Bambara played Deep Cuts – 9/17
Brooklyn’s Bambara returned to town for the first time in five years earlier this month, taking over Deep Cuts with support from Buck Gooter and Eden Rayz.
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For me – and probably a fair number of other folks who were present – the last time Bambara graced a Boston stage mentally marks the end of an era. The band headlined Great Scott in late February 2020 alongside former local mainstays Kal Marks – a regular Saturday night in Allston at the time, but among the last of those anyone would have for a while. It was a classically dark, sweaty, chaotic Great Scott show that I thought about often in the ensuing months as representative of the things I missed most about getting to the gig.
Five years later, Bambara are finally back with their first new record since 2020’s Stray (released just a week before that gig) and their first local show since then. Naturally, they’re still a band that reminds me what I love about live music.
With an aesthetic that gives Twin Peaks‘ Bobby Briggs starting a punk band to spite James Hurley, Bambara make gothic punk-blues rooted in the novelistic lyricism of vocalist Reid Bateh. Their latest, March’s Birthmarks, skews a tad dreamier than their pre-pandemic records, but their live show remained fierce and feral as ever at Deep Cuts. Bateh was a totally magnetic frontman throwing himself headlong into the songs, and an iteration of the band including some familiar faces and some fresh ones brought both the tense atmosphere and the cathartic stomp that makes them tick. It was a killer set that was worth the wait (which will hopefully be shorter than half a decade next time).
On the road with Bambara were Buck Gooter, a group I could vaguely recall from a long-ago Hassle Fest as filed under “Weird” (which to be fair, was most of the average Hassle Fest lineup). Formerly a duo, the project is now the sole responsibility of vocalist/avant-percussionist Billy Brett, who keeps the name alive in honor of late bandmate Terry Turtle. Turtle was there in spirit – represented by a chainmail mask on stage – while Brett channeled the project’s self-described “ghost-motivated electronic rock” by way of howling atop a clanging series of beats and adding to the cacophony by tossing a set of chains, cymbals and spare auto parts about the stage. It was indeed weird, totally left-field, and thoroughly compelling.
Boston’s own Eden Rayz – whose unconventional cello and drums setup nodded towards GY!BE and Atilla Csihar holding a graveyard seance – opened things up, rounding out a pretty thrillingly eclectic night of music. Check out photos from all three sets below.
