Photo by Ryan Scafuro/Special to the News Sentinel
No worse for the wear, The Beatings took a lighter touch on the band’s new album. The group is, from left, Eldridge Rodriguez, Greg Lyon, Erin Dalbec, Dennis Grabowski and Tony Skalicky.
Photo by Ryan Scafuro/Special to the News Sentinel
No worse for the wear, The Beatings took a lighter touch on the band’s new album. The group is, from left, Eldridge Rodriguez, Greg Lyon, Erin Dalbec, Dennis Grabowski and Tony Skalicky.
After a decade of playing together, Boston-based art-rockers The Beatings are preparing to unveil the band’s third full-length album. To follow its recording efforts, the group has taken to the streets, building up anticipation for the September release.
The Beatings have been described by others as “underground-underground” despite having performed alongside a slew of household names. The band denies any conscious effort to remain obscure for art’s sake; and, though the band hasn’t remotely dumbed itself down for mass appeal, the members of The Beatings hope to broaden their audience with the upcoming release “Late Season Kids.”
“Musically, we were focused on making this album poppy and accessible, but not for any commercial reason; it was just a product of our songwriting evolution,” vocalist/guitarist/organist Tony Skalicky explains. “The first song, ‘Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained’, came about from a rehearsal jam session, and I think it stuck in everyone’s brain. It was easily the poppiest song we had ever done, and we all loved it. As we worked on more and more new songs, they all seemed to be similarly quite catchy, at least to our ears. In the past, I think we were intent on taking a pop song structure, messing it up beyond recognition and then dousing it with noise. For this record we were happy to embrace them as we found them, but we can’t help making things noisy.”
Despite rave reviews from indie mags, critics and bloggers, The Beatings have gotten less respect than Rodney Dangerfield. Struggling to book shows in its early days, the group created a phantom label, Midriff Records, with which to associate itself to satisfy the criteria of hometown venues. Soon Midriff was releasing the albums and EPs of friends and strangers alike in addition to The Beatings recordings.
“We started Midriff in 2001 to release our first full-length, ‘Italiano,’” recalls Skalicky. “We had received a lot of great reviews and encouragement for our first EP ‘6 Hz,’ but no label wanted us and no club wanted to deal with us because we weren’t on a label. So at first we just created the label name so we came off as more ‘professional’. In reality it was just us in the band, abusing our workplace Internet connections, but then we incorporated Midriff, set up distro (distribution) channels, and it took on a life of its own. It’s amazing to look back to where it started and see it today.”
The Beatings have a fondness for touring and it comes across in their performances. Praise for the live shows abounds. One fan, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, ranked The Beatings in the top five of his “Best Shows of 2008” list. To make their Knoxville stop even more intriguing, the band holds our Pilot Light in high regard.
“We have been coming to Knoxville since our first tour,” says Skalicky. “We’ve been here when you’ve blown up a bridge, and we’ve philosophized about your golden sphere. We’ve danced with your people, and we’ve hugged your bartenders. The Pilot Light had us when no one else would, on our first tour ever, and heaven forbid, if it should decide to close its doors someday, a little part of The Beatings will die. Hopefully, that won’t happen while we’re in the van.”
The Beatings will return to Knoxville Thursday night, playing their beloved Pilot Light with Dirty Knees and The Nimoids. Admission is $5 and the show is slated for 10 p.m.
n SONIC BOOM: Warming up for Trinumeral, electronic act BoomBox plays The World Grotto Tuesday. The show starts at 10 p.m. and costs $10.
n JELLIN’ LIKE FELONS: Nostalgic novelty treat Green Jelly plays The Catalyst Thursday night along with Cooter Punch, Rosemary’s Billy Goat and Radioactive Chicken Heads. The show kicks off at
9 p.m.
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