The name of that band plus the name of that club make for a pretty Zen header. No matter how I write it, it sounds like the title of some French new wave movie or the start of a haiku. The club is Dusk, a venue somewhat new to the scene that seems to be featuring live music from time to time. Hooray.
The band is thatwasthen, and they sound like they are going to be fantastic. While they are a California band, the bass player Ben Dacks grew up in Rhode Island and started his musical career in and around the Olneyville scene. He was asked to elaborate.
I started playing music when I was about 13 or 14 and after a few years of messing around, formed a band with my best friends called Kiriyama. When I was about 18, we were playing shows in Olneyville at places like The Box of Knives and The Sickle. At the time I was all about the noise bands that had paved the way for live music in Providence, like Lightning Bolt, Tiny Hawks and The White Mice. After Kiriyama, I joined Comic Book Super Heroes (Now, 3D Mystery), who had been playing in Providence for many years.
Ben had spent a couple of years not playing music in Cali when his neighbor Brent Sinay saw his bass case one day and just told him to report to practice. In the last few years thatwasthen has been busy playing clubs like the Sunset, The Viper Room, House of Blues, The Whiskey, and the Troubadour. One reviewer describes their music as “. . . catchy, infectious, and downright lovable; it’s filled with clever lines and wit with a fierce classic rock influence.” That’s about right. I like ’em best on songs like “2 Heart Blues” and “This is War” (video after the jump) where those classic rock influences are given free rein. And vocalist Brent Sinay has a gorgeous set pipes.
Opening band 3D Mystery (mentioned above) puts on a great show. We already know that. High entertainment value.
(Photo by Amy Kaplan Photography. Left to right: Nathan Longdon, Ben Dacks, Nick Papageorge)
Free, 8pm to 1am, Wednesday, June 29, Dusk, 301 Harris Avenue, 401.714.0444, (fb)
Sound not great but you get the idea. Excellent song.
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