In truth, Boomhower, chief songwriter and band architect, is singing about his political disillusionment. “The songs are touching upon things in this world that I have a problem with, that I’m trying to deal with and come to terms with. If I don’t write about them, it’ll drive me fuckin’ crazy. I call it [the genre] ‘poelitical.’ ” The Big Disappointments as a proper name aren’t the four band mates reveling in their loser status; the Big Disappointments refer to what Boomhower views as life’s cruel realities, the failures of the modern era. The four-minute-plus rallying cry “A Warhead” is littered with metaphorical phrases like the “foreign exchange,” “coming infestation,” and “a suicide contest.” Boomhower says, “You can say it’s poetry or you can say it’s political rubbish; it doesn’t matter to me.”
People know TBD as a live band, but they have recorded nearly everything since their first show last April — every rehearsal, every song. At the end of the month, they’ll head into the studio with Thalia Zedek, who’s roommates with Boomhower. “She’s offered to produce our record. Which is like having one of your greatest influences involved personally in your music.”
Until then, their total output is both posted on-line and released on a homeburned CD Live at Studio-Eight 2006. Scanning titles like “The Hunted Whale” and “Deathbed Country,” you’d expect the gear-grinding opener, “Chemicals,” to be about nuclear war. Nope, says Boomhower, it’s a love song. “It’s basically saying, ‘This is how I feel about this person, this is what attracts me to this person, it’s their chemicals coming off.’ ”
It seems he’s never discussed these lyrics (“Seems like I keep my face beneath/Your winter coat where I can breathe/Seems like I need your chemicals”) with the rest of the band. He wonders who else knew this was a love ballad.
Abrahamson nods.
“It’s so obvious, my God,” says Littlefield. “It’s all about smells.”
Then Mullen peeps, “Chemicals is why I’m a lady now!” Everyone at the table cracks up.
If Littlefield is the face of TBD and Boomhower is the legs, then Mullen is the laugh. (Abrahamson didn’t talk enough for me to assign him a body part.) She has the tiniest voice I’ve ever heard come out of a human, and most of her comments are absurdly comical non sequiturs.
“If you have too much testosterone in a band, you’re going to end up sounding like Metallica,” says Boomhower about playing beside Mullen. “And that’s not what we want.”
“Besides,” Mullen says, smacking Littlefield’s arm in a Red Stripe epiphany, “The audience likes seeing the tallest person in Boston and the smallest person in Boston on stage together!”
THE BIG DISAPPOINTMENTS + THROTTLE + THUNDERHOLE | P.A.’s Lounge, 345 Somerville Ave, Somerville | October 13 | 617.776.1557
On the Web
The Big Disappointments: http://www.thebigdisappointments.com/
