Mean Creek

With all of the continuously overplayed and monotonous music veterans on the radio these days, and the amateur newcomers who sound just like them, I find it hard to discover a new sound, one subtle, yet intelligent, in riffs and rhythm, but silently screams out, "Different!" in your head when you hear that first track. Mean Creek does just that, especially considering they chose their name based on a 2004 independent film about bullying.
When I go to meet the band at the Sound Museum in Brighton, Massachusetts, I am greeted by the co-founder of the folk pair, Chris Keene, 25, leads me through a pasty hallway behind a rusted black door, and then into a small, storage-like room filled a few old flyers, tons of speakers, a ruby red drum set, and some guitar plugs. I take a seat on a speaker pushed to the side while Chris strings his guitar. Aurore Ounjian, 22, the missing element of this indie duo, arrives minutes later and takes a seat on another speaker across the room. I ask exactly how they got started.
"We've known each other since high school," says Ounjian. "We were friends, [but] we never played music together. Chris always played in other bands." Keene adds, "A band I was in broke up and we started playing together. We played acoustic for a while and started playing with bass and drums, added that to the band, and changed the name to Mean Creek."
Formerly entitled, Chris & Aurore, the band began as a mere acoustic folk duo, comprised of members Keene and Ounjian, both from Watertown, Massachusetts. After accomplishing numerous tours around the United States as Chris & Aurore, the duo decided to further develop their mellow, yet insightful sound, incorporating temporary collaborators ever so often within their sets, changing their name, and ultimately producing a thoroughly profound full-length album entitled Around the Bend.
"I just feel like we've come such a long way as a duo. To create an album we're happy with feels really good… and to do it with other people was important to us because we were a duo for so long. We just wanted to expand musically and I think we really did that," says Ounjian.
Mean Creek has genuinely succeeded in just that. Not only escalating musically in a sense of scheming and sound, but with regard to the lyrics and meaningful undertones on the album as well, all of which were written by both Keene and Ounjian. The song "Momentary" illustrates the problem of monotony affecting society today, essentially exploring the repetitive action of such "personal luxuries" as the television, and how they distract us from the sincerely momentous aspects of life, while songs such as "Ohio" and "To Never Again" each display a clear impression of political connotations.
"People [are] dying for nothing," says Keene on his reason for addressing such a controversial topic in the album. "I was really against the [Iraq] war from the beginning, and at this point, it's just really sad to see what's going on. I mean I'm against war almost 100% of the time, but especially a war like this where the reasons are so skewed."
With Mean Creek's astute lyrical arrangement, unafraid to display the undercover societal hindrances present in America, as well as their hard-hitting surge of ultra-indie-folk tied with Bob Dylan/Nirvana-esque '90s grunge roots, this creek is definitely going places; the United Kingdom to be exact. At the start of this month, Mean Creek begins their first international tour in London with New York band Straylight Run. Yet, in spite of all the success, the fans, and the upcoming tour, Mean Creek remains unfazed and genuinely humble, subtly proclaiming the music is all that matters.
"Its just an amazing feeling, playing your songs live," says Keene. "I just get caught up in this feeling of playing and it's probably the best feeling I've ever had.
- by Alexandra Myserson

By now, the story of Dylan “plugging in” at the ‘65 Newport Folk Festival is pretty well-known, including the boos that followed, long believed to be the result of Bobby D’s abandoning the well-established folk tradition and flying his freak flag. Many, however, may not have heard of a 2002 article written by 1965 festival director Bruce Jackson, who claimed the boos were actually intended for emcee Pete Yarrow, who tried to shuffle the band offstage after only three songs.

Even though Dylan himself has been quoted as saying he’s not sure what the crowd was booing about, one can only hope that Jackson’s theory is correct. Not only would this make the crowd at the festival a little more open-minded than originally suspected, but it would also put the annals of history on the side of Boston’s Mean Creek.
This point is important, because it was less than 18 months ago when singer/songwriters Chris Keene and Aurore Ounjian were self-booking a third tour across the U.S. as a folk duo named Chris and Aurore. Both born and raised in Watertown, Mass., Keene and Ounjian have been friends since high school, where they both played music — Keene in bands, Ounjian more by herself. It was only after teaming up that they decided to hit the road and bring their anti-war protest folk to the masses.

However, despite making three trips through the country and being able to book themselves some pretty nice gigs, including a slot at the much-revered South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, Keene and Ounjian both felt there was something missing.

“We held back for so long as an acoustic duo,” Ounjian says softly now, hugging a mug of hot tea. With her long brown hair, innocent face, and red-flowered dress, she has a stark resemblance to many of the ‘60s folk idols she was most likely emulating during those two years on the coffeehouse circuit — not to mention those who were in the audience during Dylan’s ‘65 mood swing.

Keene echoes this thought, running a hand through his thick, wiry hair. “You can’t really be energetic playing acoustic,” he says. “You can only get to a certain point with that. With a band, you can be as quiet or as soft as you want, and then be as loud and as crazy as you want.”

