Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
As far as concept albums are concerned, The Citystate Falls is a real overachiever.
The debut album from Boston-based Pennyred goes well beyond a typical debut album. It takes on the role of a tragic play, starring the Greek go Apollo, his lover Saturn and a helpful narrator.
The album takes us on a journey - we witness the end of a love affair as Saturn decides to leave Apollo, and Greece, for a new life in Rome.
We're guided through the breakup. We cheer for Saturn when she returns to Apollo, admitting how much she misses him. We're confused when Apollo rebuffs Saturn, choosing eternity with the gods, thus ensuring the two will never see each other again. And we feel for sad Apollo as he speaks to Saturn in a dream, the only way he can talk to her in his life of eternity.
"The album is actually a satire of a tragic play based on my own personal experiences," says Daniel Bon, guitarist and singer for Pennyred.
The tragic-play concept will garner interest in The Citystate Falls. But, in the end, the music has to be good.
Luckily, for Pennyred, it is good.
Pennyred is an alternative rock band (what does that mean these days anyway?) with a knack for tight songwriting. The opening track, "Overload," is a fast-paced, uplifting rock song with quick changes throughout the song, like during Bon's crash-and-burn lyrics, that make sense.
"Defining the Comfort Zone" is a perfect example of Pennyred's ability to write epic-like songs without exceeding the five-minute mark (just one song, the beautifully written and sung "i Guess I'm the Foll," is longer tan five minutes).
The Citystate Falls is well produced. Not only does it not look like a debut effort, it sounds nothing like one. Add to it the literary cleverness of the concept, as well as the well-written music (which varies from ballads to fast-paced rock), and what Pennyred has here is a true gem.
-Richie Victorino
- Hippo Press
"This four piece charismatic rock band from the Boston area has a debut album which almost resembles a tragic play based on their life experiences. These eleven tracks offer a various array of different techniques and music formats. Profound lyrics combined with brilliant instrumentation are what make the album shine. "I'll Run Away" has a quirky sound, high energy, bellowing vocals and a high amount of personality. "Fake Flowers" is extremely intense, purely riveting rock and roll. "Just For A While" is a soft spoken acoustic song with lyrics of complete bliss. Keep your eye on this band; they are headed for a long career."
Review by-Geoff Dellinger
- Entertainment World
"What do we have here? Hmm, nice and melodic modern rock with tasty guitars. The Boston based band Pennyred is a new discovery for me and probably most of you readers. But once again we do have proof of that Internet is a fantastic place to find new and interesting bands that´s not on the major ones. With a sound close to Foo Fighters with a classic rock edge combined with some punk traces ala Die Trying, Pennyred found good musical mix. Classic like I wrote, but also fresh with the youthful edge that will suit for all you that are into modern rock and styles around that. This could have been boring if they would have sounded like another version of Grohl and his bandmates, but they’re not, just a nice complement to those that want timeless rock with no nu or post edges. Check em out!"
Highlights: I’ll run away, Defining The Comfort Zone, Just For a While, Take Your Medicine
Review by: Johan Wippsson
- melodic.net
Discography
the citystate falls - 2005
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
"It's not easy being a Greek god, especially in this day and age", mutters Apollo. The truth is, the last two-and-a-half millennia have been rough-and-tumble for the keeper of the arts. "I've been in a funk- an existential 'writers block', if you will." Since Hesiod introduced him to the Greeks in 918 B.C. he has found it difficult to truly manifest his mastery of harmony and order into the arts, and because of this, began to develop a bad-rap with his subordinates. "First, they built me temples, like Delphi. Then, they began to lose interest and constructed statues which didn't even look like me! Now, I'm lucky if I see my name pop-up in a book about ancient mythology...ancient? mythology?."
Apollo realized that his popularity seemed to run in cycles so he decided to leave Greece and try to gain support throughout the rest of the world. So, in 1603, he submitted some of his work to a young poet named William Shakespeare. "I had a great idea for a tragic play called Hamlet, so I had my agent, Daphne, get in touch with him. He loved it, and it got my name back out there for a while". Hamlet was a great success and Apollo took the next four centuries off to entertain ideas for his next work. "I wanted to do something different", Apollo prates, "so I decided to take the next step and write a tragic play set to music."
For this endeavor, he decided to head to the United States and find a contemporary band that he thought could fill the role. He happened across a band from Boston, Massachusetts call 'Pennyred' and decided that they were what he was looking for. "They have a unique sound. It's somewhat of a Foo Fighters and Smashing Pumpkins-esque blend, but more youthfully energetic and modern. I knew that they would work perfectly." Apollo wrote the script of the play, which is based on his demised relationship with Saturn as she left him, and Greece for the excitement of the new empire of Rome.
"The album is actually a satire of a tragic play based on my own personal experiences", Daniel Bon explains, with a contagious grin, while describing the concept behind their debut album. Pennyred, formerly The Ruins, has been in the Boston music scene for the past three years. "We like to consider ourselves energeti'charismatic-rock" says Bon, "you can feel it on the album, and see it when we play." The three founding members, Daniel Bon (vocals, guitar), Andy Vallario (bass), and Dan Milone (guitar) grew up together, and learned their respective instruments together. "It's great because we've been writing together our whole lives, so we all compliment one another really well", says Vallario, "you can't really tell who wrote what, because it's all just Pennyred."
In May of 2004, the band, auditioned several drummers for the newly vacated spot. "I couldn't believe what a perfect fit Marc (Sherman) was", explains Milone, "it was like he was in the band from the start." With the lineup complete, Pennyred started recording their debut album in August of 2004. "We wanted to write an album that is different from everything else that is out there now", says Bon. So, they decided to write their album as a tragic play set to music. The lyrics of the album are a constant dialog between the Greek god Apollo and the Roman goddess Saturn. It's a fictional story about a love gone awry. "It's something that everyone can relate to because we've all had these 'tragic' experiences", says Bon. The album chronicles Saturn's departure from Greece to Rome, and Apollo's inability to cope with the loss. "It's a pretty easy concept to follow", Sherman adds, "that's what I love about it- it can be just a rock album if you want it to be, or it can be much, much more."
Pennyred took a break from recording in October to play to a well packed Middle East (downstairs) crowd. The band was asked by Shred (WBCN-Boston) to headline the show, and was able to showcase songs from their forthcoming album, which were well received by the Boston crowd. After the break, Pennyred returned to the studio to finish production on their debut album, The Citystate Falls, which was released on April 05, 2005. "We want to change the Boston music scene- give it a new face" says Bon. "Music has been stagnant lately, but we want to change that by giving music fans something they can relate to...something different- not just an album. We want our excitement and passion about music to fuel theirs."
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