Flyer: King EvRock

Supertonic and Hub Media want to get down and celebrate summer with you. Most importantly, we want to celebrate you, Boston. This Thursday at Enormous Room, we have curated a night full of some of our favorite Boston artists to say thank you for all the continued support of our site’s mission: supporting local arts & entertainment! A live show from Dirty Dishes will be sandwiched between DJ sets from Bodega Girls, Leisure, Gentleman Hall and The Wandas.

As an added bonus, our friends at Heineken have hooked us up with an hour of free beer (while supplies last), so get there early and ready to party. Make sure you RSVP via Eventbrite to get in for free (otherwise, admission will set you back $5).

See you there!

–Teaparty | Supertonic

PARTY INFORMATION:
Who: Live Set by: Dirty Dishes
DJ sets by: Bodega Girls, Leisure, Gentlemen Hall,… and The Wandas
When: Thursday July 22nd
Where: Enormous Room in Central Square, Cambridge
Time: 9:15PM
Cost: FREE with RSVP on our Eventbrite event page, $5 at the door otherwise

RSVP LINK: http://bostondoesitbest.eventbrite.com/

MUST RSVP TO EVENTBRITE LINK TO GET IN FOR FREE.

Please Note: That an RSVP does not secure entry. Therefore, please come early so you can party with us! We look forward to seeing all of you

This is our weekend to-do list. Print it out. Check it off. Enjoy.

–TeaParty | Supertonic

THE LIGHTS OUT

[ ] Love on Boston rock

With The Organ Beats and The Lights Out at the Mideast Upstairs

[ ] Get soulful

With the folks of Langhorne Slim, Ha Ha Tonka, Chris Warren (of Viva Viva) at the Mideast Downstairs

[ ] Try to outdress these babes

at TraniWreck: GOLD III at Oberon

[ ] Get gleefully dizzy

with Sidewalk Driver, The Motion Sick, Brendan Boogie & the Best Intentions, Leo Blais at TT the Bear’s Place

MARCONI

[ ] Adore some dulcet sounds

With Au Revoir Simone, Alexa Wilding, Lady Lamb The Beekeeper, Marconi at TT the Bear’s Place

[ ] Dance ’til you just can’t get enough

With Flavorheard at Enormous Room

[ ] Fall in love

with Heartless Bastards, The Builders and the Butchers, Cassavettes, Peter Wolf Crier at the Mideast Downstairs

[ ] Get wordy

with Lizard Lounge Poetry Night feat Jeff Robinson Trio

[ ] Get on the good foot

With Left Turn at Enormous Room

[ ] Don’t be afraid

Of Sea Monsters at Precinct

Kirsten Amann is living what might be considered an upscale tippler’s dream. When not behind the bar at South End hotspot Toro, this multi-talented lady can be found helming her eponymous PR company (bringing many delightful cocktail-related events to fruition, including the seminar and tasting with The Bitter Truth). And as if that weren’t enough boozy goodness, Amann is a founding member of the Boston chapter of LUPEC: Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails. We recently sat down together for a chat about the group and its seamless melding of cocktail culture, American history, and even a little bit a of feminism.

First, a brief history of LUPEC. The first chapter was founded in Pittsburgh in 2001. Its cheeky tagline (“Dismantling the patriarchy, one cocktail at a time”) underscores a deeper truth: much like high-end kitchens, mixology is still, according to Amann, “very much a boy’s club.” Which is not to say that male bartenders or cocktail enthusiasts are at all bad. But it left a small but vibrant niche to be filled, with women teaching women about cocktails.

Here in Boston, those ladies came together in 2007 under the leadership of Misty Kalkofen (currently rocking the bar at Drink in Fort Point). The group’s membership is diverse, containing everyone from bartenders to media types to a water treatment engineer.

