Earlier this month, the quartet was back at Harper’s Ferry opening for the Breakfast. Starting out with fan-favorite “UFO,” they got feet moving. As the crowd grew in numbers, a smoking “Brosiah Man Down” gained everybody’s attention and let keyboardist Eric McEwen tear through an impressively funky solo. Between the debut of a new original called “High Gravity,” which incorporated more of an electronic sound, to covers of Pink Floyd and Jaco Pastorious, the band surely accrued a wave of new fans.

Due to the fine Boston weather, spirits were high as I was able to catch up with the band before their set. Between our conversation and another solid set of music, there is no doubt that Mondo Gecko strives to take their live shows to an entirely new level.

–Perry Eaton

So to start, who is Mondo Gecko?

Luke: I’m Luke (Stratton), I play guitar and sing.

Aaron: I’m Aaron (Morey), I play drums.

Walley: I’m (Andrew) Walley, I play the electric bass.

Eric: And I’m Eric (McEwen) on the keys and vocals.

How did you guys initially come together?

L: We kind of keep it a secret, but we all met at Berklee. Aaron and I met, and then Aaron and Eric met in a class called “The Jamband Ensemble.” Then Walley used to go to Berklee and we just kind of knew people through that, so we started playing.

And were some of you in previous Boston bands before Mondo Gecko?

W: I was in a band called Frit before.

L: I had never been in a band before. I was a DJ for a while and when I came to Berklee, this was basically my first project.

Is there one principle songwriter in Mondo Gecko or is it more of a collaborative effort?

W: I would say it’s kind of collaborative. Somebody brings a song in or a main idea, but when it comes down to it, everybody kind of makes their own parts.

E: Somebody brings in a seed and we all water it. Some of them are duds. But some of them we water really long.

What are some Boston venues you guys have enjoyed playing?

L: We pretty much only play Harper’s (Ferry) in Boston now. We started playing at All Asia and we used to play at Bill’s Bar, but they don’t book bands anymore. We like here and the Middle East.

What are some other bands you guys like to play with?

L: Definitely the Breakfast. Musically, it lines up with what we’re playing. U-Melt is really awesome. Dopapod too, their guitar player, Rob plays with us sometimes.

So Judging from the sets I’ve seen you guys play, there’s a lot of covers–especially Phish and Grateful Dead stuff–one might venture and say that you guys are a jamband. What are some of the positives and negatives of this classification?

E: I think we can get away with not practicing. We can just get up there and play.

A: I disagree.

L: I disagree too. I think we practice in a different way. I think being a jamband, there’s a legacy we have to follow of all the other bands that came before us. It’s really open-ended because we could write a setlist and then not follow it and we can even write new music on the spot. We can tease tunes from earlier in the set or from other nights or from other bands, it’s like a musical puzzle.

What non-musical things do you think help the band? Do you guys have a following similar to some other jambands?

L: I think that Gecko fans are really nice. They’re really warm to people that they don’t know. There’s not like a whole army of them, but the ones that come see us a lot all know each other and we all know them really well, we hang out outside of playing shows. It’s a small family that’s sort of slowly growing, you know?

W: Slowly makin’ more Gecko babies.

Did you find that Berklee provided an atmosphere where people were willing to collaborate or did you find it more competitive?

L: Well I can’t speak for everybody else but I felt kind of like a black sheep there. I got there and I thought there would be a lot of jam-type musicians, but there are a lot of jazz guys or shredder guys who didn’t really grow up listening to the bands we grew up listening to.

W: There aren’t enough people that are badass, that’s all I gotta say. Musicians that are cool that I know are like Jim Morrison. Jim Morrison would never go to Berklee.

A: You know Jim Morrison?

E: There are a lot of different pods of musicians at Berklee. There are some really good international musicians and stuff. That’s why I went there, to learn other styles of music. They have some cool classes there, they have anything from like Afro-Cuban stuff to like a Techno-Rave ensemble and turntable classes. So they’re hip with it.

What’s one good album you guys are really into right now?

W: Every Frank Zappa album. I’ve also been listening to Clones of Dr. Funkenstein by Parliament Funkadelic.

E: I’m a firm believer in the iPod Shuffle, I don’t really care what comes up.

Good Answer

L: I would say lately I’ve been listening to Rubblebucket a lot. We went to school with a couple of those guys, but that aside they’re absolutely tearing it up right now. Their self-titled is really good. And the New Deal. They’ve got a new live album out that’s really solid.

A: I was gonna say Rubblebucket too. They’ve got a really fresh thing going on. It’s been in my CD player since Luke gave it to me.

Festival season is around the corner, do you guys have any plans to play any festivals?

L: We have six dates confirmed already for Maine Vocals. They have these festivals up in Harmony, Maine- we’re doing Peace Jam, Somerset County Jam, and in October we’re doing Harvest Fest. We’ll probably do Jerry Jam again, which is in Northern New Hampshire. Bellstock in Albany, New York. We’re trying to get into Nateva and some of the bigger festivals but it’s really hard if you’re not signed and you haven’t been on like a national tour all year. We might try and do Big Up festival. We’ll probably hit up some Phish dates and play in the parking lot too.

Any plans for a studio album?L: Yeah we’ve been working on one. It’s a long process.

