator.” Meaning people submit news stories from other sites, then users can “up-vote” the stories they find interesting and “down-vote” the stuff they don’t. After I posted our EP there, it became the top-voted music post of all time. 10,000 people listened to our EP in the first day. It was an unbelievable thing, really. I don’t think so much could have ever happened so quickly for us if this weren’t 2010. Reddit was our Ed Sullivan show.
What’s your prediction for the next big advancement in how we find/listen to/share music?
Chris: I don’t know if there’s one next big thing. Right now there’s this amazing convergence of places where music fans can connect with bands whether its tools for discovering new music, like Pandora, Grooveshark, Jango, or Shazam; ways to connect, like Facebook and Twitter; ways to sell music or tickets like Bandcamp and Eventbrite. That combined with the tidal wave of people who can now blog, post pictures or video online, and share new bands they’re psyched about are where we’re at right now. Finding out how to spin it all together to reach new fans and connect with the people who love your music is a really exciting thing.
Keith: I think from an artist’s perspective, we should all cross our fingers and hope that fans and bigger artists start using Bandcamp to share music instead of Youtube. And Bandcamp is making that prospect tastier and tastier every day by improving their widgets and not overcomplicating things. But I also think the music industry needs to calm down about finding the next big thing. Let’s improve the things we have. Facebook pages are getting really, really close to being amazing. And you’ve got to go where the fans are. If people could buy our music with one click on Facebook the way they can on Bandcamp, without ever leaving the page, I think it’d be unbeatable. I love the idea of Pandora and Last.fm, but I think what we’re finding now is that for people that aren’t music obsessive, word of mouth is still what people trust above everything else. That, and Grey’s Anatomy.
What’s your next big gig coming up? When/Where?
Chris: October 6th at the Middle East Downstairs in Boston. Pirate!, the Middle East, and Well-Rounded Radio put an event on each month called Rock Shop, where panelists and musicians get together to share ideas about the music business. Keith will be sitting on a panel talking about our experience with Reddit, and we’ll be playing the party afterwards. It should be awesome. We’ll also be opening for Helmet at the Middle East Downstairs on Oct. 20th.
Check out more on RIBS here.
The Middle East Restaurant & Nightclub has partnered with MITX and FutureM to create an event that is part nightclub and part social media lab, presenting a live performance from some special musical guests and the freedom for social media users to document it as they see fit!
Keith will be speaking on the panel about the band’s experience becoming Reddit.com’s top voted music post of all time. The RIBS live performance begins at 11:35 PM. Learn more and reserve your free ticket at http://rockshopboston8.eventbrite.com/
The “Rock Shop” industry showcase this week (featuring RIBS on the panel and playing live) is one of Anngelle’s Picks of the Week on WZLX 100.7 for her Boston Emissions show.
Dave Duncan over at WFNX 101.7 also spun “Even” live on the air last night on his Boston Accents show.
RIBS write-up in UK magazine High Voltage’s New Noise section – read it here.
Alex Lynham writes for UK magazine High Voltage and his blog What Is Music?:
Aha! It all comes together, as you see. I had the chance to put some questions to one of the best bands I’ve come across in the last few months, Boston’s RIBS. Over the weekend, vocalist/guitarist Keith and lead guitarist Justin got together and took them on- the results are in, so have a look:
1. What is the band up to now? What are your plans for the future, and is there an album on the horizon?
Keith: Right now we’re coming to grips with the fact that we have too many song ideas and not enough hours in the day. We’re about to release two electronic-y singles, “Cosmos” and “Please Don’t Go”, and we’re also writing our second EP Russian Blood which should be done by early next year.2. What was the recording process for the EP like?
Keith: Fragmented.
Justin: All the parts for British Brains were recorded separately and at different times over the course of 2009. We tracked guitars, bass, and vocals in bedrooms and rehearsal spaces, then saved up enough money to spend a day doing drums at a nice studio.
3. Why ‘British Brains’?
Keith: It’s a WW2 quote from Stalin during the Teheran Conference with Winston Churchill and Teddy Roosevelt. He said the war was being fought with “British brains, American brawn and Russian blood.” [I guess that explains EP2’s name then…]
4. What would you say your main influences are, musical or otherwise? Were there are any bands that have had a particular influence on your sound or your attitude towards your music?
Keith: The influences behind British Brains are fairly straightforward. Mostly rock bands. Smashing Pumpkins, My Bloody Valentine, Our Lady Peace. As a band, though, we’ve got a lot of influences that have yet to show up like David Bowie, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Fleetwood Mac, Sneaker Pimps, Elliot Smith, M83, Arcade Fire, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. And more recently Grizzly Bear and Liars.
