Rare Futures Rare Futures is an Astoria-based “groove rock” band that combines a strong pop sound with deep hooks. With their unmistakable ‘90s influence, we couldn’t help but envision the band rocking out at the Bronze in the first or second season of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Well-known artists like Tears for Fears and Radiohead mixed with obscure bands like Jellyfish influence Rare Future’s sound. “I’m inspired by a lot of styles of music, so I try to connect these influences within my own songs with strong and thoughtful melodic and rhythmic ideas, and that really stems first from the masters, The Beatles, and then from Motown music for me,” explained lead singer Matt Fazzi. “I tend to gravitate toward bands and artists that really care about the richness and depth of their compositions, where you can always keep digging into their songs and find something new.” Photos by Meredith Begl 22 APRI L 2 0 1 7 Beginning as a solo project in 2010 under the moniker of Happy Body Slow Brain and self-releasing a few records, Rare Futures formed in late 2015 after Fazzi needed a “spiritual refresher,” he said. Having recently released a new space-rock record “This is Your Brain on Love” in March of 2016, Fazzi is very much the main driving force behind the band. However, the current lineup is solid. “The band has always had a revolving cast of amazing musicians over the years, but now it seems like we’ve settled with a core that works well and is multi-talented,” Fazzi said. The band now includes Rich Bozek (Gavin Castleton Band, Saber Tooth Trio) on drums, Ari Sadowitz (Heavy English, Model Decoy) on guitar and Alex Marans (Atlas Genius, Gospels) on bass. “All top-notch humans and seasoned veteran musicians,” Fazzi added. Photo by Jessica Norwood Living in Queens, and New York in general, influences the band on a daily basis. “Growing up in the rock and punk scene in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, there were a lot of influential bands coming out of this area and Long Island that were a huge part of my musical development,” Fazzi explained. Although a typical rock format centered around drums, bass, guitar and keyboards, Rare Futures adds subtle electronic sonic layers of sounds, especially on their most recent record. “On our latest album, ‘This Is Your Brain on Love,’ we implemented a lot of space-y sound effects in the form of satellite bleeps, NASA radio transmissions and airy synthesizers that help to paint a more specific and intentional image for the listener,” Fazzi said. “Space and time was very much an important theme for the album, so it made sense to add these little touches to help push that further.” The band is not going to be touring again until June, when they will team up with Gavin Castleton from The Dear Hunter. RAREFUTURES.BANDCAMP.COM FACEBOOK: RAREFUTURES TWITTER: @RAREFUTURES ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT Farewell Gusto Farewell Gusto is an Astoria-based band that came together over wings at Blackbirds on 30th Avenue. Longtime friends Greg Lum (drums) and Sean Begley (rhythm guitar and vocals) have been playing in bands together since high school. They met the rest of the band through mutual friends around the neighborhood. With all the genre-bending going on, it’s rare to find a pure indie-rock band around town these days, but the group takes their unadulterated version of indie, complete with steady drums, a sturdy bass, crunchy guitars and heartfelt lyrics, to shows all across the city. Like Jimmy Eat World, Farewell Gusto has a heart-on-their-sleeve approach to songwriting that made us ask the band what they thought of the sometimes controversial term “emo.” Lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Sean Begley doesn’t seem to mind the term one bit. “I grew up listening to bands labeled as emo,” Begley said. “Most of those bands were heavily influenced by the likes of Sunny Day Real Estate and Weezer. I feel the term can often be interchanged with ‘indie.’ That influence certainly spills into our songwriting. I realize that the term has been used to deride some bands, but I do not really care about that. I like what I like.” 22 APRIL 2017
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