Because each chapter has its own personality and spin, the local group has had the chance to branch out in many directions. Their charitable endeavors run the gamut from a tiki-themed luau to a published work, The Little Black Book of Cocktails. The generative process behind this pocket sized handbook gives a delightfully telling look at the incredible energy of the group. It began with a collaboration with a photographer friend on a series of black and white photos based on classic images of silent film star Louise Brooks.

“We just did it for fun, and then we wanted to use them as a fundraising tool,” Amann reminisces, “We loved the images, and were going to do a calendar but couldn’t get it together in time – so we did a book.” All proceeds from the book’s sales go to charity, and it’s an accessible example of the way that creative, motivated people can turn a whim of a project into a powerhouse for the forces of female empowerment.

When I ask about feminizzle and its place in the world of drankin’, Amann gets thoughtful. She points out that during the golden age of the cocktail, women were not allowed to be in bars unless they were working there or (ahem) working there. Possibly as a result of this exclusion–and the saloon’s ensuing reputation as a house of ill-repute–women were a driving force behind temperance leagues and eventually Prohibition itself. The speakeasies of the Roaring Twenties, then, were the first places where men and women were allowed to mingle and drink as relative equals.

The ladies of LUPEC

Bringing it from the past and into the present and future, Amann points out that women are frequently judged by what, and how much, they drink: which often comes out in coverage of LUPEC itself. “I don’t think we necessarily drink more than the men in the industry,” she says, “But every time someone writes about us, that’s what comes up.” She goes on to discuss the gender stereotypes inherent in certain shapes of drink glasses, and even in various different hues of beverages. The discomfort some men have, for example, when they order a drink only to find when it arrives that it is served in a martini glass and has a dangerously pale red–dare I say pink?–hue can be amusing to the bystander for its squirm factor, but is also fascinating on a sociohistorical level.

Kirsten describes the rabbithole of cocktail enthusiasm that goes into that history, and how it starts. “The thing about beverages is that you can’t really separate a spirit from a culture,” she begins. (A total social history nerd, my interest is piqued.) “Once you start to dig and go into that infinite well, you learn that the cocktail is an American invention, and that people here have always drank spirits. And also that ice is an American invention, which is why Americans order everything with a ton of ice. That’s not to say that there haven’t been cocktails that sprang up all over the world, but the invention is a huge part of our country.”

We delve a little deeper into where that concept evolved from and how it changed over time. “Before cocktails, a major category that people drank was punch. But here in America, people decided that that was something they couldn’t do because we’re a very rugged, individualistic country–no one has time to sit around a bowl drinking punch all day! So we came up with a smaller version: the cocktail. And they’re an incredible window into history; they’re so affected by the politics of the time (quite literally, because of Prohibition). It really gets the part of me that is interested in history, and in why we do things the way we do in the present. This is an important, interesting part of our culture, and you can recreate them if you find the right ingredients. You can drink a little slice of the past.”

For Amann, that interest began when she first made her way into the restaurant industry, waitressing during high school and college and then finding that the industry had become a kind of a home (“I’ve met some of my closest friends while wearing an apron,” she quips). Her involvement with LUPEC has enabled her to be a bit of an educator when it comes to discussing Toro’s beverage program with guests, many of her PR clients are spirits brands and she works with in conjunction with Debbie Rizzo of Drink PR, whom she met while representing the Boston chapter at Tales of the Cocktail.

It’s an interesting life, and she is practical but excited about the paths it may lead to in future: “Misty and I are currently at work on a cocktail book which would be a huge dream come true for me. I’ve wanted to write books since I was a little girl, so this would be just amazing. Beyond that, who knows? I’m trying to position myself as an eager student right now and allow that to guide me in this. So, whether that will lead to more PR projects, more writing projects, work with a brand or maybe some sort of teaching some day, I don’t know. But I am totally 100% thrilled with all of it. I cannot stress how much I love my job and how blessed I feel to be able to learn about, write about, talk about and drink cocktails and call it work.”

