Rebecca Nurse
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Rebecca Nurse

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The best kept secret in music

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"Younger And Snottier"

"Rebecca Nurse lead singer Tracy Garrity is a red-hot rock goddess who drips sex appeal as she shimmies and shakes around the stage belting out song after song. Her voice is powerful and confident, containing equal doses of sarcasm and sweetness. She is the perfect front person for the band's snotty, pop-laced hard rock. She just seems so comfortable onstage, hips thrusting, throwing out vocal put-downs and flipping off all the jerky men and other assorted oddballs that bother her.

And her tough-chick persona merges quite well with the hard rock riffage thrown out by her brother, guitarist Shawn. Shawn has a powerful playing style as he bashes out the power chords that seem to spur his sister on.

They reminded me of a younger, snottier Cheap Trick." - Thomas Pizzola, Hartford Advocate, 12/05/02


"Ready for Bedtime: Rebecca Nurse deliver some sweet Stories"

SLASHING AND SVELTE: Rebecca Nurse.

Over the last year or so, Rebecca Nurse has been busy busy busy building something worthwhile. That "construction" project culminates in the band’s second album, Bedtime Stories. They’ll celebrate the long-awaited release of that disc at the Green Room this weekend, and you should think about heading down there. The band’s conviction is deep-seated and believable, and their live shows are something to behold. Fronted by vixen Tracy Garrity and supported by Shawn Garrity, drummer Angelo Franco, and bassist Brian Niedzwiadek, RN is a high-powered, high-energy cruise through a romper room of rock and roll. Mix a little punk, a little post-new wave (a la ’80s footnotes like Missing Persons, and the Waitresses) with a lotta lipstick-traced attitude and you’ll understand a wee bit about what to expect.

New tunes such as "Black Sheep" and "Santa Dear" (found on the Web site at press time) show that there’s been lots of maturing goin’ on since the band’s ’03 debut, Infamous Anus. The tracks show creative and songwriting growth, while adhering to the contours of the band’s live shows, which have lately turned into sweaty, new-wave, boogie-woogie dance parties. Shawn Garrity is a capable guitar player whose slashing, rhythmic style provides a svelte backdrop to Tracy’s hiccupping vocal lines, while Niedzwiadek and Franco stay arm in arm, adding dashes of funk with some decorative flourishes for good measure.

All told, it makes for a sweet little package, live and in the studio. But live you get an eyeful of the band, which can be enough to wake up these old bones at any hour of the night.

Rebecca Nurse will play the Green Room on Saturday, December 11, with special guests Jeri and the Jeepsters and Blues Bastard. The show starts at 9:30 p.m., is 18-plus, and the cover is $7. Check out music and images at www.rebeccanurse.com. - Bob Gulla, The Providence Phoenix, 12/10/04


"Disinterested Drunks"

"Tracy Garrity, lead singer for Providence pop-punk band, Rebecca Nurse has one simple goal in mind when she hits the stage. "When I perform, I'll find that one guy who's sitting at the bar who didn't pay attention to the two previous bands on the bill," says Garrity. "I will get him to pay attention."

Those are pretty confident words, but for the most part, she's speaking the truth, as Rebecca Nurse made many people pay attention at their CD release last Saturday at Michel Angelo's. The band was celebrating the release of their Sling Slang Records debut, Infamous Anus.

Rebecca Nurse, which is composed of Tracy's brother Shawn on guitar, bassist Matt Kucharski and drummer Angelo Franco, deals in catchy three-minute tirades against those who royally piss them off, delivered with a cutting sarcasm and an unhealthy dose of toilet humor. It's a raucous combination of Ramones-style riffing and anthemic choruses that sticks to the ears the way all good pop-punk should.

While the CD is a decent introduction to the band, nothing compares to their live show. They just seem like they were born to be on stage. If Rebecca Nurse keep putting on performances as good as this one, then they'll definitely get the attention of more people than just the disinterested drunk at the bar. Many more people, believe me." - Thomas Pizzola, Hartford Advocate, 06/26/03


"Infamous Anus"

"Listening to Rebecca Nurse's debut CD Infamous Anus (Sling Slang Records), it's not hard to begin name-dropping acts whose magic they recall. Touches of Van Halen (when they didn't take themselves so damn seriously), Lita Ford, Hole and X mix with Wormtown alumni like the Missionarys, Black Rose Garden, The Worst and current Boston darlings The Charms. However, guitarist Shawn Garrity disagrees. "I don't know of any popular bands that sound like us, and that's no mistake." Rebecca Nurse's songs have a nice combination of attitude, snarl, sarcasm, harmony, sing-a-long flavor and nursery-rhyme feel.