W: It’s not as easy as it sounds.

L: It’s hard when you can’t afford studio time. We usually find a spot to set up mics and just go play for a weekend and then we do overdubs. It’s in the works, we’ll say that. Look out for a fall release.

Anything else that Mondo Gecko fans should know about?

L: We just keep on keeping on. We’re available for house parties and backyard festivals. But be sure to get out and see us live this spring.

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

–TeaParty

P.S. Add your own events in the comments. We mean it.

[ ] Make up for missing another the XX show

When So Dope presents: THE XX OFFICIAL AFTER PARTY w/ Jamie XX:

[ ] Nerd out in the coolest way possible

at ” T R U S T “: ANIME BOSTON 2010

Photo: Jordan Noel

[ ] Play cool and pretend you don’t already know all the words to “Kill Me Carolyne”

When the Whigs play Harpers’s Ferry

[ ] Use up all that fake blood leftover from Halloween (we know you’ve been saving it)

When DEATHFACE takes on NO TOMORROW – THE FINAL SIGN

[ ] Check out some cool art in a cool space

at U MAD HUH:  Objects and works on paper by Kathryn Marie Payne, Brian Connolly, Ryan O’Toole, and Tom Lutz

[ ] Get down with some tasteful (mostly) nudes

at FOXY at Zuzu

As usual, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to round up the best shows happening this weekend because, to quote Freezepop, “we just wanna rokk.”

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

–TeaParty

P.S. Feel free to add your own events in the comments!

FRIDAY

THE LIGHTS OUT

[ ] Figure out why Midatlantic aren’t called The Bleedin Bleedins anymore

when they play with The Lights Out, Muy Cansado, Leo Blais at the Middle East Upstairs

[ ] Get your Baroque-ballet-set-to-African-drumming fix (you’ve totally been craving, no?) with Alonzo King Lines Ballet

at the ICA

[ ] Read up on The Everyday Visuals, Me And JoanCollins, Thick As Thieves to prep for their show

at TT the Bear’s Place

[ ] Ask Ad Frank where his Fast Easy Women are when he plays with other “& Bands” Corin Ashley & the Shy 5, Mike Gent & the Rapid Shave

At Precinct Bar

[ ] Experience real, live “NH Funk Music Band Supreme” Welcome to Florida

With Tubby Love and Sugar Mama at Harper’s Ferry

SATURDAY

Thomas Parr and Chaetan Newell of CROQUET & PREGNANCIES

[ ] See the combined bigness of The Big Big Bucks and The Big Disappointments crammed into the Cantab Lounge Downstairs

With Croquet & Pregnancies and Horsehands

[ ] Appreciate the convenience and coincidence of old timey string band Carolina Chocolate Drops are playing where one can actually purchase candy

At the Somerville Theatre (concessions, FTW)

[ ] Party even MORE for Haiti at the Adam Ezra Group CD release show-turned-Haiti relief benefit

With Girls Guns and Glory at the Paradise

[ ] Try to describe the show at the Middle East Upstairs without using the word “fusion”

In regards to Love in Stockholm, The Phix, Re Up, Joy Daniels

[ ] Pretend the 80s weren’t, like, 30 years ago at Heroes

with DJ Chris Ewen spinning 80’s new wave, while Bartrendress Terri quenches your thirst at TT The Bear’s Place

[ ] Get your bleepy bloop  music, Wintertime-style at Winter’pop 2010

with Freezepop, BM Linx, Twin Berlin, DJ Michael V., DJ Vadum Rankin at Great Scott

NOUVELLE VAGUE

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

–TeaParty

MISSION OF BURMA Photo: Bob Weston

[ ] Share some VISIONS with one of Bushwick’s best, Cobra Krames

with Mr. Mistaker, DJ Die Young, David Day and DJ Volvox at Good Life.

[ ] Show off your Running Man with Endway

at the Middle East Upstairs with Your Vegas, Defeo, Ok Captain

[ ] Download free “Stick Up Kids” EP in time to practice smooth dance moves before Bad Rabbits CD Release show

at Harper’s Ferry with Black Madeen, Samuel Adams, and Wale

[ ] Spit whiskey with St Helena

at P.A.’s Lounge with The Ugly Efflings, Broken River Prophet, The Northeast Sky

The Men of FOXY Photo: Neil Contractor

[ ] Funk up your mind with deep disco at ZuZu,

courtesy of FOXY 2010 “PUTTING THE BANG IN GANG” with Joseph Colbourne, Nathanael Bluhm and James Cerne

[ ] See David Lowery open for himself at the Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven show

at the Middle East Downstairs

[ ] Check out the latest It-Brits/Johnny Marr project, The Cribs

with The Dead Trees and Adam Green at the Paradise

In an undeniably diverse Boston music scene, it has only taken The Organic Sound Project a matter of months to break out of their infancy and begin formulating their own distinguishable music. Spearheaded by a duo of Dans, Dan Batista and Dan Levenstein, who have been writing together for years, the group rounded out its complete five-piece lineup just a short time ago and are already clicking on many levels.

On December 14th, OSP played at Harper’s Ferry in Allston supporting New England jam veterans The Breakfast. The band’s set ignited with the energetic “Sunday Morning,” one of the more notable songwriting efforts off of OSP’s self-titled EP. Immediate traces to the Dave Matthews Band and the Rustic Overtones were thrown at me, but I was yet to realize just what kind of individuality this band achieves in a live setting. Other early originals like “Time” showcased their keen sense of improvisation and the talent of saxophonist Aiden Rush, while “Tonight” displayed their ability to slow the pace while maintaining a polished groove that leaves space for ample soloing.

New tunes such as “Painted Pictures” reassured me that the future is nothing but exciting for this young band as they were once again able to extend themselves to new territories musically while giving equal importance to writing creative lyrics and clever hooks. A cover of Van Morrison’s “Moondance” was anything but modest, grabbing the attention of first-timers and keeping more seasoned fans moving and wanting more. A set-ending “Gasoline,” one of Batista’s first works as a songwriter, held the crowd captive to the very last note and assuredly sealed the deal for many new fans. From first listen, it was clear that OSP is one of those bands that cannot be restricted by one specific genre, but rather a group that pulls influences from a number of different realms. Continually building off of every songwriting effort, recording session, and live experience, this is a band that is certainly thinking progressively. While they always strive to maintain their own unique sound, they hope to have a bit of something for everyone. Dan B. even hinted (although don’t say it too loud), that the band may be incorporating electronics into their live sound. The Organic Sound Project will be a fun band to watch evolve and progress in 2010, both on stage and in the studio. This thought only solidified as I was able to catch up with the band for a few questions that same night.

–Perry Eaton

Hey guys! Nice to meet you. Introduce yourselves, who are the Organic Sound Project?

Mike: I’m Mike [Rivard], I’m the drummer.

Dan L: I’m Dan [Levenstein], I play violin and guitar.

Dan B: I’m also Dan, Dan [Batista], I play lead guitar and sing lead vocals.

Aiden: I’m Aiden [Rush], I play saxophone and piano.

Eric: I’m Eric [Toussaint], I play bass.

Cool, so tell me a little about how you guys came to be a band.

DL: Good question. My freshman year (2006), I was jamming at Northeastern with some guys from my dorm. I was playing violin and my guitar was just sitting unused and Dan B walked by and asked if he could sit in. Apparently Northeastern was setting up some “beginning of school” event and there was going to be some bands there and one of the soundstage workers walked by and asked if we wanted to play. We were like, “Yeah man, we’d love to play, but we’re not really a band though.” He didn’t believe us, but we wound up playing a solid 10 minute set. We kind of pulled it out our ass, but I guess it was technically our first gig.

How did the other OSP members come into play?

DB: Well after our first gig, the other guys who we played with kind of fell off the face of the earth. I met Aiden in music industry class and he wanted to come jam out with us and then the three of us started writing music together for about a year before we started gigging regularly. Then we met these two clowns (Mike Rivard and Eric Toussaint) on Craigslist and we held auditions and they were the ones we wanted.

So when it comes to songwriting, is there one principal songwriter or is it more of a collaborative effort?

A: I would say that the main songwriters are Dan B. and Dan L. when it comes to chords and hooks. The thing we all decide on together is form and structure. Dan will come with an idea and we can all kind of build off of it. It all kind of changes though, especially when we play songs live.

What are some of OSP’s musical influences?

M: For me it kind of goes everywhere from old jazz drummers to some of the great jamband drummers to some more popular drummers that are out there. My influences are pretty broad.

DL: I’m a huge Radiohead fan so that’s always first and foremost in terms of influences, but I also grew up playing classical music, so classical violin has always been a big part of my musical taste.

DB: I grew up in a musical family, so I was always used to a lot of different types of music. Actually, my first band was a hardcore band back in New York City, but my main influences really come from the blues, old rock and roll, like Hendrix, Santana, Steely Dan.

Any local or up-and-coming groups on your radar?

E: There’s this band, I think they’re on the bill tonight, they’re from Boston called the Organic Sound Project. (Band laughs)

DL: I’m a big fan of Spiritual Rez, we played with them on Halloween, they’re great guys. Rubblebucket [Orchestra] kicks ass, they actually just won a Boston Music Award for Live Act of the Year.

Would you describe OSP as a live band above all else?

DB: We always bring something new live; it’s definitely an experience, but we also love our songs and we love recording.

E: We’re also really good at dancing, which you might get to see tonight if you stick around.

DB: Yeah, he does the Eric boogie. Our X-Factor is that we’re all trained and we can do improv. We’ve been doing it for a long time, so it makes every show different each time we play. I wouldn’t necessarily consider us a jamband in that factor though.

E: For as much emphasis as there is on the live part of it, we put a lot of effort into songwriting and structure and dynamic. So I think we’re very conscious of how the songs will develop in the studio as well.

Do you guys have any favorite Boston venues?

DB: [The Middle East] Downstairs is awesome. We’ve had nothing but great experiences there. This place too [Harper’s Ferry]. We’re definitely excited to be playing here again.

As a whole, what can OSP fans expect in the coming year?

DB: We got some new music coming out, we’re working on quite a stack of new tunes. We’re going into the studio basically planning on a small release for right now, probably due for late winter or early spring. Then we’ll be working on a full-length in the early fall. Until then, we’re just trying to keep up the energy live and make every experience worth it for the listener.

Thanks a lot guys, and good luck in 2010.

