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
Scary Toys
By Matt Erhartic

When the wholesome bubble gum pop bubble burst a few a years ago, record executives scrambled to re-invent their auto tuned pop princesses to prevent them from going the way of The New Kids On The Block…extinction. Their solution? Make em’ female rock-n-roll stars. Slap on some heavy eyeliner, maybe a studded collar, a dash of teenage angst and Presto ~ who would’ve guessed that Kelly Clarkson could rock so hard?

Worcester’s own Raven Phoenix and her band, Scary Toys, have a real shot at repelling the nasty tag female led rock-n-roll has been branded with recently.

After several attempts at starting her own musical outfit, Phoenix befriended local music vet and Snakes & Ladders guitarist Steve Blake and laid out some acoustic demos at Blake’s Toad Hall Studios in Douglas. Impressed with the material, Blake offered his services to solidify Raven’s vision.

Blake’s sonically rich guitar tones and drummer Greg Sullivan’s rhythmic assault compliment Raven’s explosive vocal dynamic ~ combining the angst and feminist rhetoric of Courtney Love with a sweet teenage girl that’s had her heart broken for first time. “Well sometimes major bull crap happens to you in life and you’re just inspired. [The songs] are about standing up for yourself,” explains Phoenix.

The songs are as inspired as they are dark ~ incorporating an almost gothic downcast gloom with post grunge Alternative Nation rock. The material drifts in and out of consciousness with swirling echoes and inventive twists and turns. The unpredictable arrangements perfectly meld with Phoenix’s persona; one moment she comes across wanting to hold you and the next wanting to spit in your face.

Highlights of their repertoire, rockers “No More Time” and “Sacrifice,” reveal Phoenix’s combative and abrasive side, whereas “Anywhere” and “Cold Heart” are more introspective ~ with the latter expelling its demons through spoken word before launching into a Nirvana-esque floor rattler. “Anytime, Anywhere” incorporates the same great bass licks icy guitars that put The Cure on the map.

Surrounded by enormous hype, Scary Toys plan to release their debut record, the ironically titled Joy, later in the year. The band is hunkered down in the studio, rehearsing for gigs starting in early spring. The band also contributed to “It Came From Planet Mental,” a compilation of local acts that drops in April.

Raven Phoenix looks to bring some real female empowerment back to rock. “Life sometimes kicks you in the head and the songs are about rising above it all by saying you did this, I am pissed, you can knock me down…but I’ll be back up again.”

www.myspace.com/thescarytoys

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BAND
SYD
By Matt Erhartic

STDs, Poison Ivy & Internet Dating…Welcome to the World of Syd.

Rock-n-Roll has had its fair share of famous duos. The White Stripes, Hall and Oates, Seals and Crofts, Syd…well, Syd is not quite rock royalty yet, but with their unique psychedelic babble-laced vibe, they should have no problem getting some heads turning in the Worcester County club circuit.

Matthew Surabian and Ryan Guilfoyle, armed only with dual guitars, have been known to affectionately manhandle some classic rock covers while incorporating their own social stances and hilariously warped intuitions into their originals. “We have written many originals which center around aspects of the early-20s American male experience,” explains Surabian. “Sometimes we deviate onto broader topics such as the Internet and its potential pitfalls, the ladies, corporate greed and arm chair politics.”

Syd (the name is a loving reference to Pink Floyd’s ex frontman, Syd Barrett) describes their sound as “…sweet love getting made with some very cool background music.” The duo has a minimalistic dirty vibe accompanied by a bone dry, humorous quality ~ so dry that a listener never knows he or she is being walked right into a joke.

“I’m Sorry” starts off innocently with some finger picked guitar noodling and sweet coos, then unravels into a tale of internet dating and STDs. Nicking some 1960s-esque folk, “Hey Girl (Take Me In The Weeds)” tackles the tale of a romp in the forest gone wrong and its uncomfortable Poison Ivy induced aftermath. Whereas no topic seems to be taboo, it appears that Syd is holding out on certain song selections from their treasure chest of twisted tunes. “We have a cache of songs deemed unfit for public consumption that only our friends have to endure. One such song compares the act of love-making to a finely-prepared beef stew,” admits Guilfoyle. “If only the former were as simple as the latter.”

Along with their own material, Matthew and Ryan take on a slew of cover songs. Claiming to not have much patience with the current musical climate, Syd hones into songs from the 60s and 70s. Tunes by The Doors, Pink Floyd, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and other bar juke box institutions creep into the set between their madcap compositions.

So what lies ahead for Syd? The duo will begin a weekly residency at Leitrim’s on Park Ave. in Worcester while moving ahead with their to-do list of gaining local notoriety.
“First you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the women…also upholding our artistic integrity.”

www.myspace.com/seeSYDrock

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BAND
Gold Star Campaign
By Alex Kantarelis

In a musical scene where inexperience leads to the same monotonous thing we’ve seen a million times, Gold Star Campaign rises from the ashes to bring something refreshing. Their overall positive attitude and love for music sets them apart from every other band playing today.

The 4 piece ~ Philip Raptis on guitar and vocals, Craig MacDonald on percussion, Tyler Green on lead guitar, and Mike “Van” Whalen on bass ~ use their experience as musicians and band members to widen their abilities as a group. All four members of the band have played in many different bands before. They have been around Worcester their entire lives, and understand what it takes to make a band work. Past bands like The Blame, Thundercock, Somatic, Hitler’s Wheelchair, Chillum, Punt, and many others, solidify their experience.

