Posts Tagged ‘MTV’

It’s been a busy year for the Brighton-based band, Gentlemen Hall. They recently filmed their biggest music video to date in Boston, “All Our Love”, enlisting the help of their fans as extras and even a helicopter, right on the heals of a Boston Music Awards nomination for Video of the Year with “Close to Me”. The group was also featured in Billboard Magazine, and are currently occupying a spot on the Hollister in-store playlist at stores nationwide for the next few months, right alongside names like Tom Petty, KT Tunstall, and the Beach Boys.

Bass player Rory Given, who, along with lead singer Gavin McDevitt, originally hail from the Cleveland, Ohio area, remarked on the band’s exciting ride.

“It’s been a wild year full of a lot of highs but we are probably most proud to have finished and released our album, “When We All Disappear”. It’s taken us a long time to get to the finished product but the songs turned out just right. We’re also proud to have the Boston community hailing us as an influential part of the local scene. This city has given us so much and feeling like we’re giving something back is awesome,” said Given.

Given, along with McDevitt, Jacob Michael on guitar and vocals, Bradford Alder on synthesizers, and Phil Boucher on drums, first got together when they were all students at Berklee College of Music. It wasn’t too long into it before they were joined by Seth Hachen on flute when he spontaneously performed with them at a local house party. Since then, the group has gone on to build a strong core following, gaining recognition in the summer of 2009, when the band received MTV’s “Best Break Out Artist” Award. Later that year, the Boston Phoenix named Gentlemen Hall “Boston’s Best New Band”.

Earlier this year, Gentlemen Hall was one of three area bands who competed via social media-following to represent the northeast in a national Battle of the Bands. As winner of the regional competition, the band packed up a Chevy Cruze lent to them from the sponsor of the contest, and departed Brighton to road-trip it to Las Vegas and compete as one of the six finalists from various regions in the U.S. The band went on to win the competition, and with it, the opportunity to perform live on the Billboard Music Awards on ABC, catapulting them to a level of exposure and opportunity that any unsigned band would dream of.

What has been the most surprising thing that has happened to the band this year? Among the highs have come a lot of learning experiences, as the band has been exposed to a greater national audience through touring various venues with Billboard.

“Having shoes thrown at us for playing flute on the streets of San Francisco. Or having donuts thrown at us for dressing like hipsters in Des Moines,” said Given on some of the new experiences the band shared.

What’s most remarkable about the band, however, has been that in spite of their string of successes, they’ve managed to stay grounded. Among their list of achievements this year? “Seth finally achieved his dream of being able to dunk,” joked Given.

Gentlemen Hall will be performing at the Boston Music Awards at the Liberty Hotel on November 20^th.

★ Dorchester born Mark Wahlberg gets career advice from his Catholic priest.

★ Ann Curry commits major error in her Wheaton College commencement address.

★ Celeb sightings around Boston and New England, a la the Boston Herald.

★ Friendly’s invites Conan O’Brien to come grab a special “Cone-an” when he comes to Boston on his comedy tour.

★ Rock metal legend Ronnie James Dio of Portsmouth, NH, passes away.

★ Local chefs Jason Santos of Gargoyles on the Square and Benjamin Knack of Sel de la Terre compete on the new season of “Hell’s Kitchen”, debuting June 1 on Fox.

★ Come to McFadden’s every Wednesday night to watch MTV’s “Fresh Meat” with Vinny from the show and C.T. from “The Real World: Paris”.

★ Two Boston Globe videos win regional Emmys.

Tonight, at McFadden’s bar in the Financial District, Pauly D. from the suddenly popular MTV show, “Jersey Shore” will be hosting a party and wave runner giveaway. The event will go from 8PM to close, but tickets are being sold for the exclusive “pre-party” from 7-9PM. For $40, tickets for the pre-party guarantee entrance for the entire evening, a free Italian-style buffet, and entry into the wave runner give away. Other possible prizes include “Snookie” inspired spray tan sessions. VIP tables are available through their website’s special events coordinator.

Located on State Street, McFadden’s is one of Boston’s hottest bars. Past celebrity guest hosts include Danielle Fishel, also known as Topanga from ABC’s long-running TGIF hit, “Boy Meets World”, everybody’s favorite high school principle, Mr. Belding, actor Dennis Haskins from “Saved by the Bell”, and other assorted celebrities like Trishelle and Colie from “The Real World” and Vanilla Ice, rapper and star of “Surreal Life”. To purchase tickets for tonight’s event, check out their website.

Haverhill, MA native and current Woodbury, CT resident Robert Cummings (Rob Zombie) serves up yet another dose of the dark side as the director of this season’s nighmare-inducing horror flick, Halloween II. Scheduled to hit theaters on August 28, the film is a remake of the original Halloween II released in 1981. This is Cummings’ second time reworking the horror franchise; his interpretation of John Carpenter’s original Halloween was released in 2007. Check out the movie trailer:

As his stage name suggests, Cummings is no stranger to the horror genre. He is the acclaimed director of
House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects—the film that earned him the 2006 Chainsaw Award for Best Killer Movie. Clearly, the man has some credentials.

But haunting the big screen is just one of Cummings’ many career achievements; he is also a Grammy-nominated musician as the vocalist for heavy-metal rock band White Zombie. Cummings applies his musical talents to film and television projects as well, writing for and performing on over 50 soundtracks—everything from “The OC” to Rollerball.

Undoubtedly burning the midnight oil, Cummings has two additional film projects in the works: The Haunted World of El Superbeasto is set to release in late September, and preproduction for Tyrannosaurus Rex began just recently. In a March 30 interview with MTV, Cummings described the latter as “an incredibly violent ’70s action movie…Just a gritty, gnarly, violent movie.”

Didn’t see that coming.