Jonesing for some information on our national invention? Check out LUPEC Boston’s site, or slide on down to the bar at Drink, Toro, Trina’s Starlite Lounge, Green Street, Eastern Standard, No. 9 Park, or any of the other fabulous spots around the city that are actively bringing classic back. You may find that the drink you receive comes seasoned with history, flair, and joie de vivre – which means the ladies of LUPEC will be succeeding, one cocktail at a time.

–Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong

Photo: Matt Rosadini

On Camden’s Myspace page, you’ll find one quote by jazz regular Brandford Marsalis that reads like this:

“Many years later, a lot of younger musicians were hanging around with Elvin Jones, and they were talking about, ‘Man, you know, you guys had an intensity when you were playing with Coltrane. I mean, what was it like? How do you play with that kind of intensity?’ And Elvin Jones looks at them and says, ‘You gotta be willing to die with the motherfucker.’ They started laughing like kids do, waiting for the punch line, and then they realized he was serious. How many people do you know that are willing to die—period? Die with anybody! And when you listen to those records, that’s exactly what they sound like. I mean that they would die for each other.”

When you hear Camden play with one another, this seminal connection rings true in every note they play. Taking production styling of artists such as Caribou and Passion Pit, and incorporating song forms that could be translated into the likes of Modest Mouse, and even the Smashing Pumpkins, the result is a heavy hearted, yet relentlessly optimistic release entitled Vale EP. Off the stage, the group interacts with one another with such serious fun, that it’s easy to see why the group would find that quote a fitting description.

Camden is playing at Great Scott on July 13^th at 9 PM.

–Matt Rohr

Photo: Matt Rosadini

Hey guys, thanks for joining me. So tell me about the group, and what instruments you play.

JS: Well, we should mention that our 5^th, Chris Dwyer, is not here. He’s in Flagstaff, AZ right now playing and recording some folk stuff. I think he’s out stalking Joanna Newsom, he’s seriously obsessed with her [everyone laughs]. But my name is Jason Sibilia and I play guitar and I sing backup, but I also do a lot of the sequencing and production.

J: I’m Jim and I play bass and sing.

JB: I’m Jason Bergman and I play drums

T: And I’m Tim and I play guitars.

JS: Yeah, it started as a school project for me, and I was always friends with Jason and Jim, and I had taken a few classes with Tim at Northeastern. Jason was always over and Jim has an incredible voice, so I just kind of asked them if they wanted to make music together. At the time I was writing instrumental stuff, so I asked them to join me– and Jim could add vocals.

J: That was October of 2008, and Timmy and Chris joined around 2009. I used to be in a band with Chris called Giraffe. We had one show.

Do you guys have any releases as a full group?

J: We just dropped our first EP as a full band, but Jason [Sibilia] had this release called Other Weather that was just him, and it was like this psychedelic instrumental stuff, and that was the first Camden release.

JS: We did the full band release pretty much by ourselves. I have a makeshift studio in my room. The EP came out very recently, on May 27^th actually. I’ve got an MPC and use that to sequence everything.  All of our songs came from Jim and I sitting down in our rooms working everything out on acoustic guitars.

J: You know how it is in a city, rehearsal spaces are few and far between and they charge so much to use the space. Camden was definitely born in a bedroom.  Just a lot of file passing, back and forth, and seeing how things stick.

What’s some of your favorite moments from playing shows together as a full band?

JB: We’ve only been a full band since December, before that, it was just Jason [Sibilia] and Jim playing together. But we’ve been playing very consistently since our first show in January at the Middle East Upstairs.

J: We played this little record store/café in Ithaca, NY.

JB: A friend of mine from home plays in this band called Caution Children and they invited us out there to play, and it was great. The place was packed and they loved us and Caution Children both. We had our record release show not too long ago, and we had them come out to Boston for that, and it was nice to give them the same experience here that they gave us in Ithaca. The Ithaca show was really reaffirming for us, since it was our second or third show together as a band, and we didn’t know anybody at all in Ithaca except for the band, and it was refreshing to see the response from people and see how excited they got.  And we’re also going to be playing at Enormous Room in September with some DJ’s.

