“Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got / Taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot / Wouldn’t you like to get away? / Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came.”
As way of explanation for anyone under twenty-five, this profound barroom philosophy nugget is the opening line to Cheers – a classic Eighties sitcom set in a bar in Boston, Massachusetts, and for that alone, Boston deserves our eternal respect.
There are, of course, also many other things to love about the largest city in New England apart from an old sitcom featuring Kirstie Alley before she began impersonating a cottage. One of these things is Passion Pit, who create irresistible synth-pop, along the way putting nearly every other similar act to shame. 2009 saw a lot of people get very excited about the band, who produced arguably the alternative anthem of the year to seal their incredible breakthrough: the still-fantastic-sounding ‘Sleepyhead’, full of glittery synths, ‘four-on-the-floor’ kickdrum rhythms and falsetto harmonies.
Initially appearing on Passion Pit’s first EP, ‘Chunk Of Change’, ‘Sleepyhead’ was included on debut album ‘Manners’ – one of the finest examples of intelligent, accessible electronic/pop songwriting in recent times. The album’s appeal lay in its complementing of a glorious pop songwriting ethic with a sound unashamedly electronic in scope – charmingly retro yet utterly modern at the same time.
“Touring on ‘Manners’ and seeing the crowds grow and develop really forced us to step up our playing and our live show,” says Ayad Al Adhamy, synth player and programmer with the band. “It’s great and frightening to have people expect so much of you all of the sudden.”
Passion Pit began as the solo project of singer and keyboard player Michael Angelakos, whose solo project morphed into Passion Pit after meeting the rest of the band in Boston, through the city’s music scene. Today, a rich music culture still exists in the city, as Adhamy confirms: “The music scene in Boston is bubbling for sure. It’s got every kind of music, but I have to admit my favorite local acts are of the dance and electronic persuasion. There’s a new generation of musicians in the area that aren’t so concerned with cliques and competition but are genuinely supportive and excited about each other.”
The ‘cliques and competition’ element may have something to do with Boston’s fierce reputation as a beacon of American education. Featuring a ridiculous amount of colleges and universities, the city is positively awash with academia, and the impact of Harvard University and MIT (The Massachusetts Institute of Technology) – both located just outside the city in Cambridge – resonates within Boston.
Should you be thinking of attending Harvard or MIT, Cambridge (separated from Boston by the Charles River) is also home to a couple of members of Passion Pit. “Cambridge is great to go for a drink and dance,” says Adhamy, who also offers some observations about the interplay between the two areas: “Boston is very ‘urban’ – high rises and all, and Cambridge is more ‘New England-town-centre-like’, with Ivy League people wandering around making sure you know how smart they are with their alumni sweatshirts.”
The plethora of students also contributed to the rise of the legendary Boston hardcore scene. Universities and colleges offered venues for punk bands like Gang Green and Only Living Witness to play, as well as providing an audience enticed by the bands’ anti-establishment messages (before they drove their parents’ Porsche back to an expensive dorm and hoovered up bad coke with a $50 bill, that is).
Passion Pit also play live around the city whenever a hectic touring schedule allows – a schedule that has seen them travel a lot of the world in a short space of time, which has included some memorable live shows: “Oxegen Festival in Ireland this summer – that was unreal, in a similar way to Bonnaroo this summer as well. Those were both times we found ourselves in front of such an energetic crowd – so much larger than any we had been in front of before. It was an out-of-body experience!”
Though you may not be guaranteed an out-of-body-experience, you can also catch a great deal of live music in Boston. Should Passion Pit fancy a night off when in their hometown, they can always make their way to one of the city’s gig venues (Great Scott, Middle East, Paradise, Harper’s Ferry) to catch any one of the local bands they recommend: “Stephen Konrads, DJ Die Young, Baltimoroder, Dev/Null, Volvox, Magic Magic, Pretty And Nice, Verb The Adjective Noun, Bearstronaut, Truman Peyote, Bodega Girls… too many to remember them all!”
Fittingly, many of these bands possess an experimental pop element, as well as utilising synths and other electronics – the art that Passion Pit seemed to have mastered. There is, it appears, a distinct scene emerging in the city, as Adhamy concludes: “Boston, like many smaller cities, goes through waves of having great music scenes, and right now there is a rising front of the next one.” There is indeed, and Passion Pit are riding high at the tip of it.
Words by Tristan Parker
Photos by Elizabeth Weinberg and Chrissy Piper
24 hours in Boston
“First, come in the spring or early summer and bring a bike. Start with a morning ride up to Arnold Arboretum for a picnic, then cruise to Harvard Square to stop in at Proletariat and hang with Kerry for a bit, then call up everyone for a sunset drink and jam session on one of the Charles River docks. Then head to Deep Ellum for dinner and some heavy beers, then to Middlesex or Goodlife or Zuzu or Great Scott depending on what night of the week it was.”
Locals
“There’s a mythic reputation of Boston “Massholes” but most of the people I run into are pretty nice. What people might be confusing as rudeness from Boston locals only comes out in the winter when it’s freezing out. No one wants to chat when it’s that cold out. Don’t take it personally.”
Insider knowledge
“I like different parts for different reasons. Jamaica Plain is a great place to live and hang out, Allston is great for a basement show and a house party, downtown is great for the river and the commons and it’s overall a pretty clean, urban area. Some stuff has changed even since we left to tour, but the Otherside Café was a great place for brunch. El Pelon was the best burrito, but it burnt down – RIP – and I think 95% of my breakfasts were from Espresso Royale locations around town.”
Clash’s A-Z of Boston
Bull & Finch pub
The bar that Cheers was originally based on, in Beacon Hill. I’ll stop with the references now.
Good Life
Hip, slick bar/restaurant/club combo in downtown area, features oddities such as the Star Trek disco.
Boston Red Sox
Successful Major League Baseball team, who wear red “stockings” when playing home games, apparently.
Dev/Null
Breakcore act akin to Venetian Snares et al. Ridiculous, and pretty good.
Samuel Adams
Brand name for beers brewed by the Boston Beer company. Actually quite nice.
Great Scott
Alternative/rock venue that hosts local bands and bigger national acts, including Hot Chip and Of Montreal.
Otherside Café
Laid-back café and bar placed just below the Charles River.
DJ Die Young
Producer who veers between electro and light breaks, with a dash of Americana songwriting thrown in.
ICA
The Institute of Contemporary Art. Self-explanatory, really.
Coolidge Corner Theater
Independent not-for-profit cinema, built as a church in 1906.
Magic Magic
Gentle indie-folksy band with some lovely tunes.
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Fun ska punk band recently recording again after a long hiatus.