Outside of music, we take inspiration from anything that makes us feel more alive or draws us in. Christian Bale’s character in American Psycho. [Bassist] Blake [Fusilier] had us read Patti Smith’s new book Just Friends, which is about bohemian culture and her life in NYC during the late 60s and early 70s. And to those who are depressed about the state of music over the last few years… I think we are in the golden age of television. Mad Men, The Wire, Dexter… Amazing things are being done in the TV world. So anyway, the four of us are always analyzing pop culture and art to help us figure out how to implement our ideas–how we can make people feel a certain way with a song, our live set, album artwork, etc.
Justin: Definitely a huge fan of Dexter, but for me a lot of inspiration comes from movies. It’s the culmination of a lot of different things being delivered over different mediums all at once. The aesthetic of the film itself, the film score, acting, story, dialogue, etc. Movies allow me to totally lose myself and exist in a suspended state of reality, even if it’s only for a couple of hours.
5. You successfully managed to self-generate a lot of buzz through Reddit for your self-released EP; as a result, do you see a record label as still being relevant given that DIY appears to have worked so well for you?
Justin: We’re not waiting on anyone, but we’re keeping our options open.
Keith: Exactly. Artists today don’t need a label to survive, but on the other hand we want to do more than just survive. We’ve got big plans and there’s no way we’re going to be able to pull them off without putting together a great team. So it’s really a question of, do they pay us or do we pay them?
6. What’s your view on downloading? Does it help or hinder bands?
Keith: We have a neutral stance on piracy. We won’t judge you if you download our music. But I don’t know that we could afford to keep going if it weren’t for the incredible support we got from the Reddit users who came out in droves, paying for our EP and sharing it with their friends. It was a humbling experience and we’re incredibly grateful for it.
I think there’s an expectation now that new acts have to give away their music in exchange for the exposure, and eventually that exposure will pay off. A lot of bands think that’s the best way to get their music heard by as many people as possible. But we made a very conscious decision not to release the EP for free, because we don’t want to give people the impression that we don’t want their money, or that we won’t put it to good use. Because we will. And I think in the long run, more people will hear our music and more RIBS material will be released because of all the people that decided to support us early on.
Plus the EP is free to stream on our Bandcamp page (hear.ribstheband.com), so everyone can hear it and share it with their friends that way too. [I’ve included this at the bottom for you, my lovely readers; it’s also on the review page for British Brains- don’t I make this easy?]
7. What do you prefer: playing live, or on the record?
Justin: Both are very different from one another. While I love recording and exploring what can be done to a song in the recording process, those 40 minutes on stage, when time stops and all you’re doing is just playing, is the most fun I can have. That’s the happiest I could possibly be.
8. Your sound is pretty tech heavy; what’s your favourite bit of kit?
Keith: I have to give a shout out to SoundToys for their Echoboy plugin, which helped create the vocal sound for “Even” and the guitars on “Silencer”. I don’t think either of those songs would’ve been possible without it. I also love my Zvex Box of Rock distortion pedal. Blows me away every time.
Justin: I used my Diezel VH4s amp for the leads on British Brains.
9. How did the band get started in the first place?
Keith: Blake and I grew up together in Atlanta. We started writing together in 2001 and became best friends. Then we had a falling out, stopped talking for a while, and I went to Boston for college. We started talking again, then Blake got stir crazy in Atlanta and transferred to Boston University.
When I first got to music school, I was hearing about some guy named Justin Tolan who was this shred guitar prodigy. Then a few years later we started hanging out in the same circles and I found out he’s actually into a lot of the stuff I’m into. And it turned out he was from Atlanta too.
Then maybe a year later my dad ran into him at a used guitar shop in Atlanta on break from school. Still, nothing came of it. Some time after that, I responded to a ‘band-wanted’ ad he put up around town listing Aphex Twin, Radiohead, and Muse, not knowing who posted it. The moral is, all roads lead to Justin Tolan.
When we first met [drummer] Chris [Oquist], he told us he was playing in a metal band and his favorite artists were The Beatles and Paul Simon. That pretty much sealed the deal.
10. Can you remember the best show you’ve ever played?
Keith: My personal favorite was at this church in Pennsylvania that looked like an empty airplane hangar. It was huge, and we took full advantage of the space. I knocked over the mic stand with my guitar, Justin slammed into me, Blake was throwing stuff… It felt great.
11. What do you love about music?
Justin: The people you meet and the experiences you can have are new every day. No matter how much you learn about music there’s always something new to learn. Based on all the people you meet and the things there are to learn, the possibilities are endless. And there’s no age limit. I’m sure I’ll be 70 years old playing a piano somewhere until I die or go deaf.
Well, there you have it. Lovely chaps, great music, and we wish them all the success they deserve. Now to start planning the UK tour…. (wishful thinking never hurt anybody.)
Live shots (c) LunahZon Photography (http://www.lunahzon.com/) / Exploding in Sound
Group shot (c) RIBS the band.
SOURCE: http://whatismusicuk.blogspot.com/2010/09/exposed-ribs-interview.html
