The Parlor Mob: Rock’s Rawkus Revival

By: Martin Halo

The Parlor Mob

A flickering red bulb is the only recognizable characteristic of The Annex, an ailing, dank rock haven in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. If it wasn’t for the thump of a drummer’s right foot, The Annex would be just another dark storefront. But, on this particular night, her swinging doors lead you into a world where outlaws run free and tattooed cowboys have a refreshing attitude on seniority. The blues is buried within every chord change and echoing solo, while the influence of modern songwriters rounds the melodies. The band’s hair hangs long and their one-liners are the perfect mix of schoolboy arrogance and nomadic distance. If their swagger doesn’t realign your equilibrium then their licks will. California has its share of flashbacks but when five Atlantic Coast musicians warm their guitars to an Open G, pushing the precision of riff-based boogie and pull off harmonically graceful tongue wrangling, the doors to our hopes jar open slightly.

New Jersey’s The Parlor Mob are virtual unknowns to the public and journalists alike but they seem destined for big things. Their debut record, And You Were A Crow (released May 6 on Roadrunner Records) was celebrated with a month long residency at The Annex that wrapped at the beginning of May. Fresh off a national tour with Nicole Atkins, this return serenade is bittersweet because this will be the last time they will be just ours.

Mark Melicia (vox), Paul Ritchie (guitars), David Rosen (guitars), Sam Bey (drums) and Nick Villapiano (bass) are part of a retro-rock revival that is flooding inward from both sides of our fine country. Oakland, CA has blessed us with Howlin Rain and while 3000 miles away, The Parlor Mob sparkles with a similar light.

Unfortunately, big rock balls and serious chops don’t always get you the golden ticket. As the songs that would fill The Parlor Mob’s debut took shape, Capitol Records got the band in a contractual vice that became complicated during company downsizing and staff shakeups.

“We were with Capitol for about seven months, I don’t think it was even a year,” says Paul Ritchie, their lanky, stiff-lipped guitar player. “We were just basically left hanging and then they were bought out by Virgin Records. There was a whole bunch of shit that was going on within the label and we didn’t know any of it until we hired proper management. The A&R guy over there just basically up and quit before everybody got fired. For a while we were completely in the dark.”

Roadrunner Records stepped in during the summer of 2007 to help bring their debut to light. The saga of the past six years is explored on the record’s opener, “Hard Times.”

Speaking our minds but nobody cares.
Some people got it so good it just ain’t fair.
No money in my pocket, so you know it is hard to make a move.
We live tough, we die tough, but it ain’t our place to choose

“It is kind of for everybody, not just for us. It is not our anthem. It’s for anybody our age who is struggling to do what they are passionate about,” offers drummer Sam Bey.

Ritchie continues, “With us being signed once already to being dropped to having to completely find a whole new group of people to work with, from our manager to our lawyer, to getting the songs prepared and finally making a record, it was a long hard process for all of us. It was a lengthy time. There were times when it was frustrating, but the relationship with Roadrunner has been great so far. We got to pick our own producer and we got to pick our own artwork. Roadrunner has been very responsive to our creative concerns and the things we have to say. They allow us to keep our creative aspect in the forefront.”

The result of their unhinged resilience is a record that unearthed the core of everything modern rock had buried. “Hard Times” opens the debut with a blistering mix of feedback-riddled guitars, heavy riffs and wailing vocals. “Dead Wrong” and “Everything You Are Breathing For” follow suit before leading into the bitchy antics of “Kids.” “When I Was An Orphan” is a welcome tempo change spearheaded by Dave Rosen’s backwoods licks reminiscent of Jack White. “Real Hard Headed” assaults the skull before settling into the eight-minute opus “Tide of Tears.” And You Were A Crow sports concise, shattering guitar solos, hypnotic rhythms, and boogie stomps. But, the tone and arrangements on wax are a far cry from the band’s live experimentation in the bars of the Northeast. One man ignited this stratospheric vision and his name is Jacquire King.

Play Hard And Play Loud

It has been a little over six months since producer Jacquire King walked away from Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville, NC last October following a two-month tracking session with The Parlor Mob, who kept creating music even as technicians removed the gear around them. Off-the-cuff lap steel, tambourine and country-boy vocals lingered as the sessions faded to black.

