Making Noise with A Passing Feeling
Punk band with Boston ties rocks O’Brien’s despite highway breakdown
Click on the audio player to listen to A Passing Feeling’s song, "red/gold."
You know you’re a struggling band when your van breaks down on the way to a gig.
That’s what happened to the indie-punk group A Passing Feeling a few weeks ago en route to O’Brien’s Pub in Allston.
“This band has had a particularly tumultuous relationship with the city of Boston, former temporary home to three of its members,” says guitarist and vocalist Bryan Miltenberg. “This was symbolized best when we spent an hour broken down in the cold on the side of the Mass Pike, cursing the entire city, only to be entirely singing its praises after playing a sold-out show at O’Brien’s later that night.”
The Brooklyn-based quartet was formed in 2005 and, in addition to Miltenberg, comprises guitarist and vocalist James Miele (SMG’07), Christian Cangemi on bass and vocals, and Matthew Saporito on drums. Last year, the band released its second album We Might Not Sleep At All This Year on 75 Or Less Records. Miltenberg describes the band’s sound as “unironic, sometimes lo-fi, indie-punk. Think of the big hooks of ’50s pop, only set to post-punk guitars and pounding drums and with sunny, sentimental lyrics replaced by often harshly realistic personal narrative.”
So don’t be surprised to hear a searing tune about a broken-down van on the side of the road in the not-too-distant future. A Passing Feeling’s next gig is March 1 at Le Loft in Brooklyn, N.Y.
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