All in New England Music News

All New England Music News

New England Music News

Boston music news: June 29, 2007

The Big Disappointments

Call your band the BIG DISAPPOINTMENTS and you win both ways: if you suck, it’s truth in billing; if you don’t, it’s just a clever bit of irony. Eric Boomhower, who used to drum for the IN OUT, played under the Big Disappointments name as a joke back in 1999, then abandoned it. He picked it up again last year when, as a singer-songwriter, he made the switch to fronting a new version of the band with In Out bassist Andy Abrahamson aboard on guitar: “I reused the name because everybody liked it.” One person who especially liked what bassist Jon Littlefield calls their “swamp rock” was THALIA ZEDEK: the former Come/Uzi singer/guitarist was their co-producer on their homonymous debut. “We like that jagged, angular, aggressive-but-melodic sound,” says Boomhower. The Big Disappointments, who have now been a fully functioning foursome for a year, celebrate the release of the CD with a show at P.A.’s Lounge in Somerville on June 29 with the Leftovers, the Octave Museum, and the Gondoliers.

JEFF BREEZE — a Phoenix contributor best known for hosting WMBR’s Pipeline! — has joined the Middle East booking team and is aiming to key in on local talent for the upstairs room. Says the club’s main booker, Kevin Hoskins: “I think there are more bands in existence now than ever have been before. It takes a lot to focus on that. Jeff’s happy to coordinate a lot of the Boston bands and keep it all together.” Hoskins also notes that MySpace has replaced the demo tape in terms of bands getting music to clubs. “In some ways, it makes it easier to listen to more bands, as bands are updating MySpace pages more often than their Web sites. But does it make it easier to distinguish the good ones? No.” Middle East co-owner Joseph Sater adds that the worst part of booking a club is having to “say no to so many people.”