12.06 Up and Comers

Bands, clubs, artists, and businesses that you may not have heard of yet…but that we think are going to make a name for themselves really soon ~ and you get to hear about them here, right before they make it big!

Band

The Cruel Brothers
By Andrew Jones

In a glorious technological age full of high def distractions and nano-gadgets, and with seemingly 99% of the population claiming (and displaying) Attention Deficit Disorder, it’s easy to see why most musicians have to put just as much ~ if not more ~ work into advertising themselves/whoring their music souls to the world as they do into writing and fine-tuning their sound. That being the case, it’s getting tougher and tougher to find bands out there who are staying true to their sound and talent for the purpose of realizing their collaborative ideas instead of hopping on the trendwagon because it might lead to good exposure.

So it gives me great pleasure to introduce The Cruel Brothers, straight outta Gardner, MA. Now while you may think these fellows are blood-relation brothers who happen to share a last name perfect for a Disney antagonist, they actually based their name around their infamously horrific treatment of each other ~ which they all seem to feel is pretty normal. In real life they’re Corey Tourigny (Lead Vocals, Guitars), Troy Hanks (Drums), and Mark Keane (Bass).

The Cruel Brothers have deconstructed, sifted, and reordered their influences to create a style that is uniquely their own for the sake of making it sound exactly how they want it to ~ not how it “should” for optimum recognition and popularity. That said, though, don’t think that they are interested in just making something different to make a point, they’re also very interested in making the very best album that they can. They exist somewhere between the poles of conformity and the specs of genre description, but they do say that if pressed to offer any kind of single band comparison, it would probably be to Nirvana. And that comparison doesn’t just refer to the music itself but also to the raw energy pouring out of them (and back at them from the audience) at the live shows. The Brothers pride themselves on being a band that should be seen live if you want to know what they’re really all about. Their hard garage rock sound and “F*ck it” attitude has made in the past for a lot of on-stage antics, dirty words, and even involuntary fan injury ~ combine that with some major musical chops, and I’d have to agree with them.

Now since The Brothers Cruel have been devoting all of their time and energy to completing their first album, their shows and official website (which will be found at thecruelbrothers.com by mid-month) have been put on hold for a little while. The album should be done by the beginning of the ‘07, and I’m sure you’ll be able to catch them live very shortly thereafter. If you’re ready to check out a band that refuses to contribute to the next layer of dust settling on music trends, and if you believe that a band’s worth doesn’t lie in how many fliers they can stick under your windshield wiper, The Cruel Brothers are for you. And if you’d like to check them (and previews of two of their tracks, “Off of the Deep End” and “I Won’t Give”) out before their site is done and they rock a venue in your town, there’s always www.myspace.com/thecruelbrothers (yes, they do believe in the importance of visibility, just not at the cost of their integrity).

Zircon’s “Vastlands” kicks your stereo’s ass
By Bobby Hankinson

I’m not quite sure what to make of Zircon’s new disc, “Vastlands.” Maybe I’ll have a better idea when my head recovers from the thrashing it received at the hands of the band. This seven-track, 30-minute aural assault bursts with the intensity of an atom bomb, destroying almost everything in its path and leaving those lucky enough to survive singed at the very least. It’s exhausting to just listen to ~ in other words, it’s GREAT metal.

This Worcester four-piece was exploding in 2000 as one of the area’s most promising metal acts. They played shows with Mayhem, Dark Funeral, and Cryptopsy and were part of New England Metal & Hardcore Festival. And then the band disbanded. Fortunately for lovers of metal, they reformed with a new bassist in 2004.

Singer and guitarist Scott Wily summed up the split simply. “Lots of bands go through that personal strife.” Now the band is on solid ground with Scott, Chris (Bass Guitar), Eric (Drums), and Jay (Guitar).

Drawing influences from the Norwegian black metal scene, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, and Slayer, Zircon crafted a sound all their own. As Wily explained, black metal usually features screaming vocals, while death metal typically has growling vocals. Lyrically, black metal is sometimes labeled as “Satanic” and death metal focuses on, well, death. However, Wily says the band’s lyrics are about neither. Instead they dabble in science, touching on topics like “outer space, inner space…and the progression of the human mind.”

Musically, the disc is a non-stop hammer to the skull, with percussion pounding, guitars blaring, and Wily’s voice all but jumping out of the speaker and grabbing listeners by the throat. It’s heavy. It’s loud. And it means friggin’ business.

It has [those] Norwegian influences,” Wily said. “But then it’s going to hit you, it’s going to have a straight out American metal feel to it.”

Wily says the guys have their sights set on touring. But for now, metalheads can catch them and other heavy-hitters at Ralph’s for Metal Thursdays the first Thursday of every month and on MySpace at www.myspace.com/zirconmetal. They’ll also be shaking the walls at Rox’s in Oxford on Feb. 2 for a 21+ show.

Be warned ~ your ears will never be the same.

Filmmaker

Tom Roy and his merry band of comedians bring us Cappella! The Movie
By Annette Cinelli

If you are a fan of Christopher Guest films such as Best in Show and A Mighty Wind, of mock documentaries, a cappella, or just really great comedy, then you should keep your eye on Tom Roy, the local director/producer of Cappella! The Movie.

While attending Worcester Polytechnic Institute for his graduate degree and a career change, Tom auditioned for the film Disk, a movie being put together by a bunch of “hysterical comedians,” and wound up having an amazing time working with such clever and funny individuals. The experience “…ignited [in Tom] a passion to pursue film comedy” and ever since, he’s been looking for another project right for collaboration.

One day, while thinking back about his a cappella experience at alma mater Clark University, the idea for that project hit Tom “…like a brick wall! This is just perfect! [A cappella] is such a great subject to work on.” In the middle of 2006, Tom decided that “…rather than a scripted comedy…all laid out…let’s make it a collaborative writing process.”

Most of the people involved in Cappella! are comedians who had been part of Disk ~ both they and newcomers to the project are all improvisational professionals. Tom describes every person in the cast as “…an all star. There were no weak links. A lot of times you just let the camera roll. They [the actors] just kept going into all these different avenues and their improv training really came through.” So great were the results that Tom ended up with seven hours of footage, which was extremely painful to cut down to the approximately 25 minute running time.

Tom loves acting and working in comedy and describes his role as producer as “a necessary evil because I wanted to see it happen.” He realized early on that, “Screw it. I have the money, I’m going to buy the equipment and organize it myself. Once I was putting my money where my mouth was, it stimulated more interest.” It was also important for Tom to direct the film; “I had a precise idea of the kind of humor I wanted to explore.”
Comedy can be a hard medium to work in. Tom tries to “…avoid funny things for the sake of being funny,” and has learned that sketch comedy should “arrive late, leave early.” He feels that shows such as SNL often kill a joke by letting it go on forever.

Like his comedic idol Christopher Guest, Tom tries to tap into more than one type of personality by having different levels of humor, something that a wide audience can appreciate. “I try to be true to my own humor, but let it work on a lot of levels. I have a huge passion for how to get people to laugh.” Tom especially enjoyed seeing his jokes and ideas come to life, “I came close to vomiting 6 times because I was laughing so hard. That’s when you know you are having a good day and doing something you love.”

With characters ranging from a woman in drag to a tiny man to a person from the future wearing a unitard and doing full body a capella, this mockumentary does indeed promise to deliver big laughs. The rough cut of Cappella! The Movie is slated to be done by January 1. A few months later, Tom hopes to have a local screening. “I don’t forget my roots, I want to have showing for those folks, especially WPI who was so amazing to work with.” He also plans to send it out to comedy clubs in the Worcester County area.