The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
 
Big Hurt  |  CD Reviews  |  Classical  |  Jazz  |  Live Reviews  |  Music Features
unsexy2011_1000x50b

The World/Inferno Friendship Society lead a punk cult

Anarchy in the BK
By REYAN ALI  |  May 20, 2011

wi main
LIVING ON HOPE “We are not in this for the checks!” says Jack Terricloth. “We are here to make music and break stuff!” 


If Ann Orrin had done some crafty editing on her 2008 documentary about the World/Inferno Friendship Society, it would have been easy to confuse the band with some fringe religion. Heaven's Gate–ish name aside, what makes World/Inferno seem particularly cult-like in the 10-minute film are the hyperbolic and wholly earnest testimonials of their "Infernites." One acolyte was told that seeing World/Inferno would change his life; after a few shows, the prophecy came true. A second fan discusses canceling family activities because of the band and not regretting it, because "these people are my friends and my family." A couple who bonded via the group claim the "first Inferno-spawned baby"; a veteran of punk shows speaks of being won over by frontman Jack Terricloth's magnetic personality and "the gestalt that is Inferno."


It's not a bad thing that World/Inferno are the source of this fanaticism. Following a band is typically a far more casual activity than joining a cult — no one gets harmed. But it's worth investigating what makes the group worthy of worship in the first place. So consider how Terricloth responds to a question about what message they stand for: "I know I sound like the Obama campaign, but . . . hope. You can make your own way in the world." The singer informs me over the phone that he's speaking from a bar in the band's home town of Brooklyn, where he's sipping a dry Bombay Sapphire martini.

Terricloth's appeal is the easiest part to understand. One of the founders of the long-running, shapeshifting group (now a nine-piece), he's dapper, quick-witted, and fearless — the sort who seems a born entertainer. Elaborating on World/Inferno's message, he says, "It's not the easiest way [to live], but having a 9-to-5 job is not easy either. There are alternatives to the drudgery they teach you about in high school."

The band's idea of an alternative is rich and distinctive. First, there's their music, an ebullient mix of piano pop, cabaret, klezmer, and folk, all turned punk by their DIY approach and the company they keep. That ramshackle quality is strengthened by the sweet naïveté of their "play and live like you're dying." Terricloth has reiterated that World/Inferno don't make much money and that members have left because of that. Now 40, he shows no signs of wavering. "We are not in this for the checks! We are here to make music and break stuff!"

Another aspect of their appeal — the one that really makes them worship-worthy — is their sense of spectacle and ambition. Their varied palette of instruments — guitar, sax, drums, violin, and piano, among others — turns their shows into cacophonous events. The audience often responds in kind, with attendees dressing as if they were at a twisted bar mitzvah. World/Inferno are fond of other eccentric ideas too, like crafting 2007's Addicted to Bad Ideas as a concept album about the bedeviled life of film actor Peter Lorre. The title of their latest, The Anarchy and the Ecstasy (Chunksaah), takes off from the title of Irving Stone's Michelangelo biography; it refers to the "crazy beauty" of the bandmembers' lives.

"When we first started, we wanted to make fast, political piano music in the form of Kurt Weill without being rock," says Terricloth. "We wanted to be mostly abstract and obscure and arty. We backslid into punk rock because it's so goddamn fun."

THE WORLD/INFERNO FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY + H.R. | Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm Ave, Boston | May 20 @ 8 pm | 18+ | $15 | 617.562.8800

Related: Scratch Acid reignite a compact snap, The Big Hurt: Lambert works it, 50 blows it, Moz ends it, Review: La Roux at the Paradise, More more >
  Topics: Music Features , Paradise Rock Club, Music, DIY,  More more >
| More

 Friends' Activity   Popular   Most Viewed 
[ 12/25 ]   Andy Goldsworthy: "Snow"  @ DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum
[ 12/25 ]   Juan Jose Barboza-Gubo: "Cruor - Proelium - Cervus"  @ Fourth Wall Project
[ 12/25 ]   “Double Solitaire: The Surreal Worlds Of Kay Sage And Yves Tanguy”  @ Davis Museum at Wellesley College
ARTICLES BY REYAN ALI
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   DOOMTREE | NO KINGS  |  December 06, 2011
    As of this writing, no one on Last.fm has created a tag for "hyper-paced, ultra-smart, ultra-self-aware, futuristic, planet-hopping indie hip-hop."
  •   TRISTEN BRINGS CANDOR AND CONTRADICTION TO FOLK  |  December 07, 2011
    Ordinarily, the end of days isn't a very enticing prospect, but after hearing Tristen Gaspadarek chant "Doomsday" repeatedly, you might welcome horsemen on the horizon.
  •   TYCHO | DIVE  |  November 29, 2011
    In order to appreciate Dive properly, you'll need one thing: headphones.
  •   BATHS SUBMERSE ELECTRONICS IN DREAMY DETAIL  |  November 21, 2011
    Will Wiesenfeld believes in making purposeful choices.
  •   COLISEUM | PARASITES  |  November 22, 2011
    Coliseum are a band acutely aware of their strengths — perhaps too much so.

 See all articles by: REYAN ALI

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed