We had the chance to talk to Glenn di Benedetto of Parlour Bells about Heart Beatings, Parlour Bells’ new EP, new video project Louder Now Boston and local no-wave rock duo, Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling.
Deli: Parlour Bells has a retro-style, unique sound, kind of like David Bowie meets Roy Orbison or vice versa. How did you develop this sound? When did you start singing and song-writing? Who are your influences?
GD: The sound of Parlour Bells is really about my longtime songwriting partnership with Mr. Nate Leavitt, who is probably best known for his work with The Blizzard of 78. Nate and I have been writing songs since high school and Parlour Bells is simply the latest incarnation of that long-running creative partnership. It’s our sound. As for influences, we probably have more than we can cite here. But I will say that while our influences (Nate and mine) are often very similar, they are just as often quite different. That’s what makes our collaboration kind of interesting, and what I think makes our songs unique.
Deli: You are one of my favorite "Facebook Personalities". You seem to have several creative projects including an interview series, a god-fearing alias and an entire Facebook page dedicated to your hair. Are these publicity stunts? How do these side projects fuel your fan-base? Can you tell me more about the webisodes you have coming up?
GD: Well, first of all, thank you. To be anyone’s favorite anything is an honor. I do have a lot of creative video projects in store for 2011. The ones I most excited about are Louder Now Boston, a new web show about local music that I created with Anngelle Wood. She’s the real deal when it comes to being a proponent of local rock, and it’s been great collaborating with her. The second project is a sitcom I am working on with Richard Bouchard, Mike Bishop, Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein. We just named it "Special Friends" and we begin production soon. As for Goddamn Glenn and my globe bar, I’ll say this. A lot of nonsense comes out of me, which people seem to find humorous. If they think it’s funny, then I’m going to roll with it. I really didn’t intend for these to be publicity stunts, but if they work like that…great. But if you’re only going to "like" 3 of my Facebook pages, I’d prefer that you focus on Parlour Bells, Killer Suit (my video production company) and Louder Now Boston.
Deli: You are also a videographer. Do you have any advice for musicians and bands who are looking to make a music video?
GD: Capture as much content as possible and think of ways you can differentiate it from the rest of the content out there. YouTube is awash with live music videos, which is partly why Killer Suit shies away from doing these anymore. Find a way to make them stand out. Humor is a good angle. If you’re actually funny, that is.
Deli: Why is the name of your band Parlour Bells?
GD: I liked the sound of the words together. It actually doesn’t mean anything. I always liked bandnames that people seemed to pull straight out of the ether. When you take on a name that brings no previous connotations, that name can become synonymous with the band’s sound and songs. All that said, "Parlour Bells" sounds kind of loungey. We’ve been told we have that vibe. Finally, originality, especially on the web is hard to come by these days. We were pretty sure there wasn’t a parlourbells.com when we first attempted to purchase the domain.
Deli: Which Boston band would you love to share a stage with?
GD: There is so much great local talent in Boston, we would feel honored to play with a number of bands. I guess that two that come to mind immediately are Gene Dante & the Future Starlets and Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling. Gene is the consumate rock star and an incredible showman, and I think the Bells and Starlets on the same bill would be sexy. DNFMOMD is just one of my favorite bands out there and I love Sophia’s sultry Prisoner-themed stage persona. It’s amazing how she and Michael J. Epstein can get that much sound out of vocals, drums and bass. Very raw and very noir.
Parlour Bells are releasing the EP this Saturday the 15th at Rosebud in Davis Sq. Somerville SUPER TRIPLE CD release with St. Helena (CD release) Sarah RabDAU & Self-Employed Assassins, Parlour Bells (CD release) Low Static Romance (Brendan Boogie & Magen Tracy(CD release)).
–Meghan Chiampa