BEWARE! the Other Head of Science

Artist Information

Biography

BEWARE! the Other Head of Science are a band that knows how to share. The long time friends that comprise this Albany, NY outfit have shared living spaces, food, instruments, clothes, and stories. A similar canon holds true to their stage performance, with members swapping guitars for keyboards, trading vocal melodies, and all partaking in percussion. One would expect that when all six members play full force it would yield a chaotic din, yet it manages to coalesce into a thick and melodic wall of sound.

They performed their first show as a two-piece on Halloween of 2006, playing along to an electronic drum track. Over the last few years the band has expanded to three times the size, calling upon old friends and former band mates. BEWARE! was dubbed 'Best Electro Pop Band' by regional alternative press, Metroland, in 2009, in which they were compared to "a can of root beer, filled with Pop Rocks, poured down the pants of a hyperactive 7th grader.” They're fairly certain that's a compliment. In the 2010 issue of Metroland's 'Best of the Capital Region' they were coined the area's 'Best Pop Band (with synthesizers)', and were once again given a rather colorful review, "Last year, we described Beware!’s sound as like a can of root beer filled with Pop Rocks, poured down the pants of a 7th grader, but with this year’s debut Big American Godzilla Party it’s clear they’re really more like said 7th grader let loose on Tokyo."

Their sizeable stage presence and reputation for boisterous live shows earned them a spot opening up for Moby and Matt and Kim at the 2009 Larkfest in Albany, NY (with an estimated 85,000 people in attendance). They have also shared a stage with dance rock veterans !!! (chk chk chk), NJ punks Titus Andronicus, the Secret Machines, and Phantogram. BEWARE! spent the months of September and October writing an original score to the 1925 film "The Lost World," which they performed live as part of the Albany Public Library's silent film series.

They recently finished their first full length album, titled "Big American Godzilla Party," and are promoting the record hard with regular club dates and radio appearances. BEWARE! continues to be an active part of the Albany based B3nson Collective, a group of like minded musicians who also enjoy sharing.

www.bewaretheotherheadofscience.com

Instrumentation

Matt Ferguson - Vocals, Guitar, Synths, Sampler
Jesse Horton - Vocals, Bass
Richard Mark Nolan Jr. - Vocals, Guitar, Percussion, Synths
Seth Tillinghast - Drums
Kamran Parwana - Vocals, Percussion, Synths, Vocoder
Ryan Stewart - Vocals, Synths, Wave Drum

Discography

"Big American Godzilla Party"
BEWARE! the Other Head of Science
2010, the B3nson Recording Company

"The Lost World"
Original Score to the Silent Motion Picture "The Lost World" (1925)
2009, the B3nson Recording Company

"A B3nson Family Affair"
Compilation featuring, "Phase 3: Profits"
2009, the B3nson Recording Company

"A B3nson Family Funsgiving"
Compilation featuring, "Front Row Seats for the Great Beast"
2008, the B3nson Recording Company

"Can You Spot the Difference?"
BEWARE!/ Desperately Obvious Split
2007, Make Your Fate Records

"DEMO"
BEWARE! the Other Head of Science
2006 January

Links

• Facebook
• Last.fm
• MySpace
• The B3nson Recording Co.
• Reverb Nation

Audio

• I Only Date Girls That Look Like Carrie Fisher
  Listen  
• Front Row Seats for the Great Beast
  Listen  
• Champ
  Listen  
• Winter Coats
  Listen  
• Teddy Roosevelt's Modded Mac Book Pro
  Listen  

Lyrics

• Phase 3: Profits

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Best Electropop Band [+ Show ]
  

  “Don’t even think about asking who the original head of science is or why you shouldn’t exercise cau...“Don’t even think about asking who the original head of science is or why you shouldn’t exercise caution around him/her. Just dance. Beware!’s spazzy synth-pop is like a can of root beer, filled with Pop Rocks, poured down the pants of a hyperactive seventh grader. Yeah.”

• LIVE: Beware! The Other Head of Science @ LarkFest [+ Show ]
  

  Beware! the Other Head of Science took the Townsend Park Stage of LarkFest, almost blithely unaware ...Beware! the Other Head of Science took the Townsend Park Stage of LarkFest, almost blithely unaware of the festivities occurring simultaneously on Lark Street. Beware! were in their own adjacent universe. Illustrating this point, the gang of six wore matching, dept. of public works-orange t-shirts hand-stenciled with the words, “Larp Fest 09.”
  
  Proud purveyors of electro-pop, Beware’s ploy to steal your retinas was just as quickly followed by a compelling and successful attempt to steal all ears. The frenetic band exploded with energy, confetti and music. The set was littered with clever numbers like “Monster Song” about Lake Champlain’s Champ and “Winter Coats” (slang for beards).
  
  Beware! is led by a pair of guitar/keyboard wielding front-men, the ever-shrinking Richard Nolan Jr. and Matt “Terd” Ferguson, who are driven by the dead on whack attack of drummer Seth Tillinghast.
  
