The tradition of the Rock n Roll Rumble continues at Middle East on Thursday, 13 April 2023.

The Freqs, The Endorphins, Tysk Tysk Task, and Ruin The Nite do battle.

A euphoric night of skull shattering heavy music.

The Rock n Roll Rumble started in 1979 as far as anyone can remember. It was WBCN’s baby (104.1, the “Rock of Boston”) and the radio station ran it like a super-sized battle of the bands. 

And so it went, with a few fits & starts, relocations, and change of hands, over the decades. For all that time passed, the spirit and shape of the competition has remained admirably intact. 

No one’s signing a ten-record deal after winning first place, but it’s no PR swindle either. Bands are paid to participate and it can be a good opportunity to rub shoulders with your musical peers and strut your stuff in front of new faces. 

Maybe you go down in Boston rock n roll history? Winning artists, like Chris Doherty of Gang Green (1st place, 1986), still do onstage cameos decades later.

The current organizing host and home of the Rumble is Anngelle Wood of Boston Emissions. Her radio program provides a regular platform for local artists to have their music heard. Give it a listen.

Bathrobe Guy in the house!

The Freqs

The Freqs were absolutely not fucking around. The Salem-based three-piece was ready to rumble with a set that felt tailored specifically for the competition.

Instead of offering the typical string of songs, like you do for any show, The Freqs constructed a kind of epic medley of their own material that unfurled with barely any breaks like a tidal force bearing down on the Middle East. 

Two, maybe three “songs,” in the entire set? Their 2023 full-length Poachers maxes out at five-minute tracks, so they definitely stitched together something special for their Rock n Roll Rumble appearance.

It was a righteous wall of sound. A masterful use of tempo changes to keep the ears engaged, lulling the listeners at a slower pace and then bopping them over the head with a high velocity rock hammer. Huge pedal twiddling breakdowns. Extra points for gonzo muscular drumming from another planet.

The Endorphins

The Endorphin’s alt punk attack sparkled with the shine of a thousand stompboxes. A phaser? A phlanger? A faser? A flanger? It was a heavy rock sound refracted through the prism of an altered consciousness.

If you dig down into the lyrics of their late 2022 full-length Nothing Is Real, you’ll find a deeper philosophico-political story that mixes equal parts William S. Burroughs and William Gibson. Like the psychotropic bureaucracy of “Myopic Dystopia.” Is it the 21st-century challenge to the ancient Parmenidean thesis, that whatever is is and whatever is not is not?

The Boston-based quartet picked up momentum throughout the set, concluding with a rollicking number that brought the Middle East to attention.

Tysk Tysk Task

Tysk Tysk Task’s prep for the Rumble began months before when the Lowell-based three-piece slotted in two new members on drums and bass.

Would the band get in synch with frontwoman Samantha Hartsel’s brand of indie grunge chicanery?

Not a problem. The trio played loud & loose, delivering guitar progressions that left an impress on the crowd like a fresh triceratops footprint.

Shades of PJ Harvey and Babes In Toyland. Hartsel injected the set with a kind of intensity that you can’t turn away from  and is just a little bit dangerous. Watch out you don’t get electrocuted when you douse yourself with water onstage!

Extra points for the customized Tysk Tysk Task stage decor. If you’ve been to a TTT set, or seen the merch, you know the kind of TLC that Hartsel brings to the whole visual presentation. The performers, instruments, and stage miscellany (even the water bottle!) were decorated in the band’s signature cottagecore-meets-Carcosa aesthetic.

Ruin The Nite

Let’s get some brass onstage, for god’s sake! All these guitars and none of the shiny stuff. Boston’s Ruin The Nite brought some big band energy to the closing slot at the Rock n Roll Rumble.

The six-piece, including a saxophone and trumpet, came out in blue dress suits and newsboy caps. The Boston music scene has always had a soft spot for well-dressed men playing rock n roll with brass accompaniment. A touch of class and plenty of grit.

Four bands enter, how many bands leave? Damned if anybody understands the rules to this competition. Hard to believe, though, that many line-ups in this round topped the troubadours on Thursday night at Middle East.

“To those who are about to die, I salute you.”

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