T: We’ll also be playing a show at Great Scott on July 13^th, that’ll be our first upcoming show!

JS: I was wondering when somebody was gonna bring that up! [laughs] Yeah, the Ithaca show was great, but we’ve had some less than great moments…

[all laugh]

J: You gotta let me take this one…

Photo: Matt Rosadini

Oh yeah? Tell me about that.

J: We had been offered to play a show, the day of the show, because two bands had dropped out and they really needed to fill some space. We played with this band called Personal Finance at a bar in Cambridge. It was a really rainy spring night, and we got there very early and we were just kind of wierded out from the start. I don’t know if you’ve ever been there, but it is not a place for bands, they usually only have DJs. The stage is the size of a coffee table. The sound guy told me to plug my bass directly into the subwoofer.

JS: (laughs) Yeah, and we were promised free drinks

T: What? I paid for my drinks all night, and I made sure to let them know I was in the band!  [all laugh]

J: An $80 tab later, it was time for us to go on stage.

JB: Yeah, I don’t think we’re ever allowed back.

J: [laughs] Yeah, we said and did some things on the stage, also stopped playing some songs in the middle of them…

Well, by the sound of the place, it seems like it had less to do with drinking and more to do with the fact the venue didn’t have their shit together.

J: Yeah, I mean we got really drunk, but only because it was really lame. There were, like, set up tables and people eating meals all throughout our set.

T: Trust me, we let everyone know how lame it was. I mean, the game was still on the TV…

JS: I mean in hindsight, it was kind of badass. Jim, being the lead singer, started calling people out in the crowd, shouting things at the bartender. At one point he started calling a guy in the front a hippie and telling him to cut his long hair. He came to the afterparty and we saw him there, but he was a really chill guy, having long hair and all.

JB: At one point I just remember thinking, ‘Man, something’s missing’, and then looking over at Tim, and seeing him leaning against a wall with his guitar still on, just staring off.

JS: It was definitely an important lesson, as a young band, we try to take everything we can get, but now we understand the importance of self-preservation. Since then, we’ve only played great shows, at least to us. We got that out of our system for sure; we’ll never do a day-of show like that again.

J: Yeah, the show was free, and there weren’t a lot of people there, so it didn’t really hurt us either, it was just one of those things we couldn’t believe was even happening at the moment.

This is our weekend to-do list. Print it out. Check it off. Enjoy.

–TeaParty | Supertonic

THE REX COMPLEX

[ ] Define a new musical genre

with The Rex Complex at Lizard Lounge

[ ] Get shorn

with Mike Gent & The Rapid Shave at Bull McCabes in Union Square

(BONUS ROUND – if you are on the Cape):

Play some beach blanket bingo

at the Apollo Sunshine Beach Party at The Beachcomber (Wellfleet, MA)

BAD RABBITS at Boston Music Awards Photo: Michael Basu

[ ] Hip Hop around

with Bad Rabbits at the House of Blues

[ ] Pub crawl

with Greater Boston Beer Marathon

[ ] Get a fever, have a vision

at VISIONS VS. FEVER at Good Life

[ ] View the visuals, sip the cocktails

at Videodrome Discothèque Episode 26: “Fix It In The Mix” at Common Ground

[ ] See some absurdist dinner theater at

Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant at Oberon

[ ] DIY with this awesome collective

at Whithaus Presents: Chillers and Grillers Summerfest 2010 at Whitehaus and the Temple

[ ] Get tingly

with Vibrator! at Zuzu

[ ] Shout all the words to your favorite songs whilst looking damn fine

at RESCUE NITE at The Model Cafe

If you strongly prefer witty repartee and tilted fedoras to this summer’s explosions-and-gore film offerings, you might want to check out the Boston Public Library. The epic, inimitable pairing of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy is the focus of the BPL’s Summer Film Series. The library’s film set-up is good, with spacious stadium seating and that most precious of hot weather accommodations, air conditioning. Bring your own popcorn, ice cream, or person you would like to kiss, and file under “that which is awesome and free.”