On occasion, the vocals of crawl out of your speaker as if vocalist Tracy Garrity (Shawn's sis) is staring you right in the eyes. "She blatantly targets people who have pissed her off in the past, and we try to convey that type of in-your-face attitude in every song," Garrity says. "Its not only an attack on people who piss us off, but on music as well. It takes very little musical talent to make a living playing music today, and we despise people who take advantage of that fact. We use our music to convey that."

Guitarist Garrity says his Providence based group's influences include The Pixies, The Hives and The Strokes. Infamous Anus was released at the start of the summer. The track "Hilly Billy" has been getting the most airplay. "For some reason people really get a kick out of hearing about other people doing stupid things, which is what 'Hilly Billy' is about," Garrity says. "Plus it is probably the catchiest song on the album." Perhaps.

The disc features two versions of "Miserable Hell." The first, which sparks Charms comparisons thanks in part to Angelo Franco's snappy drumbeat dancing with bassist Matt Kucharski, features Tracy promising the object of her scorn, most probably an ex-boyfriend, "I'm on my way to making your life a miserable hell." An acoustic version of the song presents it in a whole different light and recalls the fact that for all the full-fledged carnival that Courtney Love brought to Hole, they received their major label contract thanks to a pure acoustic version of "Doll Parts."

The Garritys used to play Worcester with Frame of Mind, a cover band with whom they'd try to sneak in a few originals each show. "We played The Irish Times about once a month," Garrity says. "However we got sick of playing covers and wanted to concentrate on our own material, which is why we started Rebecca Nurse."

Since that time, they've made frequent house calls to Central Massachusetts. Their performances have earned them repeat invites from local club owners. "The most common feedback we hear after a show is 'Wow, you guys have a great stage performance," says Garrity. "We put every ounce of energy we have into every show, whether there's one person or 1,000 in attendance. It helps that we believe in what we're saying and doing." - Brian Goslow, Worcester Magazine, 08/21/03


"Medical Attention: Rebecca Nurse plays with some cool Cats"

Rebecca Nurse plans to open a few more rock 'n' roll wounds in the Ocean State, turning Cats nightclub into a MASH unit.

Led by lipstick laden vocalist Tracy Garrity, Rebecca Nurse fleshes through a series of signature sounds - operating under resonating beats and riffs of such bands as the Go Gos, but with attitude.

Take for instance RN's opening track, "Black Sheep," of last year's disc, Bedtime Stories, wonderfully engineered at Joe Moody's Danger Studios in Providence.

The Valley girl tempo and do, do dos remind of a girl band, but Garrity brings on a nasty punk attitude and the rest of RN, Shawn Garrity (Guitar, Vocals), Angelo Franco (Drums) and Brian Niedzwiadek (Bass) lean back hard on a classic rock foundation.

Lyrically, the Garrity pair write all the songs, and not without a modicum of depth. Check out "Black Sheep's" message:

I lost white by the hay stack
He leaves, he's back, all black
He doesn't like his own kind
where'd all the sheep go?

Rebecca Nurse seems to like suturing themselves in easily recognizable sounds, while twisting them into their own devices.

Another of RN's better jams is title track, "Bedtime Story." Shawn Garrity undertakes the lead vocals in a kind of alt-country rock tune, johnnied in an avant garde, otherwordly tone. Fitting, considering Shawn's singing about an alien in his bedroom.

Much of RN's music runs along jocular lines. "Sasquatch." another Shawn-sung alternative ditty about being kidnapped by the tall, hairy beast.

So what does RN bring to the operating table? Well, they're not exactly surgeons, but there's a youthful energy and technical proficiency to their recorded music. They put a steady RN twist on the music of their antecedents. Tracy's presence does raise the bar on stage and makes an RN show an emotive event for the young-at-age.

Rebecca Nurse plays Cats nightclub in Pawtucket Friday, Feb 4. - Jim Vickers, Motif, 01/19/05


"Makes You Feel"

"Fantastic transitions is the first thing I think of with the band Rebecca Nurse. Tracy Garrity, lead singer, has an incredibly seductive voice - one of those Gwen Stefani or Debby Harry voices that makes you feel... I don't know... just makes you FEEL. She is enchanting.

I constantly compare bands with great lyrics and sticks-with-you voices to one of my favorites, the band X. This band REALLY captures that free-flowing angry-but-hip vibe. I swear this time. Rebecca Nurse has ended my X comparisons.