In the midst of setting up the merch table, preparing for his own set, and making sure opener Cecil Otter was ready to take the stage, Sage was in somewhat of a frenzy when I first arrived at Harpers Ferry. But even in the whirlwind of preparations, his excitement for the night’s upcoming performances – both his and those of his friends who’d take the stage before him – was apparent. Not until he was seated on a couch for our interview did he seemed to calm, thoughtfully reflecting on his past work and talking, albeit guardedly, about his upcoming project. Even then, several times he stopped mid-sentence to check in on the other artists, only to resume a minute later without missing a beat. All in a day’s work for an indie rap legend/record label president.

–Tim Burdick

I’m really excited about this show. I would make the trip out to Allston to see any one of these guys, so it’s great that all of you are here tonight.

Yeah. I flew out Cecil Otter. I flew out Sleep and DJ Zone. They’re hardly ever on the East Coast, so that alone makes this a special show for me. It’s just having a Strange family gathering which only happens a few times a year. The last time we did was at SXSW in Austin. That was amazing, so I’m hoping for similar results tonight. The crowd is already filling in. I was getting nervous; I start to question myself and what kind of following I have in New England. I’m much bigger on the West Coast and in the Midwest. Then I come play my home venues and it’s a fledging crowd. I put on an extra push for this show. My own set is very long tonight, so the openers have to go on early. Cecil is going first tonight and he just flew into Providence like two hours ago. We had to pick him up at the airport and drive here. I’m glad there’s a crowd down there. In fact, I need to start making sure everything is all set up down there; he goes on in 20 minutes. I’m starting to get nervous.

Well, obviously you have this show tonight, but it seems like it has been pretty quiet for you recently. I guess quiet is a relative term, since you been involved with knowmore.org, and running a label, and you recently released a mixtape, but it’s been a couple of years since your last album.

Yeah, it’s been about three years since Human the Death Dance. Since then I have been working on a lot of stuff. Material that had no chance of making my new album turned into the mixtape [Sick of Wasting…]. We figured we would release the mixtape for free – give people an option to pay if they want. Really it was just to hold people over and show people that things are still active and that I haven’t quit. (laughs) I’d love to talk about the project I’ve been working on, but I’m going to hold off on that. It’s just been so long in the making that I don’t want to start talking about it. If I had started talking about it back when I first started on it, people would be bugging me right now. But, something’s happening. It’s been a huge undertaking, and early next year it will see the light of day. I’m not going to say more because I don’t want to jinx it.

We can leave it at that. You briefly mentioned Human the Death Dance, can you talk about that some more?

In retrospect, it wasn’t the time to release an album like that. It felt like a scrapbook when I listened to it, which I intentionally did. I was going for a mixtape feel on it, and I don’t think that’s how it came across. There were a couple scattered songs on there that hint toward where I’ve moved on my newer material. Now that I’ve got a new album nearing completion, it’s funny to look back on that and realize what I took from that, and built upon, and then I just threw away the rest. I didn’t want to revisit a lot of the shit that is on that album. That album really is a retrospective; it really is a look back on everything I had done prior, recreating certain moods and feels and building upon them. This new one, I worked with someone who rejected certain things and set boundaries. That excited me, because it’s a whole new game plan for me. Every previous album has been pretty much me putting it together. I get beats from people, but then I produce the whole record. This time it was not like that.

It seems that most emcees pair up with a DJ or even a live band, but it’s always seemed like the people that made your beats have been more behind the scenes. I know Hope featured beats made just by Joey Beats, but besides that…

Yeah, it’s scattered, because I always just collect beats from people. I have a huge catalog of unused beats that I dip into from time to time. I just wait for the mood to strike, or I have lyrics that I think will fit a beat and I just build on it like that. Even Hope took a while to make because it took a while to get enough beats that I thought were good enough from the same person. And just like every other album, I developed that album in the studio and put together a lot of the pieces on my own. It’s one of my favorites, but it really felt like how I made every other record. There was a concept with that album obviously. It was a throwback album. It was a period piece. People keep asking if we’re going to do another, but I don’t want to do another one. I did that for the sake of making a throwback record. I don’t ever want to build a career on making throwback material. Some people make careers out of that -more power to them-  but I’m not Sha Na Na, and that’s that. There were other directions I had to go in. I was really happy to make the retrospective album, because that was an era that I grew up and am in love with. I got to pay homage, and give head nods to almost every group that influenced me, and let that be that.

And if you made a second one-

It would be really repetitive. (laughs) It’s riddled with references. Every track has at least fifteen references to various people. I guess the well was tapped after that. I can’t make another record like that. I never even considered it, even before I made that record. I knew I wanted to make that record, but it was never in my head to make another one like that.

You mentioned that you have this collection of beats, do you normally write to a beat, or do you choose from stuff you’ve already written, or is it a little bit of everything?

There’s no set way of doing it for me. I have a lot of writing that sits around – sometimes it gets used, sometimes it never gets used. Other times a piece of music will inspire a flow of words that turn into their own thing – it happens really quickly. Other times I slave over a song for weeks or months; I just keep chipping away at it. If the wording isn’t really impressing me, it just sits there and percolates until I feel like it’s been birthed somehow. That is how it happens. That’s why some albums take three years to make. There’s a lot to obsess over.

Do you think some of your obsession with wording comes from your background in the slam scene?

No. The reason that I say no is because I’ve been writing raps –like rhyme couplets, interesting rhyme schemes, using punch lines– the slam scene is irrelevant to me. The poetry scene that introduced me to slam did improve my writing because it put me in touch with a lot of writers that I think are amazing. They don’t really involve themselves with the slam scene. On the other hand, I was very hungry for attention and a microphone and to be in front of crowds. I just always had that in me. I was doing the battles because I just wanted to get my name out there. I was trying to build a career. I think slam back then had a little bit more credibility than it does now. It actually worked out for me; I scored a paying job. But my obsession with writing doesn’t stem from anything like that. I really think it’s an obsessive-compulsive disorder that I have.

It works out for you…

Yeah, except that I’m just haunted by word combinations and melodies. It won’t stop. It can be pretty fucking annoying. (laughs)

Can you talk for a second about the connection between Boston and Providence?

There was tension in the late 90s when I first started putting out records and had a radio show. The Boston scene was burgeoning; there were really good 12”s coming out of Boston. There was a lot of really good stuff. The same thing was happening in Providence, except we didn’t seem to have the resources or know-how to actually run a label or put out music properly. So, we would always come up to Boston and support the shows and do the battles in Boston. I won the Superbowl Battle in Boston. Ever since then, I haven’t been around enough. I went to New York and then started touring. I’ve been touring up until now, and now I’m running Strange Famous out of Rhode Island and almost everything that matters to me is on Strange Famous. I don’t follow too much else. I know that sounds selfish, but fuck it. I wish I had a better answer for you. I think you would need to ask a 19-year-old kid in Boston or Providence who raps about that. They could give you an accurate answer. My thumb is not on the pulse of anything like that. I’m just glad that people from Boston come to my shows. (laughs) The other thing is that the scene in Providence actually benefitted from Boston having a fucked up venue situation back when I was younger. Everybody came to Providence and skipped Boston because there was so much violence in Boston. Clubs were shutting down and others wouldn’t host hip-hop shows. Providence benefitted from that. Now, it’s the exact opposite. All the Providence clubs have closed down and everyone is coming to Boston.

From the banner hanging on the DJ table to the matching jackets of the four performers, it was clear that the night before Veteran’s Day, Harpers Ferry belonged to Providence indie rap label Strange Famous Records.

The night began with Cecil Otter of highly regarded Minneapolis collective, Doomtree. Only hours removed from the last of the three flights it took him to get to Boston, Cecil made the sure the crowd knew how excited he was to be there: “I wore my best flannel for Boston,” he announced, adding after a pause, “It cost me five bucks.” This sheepish sincerity continued throughout his performance as he treated listeners to standouts such as the brutally confessional “Matchbook Diaries,” the guitar riff-riddled “Demon Girl” – a reminder of Doomtree’s punk roots – and the title track off his album, Rebel Yellow, which has been recently re-released by SFR.

Rhode Island native B. Dolan was next on stage with a deftly crafted mix of spoken-word-leaning songs off his first album, The Failure, and rap-oriented tracks off his recent mixtape, House of Bees. In either medium, Dolan is not shy about addressing politics, dedicating crowd favorite “Joan of Arcadia” to Sarah Palin. He performed “Lucifer”- which samples the similarly named Jay-Z track – while holding up a large sign displaying the home address of former CEO of Union Carbide Warren Anderson. There were also a few glimpses of material off his upcoming project with full production by anticon emcee/producer Alias, Fallen House, Sunken City; in particular, a piece about Marvin Gaye silenced the room.  By the end of the set, his voice was failing him – he attributed it to a smoke machine at a show the day before – but he powered through, thanking the crowd before leaving the stage: “I’ve been feeling real at home in Boston lately.”

Next up, the soft spoken and baby-faced Sleep seemed to catch the crowd off guard with his tightly wound delivery, perfectly synchronized with up-tempo beats. They may have been equally surprised when this man who seemed so young himself dedicated a song to his teenage daughter.  Cofounder of Pacific Northwest crew Oldominion, the Portland, Oregon resident hadn’t been back to the East Coast in five years. He performed a mix of tracks off his most recent album, Hesitation Wounds, and his previous album, Christopher, which was just re-released by Strange Famous Records. His excitement over the visit shone through even though his voice was clearly suffering from the same smoke-machine-induced damage that B. Dolan endured. Now that he has linked up with Strange Famous, fans will (hopefully) not need to wait another five years before his next appearance in Boston.

And then it was time for Sage Francis. Not touring in support of anything in particular, the Providence native gave a special performance, aimed more at long time fans than at new listeners. The set list included only a few songs off his most recent album Human the Death Dance – the combined version of “Waterline” and “Good Fashion” was a crowd pleaser- and fan favorite Personal Journals. He drew heavily from A Healthy Distrust, his Sick of… mix tapes, and Non-Prophets material. Obscure selections didn’t seem to deter the crowd. Fans shouted along and traded lines with Sage, silent only when he performed a few unfamiliar songs off his upcoming project. Even as the set stretched towards the two hour mark, the audience showed no signs of fading or dwindling. For his part, Sage – wearing the Strange Famous banner as a cape – kept right up with the crowd, breaking only when he was joined on stage by B. Dolan and (special guest) Prolyphic for a performance of “Survived Another Winter”.

