GONDOLIERS
The Gondoliers – which was originally Daniel Madri (Joy, the Jack McCoys, Godboy) on guitar and synths and Brendan Gibson on drums – had released a handful of instrumental records as a two-piece before hooking up with Manson for their first stab at recording together in 2011. Manson was already one of the most recognizable performers in Boston. He’d spent years howling through gas masks and bashing battered metal drums in Neptune, fronting the Young Sexy Assassins from behind an onstage desk, and courting awkward moments with junkyard Vangelis atmospherics of Magic People. From outside of clubs and basement bulkheads, you’d hear his voice carry over the rest of the band’s cacophony in its telltale crazed oration, one long and unfolding nightmare sermon. He was a perfect fit for the Gondoliers’ bleak sci-fi assault.
The relaunched band took to blasting rickety basement shows with blinding floodlights and overwhelming noise. The Gondoliers come at the whole thing with a metaphysical trickster detachment. They dress in coveralls, They dress in hard hats. They wrap themselves in plastic backyard sports equipment and spill cheap beer all over the house.