Time is tight for King in the spring months of 2008. His industry notoriety came from his re-implementing a style of recording that focuses on live performances rather then layered tracking and overdubs. Beginning with Tom Waits, his performance-based projects have included Modest Mouse, Kings of Leon and eventually the Mob. King is now in Nashville, again living with the Kings of Leon as they craft their fourth full-length album.

“I originally was turned onto The Parlor Mob when they were in a development deal with Capitol,” says King. “I was interested in what they were doing and was interested in making a record.”

“We had a mutual friend who had done a record with him who was a fan of his engineering,” says Paul Ritchie, “and because he was interested for quite some time we felt he really wanted to do it. We only wanted to work with a person who really wanted to make a record with us.”

“They are very much a live rock ‘n’ roll band,” says King. “That is where most bands of that nature do their time and survive – on the road, in rehearsals or playing shows. In my eyes they are an important band, and I do feel they can be the same for the public. They play a vintage style of rock ‘n’ roll but it is [also] very modern. Not only have they listened to the classic recordings but they love modern bands as well. I think they are an important link to what is the essence of rock ‘n’ roll and what is to become a modern expression of it.”

Continue reading for more on The Parlor Mob…

In my eyes they are an important band, and I do feel they can be the same for the public. They play a vintage style of rock ‘n’ roll but it is [also] very modern. Not only have they listened to the classic recordings but they love modern bands as well. I think they are an important link to what is the essence of rock ‘n’ roll and what is to become a modern expression of it. –Jacquire King (Producer)

Photo by Jennifer Tzar

With King on board the decision was made to move in to Echo Mountain, fire up the boards and press record.

“The studio itself was a converted church, and the room where we cut the tracks was where they actually used to do the sermons,” says Ritchie. “There was a big stained glass picture of Jesus behind us. The setup in there is gorgeous. They are pros. The band in there before us was the Band of Horses, and it was the same room where the Avett Brothers recorded Emotionalism, and I love that record.”

“Echo Mountain has very much the equipment compliment with vintage gear. It is a place filled with vibes. I mean, it’s an old church,” explains King. “It has a nice big sound. It is not your traditional studio. Another appeal of it was they had housing for us. I prefer bands not working where they live during a recording process. It is about getting these musicians out of their daily routine with friends and getting them at a place where they are living their record. Echo Mountain is in a nice location in Asheville, and they have a house for the artists to live at while they record. All the aesthetics aside, it was cheaper with the housing setup incorporated then having to stay at hotels.”

Bey recalls the first in-session encounter with their producer, “We were seated around a table, before we had even started basic tracking, and Jacquire was looking through mine and Dave’s records. We were like, ‘Put one on.’ He chose Marquee Moon by Television. We told him that is what we were looking for in a record, and when it was over he said, ‘We should really explore these ideas on here.'”

“The intro riff to ‘My Favorite Heart to Break,’ with that weird scale, was one of the things that came from Marquee Moon,” offers Rosen. “It was cool with Jacquire because he comes from a very different standpoint of music. If he had an idea he could just say a tiny little thing that would change a rhythm part and it would make us all naturally perform the song differently. It got to a point where we were in session so intensely that we started to lose our minds. You are trying to be creative and you have to convince your hands to do things on the instrument that you never thought they could ever do.”

King continues, “Some aspects of the sessions, in comparison to the rule of thumb, were quick for this type of record. We recorded for five weeks. We established our creative relationship during that time. That factor helped the recording go quicker because all of the dialogue for the tunes was on the table.”

“The whole album focuses on the performance, with all the main tracking done live,” says Ritchie. “It was really about picking the best take and getting the right sounds.

“Jacquire was really concerned with our dynamic,” says Bey. “He would say to us, ‘Play hard and play loud.’ It wasn’t until we got home did it hit me in the face how amazing his arrangements were. We were rehearsing the songs how they were recorded and I couldn’t get my mind off it.”

