Captain Cutthroat
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Captain Cutthroat

Lynn, Massachusetts, United States | SELF

Lynn, Massachusetts, United States | SELF
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"Aye-Aye, Captain! Salem's Captain Cutthroat has arrrr-ived"

Salem —
Every band that spends time on the road ends up with its own greatest hits of horror stories, but not a lot of bands can top the recent travails of Captain Cutthroat: Getting caught up in the largest terror plot since 9/11while crossing the Atlantic for the biggest gig of your career — now, that’s a story.

Here’s what happened. In June 2006, the Salem-based rockers, whose sound defies easy categorization, had just finished demolishing the competition at the United States finals for the Emergenza Festival, the world-wide battle of the bands competition, earning a slot for the final showdown in Rothenburg, Germany.

The problems started before the five musicians boarded the trans-Atlantic flight at Logan, when keyboardist Casey Trombley found out his equipment was over the weight restriction. After several frantic phone calls, someone made a desperate dash to the airport with a second, smaller keyboard and case, which came in under the weight restriction (just barely), arriving just six minutes before takeoff.

The flight was supposed to land the band to London, where they would catch a connecting flight to Frankfurt, where the musicians would board a train to Rothenburg, a medieval city in Bavaria, and play in front of an estimated 30,000 people. It didn’t work out that way, though.

They got to London easily enough — or above London, to be more precise. But they couldn’t land because of unspecified “security issues.” So they circled the city for what seemed like hours. And when they finally landed, it was nowhere near the terminal.

It turns out that the members of Captain Cutthroat took to the air on the same day that British intelligence moved against an Islamic terror plot to attack 10 America-bound planes by mixing a British sports drink and peroxide-based paste, creating an “explosive cocktail” that could be set off with an MP3 player or cell phone-triggering device, according to CNN. The musicians hung out on a strip in the middle of the airfield, under the protective eye of machine gun-totting soldiers, who were “clearing” the scene. There were no flights to be had. There was no place to go.

They spent the night in town, in a hotel not far from the Queen’s summer castle. Probably a bad move, security-wise, given the stories about the band’s late-night, amber-fluid-enhanced rooftop carousing. After attacking the buffet in the morning, they piled into a shuttle bus ... just before a truck smashed into it, taking the car door with it. Another setback. A new bus came and drove them, without incident, to a ferry that crossed the Channel. They got to see the White Cliffs of Dover. Everything, finally, was going their way. But, the way things were going ...

“We thought a giant squid would rise from the depths and drag us to the bottom of the sea,” says bassist Kevin Landry.

The experience is recalled in “20 Bombs,” a tune on a new album Cutthroat has just recorded. The song, stylistically, is psychedelic and punk. Lyrically it is bleak and apocalyptic: “This terror right under our wings. Liquid death is what they bring. This is your captain speaking. Liquid death is on the way.”

“It’s about the excitement, anxiety and anger of being stuck in this situation,” says Landry.

“And having it broadcast around the world,” adds Trombley.

The still-untitled album is a crucial recording for Captain Cutthroat. The band, obviously, has a great backstory, a big, memorable if somewhat indescribable sound, and a sufficiently noisy and growing following. And as U.S. Emergenza winners, the band has a platform — for now.

The new disc, which they just finished recording at Mad Oak Studio in Brighton, is the band’s best chance to blast out of regional obscurity.

“It’s been a lot of work to get here,” says Salem vocalist Phil DeSisto. “There’s nothing left to do, but make it.”

Putting it all together

Captain Cutthroat first came together in 2002, when Trombley, a South Shore keyboardist and student at Salem State College, met vocalist Phil Desisto at a local gym. DeSisto knew Kevin Landry from high school; both attended Essex Aggie. They didn’t like each other then. (“It wasn’t violent hatred,” says Landry. “We just didn’t like each other. He was the class clown. I was the metal kid who didn’t talk to anyone.”)

They added guitarist Rob Picardi and a drummer they don’t talk about much because of problems they had with his work ethic.

“You’ve got to be able to play for hours,” says DeSisto. “If you just want to play a set and leave, that’s not a band.”

