By Chris Brook
For a band which sings songs about karma, ice cream and dance parties, it’s safe to say that Piebald, which is celebrating 11 years together this year, has had a pretty good run. Fans of the Massachusetts emo-rock quartet should expect nothing short of the band’s trademarked shenanigans when they pick up its latest offering, a CD/DVD collection titled Killa Bros and Killa Bees.
Based out of Andover, the band, comprised of vocalist Travis Shettel, guitarist Aaron Stuart, bassist Andrew Bonner and drummer Luke Garro, has manufactured their own brand of witty and sharp indie rock and become a near institution in and around Boston.
The DVD (Killa Bros) clocks in at just under 40 minutes and culls footage from the band’s 68,000 miles on the road, stage and in the studio in the past four years. The earliest of the footage included, however, is taken from a 1993 talent show at Andover High School where the band – just Shettel and Stuart in their earliest incarnation, Dorknob, tear through a song called “Munchkinland.” While the song is as embarrassing for the band members to watch as it is crudely recorded, it’s a crucial piece of the band’s history that doesn’t go overlooked.
Additional footage includes live performances from shows in the U.S. at venues like New York’s Knitting Factory and Anaheim’s Chain Reaction, as well as in Europe, at Cologne, Germany’s Underground and the Czech Republic’s Strahov.
Released last week on SideOneDummy, the collection also includes a disc of B-sides (Killa Bees), complete with rough demos of tracks from 2004’s All Eyes, All Ears, All the Time (“Part of Your Body” and “Anthem of New Boston”), acoustic cuts (“The King”) and previously unreleased songs (“Timing is Everything”).
For the band’s cult following, the DVD is a chance to see the members in their natural element as they pass time on the road. While the wide-eyed and animated Stuart tends to steal the spotlight, getting bitten by a dog in the Czech Republic and impersonating crocodile hunter Steve Irwin, there are a few other notable clips.
Halfway through the film, Shettel discusses how he went about recording songs without vocals after undergoing throat surgery in 2002. Elsewhere, a roadie drives the tour van off the road in inclement weather, the band gives a tour of Q Division Studios in Somerville and the boys chow down on wiener schnitzel in Amsterdam.
As far as performances go, there are 17, but moments like the cowbell and clapping infused in “The Stalker” and the triumphant duel-guitar climax in “Grace Kelly with Wings,” are especially great to relive on film.
The film’s director and band friend Mike Parziale, in conjunction with Stuart, a former mechanic, came up with the band’s latest touring endeavor: the “veggie van.”
Together, Parziale and Stuart replaced the seats in the back of the band’s 12-person van with a giant 100-gallon vegetable oil tank last summer. Now, by using vegetable oil and grease from local fast food restaurants and diesel gasoline as fuel, the band has fine-tuned its van to make it an economically sound and environmentally safe vehicle. Parziale also runs the Web site www.greasenotgas.com, a non-profit site designed to educate the public on converting vehicles to biodiesel, so the project was right up his alley.
Perhaps better though, the band has dodged high gas prices. Currently in the middle of a 28 date U.S. tour, the van has cost the band as little as two cents per mile and saved nearly $2,500. In between touring with Piebald, the two are still trying to get the word out about Grease Not Gas. For example, Parziale and Stuart have recently begun airing short 30-second ads for the campaign, featuring Piebald’s music, on MTV in hopes of spreading the word on alternative forms of energy.
While the band moved to Los Angeles a few years back, Piebald will return to Boston and bring its effervescent pop-punk and its “veggie van” with them to Cambridge’s Middle East downstairs next Friday, Nov. 25. Piebald will play alongside I am the Avalanche and Hot Rod Circuit. Tickets for the 18 and over show are $12 at the doors, which open at 8 p.m..
