On 7/22/15 Parlour Bells helped one of Boston’s legendary venues say goodbye after over 40 years in business. TT the Bear’s Place opened in 1973 and was relaunched in 1984 as a rock club in Central Square, Cambridge MA. The venue would go on to host such legendary rock acts as Jane’s Addiction, Arcade Fire and Boston’s own The Pixies. Parlour Bells performed their first show at the club as a warm up gig to prepare for the 2012 Rock n’ Roll Rumble. The Rumble has been held at TT’s since 2011, and in 2012 Parlour Bells was selected to compete. Parlour Bells were joined in their farewell by a reunited Ad Frank and the Fast Easy Women, Cujo (featuring Jen Trynin), The Lights Out, and Francine. At the close of their performance, Glenn invited his 19 year old nephew Michael (also an aspiring musician) to join him on stage as a tip of the hat to the next generation, with the hope that they would restore a vibrance to the music community where it has recently fallen short. The venue closes its doors on 7/25/15.
Parlour Bells joined 30 bands from across the US to take part in The Outlaw Roadshow, Nashville, performing on 7/17/15 at the legendary Mercy Lounge in Cannery Row. Adam Duritz of Counting Crows and Ryan Spaulding, Editor of Ryan’s Smashing Life Music Blog met during a press interview in 2008 as Counting Crows were about to release their Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings album. The two joined forces to create The Outlaw Roadshow music showcase. After dates in Austin and NYC, Duritz and Spaulding decided to present the first ever Outlaw in Nashville. “This will be the first ever Outlaw in Nashville and we’re really excited, ” said Spaulding. “This was the vision I had for the event all along, to be in a music city and sharing discoveries with friends. It’s like making a mixtape for someone who can and will enjoy it. This is just a better music event – and it’s exciting to have a new home.”
Wetware, the new single from Boston’s Parlour Bells (just nominated for LIVE ARTIST OF THE YEAR in the 2014 Boston Music Awards) will be released on 11/11/14 as part of the Keep Safe Boston local music compilation to benefit Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, with a show to follow at Brighton Music Hall on December 10, 2014.Stream it now here on YouTube.Read more about the song and the benefit in the Boston Herald.
Parlour Bells is humbled to be named among The Improper Bostonian’sTen Top Local Acts Who’ve Been Making Noise Around Boston and Beyond. Following a landmark set at TT the Bear’s Place on June 27, 2014 Improper Music Editor Paul Robicheau spoke to Glenn about his musical partnership with co-founder Nate Leavitt and the cybersexbernetic future Parlour Bells has prepared for the band’s beloved fans. Sealed in a cryonic chamber and shot deep into the future. Celebrities On Ice is scheduled for a Fall release. Be cool. (And thank you Boston).
Summer has found us at last and we are ready to celebrate with you! THIS Friday night 6/27 at TT the Bear’s Place in Cambridge we have assembled an absolute monster of a lineup. Parlour Bells is teaming up with Walter Sickert and the Army of Broken Toys, Muy Cansado and Future Carnivores to bring you THE SUMMER OF LOVE show. If you are unfamiliar with any of these acts, do yourself a favor and check them out because they put on some of the BEST live shows in Boston and beyond.
And after that, Parlour Bells head to Q Division to begin work on our third release, songs from which you will likely hear for the first time on Friday night. Titles from the first session of recordings include “Celebrities On Ice” and “We Keep Coming Back.” The early reception from those who have caught the new material in recent shows has been wildly enthusiastic and we cannot wait to set it to record.
No shows booked for the rest of the season, so 6/27 at TTs could be our ONLY appearance until Fall!
The Boston Mayoral Race isn’t the only contest in town. The 2013 Boston Music Award Nominations were also announced Monday, November 4th, and Parlour Bells picked up a Video of the Year nomination for Bachelor Hours. (Get your vote on early and often here). Released and celebrated at Great Scott on June 28, 2013, Bachelor Hours was shot over two months in multiple locations around Boston. Gene Dante and Mary Widow are the romantic leads in a hallucinatory crime story involving a mysterious new designer drug and the shadowy cartel responsible for getting these “moon pills” into the streets. Check out the video here.
Voting ends December 2, 2013 at 11:59PM, and the big event takes place at the Liberty Hotel on December 8, 2013. Proceeds from the 26 year old Boston Music Awards event support Music Drives Us, a non-profit that provides funding for music education programs.
