The Main Drag
Encyclopedia
The Main Drag is an indie pop
/indie rock
band local to Boston, Massachusetts. The group incorporates elements as diverse as folk-pop to orchestrated electronica together with their occasionally oblique lyrics. The band releases albums on their own imprint, Reasonable People's League (RPL Audio).
The band currently consists of Matt Boch (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboard, trumpet), Dan Cardinal (bass, engineering), Jon Carter (guitar, bass, vocals, keyboard) and John Drake (drums, sampler, vocals). Adam Arrigo and Matt Levitt, both original band members, eventually left the band - Levitt after the release of the second album, and Arrigo after the release of the third. Boch, Carter, and Drake are also members of the post-punk band Blanks.. The band has released three albums to date, the latest being You Are Underwater
, which was released by RPL Audio in December 2009.
lyric, or it could simply be referring to the main drag of a town. With the help of local musicians and producers, Arrigo was able to begin recording and producing what would become the band's first album. Simmer In Your Hotseat
was released in 2004 on Boston-based indie label Endless Recordings. The first album received a positive reception, and earned the band an opening gig for the Arcade Fire shortly after its release. Live shows were played with friends of Arrigo and Levitt who had helped record the album.
Arrigo went on to meet the members of post-punk band Blanks. through his friend Long Le-Khac, who was their bass player at the time. Arrigo and Le-Khac originally met in high school and were briefly part of a band called The Neon Wilderness, which was named after a song by The Verve
. Arrigo helped produce the Blanks. EP Infinite Lives in early 2006. After the release of the Blanks. EP, Dan Cardinal and three members of Blanks. - Matt Boch, John Drake and Jon Carter - ended up joining Arrigo and Levitt, and they began working on The Main Drag's follow-up to Simmer In Your Hotseat.
, the band put up several demos of songs on the website GarageBand.com
, receiving positive acclaim and winning several "Track of the Day" awards and more.
The band went on to win Salon.com
's National Song Search Contest in 2006 for their song "A Jagged Gorgeous Winter", gaining the $5,000 grand prize. This allowed them to finance their critically lauded album Yours As Fast As Mine
which was released digitally in June 2007, and physical copies were self-released by the band shortly after. The album was issued through the band's own imprint, Reasonable People's League (RPL Audio). Levitt departed from being a full-time member of the band after the release of Yours As Fast As Mine.
In February 2007, before the release of their second album, the song "Goodnight Technologist" was included as part of Knocks From The Underground: The Best of Underplayed Boston, a compilation CD of indie bands local to Boston. In late 2007, the band was asked to create a cover of LCD Soundsystem
's "All My Friends" for the Cokemachineglow Fantasy Covers Podcast 2007. The cover gained attention across various music blogs. The song "Love During Wartime" was included on Paste
magazine's CD sampler in February 2008.
They garnered additional fame in late 2008 with the inclusion of their song "A Jagged Gorgeous Winter" in the on-disc track-list for Rock Band 2
as well as a nationally-aired Target commercial promoting the game. All members of the band (with the exception of Cardinal) work for Harmonix Music Systems
, creators of the Rock Band series of video games, and the band's track made it onto the game due to Harmonix's tradition to release the company's songs as bonus tracks in their video games.
, was released by RPL Audio in December 2009. The album, like previous releases, was self-recorded and self-released by the band. The album was first digitally pre-released in December 2009, and a CD release was held shortly after in January 2010. On the day of the You Are Underwater CD release, The Main Drag announced on their website that bandmate Adam Arrigo would be leaving the band in order to pursue other things. He played his final show with the band at the CD release for You Are Underwater. The CD release of the band's third album was held alongside the debut release of fellow RPL Audio band Spirit Kid.
"Love During Wartime" from Yours As Fast As Mine was featured on web series The Guild
in early 2009 as the outro to the second season.
A music video for "A Jagged Gorgeous Winter (Rock Band 2 Mix)" was released in summer 2009. Directed by Isaac Ravishankara, the video consisted of a prominent homage to the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes
, with Arrigo dressed as Calvin and Boch as Hobbes. The video was made to promote the band's remix of the song, which would go on to be included on You Are Underwater. The band has mentioned plans to make music videos for the tracks "Love During Wartime" and "Talk Them Down".
