A Not-So-Quiet Crush: Red Quiet and the Basics of Rock n' Roll

Red Quiet: This Friday, March 6, at T.T. The Bear's

I first saw Red Quiet on a Sunday last July. It was a mellow, balmy day at T.T. The Bear's in Cambridge (in this schizophrenic winter it's hard to believe that such weather ever existed) and my band was opening, actually playing its first show ever. We managed to bust out ten tunes without humiliating ourselves, then walked over to the bar, rather disinterested in what came next.

Four young men in ordinary street-clothes took the stage. We shrugged, drinking. They set up their gear, arranged themselves, and then without (as I remember it) any sort of introduction, roared into what I've since dubbed their torch-song, "Tidal Wave." Usually, when you see a band play a set on an off night, you sit there and judge by the songs, the musicianship, the stage presence, the way they embrace or subvert their genre. Given the quality, you turn to your friend, who like you has not left his/her bar stool, and say, "That was pretty good," or something in the vein of, "The bass player needs to play less notes."

In this case, I skipped the mental rubic. Within the first minute, a legitimate and intense energy had crashed into the club. Colin Metz, the lead singer, was off the stage, in the crowd, but not in the confrontational, overcharged manner of emo or metal. This was where he enjoyed singing, it was clear, and the power in his voice and presence was absent of arrogance, anger, or "testosterone." Tom Mattos, lead guitar, did not play chords, favoring a melodic style somewhere between Johnny Greenwood in "Electioneering" and a Tom Morello solo. Paul Benson's bass lines were not rootsy or busy: they were melodic lines that inter-locked with the guitar lines, rising and falling in energy simultaneously. In short, it was the opposite of what you would expect from a "heavy" rock band. There was a passion and intelligence that took us off our bar stools and demanded our attention.

It's hard to describe Red Quiet's music specifically. It's not "emo", not "metal," not "punk," not "post-rock." You can't really say that they are like Interpol, or Tool, or Soundgarden, or The Stooges, or any of the bands a certain section may channel. The music is, at bottom, an organic construction of different genres at their best moments, based around a tight control of dynamics. You can hear 90s alternative, early punk, post-rock, glam, late 60s New York, and a host of influences, but the songs are built piece by piece, using different elements and eras to create something powerful and original. There are no obvious chord progressions, no "solos," just beautiful guitar lines and driving drums and bass, each section flowing smoothly into the next. It is certainly "heavy" music, thrashy and experimental. But it is never morbid, droning, or melodramatic, the common pitfalls of music on the "darker side" of indie rock (while the other side must avoid being precious and bland).

To be brief, we had become Red Quiet fans.

Over the past six months, I have seen Red Quiet at least ten times. It is never the same. At one show Colin may be wearing bloody scrubs, Tom an astronaut suit with the helmet's tube connected to his butt, and Paul a terrifying alien outfit constructed out of cardboard. At another, they may all be wearing matching flower shirts and look like a cult. (I kid you not, they literally built a robot for one show, and had to turn it off when it began sparking. All it could do was raise its arms--an epic machine). There has not been an "off" night. Especially with the addition of drummer Jim Bussolari in October, a man who prefers to wear nothing more than his pecks and tight leather pants, Red Quiet can devastate a club and hardly notice.

Red Quiet's growth in the Boston music scene, their spreading fanbase, is not due to conniving, networking, or positioning. It is due to the work they put into their craft, the high standards that they set for themselves as purveyors of legitimate music. They put on explosive shows for the best reason: they understand music and know how to make rock n' roll that is both accessible and challenging. Rock n' roll began as an incorporation of blues, rockabilly, gospel and country into something new and exciting. Every important movement in rock has repeated this work, channelling the past into the present. It is rare to find a band like Red Quiet, a band that is not only good, but that performs the basic work which makes rock music worth our time, money, and hearts.

Red Quiet (www.myspace.com/redquiet) will be playing T.T. The Bear's this Friday, March 6, at 9:45pm. T.T. The Bear's is 10 Brookline Street, Central Sq, Cambridge, MA. Tickets are $8.