They looked to Adam Lentine, one of Landry’s friends from middle school in Peabody. The problem was that he was already in another band. So they told him, “If your band dies or gets hit by a bus ...” He felt vaguely threatened, but intrigued. Ironically, the day Captain Cutthroat decided to pull the plug on their drummer was the day Lentine’s band split.

This was the Emergenza lineup. Picardi left the band last December. Craig McKeough, late of Frightening Dick Theater, took over guitar duties.

They played the local haunts, built a reputation as a hard-edged, energetic — and fun —show. Then, in late 2005, the band entered the Emergenza Festival as a way to boost its profile.

The joke about the sometimes-unpronounceable Emergenza festival, a worldwide battle of the bands competition, is that it “never-endz-a.” It’s a six-month musical ordeal. Every up-and-coming band in New England plays, or at least it seems that way.

In the 2006 festival, which actually began in 2005, some 4,000 bands descended on Boston. It’s pay-to-play. Bands sign up and sell tickets. In the early stages of the competition, it’s just like politics. You’ve got to get your supporters out: Fill the venue with the psychos on your MySpace friends list, the one who love you to death. Get them to scream and raise their hands at the end of the set and pray they don’t rip the place to pieces. The top four live to wail again.

And that’s what they did in November 2005, when the competition began. They won upstairs at the Middle East in late 2005, then downstairs four months later. They won the semifinals at the Paradise in June, and the finals at Avalon a couple of weeks later. Not only did they walk away with bragging rights for being the region’s best unsigned band, DeSisto was named best singer and Lentine took best drummer honors.

Then, much to the band’s surprise, they conquered New York. They were flying by the seats of their pants. The monitors weren’t working, they couldn’t hear what they sounded like. The soundman was asleep. Literally. But the quintet got the nod from a panel of four judges after dishing out a set “so hot you needed to jump in a pool full of ice blocks,” according to festival commentator Mike Rophone.

It all came to an end at the Taubertal Festival in Rothenburg, Germany: After 10 months and some 3,000 shows, The Sessions, a syrupy, disco house band based in Vancouver, walked away with the Emergenza crown — and a record deal. But Cutthroat made a big impression, according to original festival reporting, which noted the band’s “heavy guitars, a solid drummer, a fantastic bass player with unusual keyboard sounds” with “tons of energy ... a literally possessed front man had everyone jumping in the mud.”

The way the band sees it, they didn’t win, but they certainly didn’t lose. They got a chance to spend a week in Europe, do a little sightseeing and perform in front of an estimated 25,000 people, seriously boosting their visibility.

“The rap is that it’s crap,” Landry says, “that it’s pay-to-play, that it’s a waste of time, but it isn’t. It’s all about life, it’s about music. You get a lot of experience, you get hardened. I think we learned a lot.”

Sounds like ...?

About the music, don’t even try to classify it. The folks at Emergenza didn’t. The programs listed the band and, as the “style” Captain Cutthroat performed in ... well, left it blank. Band members don’t willingly characterize the music. On the band’s My Space page, they cop out with an extremely unhelpful “rock-other-other” designation. In the biography, the band, after getting lost in a sea of scatological verbiage, says it incorporates “elements of swing, metal, free jazz, funk, rockabilly, surf, soul, punk, polka.”

The band closes in on what’s going on musically away from the fans, in their press kit, when they admit to a “bizarre approach” to songwriting that incorporates wild keyboards and jazz-metal percussion with heavy metal guitar and bass counterpoint: That it’s a band that “bridges the gap between modern metal and old-school psychedelic blues.” But, they say, those are just words. They dismiss attempts to pigeonhole the band and its sound, and they’ve heard it all — bizarro-rock, circus rock, psycho-rock.

“It would take a lifetime to explain,” says DeSisto, who writes the lyrics for the band.

The closest anyone has come to nailing it was when a fan came up after a show and said it was “the best 10 songs she ever heard in two minutes,” says Landry.

“The music stands on its own,” says Trombley. “I think it’s a breath of fresh air.”

Or, perhaps, the soundtrack for the ADD generation, music for people with short attention spans, with a never-ending jones for visual and sonic distractions. Like the 10-minute opus, “The Horror Song,” one of the band’s sure-fire crowd-pleasers. It’s a series of weird stories tied together by cascading musical mood swings, ranging from near classical influences to speed metal.