The band has announced that the entirety of both Yours As Fast As Mine and You Are Underwater will be launched on the Rock Band Network
in early 2010, a system designed by Harmonix to allow artists to make their music available to purchase and play in the video game Rock Band
. In order to help promote this, the band worked with French-Swiss directors Ben & Julia to create a surreal and psychedelic music video for the song "Dove Nets" (from Yours As Fast As Mine). The music video was accompanied by a website, Dove Lovers, which featured behind-the-scenes information and other bonus features.
In late 2009, the band began to release songs as remixable stems on the band's official website, allowing others to hear each individual track of the songs and create remixes using them. They plan to eventually have all of the songs from Yours As Fast As Mine and You Are Underwater available in this form.
A music video for the song "Cease and Desist" was released in March 2010. It was shot and directed by Nick Ahrens of Game Informer
magazine. The video was filmed in Minnesota and features shots taken at a mutual friends home in Minneapolis and from a live performance by The Main Drag at Minneapolis' Fine Line during their Summer 2009 National Tour.
The band was recently in the studio working on another cover for Cokemachineglow, this time for their decade round-up: Cokemachine Glow Fantasy Covers: The 2000s. The cover is of Jason Derülo
's song "Whatcha Say
", Hot Chip
's song "We're Looking for a Lot of Love", and Imogen Heap
's song "Hide and Seek
". The cover is titled "Whatcha Looking For? (Hide & Seek)" and was released in April 2010. In May 2010, the band was selected as the "Artist of the Month" by the T-Mobile Rock Band Network Connect promotion. Boch has recently mentioned in an interivew that there are plans for RPL Audio to release a 7" split featuring The Main Drag and Spirit Kid. A fourth studio album is also currently in the works.
Indie pop
Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...
/indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band local to Boston, Massachusetts. The group incorporates elements as diverse as folk-pop to orchestrated electronica together with their occasionally oblique lyrics. The band releases albums on their own imprint, Reasonable People's League (RPL Audio).
The band currently consists of Matt Boch (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboard, trumpet), Dan Cardinal (bass, engineering), Jon Carter (guitar, bass, vocals, keyboard) and John Drake (drums, sampler, vocals). Adam Arrigo and Matt Levitt, both original band members, eventually left the band - Levitt after the release of the second album, and Arrigo after the release of the third. Boch, Carter, and Drake are also members of the post-punk band Blanks.. The band has released three albums to date, the latest being You Are Underwater
You Are Underwater
You Are Underwater is the third album by The Main Drag, released in December 2009. Like the band's previous LP, You Are Underwater was also self-recorded and self-released on the band's own imprint - Reasonable People's League . Prior to the release of the CD, the album was digitally pre-released...
, which was released by RPL Audio in December 2009.
Formation and Simmer In Your Hotseat (2003–2006)
The Main Drag originally began as a collaboration between Arrigo and Levitt in early 2003. Arrigo has stated that the band name could be interpreted as a Death Cab for CutieDeath Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie is an American alternative rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997. The band consists of Ben Gibbard , Chris Walla , Nick Harmer and Jason McGerr ....
lyric, or it could simply be referring to the main drag of a town. With the help of local musicians and producers, Arrigo was able to begin recording and producing what would become the band's first album. Simmer In Your Hotseat
Simmer in Your Hotseat
Simmer In Your Hotseat is the debut album by Boston-based band The Main Drag, originally released on indie label Endless Recordings in 2004...
was released in 2004 on Boston-based indie label Endless Recordings. The first album received a positive reception, and earned the band an opening gig for the Arcade Fire shortly after its release. Live shows were played with friends of Arrigo and Levitt who had helped record the album.
Arrigo went on to meet the members of post-punk band Blanks. through his friend Long Le-Khac, who was their bass player at the time. Arrigo and Le-Khac originally met in high school and were briefly part of a band called The Neon Wilderness, which was named after a song by The Verve
The Verve
The Verve were an English rock band formed in 1989 in Wigan by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bassist Simon Jones, and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboardist Simon Tong later became a member. Beginning with a psychedelic sound indebted to shoegazing and space...
. Arrigo helped produce the Blanks. EP Infinite Lives in early 2006. After the release of the Blanks. EP, Dan Cardinal and three members of Blanks. - Matt Boch, John Drake and Jon Carter - ended up joining Arrigo and Levitt, and they began working on The Main Drag's follow-up to Simmer In Your Hotseat.
