You’re In Middle School For Life

 

BOZMO IS:
Bo Moore: lead vocals, lefty rhythm guitar, songwriting
Jeremy Mendicino: righty lead guitar, backup vocals, production
John Jannetty: bass
Josh “J-Raff” Carrasco: drums

If you’re an oldish fart like me (43 and counting), you’ve probably heard a thousand or so variations on the following laments. “MUSIC SUCKS TODAY! THEY DON’T MAKE ‘EM LIKE THEY USED TO! SOMEONE CHANGE MY ADULT DIAPERS!” While I agree that the per capita amount of great rock ‘n’ roll is lower in the 21st century, that’s because we live in a fragmented, post-hip-hop, post-electronica, post-internet, post-Xbox culture. There’s less great rock ‘n’ roll being made because it’s not 1982. My advice is to grow up and deal with it. Less does not equal zero. If you believe in zero, the problem isn’t rock ‘n’ roll, the problem is YOU.

Enter Bozmo, a band of whom I know very little, other than that they were based in Boston until last summer, at which point they relocated to the Bay Area (I believe Berzerkley). They have exactly one album to their credit, Hosanna In The Highest (2011), and recently released their new single, “B A Tree,” which we’ll get to later. But, before we go any further, thanks are in order for my former roommate, Bradly “Stickball” Nabors, who turned me onto these guys a few months ago. If you’re a fan of rock ‘n’ roll that sounds at varying points like The Kinks, Bowie, Weezer, Guided By Voices, and Ty Segall, well my friends, you’re in luck.

EVERYBODY’S GOT SOMETHING TO HATE

Bozmo – Milksnakes
Hosanna In The Highest, 2011
Bandcamp

 

Anti-hipster songs are a dime a dozen, but when they’re as icepick sharp as this, I take notice. So many great lines to choose from:

All of the crust punks have credit cards

All the unapproachable ones ain’t having as much fun as it seems

Your parents have a mansion in Connecticut
And you’re all eating rice
Well, you know that doesn’t mean that you’re an anarchist

You’re in middle school for life
I hope you’ve got a road bike
‘Cause it’s a long and lonely ride
You’ll be dead in no time

The buried melody, dissonant guitars, and clipped vocals remind me of classic mid-’90s rock: GBV, Pavement, Built To Spill, Treepeople (Doug Martsch‘s band before BTS) and Archers Of Loaf (pictured left), and the wry self-awareness is most akin to Stephen Malkmus of Pavement and Eric Bachmann of Archers (“The underground is overcrowded”). These were the first generation of bands to be called “indie rock,” a phrase that emerged as an alternative to “alternative” because it was the mid-’90s and that’s how we talked back then. (Remember when “alternative” became totally mainstream? That was fun.) In reality, all of this music was just the latest permutation of rock — post-punk, but still rock — and in a society run by judicious, free-thinking individuals, the best of this music would be considered classic rock.

As it turns out, one of the main influences on “Milksnakes” was actual classic rock. In fact, so classic rock that classic rock would be decidedly less classic without it.

Boston Phoenix: What about the tones and textures of the record?

Bo Moore: When we were making the album, we spent a long time listening to Side 3 of The White Album, specifically ‘Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me And My Monkey.’ That’s kind of where we got the sound for ‘Milksnakes.’ Really, really hard, bright sounds and drastically stereo tracks. Jeremy likes to get the trashy sounds and record them really well and place them in the right spots. He knows all about frequencies and know how to make every instrument live harmoniously but at the same time keeping that raw sound.
—[Q&A] Bozmo talks about the new album, The White Album, and hope for better things, June 27, 2011

Jeremy is Jeremy Mendicino, who produced, mixed, and mastered Hosanna In The Highest, and is Bozmo’s lead guitarist and backup vocalist. He’s a perfect foil for Moore and in that sense, the two Bozmos have a relationship not unlike Michael Crow and Channing Lewis of Grand Champeen, with Crow being studio whiz/guitar wiz and Lewis being frontman/main songwriter. That Bozmo’s sound is in the sonic neighborhood of Champeen is fruitful coincidence. (Or, I used this flimsy excuse to subtly pimp the ‘Peen, who can say?)

 

Boston Phoenix: Tell me about your favorite song on the album.

Bo Moore: “Golden Feeling.” I think it’s the best song I’ve ever written. It’s really distilled. I didn’t try to put anything intellectual in it and the lyrics are really honest. It’s just a pretty straightforward song and I think it’s just catchy. Jeremy played the lead on this piece of shit 12-string guitar and it sounds great.
—[Q&A] Bozmo talks about the new album, The White Album, and hope for better things, June 27, 2011

Bozmo – Golden Feeling
Hosanna In The Highest, 2011
Bandcamp

 

Kicking off with a doubled acoustic guitar or pair of acoustics, “Golden Feeling” quickly launches into the kind of fistpumping anthem that’s meant to be heard either at high volume while speeding down a freeway hopped up on goofballs or at a Saturday night party when the host refuses to turn off that goddamn Mumford & Sons shit. I think this song is about attaining a, umm, “higher state of consciousness,” but as Moore (pictured right) implies in the quote above, it’s not about the words, it’s about laying down a sweet groove. This song definitely has a Weezer feel, in particular the greatness that is Pinkerton. I also hear early Strokes, which would make sense considering Is This It probably came out when Moore was in junior high, and it’s fair to say that album was profoundly influential to a generation of garage rock enthusiasts roughly around the age of the members of Bozmo.

I even appreciate that the band kept a vocal clam in the final mix. At 1:44, Moore appears to choke on the word “want” when singing, “All that I want.” Is the song ruined? Good God, of course not. Axl Rose would’ve spent fourteen billion dollars repeatedly correcting that minor flaw, despite the fact it’s a rock ‘n’ roll song, not the Brandenburg fucking concertos.

Bozmo – The Lonely Ghost
Hosanna In The Highest, 2011
Bandcamp

 

“He held a candle to a picture frame
See this was me, when I was young
There’s my mama, there’s my doggie, too
My life was good, but now I’m blue”

My favorite track on Hosannah, “The Lonely Ghost” is a compact narrative that echoes Ray Davies at his most plaintive, which is another way of saying, “As good as pop music gets.” Frankly, there’s not a whole lot here, and that’s not a criticism. The song is held together by a beautiful melody, aching vocal harmonies, occasional instro flourishes, and is contained within a simple verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge structure that clocks in at a mere 2:19. Pure, economical genius.

Bozmo – B A Tree

Download “B A Tree”/”Lakehouse” single on Bandcamp

I’m trying to think of something fancy to say and all my brain can come up with is, “Holy shit, this fucking rocks! ‘B A Tree,’ where have you been all my life???” [cannonballs into bathtub] Apparently, Bo Moore is now writing Nirvana songs. This tune is gigantic. Heavy boots of lead filling victims full of dread gigantic. I cannot wait for whatever LP-sized concoction the Bozmos have cooking up in their lab. If this is part of the sonic plan sign me up post-haste.

Great rock ‘n’ roll. It still happens and it keeps you young. Don’t fight it.

“You could change your mood
Be a tree forever.”