My favorite track, by far, is "Patio". Great song with a cool tempo, great bass line. This is followed by another gem, "Hill Billy". They are able to completely change up their style and still bang it out like it was born in them.

"Infamous Anus" has an 80's feel, without a doubt. It brings a lot to the table. Look for a full in-depth feature on this disc. I may not yet be finished. Rebecca Nurse, thanks for reminding me how upbeat music can be. Too much metal out there..." - Eric Dimbleby, The Local Mix, 11/25/03


"Show Review: 4/16/03 @ The Skybar"

Rebecca Nurse, was essentially punky with rock and even a tiny bit of rock-a-billy influence. The whole band has excellent stage presence. Not only were song well composed and played well, the band was having fun playing them. Tracy, the lead singer, has this crazy, jerky way of moving around, as a good accompaniment to the amusing lyrics. The effect of the delivery is very Jim Carreyish. Tracy brought to the show to the audience a few times, walking well off stage, and at one point sitting on the stools of nearby tables.

Mr. Guitar, Tracy's brother Shawn, is the rock guitarist as done by someone who is, in fact, a rock guiatrist at heart, as opposed to someone uncomfortable with the role. He sings backup well, and plays a sharp axe.

The bass player, Matt, is vaguely reminscent of Flea, in that a) he plays with a pick, and b) he's compact and explosive. At the start of one song, he sunddenly leapt off stage and ran onto the dance floor, playing all the while. At another point he ran out and made his only one man mosh pit. All hail the radio rig.

Angelo, the drummer, stayed behind his kit to provide the right drumming. That's hard. All the songs were fairly energetic, and he was the energy source. There were no false starts, no indecisive moments. He laid a great foundation. - David Hacksaw, Hacksaw.org, 04/16/03


"Rebecca Nurse gets in your face at Pogo"

Shawn and Tracy Garrity grew up in the Quiet Corner town of Danielson. Two years ago, the brother and sister formed their band Rebecca Nurse, which is anything but quiet. Although mellow in person, when the Garritys and the rest of the Providence-based Rebecca Nurse take the stage, it's an in-your-face raucous time. The band visits the Pogo Music Club (2 Cliff St., Norwich) Friday. The show includes Flu and Chasing Trinity.

"It catches people off guard when they see us perform," Shawn Garrity said during a recent phone interview.

Rebecca Nurse was the name of a woman who was prosecuted during the Salem Witch Trials. Shawn said most people assume Tracy's name is Rebecca Nurse and it makes for interesting conversation.

Shawn, 24, is the lead guitarist while Tracy, 21, fronts the band. Shawn said the two have always been close and began playing in bands when they were teenagers.

"We started writing our own material a couple years ago and decided to put a band together," Shawn said. "We've picked up a decent following in Rhode Island and a little bit in Connecticut."

The band actually played at The Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., a few weeks prior to the tragic fire on Feb. 20.

"It was a great club," Shawn said. "We looked forward to playing there again. People are still coming out to the clubs around here, but there's a different vibe since that happened."

The group hopes to release its first album titled "American Anus" some time in April. - David Pencek, Norwich Bulletin, 03/13/03


"The Healing Power of Rebecca Nurse"

On July 19, 1692, seventy-one-year-old Rebecca Nurse was hanged for practicing witchcraft, having allegedly afflicted two young girls in her town. Despite a petition signed by forty people asserting her innocence, the frail woman, along with her mother and two sisters, fell victim to one of the most famous scares in American history. 300-some-odd years later, three individuals from Providence have taken on the Rebecca Nurse name, crusading against the more contemporary subjects of folklore, namely Sasquatch and that guy in the supermarket who makes everyone else uncomfortable. Siblings Shawn and Tracy Garrity, equally steeped in mystery having both been born on Good Friday three years apart, comprise the songwriting tag team behind Rebecca Nurse’s romping guitar hooks and strong-willed vocals. When Performer spoke with Shawn Garrity, he was unable to rationalize the band’s lean towards storytelling, instead speculating that “maybe it’s because we can’t write about sexual things because we’re brother and sister.” Drummer Angelo Franco completes the triumvirate, a core foundation that has evolved from an “in-your-face, going-nuts-screaming” punk group, as Shawn admits, to a full-grown rock outfit that is tied to the stage and can’t help but give back everything they put into their music.