Jed Gottlieb of The Boston Herald declares that the video is “more freaky than the new Pixies,” and Michael Marotta of Vanyaland, who world premiered the video calls it “a moonlit look at nightlife culture and serves as a who’s-who around the Boston rock scene,” as it features a huge cast of extras. It’s for that reason that this nomination belongs to the following individuals who helped bring Bachelor Hours to life: Gene Dante, Mary Widow, Roger Metcalf, Douglas Sherman, Malik Haddadi, Kate Sweet, Neehmias Afonso, Meaghan Sinclair, Meghan Chiampa, Autumn Pincus, Andrew Wilson, Michael J. Epstein, Sophia Cacciola, Clark Sullivan, Katrina Galore, Michael Oliver, Leesa Coyne, Rick Kotowski, Richard Bouchard, Douglas Orey, Bridget Leahy, Emily Diggins, Janelle LaMarche, Kristen Scioli, John Langton, Elvis Collins, James Johnson, Phil Fleming, Peter Moore, Sarah Rabdau, Leah Principe, Adam Bouchard, Porcelain Dalya, and Darren McDonald, Trina’s Starlight Lounge,Radio, Anytime Limousine, Great Scott, Michael Marotta, Derek Kouyoumjian, Patrick Mussari, Garth McMurray and Charlotte Sweet. Thank you.
Parlour Bells is excited to be named one of Boston’s Best Local Rock Bands by CBS Boston, sharing the honor with other standout acts, The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library, Mean Creek, Darlingside and Doomriders!
When we set out to make our first video, we had the pleasure, and urgency, of knowing exactly when it would need to be done. Michael Marotta, the celebrated music editor of the sadly missedBoston Phoenix (who got right back at it by founding the comprehensive Vanyaland online music magazine)
Michael Marotta of Vanyaland
welcomed us to release and publicly screen the premiere of Bachelor Hours at the pill at Great Scott in Allston MA. And it would all go down on June 28, 2013. We had some work to do.
The journey to the end of the night would take us to alleyways, conveyor belts, a warehouse, Radio bar, Trina’s Starlight Lounge, the streets of Davis Square, and gave us the opportunity to work with a diverse cross section of the Boston music community. To say that we have a cooperative, collaborative arts community just doesn’t say enough.
Scene from “Bachelor Hours”
So, Parlour Bells would just like to thank:
Gene Dante, Mary Widow, Roger Metcalf, Douglas Sherman, Malik Haddadi, Kate Sweet, Neehmias Afonso, Meaghan Sinclair, Meghan Chiampa, Autumn Pincus, Andrew Wilson, Michael J. Epstein, Sophia Cacciola, Clark Sullivan, Katrina Galore, Michael Oliver, Leesa Coyne, Rick Kotowski, Richard Bouchard, Douglas Orey, Bridget Leahy, Emily Diggins, Janelle LaMarche, Kristen Scioli, John Langton, Elvis Collins, James Johnson, Phil Fleming, Peter Moore, Sarah Rabdau, Leah Principe, Adam Bouchard, Porcelain Dalya, and Darren McDonald, Trina’s Starlight Lounge,Radio, Anytime Limousine, Great Scott, Michael Marotta, Derek Kouyoumjian, Patrick Mussari, Garth McMurray and Charlotte Sweet. You all helped us get this thing done just in the nick of time.
Vanyaland TV
Michael Marotta world premiered the video on Vanyaland in conjunction with MediaBoss TV, and we had just enough time to edit a few extra hours of b-roll to loop during the DJ sets for the celebration and Parlour Bells show at the pill later that night. We performed two short sets, with a break in between to screen the video to a live audience.
Written and Directed by Glenn di Benedetto. Filmed by Roger Metcalf and Glenn di Benedetto.Produced and Edited by Glenn di Benedetto. Additional Post Production by Roger Metcalf.
We’ve made our first music video. It seemed kind of a no brainer that Parlour Bells would do this given that Glenn has produced and edited for some time now, but we wanted to tell a good story. And that brings us to Bachelor Hours, shot in multiple locations and clocking in at over 200 shots in 3 and a half minutes. Featuring Gene Dante and Mary Widow as our romantic leads, the video takes a narrative path with a wide view of a mysterious underground drug syndicate that zooms into its immediate effects on the imaginations and actions of our protagonists as they pursue each other to the end of the night.
Bachelor Hours premiered Friday, June 28th 2013, and was screened and celebrated with a performance by Parlour Bells at the pill at Great Scott. Shot by GdG and Roger Metcalf, edited by GdG with AfterEffects and DaVinci by Metcalf. Written and Directed by Glenn di Benedetto.
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