  One can’t help but be drawn in by fiery redhead, Matt Ferguson whose substantial stage presence brings to mind the likes of Joe Strummer, combined with a vocal quality and a conviction of Jello Biafra. Ferguson, as if unsatisfied with the confines of the stage, at one point took to the crowd in the street with bull-horn in hand . When the confetti had cleared and the bull-horn was silent, Beware! the Other Head of Science may have also stolen the hearts and won over the minds of the enthusiastic crowd.
  
  Review and photographs by Matt Mac Haffie

• Gimme Three Clicks [+ Show ]
  

  Having the world’s only un-Googleable band name just scratches the surface of !!!’s aversion to publ...Having the world’s only un-Googleable band name just scratches the surface of !!!’s aversion to publicity. Having booked a stealth show only two weeks before, and with nary any promotion, !!! (you can call them any three syllables of like kind) set up a merch table—without any merch. This being a Friday night, people had dancing, not commerce, on their minds. So it was that a sizable audience of club kids, indie rockers and a few young punks took to moving and sweating to the funky beats made by the Chk Chk Chk-ers. The incongruity of six rather dour-looking, 30-something white guys playing dance music (and playing it so damn well) was part of the fun.
  
  “We’re gonna play some new songs for you—that’s what excites us right now,” vocalist Nic Offer unapologetically intoned, Justin van der Volgen making like Larry Graham with broader-than-Broadway, subterranean bass grooves on the otherwise nondescript new tunes. Everyone in the crowd seemed to be waiting for that one song they really, really liked, and !!! tried to oblige by sprinkling in the more melodic offerings from 2007’s excellent Myth Takes. During their ‘hit,’ “Must be the Moon,” Offer jolted the crowd out of their dance trance by jumping into the audience, gyrating amiably in the face of a gent in a fedora who had offered to take the mic away from Offer so he could move the crowd himself. (Offer won the dance-off.) “All My Heroes are Weirdos” earned the band’s dance-punk tag, while one new song (no song names were given) featured an ear-grabbing highlife riff from the band’s secret weapon, guitarist Mario Andreoni.
  
  After exactly an hour, Offer said, “Thank you, that’s all we know!” and the band left the dance-hungry crowd in coitus interruptus. A call for an encore left no response, leaving some with bruised feelings—it was, after all, just 11 PM on a Friday night. With no merch and no encore, and an enjoyable but quick hour of music, the inscrutable !!! left one feeling as semi-satisfied as a one-night stand.
  
  Local band Beware! the Other Head of Science were just about the perfect opener, their energetic take on dance-punk landing them closer to the hardcore side of the fence at times. They also have a couple of songs melodic and catchy enough to get them on the radio, accessible in a screechy Isaac Brock sort of way—and unlike the headliners, Beware! seemed intent on giving the crowd more than their money’s worth.

• Best Pop Band (Synthesizers): Beware! The Other Head of Science [+ Show ]
  

  Last year, we described Beware!’s sound as like a can of root beer filled with Pop Rocks, poured dow...Last year, we described Beware!’s sound as like a can of root beer filled with Pop Rocks, poured down the pants of a 7th grader, but with this year’s debut Big American Godzilla Party it’s clear they’re really more like said 7th grader let loose on Tokyo.

• Beware! The Other Head Of Science — Big American Godzilla Party [+ Show ]
  

  Beware! The Other Head Of Science have two important things going for them: 1. A cool band name a...Beware! The Other Head Of Science have two important things going for them:
  
  1. A cool band name and even better track titles, like "Teddy Roosevelt's Modded Mac Book Pro" and "How We Stole Jack White's Tesla Coil."
  
  2. An album cover that includes Boba Fett dressed as a drifter, Catwoman, a moth-like superhero, and a classic Doctor Who-ish robot with a popcorn tub for a head.
  
  Song topics are likewise ridiculous but loveable. On "Winter Coats," B!TOHOS extol the virtues of beards: "For every boy who wants to look grizzly, there's a girl who wants to get busy." "Champ" is an ode to the Lake Champlain Monster. There's definitely plenty of kitsch value here.
  
  Sonically, these New Yorkers are akin to the Ultimate Power Duo, or perhaps The Wet Secrets with some additional synth weight. On "Front Row Seats For The Great Beast," they're dead ringers for The Lovely Feathers. Much of this album would make a good soundtrack to modern, irreverent sci-fi action movies like Tank Girl.
  
  Big American Godzilla Party is often puzzling and over-the-top, but it gets significantly more fun with successive listens.

Setlist

Typical set lengths are between 30-45 minutes. Shorter or longer set times can be accommodated with notice.

BEWARE! performs mostly original music. Covers can be made by special request and with advance notice.

*The built in stage plot application on this website does not accurately convey our set-up. A link to our stage plot/input list is available upon request.

Basic Requirements

Calendar