home

The Noise: Rock Around Boston
Joel Simches - April, 2008

Babylon Is Fallen, 5-song EP
Opening with a rousing rendition of a traditional Shaker hymn, Pariah Beat has clearly taken up the mantle left in the wake of the absence of the mighty Reverend Glasseye. Pariah Beat are storytellers in the same vein as Tom Waits, The Denver Gentlemen, Beat Circus, Three Day Threshold, and World Inferno Friendship Society. This celebration of folk and barrelhouse songwriting is a specialty and there are so few bands in Boston that pull it off with as much fun and honesty as these people do on this EP. Pariah Beat is rootsy, fun and honest. If you haven’t checked them out yet, this latest slab, available on their myspace, is a great way to begin your indoctrination. (Joel Simches)

Montpelier Times Argus: Capital Sounds
Ed Dufresne - January 4, 2008

Pariah Beat hails from the tiny hamlet of Thetford, but has really been making a name for itself to the south of us in the Boston market. Rowdy, fun and full of spunk, this band is one of the bright spots on the Vermont music scene right now. Their self-described sound is "honky-punk," and indeed it is an amalgamation of Americana – jug band music and rockabilly – all played with an in-your-face punk sensibility. This is serious drinkin' music, for sure, so come ready to hoist a few pints if that's your inclination. Fans of bands like Dropkick Murphys, Gogol Bordello or The Reverend Horton Heat are bound to love Pariah Beat.

Songs: Illinois: Pariah Beat (riyl Gogol Bordello, Devotchka)
December 13th, 2007

Pariah Beat is a natural follow-up to the The Devil Makes Three post from last week. The two bands are MySpace friends for goodness sake (Pariah Beat also lists Songs:Illinois faves - The Cankickers!). I could drop all the same adjectives on this band as I have for those two, but I’ll just leave it at gypsy-folk-circus punk-rockers in fishnet and stiletto’s (and that’s just how the guys dress!).

New Now Next: Pariah Beat Plunks Punk Rockabilly from the Margins
Julie Bolcer - June 29, 2007

Pariah Beat creates down and dirty party music that seems destined for the sole, but noble, purpose of fun. Pariah Beat, with unconfirmed membership size and roots in New Hampshire and Vermont, is now planting some buzzworthy seeds in the fertile music scene of Boston, its new home. Soak up this performance of "I'll Take the Drink" to taste the group's self-proclaimed style of a "punk rock gospel hoedown." The carnival atmosphere yields to more soulful surroundings on "Broken Shoes," a track with vocals that suggest David Byrne channeling Jim Morrison.

Valley News
Warren Johnston - Feb 14, 2008

Pariah Beat returns to the Main Street Museum on Bridge Street in White River Junction Saturday night after completing a national tour that took the band to New Orleans, Nashville, Chicago and other places. Pariah Beat, which recently released a new CD, features Billy Sharff on vocals, fiddle, guitar and keyboards, Justin Bendel on vocals, accordion and harmonica, Emily Eastridge on bass and vocals, James McHugh on drums and vocals and Nick Charyk on guitar and vocals. It seems like a lot of people for the intimate space at the museum, but the group really loves the venue, so the show should be hot. This is a lively, hard-working group of musicians. In fact, they plan to “raise the rafters with a rockabilly hootenanny,” the band's Web site says.

CV Spectator: Pariah Beat headed to Museum
Eric Francis - Feb 14, 2008

White River Junction - Fresh from the release of their new Babylon is Fallen EP and a second east coast tour that actually looped clear down to New Orleans, Upper Valley "Honky Punk" band Pariah Beat is getting set to play a final tour stop Saturday night at the Main Street Museum.
   
    "We've become a semi-house band there," noted Pariah Beat's singer Billy Sharff. "We like the space. People can fit in and mill about inside and outside."

    The band managed to keep the damage deposit on their rented van intact by skipping out of each town a day before things got wild. "We were in New Orleans pre-Mardi Gras  — the day John Edwards pulled out of the presidential race — we got ahead of Hillary Clinton in Nashville and Obama in Chicago and the big tornados hit a day after we left Tennessee," Sharff explained. "We felt like we were in cities where things were happening."

    Pariah Beat's hard-charging music feels like a bar fight is on the brink of happening and Sharff said that crazed sensibility fit in well with their double-bill in New Orleans with a local group called the Zydepunks.

    "We were down staying with friends in the 8th ward and there was definitely a lot of cultural life back," Sharff said.

     Rolling into Boston this week to play a few dates before returning to Thetford and Cornish, where the five band members are from, Sharff said that the band is selling their EP through their MySpace account, but did not have any comment on the current crisis' facing Britney Spears that has consumed so much of MySpace's time and attention. "We've been on the road and we're kinda out of touch on that," Sharff noted.

Boston's Weekly Dig: Six worthies you might run into on the T
Barry Thompson - June 13, 2007

I suspect Pariah Beat was stinking drunk when they called me for this interview. My midnight conference call with Nick Cheryk (guitar), Justin Bendel (lead vox, accordion, harmonica) and Emily Eastridge (bass) was interspersed with giggle fits, gibberish and accounts of nearby co-conspirators urinating in bushes and running down the street with no shoes. Unprofessional, but I would've been disappointed by anything else. Wielding an arsenal of ferociously catchy made-for-drinking tunes fixed in Americana and gospel, yet delivered with punk vigor, they're somewhere between a musical collective and a carnival troupe.