“Day of the Dead,” which has lyrics inspired by a children’s book about the Mexican festival, and “Deep In the Freaks,” in which a college professor is locked up in an insane asylum after his twin brother breaks out, are both wild rollercoaster rides, musically. In “Electric Laxative,” the protagonist wakes up, on what is supposed to be the last day of his life ... in a body bag.
A little strange?
Sure.

“Lots of bands are doing the same thing, singing the same songs,” says DeSisto. “Nu metal bands like Staind with their songs about suffering or drowning and being cold. Godsmack, with its ‘get away from me, I’m drowning and suffering.’ We’re trying to do something different.”

The new album is being mixed now and will be out in June or July. The sessions were overseen by Kris Smith, who has worked with Between the Buried and Me and the Dropkick Murphys, and Neil Kernon, who has worked with everybody from Cannibal Corpse, Deicide — probably the hardest, heaviest of death metal bands — to Hall & Oats and Mr. Mellow himself, Michael Bolton. Three of the tunes (“Day of the Dead,” “Deep in the Freaks” and “The Horror Song”) have been part of the band’s repertoire for a while. Live versions of the songs are included on the band’s fan page: myspace.com/captaincutthroatrocks.


Interested ?

Hear live tracks of Captain Cutthroat and learn more about them at www.myspace.com/captaincutthroatrocks and www.captaincutthroat.com.

The band is scheduled to play Saturday, June 2 at 8 p.m. at Harper’s Ferry in Allston, Mass.
- Wicked Local


"CAPTAIN CUTTHROAT Releases Self-Titled EP - Aug. 22, 2007"

Boston-based quintet CAPTAIN CUTTHROAT will release its first EP in the fall. According to a press release, "the record features six songs, each with a distinct vibe, combining syncopated thrash elements of SYSTEM OF A DOWN, experimentation of Mike Patton, spooky undertones of early PINK FLOYD, and a rockin' swing time rhythm of THE BRIAN SETZER ORCHESTRA." The album was recorded at Mad Oak Studios in Allston, MA by engineer Kris Smith, and was mixed by Neil Kernon, who has produced, recorded and mixed a wide variety of artists, including NILE, CANNIBAL CORPSE, PETER GABRIEL, QUEENSRŸCHE and DARYL HALL AND JOHN OATES.

CAPTAIN CUTTHROAT has been performing for over six years, and is said to be one of the area's premier rock n' roll bands. J.C. Lockwood of Gatehouse News has called it "the soundtrack for the ADD generation, music for people with short attention spans, with a never-ending jones for visual and sonic distractions. Like the 10-minute opus 'The Horror Song', one of the band's sure-fire crowd-pleasers. It's a series of weird stories tied together by cascading musical mood swings, ranging from near classical influences to speed metal."

Since its debut, CAPTAIN CUTTHROAT has kept busy winning the 2006 U.S. Emergenza Finals, traveling to Germany to play the Taubertal Festival, and playing shows with bands such as TURBONEGRO, MISFITS, TUBRING and LIFE OF AGONY. - Blabbermouth


"German Rock News, Taubertal 2006"

(translated from German)
"How can one really describe the music of Captain Cutthroat? As a high-speed ska, perhaps? They are more violent and faster than the "normal" Skabands."
- germanrock.de


""The Critics Corner" (Taubertal Show review. Rothenburg, Germany)"

"...A hint of Mr. Bungle mixed with System of a Down. This Boston 5 piece get on stage and screams: "are you ready to fuck?" This was a clear message that these boys were here to party with the audience. Heavy guitars, a solid drummer, a fantastic bass player with unusual keyboard sounds left people asking themselves: is this a wonderfully strange sound or what? Tons of energy on stage and a literally possessed front man had everyone jumping in the mud." - emergenza.net, 8/13/2006


""New York Rocks!" (U.S. Emergenza Finals show review)"