Yours As Fast As Mine (2007–2008)
Prior to the release of Yours As Fast As MineYours As Fast As Mine
Yours As Fast As Mine is the second LP album by Boston band The Main Drag which was released in June 2007 on the band's own imprint, Reasonable People's League , after being in the making for 2 years. The album was able to be financed after the band won the Salon.com National Song Search Contest in...
, the band put up several demos of songs on the website GarageBand.com
GarageBand.com
GarageBand.com was a large online community of independent musicians and music fans. Founded in 1999, the site was used by musicians who were seeking greater exposure and critical insight provided by an audience of their peers. The site was also used by music fans to discover new independent...
, receiving positive acclaim and winning several "Track of the Day" awards and more.
The band went on to win Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
's National Song Search Contest in 2006 for their song "A Jagged Gorgeous Winter", gaining the $5,000 grand prize. This allowed them to finance their critically lauded album Yours As Fast As Mine
Yours As Fast As Mine
Yours As Fast As Mine is the second LP album by Boston band The Main Drag which was released in June 2007 on the band's own imprint, Reasonable People's League , after being in the making for 2 years. The album was able to be financed after the band won the Salon.com National Song Search Contest in...
which was released digitally in June 2007, and physical copies were self-released by the band shortly after. The album was issued through the band's own imprint, Reasonable People's League (RPL Audio). Levitt departed from being a full-time member of the band after the release of Yours As Fast As Mine.
In February 2007, before the release of their second album, the song "Goodnight Technologist" was included as part of Knocks From The Underground: The Best of Underplayed Boston, a compilation CD of indie bands local to Boston. In late 2007, the band was asked to create a cover of LCD Soundsystem
LCD Soundsystem
LCD Soundsystem was a prominent American dance-punk band from New York City. It was fronted by American singer-songwriter and producer James Murphy, co-founder of record label DFA Records...
's "All My Friends" for the Cokemachineglow Fantasy Covers Podcast 2007. The cover gained attention across various music blogs. The song "Love During Wartime" was included on Paste
Paste (magazine)
Paste is a monthly music and entertainment digital magazine published in the United States by Wolfgang's Vault. Its tagline is "Signs of Life in Music, Film and Culture."-History:...
magazine's CD sampler in February 2008.
They garnered additional fame in late 2008 with the inclusion of their song "A Jagged Gorgeous Winter" in the on-disc track-list for Rock Band 2
Rock Band 2
Rock Band 2 is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems. It is the sequel to Rock Band and is the second title in the series. The game allows up to four players to simulate the performance of popular songs by playing with controllers modeled after musical instruments...
as well as a nationally-aired Target commercial promoting the game. All members of the band (with the exception of Cardinal) work for Harmonix Music Systems
Harmonix Music Systems
Harmonix Music Systems is an American video game development company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States...
, creators of the Rock Band series of video games, and the band's track made it onto the game due to Harmonix's tradition to release the company's songs as bonus tracks in their video games.
You Are Underwater and Rock Band Network (2009–present)
The Main Drag's third album, You Are UnderwaterYou Are Underwater
You Are Underwater is the third album by The Main Drag, released in December 2009. Like the band's previous LP, You Are Underwater was also self-recorded and self-released on the band's own imprint - Reasonable People's League . Prior to the release of the CD, the album was digitally pre-released...
, was released by RPL Audio in December 2009. The album, like previous releases, was self-recorded and self-released by the band. The album was first digitally pre-released in December 2009, and a CD release was held shortly after in January 2010. On the day of the You Are Underwater CD release, The Main Drag announced on their website that bandmate Adam Arrigo would be leaving the band in order to pursue other things. He played his final show with the band at the CD release for You Are Underwater. The CD release of the band's third album was held alongside the debut release of fellow RPL Audio band Spirit Kid.
"Love During Wartime" from Yours As Fast As Mine was featured on web series The Guild
The Guild
The Guild is an American comedy web series created and written by Felicia Day, who also stars as Cyd Sherman . It premiered on YouTube on July 27, 2007. Subsequent webisodes premiered on Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace, Zune Marketplace, and MSN Video. The webisodes were later made available on...
in early 2009 as the outro to the second season.
A music video for "A Jagged Gorgeous Winter (Rock Band 2 Mix)" was released in summer 2009. Directed by Isaac Ravishankara, the video consisted of a prominent homage to the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes
Calvin and Hobbes
Calvin and Hobbes is a syndicated daily comic strip that was written and illustrated by American cartoonist Bill Watterson, and syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. It follows the humorous antics of Calvin, a precocious and adventurous six-year-old boy, and Hobbes, his...
