JamBase partnered with Neighbor and Soundcheck Studios for a memorable weekend loaded with original music and spirited collaborations.
By Scott Marks Sep 13, 2022 • 7:38 am PDT
In Boston-based Neighbor’s relatively short existence (three and a half years), Into The Sun has quickly become an important part of the band’s rich history. The inaugural Into The Sun was billed as a “Campout” last year at Martell’s at the Red Fox in Jeffersonville, Vermont over Labor Day weekend and featured Vermont-based supporting acts Seth Yacovone and Ryan Montbleau.
Over this past weekend, the second Into The Sun took place at Soundcheck Studios in Pembroke, Massachusetts with Neighbor teaming up with JamBase to produce the event and Jennifer Hartswick appearing for all three nights.
More acts local to the area (including Duochrome and Club d’Elf) joined as the event added a day and removed the “Campout” concept, instead happening in the band’s current home venue where they played several shows during the COVID-19 pandemic (they had initially started their career with a storied residency on Tuesday nights in at Somerville’s Thunder Road).
Hailing from an hour north in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Club d’Elf was the second act of the night to support Neighbor. With an ever-evolving roster, Sunday’s lineup featured Mike Rivard on bass, Johnston on drums, Randy Roos on guitar, Bellamy (returning to Into The Sun after playing with Duochrome on Friday) on keyboards, and Mister Rourke on turntables. Club d’Elf kicked off their nearly 70-minute set with a 20-minute “End of Firpo” off of the band’s 2011 double disc Electric Moroccoland/So Below.
“Boney Oscar Stomp” followed and was the first of three tunes that would be played off of Club d’Elf’s You Never Know release from earlier this year. Rivard switched his bass for a sintir and he and his bandmates were joined by Brewer on guitar, Hartswick on trumpet, and Cressman on trombone. Both of the horn players would take quick solos in the song. After “Stomp” finished, Rivard talked to the crowd for a bit and said this was Brewer’s first time performing with the band and he’d be joining them again later in the month (September 30) for the reopening of The Lizard Lounge where d’Elf had gotten their start in 1998. Rivard dedicated “Stomp” to Richard Zukowski, a friend of the band who had passed away a few years prior and to whom You Never Know was dedicated (Zukowski had called himself “Boney Oscar”).
Brewer would exit after just one song, while Hartswick and Cressman would stay for “Lalla Aisha in Jhaptal,” the second song of the night off of You Never Know, which gave the crowd a bit of gnawa style music native to Morocco. “Dream Wanderer” was then ushered in with Rivard back on bass driving the band with a funky beat and featuring the lineup that had started the set. Morphine saxophonist Dana Colley joined for the set closing “Masada” as the band dipped back into You Never Know one last time. Rivard mentioned that he and Colley had played in late Morphine frontman Mark Sandman’s “secret band,” Hypnosonics.
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