Amidst a myriad of transitions, life for Rebecca Nurse began marked by prolific, yet somewhat inexperienced productivity. While signed to Connecticut-based Sling Slang Records, the Garrity duo found themselves having to rebuild. “Tracy and I were in another band called Trojan Prayer which didn’t last very long,” notes Shawn. “When we got signed to the label, that was the band name, but the other members left and we started a new band and stayed with the label to release our first album as Rebecca Nurse.” That album, 2003’s phonetically-pleasing Infamous Anus, gave Franco a hefty load of material to work with in a small timeframe. “He learned all the songs in two weeks and went into the studio and recorded them, so it was kinda like a fly-by-night thing,” recalls Shawn. Despite the haste with which the CD was made, its thirteen songs demonstrate the compositional proficiency of the Garrity siblings and supply a string of Rebecca Nurse concert staples such as “Freako in the Supermarket,” “Miserable Hell,” and “Doug E. Beers.”

Through the vicarious energy of their live performances, the band has found its stride. “There’s pretty much nothing the three of us would rather be doing than playing live in front of an audience,” says Shawn. “It just allows us to be who we are and show that to all the people who are there.” For the band, any mistakes made are shorn up on stage. “Playing live helps us to realize what works and what doesn’t, which has helped us a lot in maturing as a band and creating our own sound,” acknowledges Shawn. As to how the lessons learned in the live setting transferred to the group’s second CD, Bedtime Stories, one need only reference the professional restraint shown by the band in recording just seven tracks. “At first we were just writing songs and throwing them out there and seeing what happens,” says Shawn. “We would just come up with lyrics and write a song in a day and keep it that way, but now that’s only the first step. The next time we get together we change one chorus or we change a verse or have a different person sing it.”

Sharing responsibility for the sea change in the band’s approach from one album to the next was their departure from Sling Slang. With the burden of Bedtime Stories on their shoulders, the members of Rebecca Nurse paced themselves in personalizing their sound. “There’s a lot more happening on the second album than the first one. We matured a little bit, we had more influences, we just took the time just to do it the way we wanted to. That’s why we released it on our own,” Shawn explains. Released at the end of 2004, the CD and its comparatively small track list have garnered a large critical response. Spins on SIRIUS Satellite Radio, inclusion on MTV’s Made, and a feature as the Sonicbids “Spotlight Artist” have augmented Rebecca Nurse’s popularity, justifying the nearly 30,000 friends the band has earned on MySpace.com since they joined less than two years ago. While Shawn readily acknowledges that “MySpace has made a huge impact on us and it’s allowed us to get our music out to people all over the world who otherwise would never know about it,” he denies any influence of success. “It’s always been pretty much the same. We just take everything as it comes. Nothing has really changed between us. We’ve always written songs and played shows together and I see us continuing to do that for a long time,” he says.

The band’s fairly unique ability to stay grounded in the face of growing acclaim is reflected in the eagerness with which they give back to the community. The Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation of New England was on the receiving end of proceeds raised thi - Will Morgan, Northeast Performer Magazine


Discography

Full-length:
Infamous Anus, released 6/03, Sling Slang Records
Bedtime Stories, released 12/04, Dog Hill Records

Singles "Freako in the Supermarket", "Miserable Hell", "Doug E. Beers", "Bedtime Story", "Black Sheep" & "Energy" have received airplay on Sirius Satellite Radio, XM Satellite Radio, WAAF in Boston, WFMU in Jersey City, WBRU & WHJY in Providence, WEQX in Manchester, VT, DownCitySignal & New Media Radio.

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

Discovering Rebecca Nurse

No one can take from us the joy of the first becoming aware of something, the so-called discovery. But if we also demand the honor, it can be utterly spoiled for us, for we are usually not the first. What does discovery mean, and who can say that he has discovered this or that? After all it's pure idiocy to brag about priority, for it's simply unconscious conceit, not to admit frankly that one is a plagiarist.
Goeth

And so goes the story of Rock, evolution (not revolution) and Rebecca Nurse.

What makes this band so special? Snot-nosed-post-punk/pop-retro 80's bands abound. So why Rebecca Nurse? The answer may be that Rebecca Nurse is none of the above and all of the above, and then some - all at once. The closer you listen, the more you realize, if not recognize, the depth of their influences. And listen you will, as the band demands your attention. Sonic sparks from the savage rhythm section converge with what one critic described as "a red hot goddess who drips sex appeal as she shimmies and shakes around the stage ... Her voice ... powerful and confident containing equal doses of sarcasm and sweetness." Add defiance in the form of guitar. What escapes is great rock music. Creative. Unpretentious. Evolutionary. Powerful. A groovy time for all.

Rebecca Nurse is a highly professional and exceptionally skilled act, which you will be proud to show-off as your very own discovery. Great originals, peppered with cool covers. Oh, and yes, you can dance to it. You know you want to.