"The next band drove from Boston and were so exited to play in NY that I think they must have shaken hands with at least a thousand of the two thousand people there. Smiles were all around because these boys won.....yes they won! The 4 judges voted for what I thought was a set that was so hot you needed to jump in a pool full of ice blocks. Good choice indeed. This 5 piece from Boston looked like Irish/American lads that could drink you under the table but instead they were an amazingly tight band with an incredible drummer. The singer reminded me of Mike Patton when he was doing rounds with Faith No More....Well done. These boys as well as getting the prizes from Nimbit and Powderfinger Promotion, they are flying flying to the Taubertal Festival in Rothenburg, Germany, where they will share the bill with the big boys.....Congratulations Captain Cutthroat. Go and show Germany what the North East of the U.S.A. has to offer. Blow them away like you did in New York!" - emergenza.net, 7/19/2006


"The Starting 5: Best Local & International Releases of 2010"

C: Captain Cutthroat – Maciste: The big, fast and heavy guy down low who no one wants to drive at anyway because he just seems like a sick fuck. Even during its more savage bursts of speed, Maciste never loses its handle, showing smooth (but often violent) lateral movement between rock, punk, metal, jazz, soul and swing. - Playground Boston


"Captain Cutthroat 6-Song CD"

Have you been missing Mr. Bungle lately? Well then, weep no more, the replacement has arrived. Okay, that’s too cold. But if you can listen to this disc without hearing a deep Patton-esque vibe, then you’re either deaf or you’ve never heard Bungle/Fantomas/etc. (excuse me?). If you haven’t, it’s very clever music that jams about 14 different songs into the space of one, with sometimes jarring or non-existent segues. BUT…the thing here is, while this sure as hell ain’t hum-alongable, the freakin’ musicianship is so goddamn good that you can’t NOT listen. I mean it. Everyone in this band totally rules their instrument of choice, with the drummer and lead guitarist at the top of the heap. It’s all a bit prog, a bit pretentious (that’s redundant), but what the hell, you can’t argue with the chops. This disc may not get a lot of play here after the jaw undrops, but I’ll tell you what—because I worship virtuosity, I’d see these guys play live in a heartbeat. (Tim Emswiler) - The Noise


"Captain Cutthroat with Morphine's Dana Colley - The Best Shows I saw in 2010"

AN AMERICAN BAND - Captain Cutthroat is an original rock band from just north of Boston, MA. The fiery live act (see below) have released two independent albums in the last couple of years and today we are going to focus on their latest, Maciste - an all-star effort both in terms of sonic achievement in front of the microphone (the band jammed it out with Morphine's Dana Colley on Sax) and behind the boards as well; Neil Kernon, Billy Anderson, and Kris Smith all worked on the ten-track record.

SOMEONE YOU NEED TO KNOW - I love writing about bands with completely unique creative footprints and that's certainly the case here. Captain Cutthroat are a rock band with progressive jazz undertones - but this drink is spiked with heavy metal. It's a completely different aesthetic - how the hell does this happen??! I have no idea but it all unfolded in front of my eyes a couple of days before Halloween this year at TT the Bears Place. Colley was a surprise guest with Captain Cutthroat - and did they ever jam! They even played some Morphine that night. I was floored, to put it mildly. This band was just brilliant and the impression this unsigned band left on me will remain long after 2010 has ended. A brilliant, brilliant show - a standout in the year. Indie labels, take notice! - Ryan's Smashing Life


Discography

Captain Cutthroat (Self-titled), 2008

Maciste, 2010

Photos

Bio

Captain Cutthroat is an original rock band from just north of Boston, MA. They are a rock band with progressive jazz undertones, spiked with heavy metal. Formed in 2001, the band continues to achieve success working as a touring act in the United States. The five-piece band consists of Phil DeSisto (vocals), Kevin Landry (bass), Adam Lentine (drums, percussion), Craig McKeough (guitar), and Casey Trombley (keyboards). The fiery live act have released two independent albums; a self-titled album in 2008, and 2010's Maciste, an all-star effort both in terms of sonic achievement in front of the microphone and behind the boards as well. In their short span Captain Cutthroat have worked with top engineers Neil Kernon, Billy Anderson, and Kris Smith to record hi-fidelity albums that cross several genres including rock, jazz, soul, metal, classical, and punk.