The Grand Rapids band working on its second EP performed during the Local Spins radio show, which also debuted tracks by Bill Ellingboe, Channing & Quinn, Watching for Foxes and more.
THE BAND: Boy From School
THE MUSIC: Pop-driven indie-rock
WHERE YOU CAN SEE THE BAND: 7 p.m. Thursday (May 5) at The Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids (with Fever Haze, Secret Grief, Moses); noon May 12 at Rosa Parks Circle in downtown Grand Rapids
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With a distinctive melding of pop, indie-rock, electronic music and jazz, Boy From School knows how to do its songwriting homework.
Singer-guitarist Alex Mason – at one time, the Grand Rapids band’s primary songwriter – and keyboard player Adam Baker now trade lines as part of their productive musical banter.
“We kind of got a cool system going,” said Baker, who first started playing with Mason while they were students at Northview High School.
“Me and Alex will sit down and just take a couple of hours and each write a line of lyrics and go back and forth with a notebook and see what comes out of it, and put a melody to it.”
What results is an undeniably catchy, pop-flavored, genre-blending approach, enhanced by bassist Beniah Dickson and drummer Christian VanDuinen, who comes from a jazz background.
“I think it brings kind of a unique flavor to a pop group,” said VanDuinen, formerly a member of the award-winning jazz band Brad Fritcher + trois.
The band, which released an EP in 2015 and hopes to release a follow-up recording later this year, made its radio debut on Local Spins on WYCE this week, performing two songs – “Two Rocks” and “Freetime” – on the air and chatting about its music. Listen to the podcast here.
PODCAST: Local Spins on WYCE with Boy From School
The band plays The Pyramid Scheme on Thursday, opening the 7 p.m. show that also features regional acts The Fever Haze, Secret Grief and Moses. Tickets for the all-ages show are $10; get details and tickets online here.
Boy From School also will play the free “Relax at Rosa” concert series on May 12, performing at noon at Rosa Parks Circle in downtown Grand Rapids.
Get more information about the band on their Facebook page.
Episode No. 85 of Local Spins on WYCE also featured the debut of new tracks by Bill Ellingboe, Channing & Quinn, The Ragbirds, Michigander, Watching for Foxes and Dante Cope as well as music from The Outer Vibe (this week’s musicians’ pick), An Dro and Victoria Reed.
Copyright 2016, Spins on Music LLC