Before Strange Famous invaded Harpers Ferry, we got a chance to pull up some barstools with B. Dolan, Cecil Otter, and Sleep, and then sit down with Sage Francis.

–Tim Burdick

- I’m Not Sha Na Na and That’s That: A Sit Down with Sage Francis

- Smoke Machines and Rereleases: The Happenings of B. Dolan, Cecil Otter, and Sleep

With dual frontmen trading lines at top volume and a dueling pair of DJs, there is no risk of boredom at a Big Digits show. The recent addition of a projected video backdrop now lends a level of full-on audiovisual confusion to their live set. My fascination with each of the elements of their show made it a bit difficult to keep track of everything the members of Big Digits were doing on stage, but the potentially dangerous levels of sensory overload didn’t prevent the crowd from dancing along frantically–although no one was a match for the energetic moves of TD.

Before the show (but after getting chased out of Harpers Ferry by some overly enthusiastic sound checking), we joined Big Digits at a place down the street, in a booth meant for far less than six people. TD, Mac, Mark E. Moon, and Mikey spoke frankly about the benefits and burdens of making music that sticks them somewhere between the hip hop scene and the electronic scene (we’ll let you decide where an invite to play a show at a Hot Topic puts them in your own mental music library), and about some of the challenges of being participants in the Boston music scene in general. It wasn’t all so serious though; we also got the scoop on the time that Public Enemy lyrics saved Mac during a confrontation with a state trooper and the night that TD found out what his spirit animal was.

–Tim Burdick

We are here with Big Digits– introduce yourselves.

Mac (M): My name is Mac. I’m from West Newbury, MA.

Mark (MM): Mark E. Moon, from Long Island.

TD: TD. I’m from Seattle, WA.

Mikey (Mi): I’m Mikey, and I’m from Worcester, MA.

So, with you from Seattle, and you from Long Island, what brought you all to Boston?

TD: I’m sure they’re both long and somewhat boring stories that are not worth recounting. I wanted to live on the East Coast, but I didn’t want to live in New York. The story had some twists and turns, but brevity is the wit of the soul. My story would just be extremely boring to anyone-

MM: He moved here to be near Tanya Donnelly.

TD: That is not true. I didn’t even know who Tanya Donnelly was.

MM: So, who did you move here to be near?

TD: It was to be near Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I believe she has a summer home here.

How did you guys meet and how did you come to make music together?

TD: Well, years ago I lived in an apartment in Somerville with a young lady who was dating Mac. Mac would come around and we’d talk about music. Because- [To Mac] were you DJing at WMFO at the time?

M: Yeah.

TD: Actually, before that I had known Mark from comics. I used to work in a comic book store in Harvard Square. So, Mac and I would talk about music, and eventually he came to me and was like, “Hey man, I’m starting this project”. It was something very different from what it is now, and then Mac’s computer crashed and that went out the window. He came to me later, and was like, “I want to start this rap thing. Would you want to do that?” and I said yes. So, that’s the way we kind of started. We started out as pretty straight ahead rap stuff and then we both wanted to do a little bit more with it. So, we spent some time exploring different ideas and avenues. We knew Mark was an excellent DJ around town, and we asked him if he would want to live DJ for us, like regular rap groups have. Then, we had known Mikey from around town for years and we wanted to have more people involved. There were times when Mark couldn’t do stuff, so we were like, “Let’s have Mikey come on,” because we really like his DJing stuff and electronic music.

Can you guys take us through your writing process?

M: It starts when I just fool around with loops and come up with the basis for a song. I send it to TD, and if TD likes it, we’ll work on it together in a practice space. After we get something that we think is a song, we bring in Mark or Mikey and ask him what he can put on top of it. Until this past year -we’ve been together for over 6 years -  I’ve been doing all the production. It’s gets tiresome and frustrating, so I’ve been asking for help and Mark and Mikey have been doing some production for us: helping with the beats aspect. As far as lyrics go, TD and I tend to write things separately and mash them together. Or I write a verse first and he asks me what its generally about. Usually it’s something completely random; I try to stay away from personal life, politics, or anything like that. I like to pick the craziest things possible to rhyme together. It usually ends up being about rapping, or dancing, something like that. We tend to write the verses separately and the choruses together. By the time it gets to the stage everybody has added something to it, which is good because everyone has a very interesting perspective on music and dance music. It’s great to have those extra perspectives, rather than just the two of us.

How would you say that those perspectives differ?

TD: Well, because we’re all different ages, there’s a wide swath of musical interests amongst the four of us. Think of it as a Venn diagram. There are definitely some things right there in the middle for all four of us, but there are definitely big parts of the circles that do not match. Just because you’re not into a certain type of music, doesn’t mean that someone bringing an idea from that perspective isn’t going to be welcome. I think that is a big key to why this works. For example, Mark E. Moon is doing a series of remixes highlighting artists like Blues Traveler and Alanis Morissette. I, myself, would have never thought of that or been able to achieve it.

MM: In my defenses, I don’t particularly like those artists, so that’s part of the challenge. I’ll try to bring in samples of stuff that I don’t like, and make it something I like. I feel like hatred is just as strong an emotion as love.