The series kicked off  July 1st with Keeper of the Flame, and continues up until mid-August.

Here’s the lineup:

07/08 – Woman of the Year 114 min. b/w 1942
07/15 – Without Love 103 min. b/w 1945
07/22 – The Sea of Grass 123 min. b/w 1947
07/29 – State of the Union 123 min. b/w 1948
08/05 – Adam’s Rib 100 min. b/w 1949
08/12 – Pat and Mike 95 min. b/w 1952
08/19 – Desk Set 103 min. color 1957
08/26 – Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner 108 min. color 1967

More information here.

–Christine del Castillo

Friday night, El Bugalu will bring his special brand of 60’s dynamism to the Oberon for Discoteca Sexadelica, an “atomic, cabaret dance-off.” Go-Go dancers will be in attendance. Burlesque will abound. And the rock ‘n’ roll is sure to move you. Bring your A-game.

Supertonic recently chatted with the man behind the music.

– Lis Owuor

You’ve been spinning retro dance parties in the Boston/Cambridge area for 4 years. What dominates your vinyl collection? Any obsessions?

My music taste is diverse but my vinyl arsenal is dominated by hip-shaking 1960’s era soul, funk, Latin, bubblegum, garage, and psychedelic records that were criminally ignored by the pop charts at the time. I have many musical obsessions. Most notably, French Ye-Ye girl favorites such as the famed France Gall and Charlotte Leslie. I also dig American ex-pats who recorded fuzzed out soul records in Europe and the UK. Think: Lester Wilson, Rocky Roberts, Jack Hammer, and anything with gratuitous amounts of Hammond organ, funky drums and sitar. Sub-genres fascinate me. And like any other sub-genre, the majority of records that fall into either of these categories aren’t particularly interesting, but the best ones have a sort of apocalyptic quality combined with amazing music production—this is always sure to catch my eye.

We live in a transient town. How do you motivate Cantabridgians to get up, dance and come back for more? Have tastes changed over the years?

Trends come and go so I don’t bother paying attention to them. I’m only interested in playing timeless records that are fast, loud, funky, furious – and of course, deliciously danceable.

Most DJ’s dabble by night, but you quit your day job while the economy was imploding to take on your passion full-time. Are you surviving? Any practical suggestions for aspiring careerists?

It’s true. I have managed to not have a day job for the last 2 years. It’s certainly been a fun ride. Here are a few pointers:

• Develop a strong work ethic. For a while I rotted away in a cubicle and spent all my free time DJ’ing. I didn’t like the day job but learned a lot of practical people skills and business skills that came in handy when I was ready to DJ full time.

• Think critically about music.

• If you are normal, learn to empathize with the musical sensibilities of abnormal people. If you are not normal, learn to empathize and understand with the musical sensibilities of normal people.

• Be prepared to sell your soul to Satan.

Still, don’t dismiss Oranjuly as a typical pop-rock, power chords and piano band. The crew’s catalog has been years in the making, simmering sweetly in melodic mitosis in the brain of frontman Brian King, resulting in their self-titled debut, which drops this Friday at a release show at the Middle East Downstairs. (Special Note: If you show up to the release show wearing orange, you get a code to download the album for free!)

To put it pure and simple, Oranjuly crafts beyond solid, guitar-pop pieces, drenched in harmonic complexity and crisp instrumentation. Their music is warmly familiar, but fresh enough to not grow boring. The Beach Boys references are unavoidable, but getting hung up on who Oranjuly sounds like, is a waste, when you should be focusing on what they sound like. And what’s that, you ask? They sound like a good time. A really, really good time.

