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Paradise Found
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For years, the front room at the Paradise Rock Club was a dance-club hangout for high-spending so-called Eurotrash. And it was pretty much off limits to members of the local rock scene. The legendary valet-parking battles that took place in front of the club starting around 11 p.m. made for an amusing contrast with the post-show flood of underdressed rock kids who’d pour out of the club’s big back room to catch the T. But all that has changed over the past year, as former Bill’s Bar manager Jeff Marshall has taken over the room under its new ownership, rechristening it the Paradise Lounge and turning it into a comfortable neighborhood hangout with cheap beer, cheap burgers, and an ever broadening selection of themed rock nights (like the "Cover to Cover" series, which couples author readings and live bands) and bookings both local and national. A week ago Tuesday, the Northampton-based foursome Read Yellow were the headliners at a show that reflected just how far Marshall has been willing to go to change popular impressions of the room. It was the first in a monthly series of showcases for the locally based label Fenway Recordings, a pet project of former Geffen A&R scout and former Grand Royal president Mark Kates, who DJ’d for the first part of the night under the turntable alias DJ Carbo. A little farther in the background was former Letters to Cleo manager Michael Creamer, who was part owner of the now closed Kendall Café and who recently started booking Tuesday nights at the Lounge. In the crowd, seated up in the balcony sipping wine, was locally based producer Paul Kolderie (Hole, Radiohead, Morphine, Buffalo Tom, etc.), who recently completed work on Read Yellow’s full-length Fenway Recordings debut, Radios Burn Faster (due this May). After an entertaining set of what they’re now calling alternative-heritage tunes by Carbo, the three guys and the bass-playing girl in Read Yellow took the stage with their backs to the crowd amid storms of low-end feedback. By the time the drummer put a muscular backbeat to the Daydream Nation–style guitar dissonance, Read Yellow were wearing their Sonic Youth influence on their skinny indie-rock sleeves. Not that there’s anything wrong with that — in fact, the short set demonstrated that they’re creative enough to put their own spin on an otherwise familiar sound. Full of noisy breakdowns, shouted lyrics, energetic contortions, and hard, crashing drums, their songs can stand on their own. The room might not have been packed, but there was a sizable crowd for a Tuesday night — a sign that both Read Yellow and the Paradise Lounge are beginning to catch on.
BY MATT ASHARE
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