November 13, 2008

This Is Rock ’n’ Roll

The BU Today Sessions: Interrobang!?

By Alan Wong

Click on the video above to see the Interro-Dance Party version of "Just Regression." Click here to watch "All Night."

When asked to describe the musical collective known as Interrobang!? singer and synth player Rory Nolan is stumped.

“Oh, jeez,” he says. “Happy hard-core anarcho-punk ska?”

The group — which features between two and eight musicians and multi-instrumentalists in its live act — performs with a plethora of instruments beyond the standard four-piece rock band: synthesizers, baritone and alto saxophones, trumpets, and trombones. For this week’s BU Today Session, Nolan (COM’10) and guitarist Colin Briggs present a truncated version of the band’s lineup that they refer to as the Interro-Dance Party.

“It’s a lot different for us to be on stage with one or two other people as opposed to seven others,” says Nolan, “but we still try to put out the same amount of high energy our fans expect from us.”

The band started in 2005 with the idea of trying out “a more Third-Wave ska sort of thing.” With as many musical influences as band members, Interrobang!? found its own sound. “As we became more comfortable with each other,” Nolan says, “we formed this weird combination that’s got ska roots, hard-core and punk influences, political lyrics, and whatever else you can hear in there.”

Stay tuned every Thursday for the BU Today Sessions, shot on location at 808 Commonwealth Ave. and featuring performances by musicians, bands, and songwriters from the BU community. Click here to watch more BU Bands.

Interrobang!? will be performing an all-ages show at 1 p.m. on Sunday, December 14, at the Middle East Upstairs, 475 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge. Check out the band’s blog and its Just Regression EP, which can be purchased at shows and on iTunes. Check out Interrobang!? on BU Today's Facebook page.

Alan Wong can be reached at alanwong@bu.edu.