Birdbrain

Princess
by Scott Hefflon

From the housing projects in Roslindale comes a gritty, hard-rockin’ band called Birdbrain. The anger in their heavier songs is street level, direct, and true. No artsy symbolism, just “this is what I see, this is what I feel.” The sound is catchy pop rock with the mean grungy guitar trodding heavily along. They harmonize many of the choruses, but not to the point of rivaling the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The style is bare bones groove that the three piece pulled off admirably live. We caught them on an off night at the Rat in mid-January. We all have off nights and this was theirs. From a bad mix to a broken string to a mic stand that kept sliding to waist level. The band took it in stride and mentioned, “Ya know, we usually don’t suck this bad.” Fortunately, you could hear a good band beneath all the distractions and, after all, they did have Reservoir Dogs playing on a TV they’d placed on stage.

Their seven-song demo, Princess, has a photo of a bad ass doberman wearing a crown on the cover and comes complete with lyrics, photos, and band information. Many bands skimp on the “product” and focus on the production, but Birdbrain’s demo is a solid live sounding mix with just a few movie excerpts and overdubs sprinkled in for depth. If you can excuse a bad night for a band, overall you’ve got a gutsy power trio.