The music of Everybody Else and Finian McKean

Recently I've had a couple of major "back-to-the-past" moments in the music realm, (happening upon Mary Timony of Helium on guitar for Benjy Ferree, for instance) but it was by chance the other day that I stumbled upon what the brothers Gerety (my own B.G.'s) have been up to for the past 5 years.

You see, long, long ago in the land known as Cambridge, MA, there was a band known as The Push Kings. Lucky me got to be their label's Gal Friday; CD Release party organizer/caterer/promoter etc., etc..
(see image at right)

Some saw them as the second coming of rock n'roll-- well, ROCK via a pop-littered highway dodging the remnant corpses of top-of-his-game McCartney mixed with a dollop of Squeeze, some Stevie W., and a spoonful of Material Issue thrown in.

I simply saw them as some nice skinny Harvard boys who had f'ing great voices-- with a lot of power behind them-- and put on great shows.

Don't let their pretty boy image fool you-- these boys could SANG.

But eventually they, like many other Boston bands before them, had to decide whether to stay in such a small pond or go for the ocean. There's really just 2 choices.

So they moved to sunny Ca-li-for-ny-yay and started anew, and turned up half-nekkid in a Beck video with Jack Black-- "Sexx Laws." Strange.

Years later, after band ups and downs, label bidding wars, contract negotiations and letdowns, it turns out Finn grew his hair REALLY long, moved to Red Hook, Brooklyn, and reinvented himself as a psychedlic rock god.

Some seriously great trippy moments are on his "Finian McKean" work that are just mesmerizing. It explores a newfound peace within himself that the Push Kings would never have dared to have gone.

There's a quiet quality to Finn's new work that is ironic, given his new industrial setting-- he expertly addresses his frustration between the city he calls home and his real "home," at one with nature.

As for Everybody Else, Carrick's new band, well, let's just say it picks right up where the Push Kings left off and takes it 1,000 light years further.

I think the fact Carrick's older now and out of his brother's shadow has made him really push harder for a sound of his own-- it's grittier, more hard-driven with guitars, yet still a showcase for his strong soulful vocal range.

I picture a few Rick Springfield leg kicks in for good measure and some riffs that might make the fingers numb.



My roommate yesterday had popped in the Kings' first album, and I started to laugh. He asked, "You ever heard of these guys?"
I couldn't help but smile and say, "Yes, you could say that."

It's nice to happen upon the people of your past and see where some have gone and makes you proud of them as they continue to develop as true artists all along the way.