Scandal in Bohemia

(Excerpt)

AT some point, a band's name ceases to matter. While no one thinks twice today about names like Led Zeppelin, U2 and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, they probably all sounded pretty silly when the bands were just starting out.

But before rock superstardom is achieved, when success is defined by actually getting friends to show up at your gig, a band's name is its calling card. Anyone looking at concert listings to plan their Friday night usually has little else to go on.


Music venues in the Valley have hosted all manner of bands with inscrutable, bizarre, or hilarious names (see sidebar) that cry out for some kind of explanation. On a recent Friday night, the Gazette headed to Pearl Street Nightclub in Northampton to get some answers from the likes of SCUZ and The Casual Sextet.


The club was the scene of a 'battle of the bands' sponsored by local promotion company Madd Muzik. Steamy even on a cold night in January, Pearl Street was sweltering in the summer heat as six bands vied for a chance to move on to the Aug. 25 finals, where the winner gets recording time and help setting up big-city gigs.


Louie Brault of Madd Muzik has been running the battles for seven years, and said at least one former entrant later found success. A Wilbraham band called The Modern Day Saint, which made it to the finals a few years ago, now has a record deal and is playing this summer's Warped Tour.


Before the amps at Pearl Street exploded with three hours of screaming punk and pounding heavy metal, the competitors were quizzed about the origins of their memorable names, how the bands got together, and the best band names they've ever heard.




Scandal In Bohemia


Hometown: Peterborough, N.H.


Favorite Band Name: My Bloody Valentine




'You'd think there'd be an amazing story behind the name, but there's not,' said singer Seth Chatfield. 'Actually there is, but we didn't write it.'


Their brand of 'hard noise rock' is distinctly 21st century, but the name comes from a 100-year-old literary figure: Sherlock Holmes. 'A Scandal in Bohemia' is the title of an 1891 Holmes adventure, notable as one of the few cases the master detective doesn't conclusively solve. He's outfoxed by a woman.


'It's one of the only Holmes stories where a woman is really significant to the plot,' said Chatfield. 'And we have a woman who's very significant to our plot.' That would be guitarist/songwriter Jennifer Mavris, who's also Chatfield's girlfriend of six years.


Chatfield and Mavris are huge Holmes fans, having read every single story. They've tried, with some success, to coax the band's other two members into their devotion, forcing them to watch a British Sherlock TV series.


Previously known as Friends With Coppolas ('we thought it sounded like a disease,' said guitarist Kalev Virks), the band chose a new name when drummer Tom Frechette joined earlier this year. He met the others when he, Chatfield and Virks' wife were all extras in 'The Sensation of Sight,' a film starring David Strathairn shot in their hometown of Peterborough last fall.


The band often performs at area clubs, but has also set up 'guerrilla shows,' playing venues like a swimming pool and a municipal budget meeting.


'We just show up and play until they say 'That's too loud,' ' said Chatfield.

- Daily Hampshire Gazette

(Excerpt)

The original sound of Scandal in Bohemia unwraps itself with an influence ranging from the pop chords of surf-rock, to the ground-breaking sounds of experimental noise and distortion.

Their debut CD, "Prepay after Dark" is a collection of accessible rock music, reminiscent of great rock bands such as Sonic Youth and the Pixies.

In today's world of over produced pop and commercialism, Scandal's evocative jam-based psychedlia and 70's inspired punk rock, is both refreshing and inspiring.

Vocalist Seth Chatfield says of performing, "We do this because we love to do it more than anything else. Performance is the ultimate high, and I truly think people who come to see Scandal in Bohemia get some of that as well-whatever else you say about us, I maintain that our stage show is unlike anyone else's. Seriously, who can say they have really lived without seeing a guitarist go from getting hit in the face with a home-made feedback manipulation machine to impersonating Willy Wonka?" - The New Hampshire (UNH Newspaper)

(Excerpt 9/1/05)

Scandal in Bohemia made up of drummer/vocalist Seth Chatfield with Jen Mavris and Kalev Virks on guitars, will take the Keene Middle School stage at 8:30 p.m. Self-described as "punk,noise, pop, indie and experimental tunes wrapped together," the Peterborough based trio named themselves after a Sherlock Holmes story. "It's the only one where he doesn't succeed," Chatfield said.

Chatfield said their music has a punk element to it and they've been told it has a gothic style, but he doesn't think it can be pigeonholed.
"When we play live, we focus on raw energy," he said. "We're how Iggy Pop would have been onstage." - Keene Sentinel (Nicole S. Colson)