The Polybogs

2009-01-22T14:51:00.005-06:00

The Polybogs first got noticed when Keith Morris mentioned them offhand in an interview with Boston's WMBR. Although they'd been destroying sets for nearly ten years before, their breakout album Still Comin' Right Back Attcha! cemented them at the heart of the Boston hardcore scene. Combining Scottish, Irish, punk and hip hop influences, they produced a unique sound that set them apart from their contemporaries in the area, but also precluded wider recognition.

Drostan O'Shea and younger brother Glen started the band with friend Mitch Bleste in 1992, their first year at Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology. Despite each playing guitar and drums, it had never occurred to them to from a band until they saw a Battle of the Bands poster in a dinning hall. They immediately started writing songs, although lack of a singer proved problematic and prevented them performing until the next year, when local hip hop group Mark Me 4 broke up, leaving Bleste's acquaintance Mallorie Mahoney available to join on vocals.

With the four members in place and a slew of songs written in the previous twelve months, the Polybogs started playing every venue they could. Their combination of hip hop rapidity and Gaelic melody made them unusual among their more traditional hardcore peers, but the force and volume of their shows was undeniable. Depending on the style of any particular song, either O'Shea or Bleste could take up drums, bass or guitar. This made for often chaotic sets when liquor and exhaustion conflicted with the need for three people to exchange instruments, often several times in a row between songs.

The group's lyrics reflected a healthy mixture of humor, melancholy and anger, often in the same verse, such as this one from "Metaphor Mix-Up":

"Walk the dog right into the pond,
Too bright to sight the light of God,
Miss the bitch but get her next time,
Pet the bet and gamble on crime."

This eclectic mix of styles and sensibilities proved a hit against the area's otherwise staid hardcore scene at the time. With songs that rewarded careful listening as much as clubhouse thrashing, the Polybogs's first two EPs Boom-òran and In the Out Ear Hole each sold out almost immediately, and were almost impossible to find until the 2005 release of their fourth album on Q Division Records, at which time both were reissued. The band signed with Q Division in 2001 and released Still Comin' Right Back Attcha! the same year. The promotion led to significant local radio play, and the album quickly began to expand beyond Boston (during which time the aforementioned Morris most likely heard of them). He Hits Greatest followed in 2002, and What? I Said the Red One in 2003. Both were major hits, with What?'s "Drink, the Irish Man" even seeing college radio play across the country, and some exposure in England, as well.

2005 saw the less successful For Brighde, as well as the departure of Bleste for family reasons. The three man group continues to play in Boston, as well as tour regularly, and their fifth album, No! You Said the Green One is expected at the end of the year.

Crassus and the Appian Way

2009-01-22T13:48:00.008-06:00

Crassus and the Appian Way formed in 1998 at Princeton's Department of Classics during a lunch conversation between Thomas Prempton and Lars Severson on the topic of how terrible most music was nowadays. One of them joked about how he'd like to take the pop stars of the day and line them up on crucifixes as the famous Roman general did to Spartacus and the rest of the revolting slaves. Severson suggested they write a few songs parodying famous pop and rock, and the band was formed.

With Prempton on vocals, Severson on guitar, Michelle Sabrovsky joining in on drums, and shared lyrical duty all around, Crassus and the Appian Way became a huge campus hit, playing every History department party, and gathering sizable crowds at local clubs. They released their EP Marching for Spartacus in 2000 to solid sales and good reviews. The Daily Princetonian's Tim Conner wrote, "Although you can hear the strains of Britteny Spears and [local pop group] The Madonies, it's a cloying sweetness that's made tolerable by Severson's virtuoso performances and made enjoyable by the sarcastic viciousness of the lyrics."

In 2001, they signed with Kenilworth's Big Daddy label, and released their seminal album, CruciFixIt the following year. Leaving behind their reflexions on other musical styles, the band synthesized their own brand of indie rock and historical fact, with songs like "On the Way to the Internet Forum" and "What Will You Do With That Many Wives, Henry?". The driving melody and clever lyrics of "Dug Up a City in Caucasus" led it to become a surprise radio hit in the area.

"Like love and socks,
Being lost is pretty,
Under tons of rocks,
Dug up a city."

With a few more singles released over the next two years, such as the rocuous "Procopius Delights", the group split up when careers began to diverge. Sabrovsky remains at Princeton and continues to play in local bands. Severson is finishing his Doctorate at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Prempton is Associate Professor of History at Indiana University.

Best Band Never

The Polybogs

Crassus and the Appian Way