But their aggressive past projects are a bad way of describing Gold Star Campaign’s sound. They are simply a classic rock band, playing tunes that are inspired by all the great classic rock bands they grew up listening to. The band was hardly planned out, as it basically just formed out of the blue. “I had a bunch of songs ready to rock that I had been playing by myself for a few months, let’s get these songs together and get the band together,” said Raptis.

The guys don’t believe in covers. While they still play a few, they base their sound on their original songs, maybe playing 2 or 3 covers per set. They have only been together for 1 year, and yet they already have countless original songs. “We already have 26 originals, we’re doing [our 2nd] album by spring, and we’re capable of doing 20 covers, which we only really do if we’re playing a long set,” said MacDonald.

The covers they do are songs that aren’t typically covered by most bands. They are done because the guys like those particular songs. “We try to get off the maintream covers and pick the most obscure cover you can think of, and those who really know it really appreciate it,” said Raptis. “If you listen to the Rolling Stones a lot, you’ll know the songs we play,” Green added.

But for them, writing songs will always be more important than anything else. “There are still bands around now that play the same 10 songs they’ve been playing for years, that’s what makes us separate from everybody else, we’re just constantly writing songs,” Raptis said. “We have a hard time isolating songs for a set because we have so many songs,” Green added.

So if classic rock with no strings attached is your style, be sure to check out Gold Star Campaign.

www.goldstarcampaign.com

www.myspace.com/goldstarcamapign

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ARTIST
Graphic Artist Chad Cote
By Alex Kantarelis

Worcester native Chad Cote started making a name for himself in the local art world a few years ago. Now, with his almost gothic style of art, he is known not only in the Worcester area, but all over the country as well.

Cote began as (and still is) a tattoo artist, starting as an apprentice straight out of high school and becoming a full-time tattoo artist at age 19. Born in Connecticut, he moved to Worcester after tattooing became legal in this state.

But tattooing wasn’t all he wanted to do. He began designing tattoos for other shops. “I started drawing what’s called ‘tattoo flash’ which I’d sell to different tattoo parlors in the area,” he said. His ideas kept flowing, and more artistic thoughts would evolve his drawings and paintings to a level they hadn’t been yet. “What I wanted to do couldn’t be contained on a little sheet of paper. I needed a big canvas, with a brush and a lot of space to work with to get out what I wanted,” he said.

In describing his own style, he said, “It’s twisted but without any real malicious intent.” “I paint a lot of cadavers,” he added later on.

While Cote prefers creating his art with oil paints or acrylics on canvas, his main love is just doing art itself. As long as he’s being artistic, he is happy. “Once I get that inspiration I’ve got to do it. I don’t care if it’s a [ball point] pen and a napkin,” he said.

The future holds uncharted territories. He’ll be going to various art shows to display his work and will also be guest tattooing in shops all over the country. But of course, Cote has bigger hopes for his future. “I want to do less tattooing and more painting,” he said. In my basement I have stacks and full totes of work that I’ve done, and I’d eventually like to put those together for a book,” he added.

For Chad, it seems that his life was set up to take this path. “That’s all I ever really wanted out of life is to tattoo and paint,” he said. “Now I’m lucky enough to do it.”

His original works are available at the Dark World 2 Tattoo shop on West Boylston Street. Be sure to check him out online at myspace.com/sikprik, or at his personal website, www.sikprik.com.

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PROMO
Trickstah
By Rebecca Carter

Like a modern day “Merry Pranksters,” Trickstah (as in, “Y’know, like rockstah!) is a Worcester-based company that uses its booking and promotional services to bring together the worlds of rock, punk and psychobilly through all-ages shows.

“Starting Trickstah Promotions was an idea that had been brewing for a long time,” explained Trickstah founder Kristen Mineau, also known as Tricky Fancy. “With the motivation and support of my husband Matt, our best friends Colleen Hannen and Casey Staskawicz…the four of us decided to take this passion into our own hands and start creating a scene the way we wanted to.”

All thought the concept of the all-ages show is a punk tradition as old as the scene itself, it proved to be a challenge in the Worcester area. “The hardest part about having all ages shows is trying to find a venue that supports the idea,” Kristen described. “In Worcester this has always been an exciting idea for everybody but unfortunately it isn’t as easy to come by as the bands, or the fans would like it to be. How can bands cover all bases if they can’t be heard by anyone under 21? Bigger venues make it easy for bigger bands, this where our motivation and inspiration comes from. We can only hope that we can be a local movement that everyone will support.”

The foursome’s first collaborative effort under the banner of Trickstah was an all ages show at The Frohsinn Club in Shrewsbury this past January, and they have several more in the works including The Second Annual Mass Tattoo & Art Convention, a battle of the bands that will feature acts with high school-age members, hosting the Koffin Kats at Tammany in April, and The Second Annual Rot-N-Roll Festival featuring live bands and a car show. They also devote much of their focus to working with the bands Stressbomb, a punk band out of New London, CT and The Creepin’ Cadavers, a pyschobilly band that hails from Western MA.

“I was fortunate enough to be exposed to local music through some of the most talented musicians I’ve ever met, and through them I fell in love with the scene and its possibilities,” Kristen said. “We made it our mission to force the separate scenes to collide. It comes naturally to me and I’m having a really good time doing it. Expect to see our shows everywhere.”

For more info on Trickstah Promotions and a calendar of their upcoming events, visit
www.myspace.com/trickstahpromo