I met up with King, multi-instrumentalist Greg Souza, and drummer Lou Paniccia in Porter Square to talk about the album and the whole group’s sunny disposition. After wandering around for 15 minutes, trying to find a place both quiet enough to do an interview, and inexpensive enough for a rock band and a journalist to eat, we were forced to settle for a park bench and a rock outside of Dunkin’ Donuts.

–Steven Miller

First off, how do you actually pronounce the band’s name? I’ve been having some issues with it.

BK: It’s Oranjuly (Orange-ooo-lie).

LP: It’s ok, we have those issues internally.

GS: When I joined, I was like “I don’t know how to pronounce my own band’s name now.”

I want to talk about the sound of the new album. You guys seem to wear your influences on your sleeve. I don’t think I’ve read anything relating to you in which Brian Wilson is not mentioned at least once.

LP: We have a poster of Brian Wilson hanging in our practice space. He’s right above my head at all times.

BK: I have to name drop here– I interviewed him. It was weird; he only gives one-word answers. So if you want a Brian Wilson style interview, I’ll just answer with yes or no the entire time. I think, early on, when I was writing some of the songs, Weezer was so ingrained in my head. Not so much anymore, I think it’s just one of those things I can’t get away from.

How long ago were these songs written?

BK: Some were written in the past 9 months or so. And some were some of the first songs I ever wrote. I usually write everything at home and have the whole arrangement in my head. Then I bring it to the band and we’ll tweak it.

LP: We’re a dictatorship, not a democracy. He is King, after all.

Are you guys practicing a lot in anticipation of the release show?

LP: We’ve been doing, like twice a week, more or less. Extra emergency ones as needed. I think we’ll be in good shape for the show, we’ve been running these tunes for a while. We’ve got a new one that we want to play.

GS: There’ll also be a surprise cover song.

BK: It’s by a really cheesy 70s guy, but I won’t say who.

You guys booked Everyday Visuals, The Luxury, and Spirit Kid to play the release show with you. Are they some of your favorite local groups?

BK: Yeah, there’s a lot of good local bands that I like, actually. I think Boston’s great for kind of that more melodic pop stuff. I wouldn’t say it’s classic rock based, but it’s a lot of melody. Beach Boys, Queen; people seem to appreciate that stuff here. People like harmonies in Boston.

There’s a school of thought in music that holds that originality is the highest intrinsic good. But I’ve always felt that authenticity is far more valuable. The music you make, albeit highly derivative, feels genuine, like this is what it’s like when you make music, you’re not just imitating someone else. Do you think authenticity outweighs originality?

BK: Yeah, I’d say so. But I think the stuff I’m doing now doesn’t really sound like all those other artists. A little of it does, because it’s just kind of inherent. But I’m not going for a certain sound nowadays. I think it’s fine to use your influences. I think pretty much every band does it. The Beatles did it. Like, the first couple Beatles albums are mostly cover songs.

GS: The more recent songs you’ve written, you can’t listen to and say “Oh, that’s a Beach Boys song!”

BK: Yeah, I think it’s just a natural progression. I’ve only been writing songs, since, like, 2005 or 2006. But I’m always going to be writing songs no matter what. I’d like to just do music and not work.

GS: I’m quitting my job next month. [laughs]

Anything else you’d like to say?

BK: Come to the show. It’ll be lots of fun. Shit always gets weird when we play. In a good way.

Coming to help you work it out, may we present The Fire and the Reason, an electro/baile-funk/dance carnival from New York. The easy-on-the-eyes duo are coming to Boston for a performance at Cool Ranch on June 30th. We got to drill them for a few tibdits of information before they make you dance. And dance you will.

–Kristen Schaer

The Fire and Reason “Do It Again (Remix Version)” from The Fire and Reason on Vimeo.

Tell us a little more about your sound and influences.