, with Arrigo dressed as Calvin and Boch as Hobbes. The video was made to promote the band's remix of the song, which would go on to be included on You Are Underwater. The band has mentioned plans to make music videos for the tracks "Love During Wartime" and "Talk Them Down".
The band has announced that the entirety of both Yours As Fast As Mine and You Are Underwater will be launched on the Rock Band Network
Rock Band Network
The Rock Band Network is a downloadable content service designed by Harmonix Music Systems with the help of Microsoft to allow musical artists and record labels to make their music available as playable tracks for the Rock Band series of rhythm video games, starting with Rock Band 2...
in early 2010, a system designed by Harmonix to allow artists to make their music available to purchase and play in the video game Rock Band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
. In order to help promote this, the band worked with French-Swiss directors Ben & Julia to create a surreal and psychedelic music video for the song "Dove Nets" (from Yours As Fast As Mine). The music video was accompanied by a website, Dove Lovers, which featured behind-the-scenes information and other bonus features.
In late 2009, the band began to release songs as remixable stems on the band's official website, allowing others to hear each individual track of the songs and create remixes using them. They plan to eventually have all of the songs from Yours As Fast As Mine and You Are Underwater available in this form.
A music video for the song "Cease and Desist" was released in March 2010. It was shot and directed by Nick Ahrens of Game Informer
Game Informer
Game Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. It was formed in August 1991, when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, free in all its retail locations...
magazine. The video was filmed in Minnesota and features shots taken at a mutual friends home in Minneapolis and from a live performance by The Main Drag at Minneapolis' Fine Line during their Summer 2009 National Tour.
The band was recently in the studio working on another cover for Cokemachineglow, this time for their decade round-up: Cokemachine Glow Fantasy Covers: The 2000s. The cover is of Jason Derülo
Jason Derulo
Jason Joel Desrouleaux , better known by his stage name Jason Derülo, is an American singer-songwriter, actor and dancer. After producing records for several artists and writing songs for Cash Money Records, co-founder of the label Birdman, Young Money Entertainment owner Lil Wayne and rapper...
's song "Whatcha Say
Whatcha Say
"Whatcha Say" is the debut single by American recording artist Jason Derülo. It was produced by J. R. Rotem with additional production by German producer Fuego and samples the song "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap. "Whatcha Say" topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.Derülo recorded a...
", Hot Chip
Hot Chip
Hot Chip are an English electronic indie band. They have released four studio albums—Coming on Strong, The Warning, Made in the Dark and One Life Stand.-Formation:...
's song "We're Looking for a Lot of Love", and Imogen Heap
Imogen Heap
Imogen Jennifer Jane Heap is a Grammy Award-winning English singer, composer and songwriter from Havering, Essex. She is known for her work as part of the musical duo Frou Frou and her solo albums, which she writes, produces, and mixes...
's song "Hide and Seek
Hide and Seek (Imogen Heap song)
"Hide and Seek" is the first single by Imogen Heap from her album Speak for Yourself. The song is performed with the sole accompaniment being a keyboard synth transformed by a vocoder, creating an altered a cappella sound.-Television:...
". The cover is titled "Whatcha Looking For? (Hide & Seek)" and was released in April 2010. In May 2010, the band was selected as the "Artist of the Month" by the T-Mobile Rock Band Network Connect promotion. Boch has recently mentioned in an interivew that there are plans for RPL Audio to release a 7" split featuring The Main Drag and Spirit Kid. A fourth studio album is also currently in the works.
Discography
- Simmer In Your HotseatSimmer in Your HotseatSimmer In Your Hotseat is the debut album by Boston-based band The Main Drag, originally released on indie label Endless Recordings in 2004...
(2004) - Yours As Fast As MineYours As Fast As MineYours As Fast As Mine is the second LP album by Boston band The Main Drag which was released in June 2007 on the band's own imprint, Reasonable People's League , after being in the making for 2 years. The album was able to be financed after the band won the Salon.com National Song Search Contest in...
(2007) - You Are UnderwaterYou Are UnderwaterYou Are Underwater is the third album by The Main Drag, released in December 2009. Like the band's previous LP, You Are Underwater was also self-recorded and self-released on the band's own imprint - Reasonable People's League . Prior to the release of the CD, the album was digitally pre-released...
(2009)