Rocking Around the BU Music Scene

The 808 Sessions: Spitzer Space Telescope, Forest Henderson, Interrobang!?, Bob Cenci, Grimis, and First to Seven

| From BU Today | By Alan Wong

Click on the video above to see First to Seven perform “Once Scene, Twice Shy”, or scroll down to select another song or band.

Alternative rock group First to Seven started two years ago as a couple of guys — Ryan Camilon (CAS’10, MED’13) and Andrew Lee (SMG’10) — in Warren Towers with acoustic guitars. It wasn’t until their sophomore year that Camilon, a vocalist, and Lee, who plays lead guitar, decided to expand the project to a full band.

With inspiration from bands like Blink 182, Taking Back Sunday, and Third Eye Blind, First to Seven has become what Camilon calls “a big music project-slash-party.” While plenty of practices are spent writing and perfecting songs, “there are other times when we just take breaks and crack jokes,” he says. “First to Seven is what we’ve always wanted: a band that we and other people like listening to.”

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Last August, most students were getting ready to return to school. Not singer and guitarist David Tanklefsky of Grimis: he was in a van with his bandmates on an ambitious 32-date national tour that took them across the country and back.

Tanklefsky, bassist Andy Doherty, drummer Pete Michelinie, and guitarist Lyle Brewer began their life as musicians playing jazz together in high school. The childhood friends eventually formed Grimis, which Tanklefsky describes as “something near folk-rock, after exploring lots of jazz and more improvisational music.

Their new record can be purchased currently at shows and online in early 2009.

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Cenci has been bringing punk’s simple three-chord sound to fans since the early ’80s.

“At the shows, a cop would be hired to patrol the activity — some crazy stuff was happening,” says Cenci. “This was the birth of slam dancing and stage diving, which were not received well by the authority figures.”

Check out Cenci playing guitar with the Wynotts in the 2006 documentary American Hardcore.

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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?”

In this performance, Nolan (COM’10) and guitarist Colin Briggs present a truncated version of the band’s usual eight piece lineup that they refer to as the Interro-Dance Party.

Interrobang!? has a blog and be sure to check out their Just Regression EP, which can be purchased at shows and on iTunes.

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Armed with an acoustic guitar and a harmonica, Dan MacDonald is the effusive and energetic singer-songwriter behind Spitzer Space Telescope. “My sound is a resurrection of traditional and ’60s revivalist folk music,” says MacDonald (CFA’10). “People tell me what I’m doing is different, but I think they just aren’t familiar with my sources.”

Spitzer Space Telescope t-shirts and two homemade EPs can be purchased online.

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Last year, recent grad Billy Hubbard (CAS’08) led a dual life. By day, he was a physics and math major working with nanomaterials. By night, he was — and still is — the lead singer and guitarist of rock band Forest Henderson whose current lineup also includes guitarist and vocalist Matt Ott, bassist Chris Reckert, and drummer Skye Mazuroski.

The group’s debut EP, “You’re Out of the Band!” can be purchased at shows and online.

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Stay tuned for more from the 808 Sessions, shot on location at 808 Commonwealth Ave. and featuring performances by musicians, bands, and songwriters from the BU community.

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