We are influenced by pretty much everything and anything. Steve tends to veer more towards heavy electro/beats and rock and I love pop. So you mix both of those together and you get what we consider EDGY POP. We are also influenced by our Latin culture, we sing songs in Portuguese, and Spanish, as well as incorporating rhythms and sounds from Brazil, Paraguay, and Ecuador– where our backgrounds are. We have a few “Baile-Funk” Style songs that are always crowd-pleasers, although most people don’t know what we are singing about– they love the beats.

How did you come together as a duo?

I met Steve a few years back, when I snuck into a show that he was doing with his old band Radiate– I was underage so my sister and I snuck in after I heard this insane sound coming out of the club. After the band was done I went straight up to Steve and said “Hi I’m Bella, I’m a singer too…” We got in touch and soon enough he broke up that group to focus on The Fire and the Reason full time. We started out as a duo, writing songs on Garage Band, evolved into a 4-piece rock band, and have come around full circle so to speak, to being a duo once again, just like when we started off.

You’ve done some performances for Logo TV. Tell us about your connection with them.

Well we have been quite fortunate to be honest, we have a lot of amazing people that have come into our lives, and have really fallen in love with our music, and have supported and helped us incredibly. One of those people is Kevin Graves, who works with everyone (Larry Tee, DJs Are Not Rockstars Records, etc.) who played some of our music for Jeremiah Silva from Logo- Jermiah liked what he heard and said that he wanted us to be part of the Second Annual New Now Next Awards that he was putting together. We were ecstatic to be asked to perform, and then getting nominated for Brink of Fame: Music Artist, and winning was just completely icing on an already delicious 7 tier cake– I mean to be put in the same category as Lykke Li, LMFAO, Ladyhawke, Morningwood, and more and win is pretty surreal, especially for a pretty new, unsigned act.

Tell us some more about your remix album and collaboration with Larry Tee.

Well we have a remix series coming out this summer on DJ’s are Not Rockstars, which is Larry Tee and Alexander Technqiue’s record label. Over the past year we have had some amazing DJs/Producers ask to remix some of our tracks, and we actually amassed like over 15 hot Remixes. Steve and I spoke with our managers, who also are part owners of DANR Records, about putting out some of these remixes, which had already started to leak on the internet, just to give them a proper release, hence the remix series. I think we are looking to release a 3 song EP every month over the summer, so check it out because their are some amazing electro-dance-rock tracks coming out. Larry Tee, the godfather/creator of Electro-Clash. To have him as a friend and an early supporter has been incredible. We also have a few collaborations that we are working on that will see release very soon as well– can’t give everything away!

What’s the story about your name?

The name… yes, the truth is that it’s a line from a song that Steve actually wrote before he even met me. He was thinking of starting a project that was more dance-rock (less heavy-rock like his previous group) and wrote a song called “OUCH” that had the line- “I am the fire and the reason, don’t underestimate this sound.” So when we were bouncing around names, it sort of came up. The other choice we were thinking about was The Amazon, because it is the river that flows through both of our countries, Ecuador and Brazil, but I think with me being a female frontwoman, we would have gotten way more wonder woman questions and references. I like the name, it’s very open to interpretation, and people are always coming up to us, to tell us what it means to them… so I love it!

Pop quiz: What do vintage shops, talented designers, local businesses, and day-drinking have in common? If you answered, “They’re the four things that I most love to support!” you would be correct, but the real answer is  that you can indulge in all of the above this Saturday as you Sip and Shop with Grand and Poor Little Rich Girl.

Saturday’s event marks the re-launch of Poor Little Rich Girl’s flagship in its move from Davis Square to new digs in a space shared with Grand. The home accessories store is an amazing destination for fun and smart design – their array of animal-themed collectibles is sincerely not to be missed. Grand is also gaining a reputation as a hub for community enterprises (such as last summer’s Ice Cream Showdown) and area start-ups (it was the first brick and mortar home of the Boston Shaker). In keeping with the local theme, libations are courtesy of area brewers Pretty Things Beer. So come on out, snag a drink, and get pretty inside and out as you shop local in sweetly tipsy style.

–Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong