Somerville Symphony Orkestar brings folk-punk and dancing elephants
to The Stone Church
by Charlie Weinmann (photos by Rachel Leah Blumenthal)
Five years ago, Joel Edinberg arose from a deep sleep and was hit with a fierce wave of inspiration. “This is what I want to do,” Edinberg thought as he scratched down the first lines of “Into the Wood Chipper,” which would become the Somerville Symphony Orkestar’s (SSO) first song.
That late-night inspiration helped guide the band, whose live show Edinberg describes as “the best bar mitzvah you’ve ever been to. … It’s high-energy music that will get you dancing.”
That vision has become a reality — at one show, a handful of audience members hoisted their friend in a chair and paraded him around the venue. It certainly wasn’t his bar mitzvah, or even his party, but that’s the spirit SSO evokes.
“I’m Jewish, but never really grew up with a strong klezmer background,” Edinberg said. “It really came from a love of that type of music, once I heard it. It speaks to us, so we play it. It’s also fun to play something that’s different from jazz or funk.”
The SSO returns to The Stone Church in Newmarket on Jan. 31 with their mix of old-world and new-world sounds, a blend of traditional Jewish dance music, rambunctious punk, and serious funk.
Edinberg, who plays saxophone, says he and his four band mates — Pete Fanelli on trombone, Travis Greenleaf Pullman on guitar, Richey Tally on bass, and Matt Ellis on drums — all share the same mission: to get audiences dancing.
“It’s party music. We get people dancing and that’s something everyone can connect to.” — Joel Edinberg of Somerville Symphony Orkestar
Though each band member has a diverse musical background, SSO is influenced primarily by bands like Gogol Bordello, who, according to Edinberg, coined the phrase “gypsy punk.” He said this kind of Ukrainian-influenced music is steadily growing in popularity.
“It’s a growing scene; it’s party music,” Edinberg said. “We get people dancing and that’s something everyone can connect to. It stems from traditional wedding music. It’s just a party and you dance and you have a good time.”
Edinberg says his favorite part of being on stage is convincing people to join in the fun. “Some guy will be in the crowd, arms crossed, judging the band,” Edinberg said, but after a song or two, they start tapping their feet.
“It’s fun to win over people. You just have to have fun and that’s all that matters. We very seriously don’t take ourselves very seriously,” he said.
In 2012, the band recorded their self-titled album in the basement of Edinberg’s old apartment. The goal was to capture the sound of the band as organically as possible, attempting to channel the kind of live energy the band has on stage. More recently, the band released their second album, a live recording titled “The Radio Session,” which they released for free on Bandcamp.
“We want people to have our music. CD sales aren’t a viable source of income, so we use that as promotion for people to want to see us live,” Edinberg said. “If you really like our music, we want you to have it. It’s way more fun than trying to make two bucks off someone. I’d rather have them come to the show.”
Plus, live audiences get a special surprise at most SSO shows, according to Edinberg. Sometimes, a sixth member of the band will show up — Penelope the elephant, the band’s unofficial mascot and, in her pink tutu, chief dancer. Will Penelope be dancing among the crowd at The Stone Church?
“You have to wait and find out,” Edinberg said. “She has a knack of appearing when the crowd is good.”
The Somerville Symphony Orkestar plays The Stone Church, 5 Granite St., Newmarket, on Saturday, Jan. 31 at 8 p.m. Amulus opens. Tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door and are available at stonechurchrocks.com.