TD: Whoa. Are you into Depeche Mode now? (laughs)

MM: I just mean it’s better to get a strong reaction either way. And I feel the same way about our show. People are either really into us, or hate us.

So, are there any songs in the Big Digits catalogue that really stand out to you as favorites?

TD: I’m always really excited to play “Making Progress” because it’s kind of a ballad about trying in the face of adversity. Boston is a great town in a lot of ways, but as a musician it can be very tough, especially in terms of longevity. It’s such a transitory population. Also, bands break up. It’s expensive to live here, and it’s tough to be in a band. “Making Progress” is just about diligence and change. Incremental change…. You’ll see when we play it.

M: I like that song a lot too. I think I sort of hit my creative production peak at that point. There’s a lot going on beat-wise and sound-wise in that song. Somehow, I just hit the jackpot. It doesn’t happen every song, but that song… I’m just really, really proud of it.

Mi: I really like “Longwood”. (murmurs of agreement) … it’s soft, but everything really comes together really well. Because I’m the youngest one, it doesn’t really… apply to me at all – it’s just a song … but I still love it.

M: That’s produced by somebody else. That’s not an in-house production. A friend of mine from Philly named Michael Robinson made that. And that’s the only track that none of us have had a hand in beat-wise at all. He sent us a track, it was perfect as is, and we just started writing from there.

We talked about the collaborative nature of your writing process and live performances… what about in the studio?

M: Well, we’ve never been in a studio. We record it with Mikey in his home studio, which is basically just a jerry-rigged bathroom-

Mi: Bathroom closet.

M: It’s a wonderful set up–

Mi: A little hot…

M: It was a little hot, yeah. But mostly we – and I know this term is floated around a lot, but we subscribe to it, even it is overused – but we literally do everything ourselves. Record, mix, master, all that stuff, without a studio, on laptops, in someone’s house, in someone’s bathroom closet. There’s no studio, there’s no fancy mixing board. We don’t have an office. We don’t have any press people working for us. We don’t have a manager. We book all our own shows. We book all our own tours. It’s incredibly draining to do everything ourselves. TD and I are the core of it, so we’re always doing something. So, yeah it doesn’t really change. I’d say the one difference is that when you’re on stage you can feed off the energy of the audience. If it’s a good show, it brings our lyrical performance to the next level. When you’re in a booth or in a practice space, it’s a little more difficult to get yourself psyched up, to get that same energy that a live performance brings out. But I think we get pretty darn close.

The term DIY is tossed around a lot in the Boston indie scene. Is the hip hop scene similar in that respect?

TD: Well, we don’t generally play a lot of hip hop shows. And that’s something I don’t like about this town, that there is a big schism between independent hip hop music and independent rock music. There’s basically independent hip hop music and independent every other kind of music. It stinks because I spent a lot of time on the West Coast – I was in Seattle – and there’s a really great integration of the hip hop scene there with the rest of the music in the town. I’m not exactly sure why it hasn’t happened here, but there just isn’t a ton of integration.

M: During the shows we try to bend… We both love hip hop and we both have hip hop backgrounds. It’s not our choice to not play those shows. What I don’t like about hip hop shows is that, for some reason, they’re more expensive for people to attend and it doesn’t really make sense to me. We play a lot of basements and parties and art galleries.  We try and just play our weird hip hop everywhere and charge as little money as possible, because we want people to see it. A typical Boston hip hop show has about seven acts on it and it costs like $40-

Mi: And they each play 15 minutes.

M: Right. So, it’s just not appealing to us.

MM: We’d love to play those shows, if it was part of a structure that we dug. I just don’t think it’s going to happen. We have played a few, and some of them have gone well. It just sucks. Hip hop shows all cost like $25. And I’m not paying $25 to see… anybody.

M: Yeah, and the rap shows are not at better venues really. There’s ones that are at the Middle East Downstairs that are $25, $30.

MM: Harpers has a lot of hip hop and the price for a hip hop show is double whatever they’re charging for any other show.

You mentioned you were playing in galleries and houses. What’s the weirdest place you ever played?

TD: It would have to be on a bus.

A parked one, or?

TD: A parked one, yes. There used to be – it’s now long gone – but there used to be, in the Bay Area, this bus. It was originally a mobile home; it was then converted into a police headquarters, but then they ran out of funding for it. This guy bought it from them and turned into this venue that would like drive around and have shows in parking lots. Sometimes they’d be on the Berkeley border, and the Oakland PD would show up, and they’d just drive over to Berkeley, where the cops didn’t have jurisdiction anymore. We played there once out in the Bay Area, and once when it went on this national tour of the country – which led to its demise, unfortunately. That’s got to be the weirdest place.

M: We played an alternative prom in Olympia, Washington. We played a dotcom merger party. We’ve played on a roof of a hotel. Weddings.

MM: Many joyous occasions.

M: We’ve recently been asked to play in a mall. At a…

All: At a Hot Topic store.

Mi: In New Hampshire.

M: We kind of want to play it just because it will add to our crazy shows list. It will be a great story. We’ve played a shed in a kid’s backyard. We played an indoor skate park in Buffalo, NY. You ask to play anywhere, and we’ll pretty much do it.

TD: If it sounds interesting.