While playing a part last year in the ever-evolving cast supporting the core members of Boston’s Age Rings, Keene and Ounjian decided to entertain the idea of expanding the sound of their own project. They plugged in their guitars and experimented with the drummer and bassist of Age Rings at the time.

Not surprisingly, they liked what they heard, and decided to incorporate the new elements full-time. With the expanded sound, they also changed their name, opting for Mean Creek, in reference to the 2004 indie film about a group of kids that decides to take revenge on a bully who has been harassing one of them. Although choosing to incorporate a rhythm section was simple, finding people willing to commit to those empty slots proved more difficult. In typical Boston fashion, musicians had commitments with other bands. The duo was able to secure drummer Andrew Sadoway last November, just in time to play on most of their album, Around the Bend, which was released in early 2007 on Clubhouse Records. Although he played bass on the album, Will Spitz maintained his devotion to Age Rings, eventually being replaced by Jeff Darosa, who completed the Mean Creek line-up not long after the release of Around the Bend.

Despite the uncertainty of their supporting rhythm section at the time, Mean Creek display a huge amount of confidence on their debut. Keene and Ounjian bring the most valuable aspects of their previous music lives — relentless melodies, honey-sweet harmonies, and serious, politically-themed lyrics — and add the kind of rhythmic punch and instrumental variety that folk music can’t offer. The result is an album that’s a unique marriage of ‘60s folk and early ‘90s indie rock, with enough detours to never wear out its welcome.

The pounding, almost military drum style of opener “Hands Behind Our Head” perfectly supports the dark, war-themed lyrics: “Surrendered years of our lives / Counting all of what I lost / ‘Cause I fall on my knees and dread / We’re coming out with our hands behind our head.” The soft shuffle and male/female harmonies of another anti-war tune (there are lots of them), “Ohio,” could almost pass for an unearthed Vietnam protest duet by Joni Mitchell and David Crosby.

Elsewhere, “Rotten Apples” is a perfect combination of jangly acoustic guitars, vocal harmonies, and mid-tempo drums, while “To Never Again” brings banjo and harmonica to the forefront, adding country to the eclectic list of genres Mean Creek explore.

Keene and Ounjian both write songs, often independently, then bring their ideas to the rest of the band so there can be more collaboration. “I don’t like to focus on the duo thing,” says Ounjian. “We learn from [Andrew and Jeff], and they learn from us.” Not surprisingly, so - by Brett Cromwell

"Dylan-esque roots-rock ballads with boy-girl harmonies that hark back to the heyday of mid-'90s post-grunge pop....not even Dando and Hatfield could've swooned more sweetly..." - by Cary Carioli

"Mean Creek borrowed from all the best places during their set. I won’t bore you with names, except that of guitarist Aurore, who generously brought a few goodies to the affair: lovely backing vocals, harmonica parts she once or twice had to lay down over the frenzied outbursts of her band. Two or three of the tracks really stood out. The chorus in “Momentary” had a Rudds-like vibrancy, springing out at us like a page in a child’s pop-up book." - by Ian Sands

“Mean Creek played an impressive set; the lyrics were intelligent and the sound coherent. The vocals of Chris Keene and Aurore Ounjian complemented each other well, and were I given the opportunity to see them again, I definitely would.” - by Louise Corcoran

"Mean Creek has propulsive, tuneful bass lines, pretty, engaging vocal melodies, and weird/lovely, Exene-ish harmonies. The songs read more like pop songs, in that the focus is very much on the tunes, but they cover a fairly wide range. The first song is pretty straight-up Boston power-pop, then they throw in some slow, spare, folky numbers, and later on there’s a country song. I like range, and it’s all pretty well integrated." - by Steve Gisselbrecht

"The introductory first track off of Mean Creek’s strong debut, Around the Bend, offers a very brief teaser of the album’s last selection — “Who Are You?” — and also gives light to the harmonization that is to take place in rest of the album. The group’s two male vocalists and one female vocalist create beautiful, intertwining vocal harmonies throughout this record of intricately melodic indie-folk. “Hands Behind Our Heads” sounds a bit like The Mamas and the Papas gone indie. The album’s third track, “Momentary,” is a memorable, slightly solemn song showcasing layered vocal tracking. “Ohio,” with a country/roots guitar intro, adds an entry into the recently growing catalog of geographical indie-folk songs, such as those by Sufjan Stevens. The ethereal chorus is the focal point of the song, contrasting nicely with its instrumental sparseness. The next track, “Rotten Apples,” is reminiscent of The Frames and leads into the album’s title track, “Around the Bend.” This selection features confident harmonies from the group’s female singer, who leads one-half of a lyrical exchange that alternates between “The sun is shining / Dark days are dying right around the bend” and “Why do I always seem to forget where I’m going? / Why do I always seem to forget where I am?” Paired with the intimate tone set by the instrumentation, the lyrics are extremely poignant. Vocalist Aurore Ounjian also adds a heart-aching harmonica solo early on. Around the Bend offers up a number of memorable indie-folk tunes that function together to form a cohesive and enjoyable album. With an extraordinary debut and the live act to follow, good things seem to be around the bend for Mean Creek. (Clubhouse Records)" - by Andrew Palmacci