The Hammer of the Gods

With The Annex residency behind them and the North Carolina sessions a distant memory, The Parlor Mob returned to Red Bank, NJ for a weekend of rest and relaxation. The only thing on the schedule is a quick promotional in-store performance at Jack’s Record Shop. For those not from the area, it’s not uncommon to see Bruce Springsteen rummaging through the record bins at Jack’s, which is a quick drive from his Rumson estate. There is a rich artistic history encased in the shoreline communities stretching from the Atlantic Highlands south to Asbury Park, which includes the birthplace of Count Basie and filmmaker Kevin Smith (Clerks, Dogma).

The Parlor Mob is looking forward to some downtime after their afternoon performance as they stuff the last piece of gear into their trailer and turn the lock. Vocalist Mark Melicia is the last to emerge from the back door of the wax shop, emerging with a vibrant 12″ LP of Radiohead’s In Rainbows in hand. As the band makes their way over to an Irish pub around the corner, they are met with a barrage of hellos from passing cars, people on the street and tap huggers inside the patio bar. There is a mad dash for a secluded table and their small cloak of anonymity returns. Guinness and whiskey quickly fill the table.

“The mind of the musician is a fine line between pure genius and utter insanity,” says Bey. “I mean, how else would you describe it?”

Like many legendary rock bands before them, the buck stops at the fierce personality of their drummer, much like Keith Moon (The Who), Steve Gorman (The Black Crowes) and John Bonham (Led Zeppelin) before him.

“I always thought Bill Ward [Black Sabbath] was a sweet drummer,” says Bey. “My dad is a drummer.”

“And still rocking out,” chimes in Ritchie.

“I had a drum set in my house since I was three or four years old,” says Bey.

“Max Weinberg gave him his first kit,” shoots Ritchie.

“I still have the heads, though they are covered with stamped frog heads from when I was young. He and my dad are still friends,” says Bey. “I would play by myself a lot. Paul was the first musician I ever played with, and that wasn’t until I was 17.”

The band is already being compared to the likes of Wolfmother, Rose Hill Drive and Kings of Leon but remain focused on developing their own sound.

“We always wanted to make interesting stuff that other people weren’t making,” says Villapiano. Bey continues, “If you listen to old demos or other bands we were in, you can see that the difference in this project was we are simplifying things. We are learning not to over play. We want to leave space and time.”

The importance of subtle details makes all the difference to them, much like a stated favorite. “The White Stripes are the most influential and legitimate American band right now. I don’t think it is too big of a stretch to say that,” says Villapiano.

Bey winks, “American rock ‘n’ roll bands? Earl Greyhound [who they will support on an upcoming tour] is pretty sweet.”

The hurdles this band has cleared – all the blood, sweat and tears – is just part of their unfolding story. The six-year battle they’ve fought was not for some legend. It was a fight for their kind of rock ‘n’ roll to exist in an uncaring industry. Boys, welcome to the first day of the rest of your lives.

The Parlor Mob Tour Dates:
05.22 Northern Lights Clifton Park, New York
05.24 Showplace Theatre Buffalo, New York
05.28 Fletcher’s w/ Earl Greyhound Baltimore, Maryland
05.29 The Norva w/ Earl Greyhound Norfolk, Virginia
05.30 Theatre w/ Earl Greyhound Charlotte, North Carolina
05.31 The Earl w/ Earl Greyhound Atlanta, Georgia
06.03 EXIT/IN w/ Earl Greyhound Nashville, Tennessee
06.04 Radio Radio w/ Earl Greyhound Indianapolis, Indiana
06.05 Double Door w/ Earl Greyhound Chicago, Illinois
06.06 Magic Stick w/ Earl Greyhound Detroit, Michigan
06.07 Grog Shop w/ Earl Greyhound Cleveland Heights, Ohio
06.12 DC9 WASHINGTON, Washington DC
06.13 The Khyber w/ Earl Greyhound Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
06.14 School of Rock South Hackensack, New Jersey
06.18 Middle East Club (Upstairs) Cambridge, Massachusetts
06.20 The Mercury Lounge New York, New York
06.21 The Stone Pony Asbury Park, New Jersey
08.01 Lollapalooza Chicago, Illinois

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