M: We played an arcade in Portland. That was a bad show.

TD: It was a make up show. We were on tour, and we had two shows scheduled in Portland, right before we were supposed to play. We were scrambling to find a place to have a show, and this guy was like, “Yeah, we’ll put you on here.” It was terrible. One person came to see us. We got paid in tokens.

Any crazy tales from the tour bus for you guys?

M: We almost got arrested coming back from opening for M.I.A. in Worcester. We were coming back on the MassPike and I was going the speed limit. I got pulled over by a state trooper for a broken taillight. There’s three of us and one of TD’s roommates. I drank that night, but I was definitely the one that drank the least of our crew. I wasn’t swerving or doing anything dangerous, but our car just smelled like alcohol. I was wearing an Oakland Raiders jacket, because I like NWA; it’s sort of an homage to them. The state trooper started picking on me. He was like, “What? Do you like the Raidahhhs?” I told him we were all Patriots fans, so he was like, “Why are you wearing a Raider’s jacket then?” I told him I was in a rap group and that some of my rap idols used to wear Raiders jackets, including Chuck D. And he’s like, “Oh yeah, Chuck D.” – this is a whiter-than-white, buzzcut, 35 year old, state trooper. He’s like, “Chuck D. Public Enemy. What’s your favorite Public Enemy song?” He was asking all these questions, and I was nervous because I wanted to make sure I answered in a way that he wanted, so he let me go.

TD: And try to think of a Public Enemy song that isn’t about killing the police.

M: It was really hard thing to do. Then he went back to his car for a while, and he came back and was like, “Alright, I only have one more question for you.” and then he told this really lame Public Enemy joke: What’s one question Flavor Flav can always answer? — What time is it? Then he told us to get on our way.

TD: I can say that we’ve had some harrowing experiences while on tour. Once, we drove 36 hours straight, from Chicago to Seattle. But the last time we were on tour, we were driving through Montana, and we couldn’t find a hotel to stay in. Everything was booked, so we had to keep going. When I get tired, I start to freak out a little bit when I’m driving at night. I swear to god a giant, white owl swooped directly in front of our car. I looked into the owl’s eyes. [Everyone else starts laughing]. I saw its animal spirit. I slammed on the brakes and it swooped away into the night.

M: And I saw none of this.

TD: You were asleep.

M: I had my head down, I wasn’t asleep. I think that’s a sign that an owl is his animal spirit.

TD: We eventually found a place to sleep and we had to ring a bell to wake up someone who was sleeping to let us in.

M: That night was straight out of a horror movie. Exits were 35 miles apart. Every exit would have a sign that said there was a hotel, and then we’d take the exit and turn onto a dirt road. Things didn’t feel right, so we would just get back on the highway. Somehow, we found the place we ended up staying at. It was a surprisingly decent place, with a very hospitable woman who ran the joint.

Do you have any favorite cities to play in besides Boston?

TD: Los Angeles.

M: The scene there right now is a lot of young kids, trying a lot of different things.

TD: Toronto, also.

M: We’ve had a lot of good experiences in Buffalo. There’s a vibrant scene in Buffalo that America doesn’t know about.

TD: Seattle. I still have some friends there that do music, and they help us out. It’s always a fun time when we go there.

So, getting back to Boston, what do you love about being a hip hop act in Boston, and what have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced as a group here?

TD: For what we do, the best part and the most challenging thing is that we’re kind of the only people doing what we do. It’s great because there are other people around the country that do similar things as we do, and when they come to town, it’s got to be us. The other edge of that sword is that people are like, “What are you weirdoes doing?”. Because we’re not hip hop enough to be really accepted by that scene, and we’re not electronic enough to be completely accepted by that scene. We’re in this weird middle place. It’s good because it makes us unique. Because if you’re the only person doing something -no matter how weird or fucked up it is- you’re probably on the right track. It is hard at times to find bills that we could be on and acts we could play with when we’re doing our own shows. It’s tough to find similar bands. And if you are a similar band and you’re reading this, send us an email.

How about favorite venues?

M: I have to go with the Middle East, Downstairs preferably. Upstairs is cool too. No disrespect to other venues, but I think that they have the best staff and the best sound engineers.

TD: I work at ZuZu, so we get a little bit of preferential treatment, I think. But we also always have consistently good performances there. I really like the shape of the room. It’s a nice narrow room; if people are not paying attention and getting drinks, you don’t even see it because it’s blocked off by that side wall. I used to be a punk rock aerobics instructor and we have our classes Saturday at noon in the Middle East Downstairs. It was gross.

Are there any Boston bands that you are following or you really enjoy?

M: Boston is sort of going through a Psych revolution right now. All the acts from the Whitehaus Collective.  Our very good friend Dan Shea organized the PsychFest at Church. It was a three day festival of all local bands. Boston has a lot of great music, and it goes through phases of what is in. We’re also friends with a lot of DJs around town.

So, what’s next for Big Digits?

TD: In my brain, we’re going to release an EP, then we’re going to release a remix EP, which will be remixes of the songs on the EP. I think t-shirts are in the works. There’s going to be a Mark E. Moon mixtape. Playing more shows. Doing our thing.

Mi: Gathering the legions.

Big Digits open for Dan Deacon at Mass Art’s Pozen Center on 11/8