As of this interview, they weren't sure how many PB members there were (somewhere between four and nine, I glean), but they're still eager to expand. Currently a semi-Boston band, they're taking up official residency here this fall. Could mean trouble, but mostly the good kind.

A lot of cool bands playing around here are originally from Vermont, like you, or New Hampshire. What gives?
Emily Eastridge: Well, Boston's a transient city, y'know? It's in the middle of New England, and it's a huge school town. It's kind of where people land.
Nick Cheryk: Maybe it's in the water, or something.
Justin Bendel: Listen, Vermont's going to secede. In a random poll, they found a 13 percent acknowledgment that Vermont should secede. Seriously.
NC: I like to succeed at whatever I do.
How easy is it to get shows in Boston, given there's no pre-established niche for your style?
NC: We're used to knocking down doors pretty hard and playing open mics. The Midway Café has been real cool to us. We're getting there.
EE: When people actually hear us, they're pretty psyched or amused, I would say. It's a matter of getting our stuff in front of people. There's a lot of competition. It's a band town.
NC: I think taking it to the streets is the next stage. The subway stations and rest stops. No one busks at rest areas.
I think I'll compare Pariah Beat to the World/Inferno Friendship Society in this article. Thoughts?
NC: I feel comfortable with that. They have an occasional accordion player, and they have a cultlike following. I'll mix the Kool-Aid.
EE: Justin's definitely down for the Kool-Aid. We'll drink it all, if no one else will. There will be no waste with Pariah Beat.
JB: We'll offer it to people if there's some left.
EE: Yeah, I probably won't finish mine, actually.
NC: That shit is kicked.
Out of curiosity, what flavor is the Kool-Aid?
NC: Soul-flavored, with a shot of bourbon.

Short Quotes:

"a well-oiled, dark Americana/gospel/klezmer/polka (yeah, polka) machine that kills fascists and doesn’t need no stinking niche." - The Boston Phoenix

"...Wielding an arsenal of ferociously catchy made-for-drinking tunes fixed in Americana and gospel, yet delivered with punk vigor, they’re somewhere between a musical collective and a carnival troupe." - Barre Thompson, Boston's Weekly Dig

"...Pariah Beat creates down and dirty party music that seems destined for the sole, but noble, purpose of fun." - Julie Bolcer, New Now Next

"The beat is an inventive, traditional band that smashes all traditions." - Main Street Museum, WRJ

" An incredible crossing between the energy of the Pogues and the madness of the glorious Holy Modal Rounders." - Massimo Ferro, Highway 61 Radio Voce Spazio (Italy)

"...one haircut is better than the next. The smell coming from the singer practically demands that their music not stink..." - Olfactorily Sensitive Stace, The Noise

"So, yeah, no hard feelings to the party house dudes. I guess it is a pretty well known trashy party house. " - Kimya Dawson, formerly of the Moldy Peaches, and the Juno soundtrack; in regards to Pariah Beat, and our house. True story.

"Rowdy, fun and full of spunk, this band is one of the bright spots on the Vermont music scene right now. Their self-described sound is "honky-punk," and indeed it is an amalgamation of Americana – jug band music and rockabilly – all played with an in-your-face punk sensibility. This is serious drinkin' music, for sure, so come ready to hoist a few pints if that's your inclination. Fans of bands like Dropkick Murphys, Gogol Bordello or The Reverend Horton Heat are bound to love Pariah Beat." - Ed Dufresne, The Barre Montpelier Times Argus

"...somethin' like bluegrass on steroids." - Rusty, The World Famous Poplar Lounge, Memphis, TN

"When we kicked back, threw on the headphones, and listened to this artist we thought 'We journey through the Irish fjords speed grinding and pointing our pony's nose to the mean streets of Boston." - Elbo.ws blog

"Outcast percussionists, fiddlers and guitarists play accordion-accented rockabilly tunes" - Seven Days, Burlington, VT

"I’ll just leave it at gypsy-folk-circus punk-rockers in fishnet and stiletto’s (and that’s just how the guys dress!)." - Songs: Illinois, at www.songsillinois.net

"Pariah Beat's hard-charging music feels like a bar fight on the brink of happening... the crazed sensibility fit well with their double bill in New Orleans with a local group called the Zydepunks." - Eric Francis, C. V. Spectator

"Musikalisch wandern Pariah Beat ein bißchen auf anderen Pfaden und anstatt Blues und ruhigem Folk gibt es knackigen englischen Folk-Rock, der ein bißchen an ... entschuldigung ... Sauflieder erinnert. Und das ist jetzt überhaupt nicht böse gemeint, denn da bleibt kein Fuß still und auch kein Auge trocken. Sowas macht nur Laune und Freude." - Roland Leicht, prog-rock.info

"Musically hike Pariah beat a little on other paths, and instead of calm blues and folk, there are crunchy English folk-rock, which is a bit ... Sorry ... Sauflieder recalls. And that is not meant bad, because there still remains no feet and no eye dry. Sowas only makes whim and joy." (eloquently translated by Google)

"You guys, you rock! Your my favorite band!" - Mark Vogel, Man Around Town

"Stay out of Chicago!" - angry and confused patron of rock in Wilmington, North Carolina

“Pariah Beat is a dirt-encrusted buzzsaw from the past, moving forward with the weight of a freight train behind them.” - David S. Hammond, Main St. Museum Visiting Scholar

"...music well worth paying for." - Warren Johnston, Vermont Valley News

Noam Chomsky on March 19th event/show in Montpelier: "I wish I could join you, but hopeless, I'm afraid. Hope it goes well, and has some effect."
© 2008 Pariah Beat