According to Bob Whelan, lead vocalist of Boston's own Angry Salad, the group has no problem at all taking Steven Tyler's sloppy seconds.
In fact, the band was happy to play the role this past Sunday night. Tyler and the rest of Aerosmith passed up the opportunity to sing the National Anthem at this weekend's Patriots' game. The offer was passed to Angry Salad, who gladly obliged.
"It was cool," said Whelan. "But it's not a particularly good song. I'm a big patriot and everything, and I love this country, but there are a lot of better songs just from a listener or a singer standpoint.
"Alex (lead guitarist Grossi) was pretty nervous. I really wasn't. There are other things I'd be really nervous about... like if I was asked to suit up and play. You get a far better impression of how big football players really are when you're standing next to them."
Direct from the 60,000 seat venue of Foxboro Stadium, Angry Salad is heading straight to the cozier, more intimate setup of Hotung Caf?©. The band will perform tonight, at 7:30 p.m, what Whelan predicts will be a quiet, stripped down show - not quite unplugged, but laid-back, chill, and fun to enjoy while taking a study break or anxiously awaiting the news of who will be running the country for the next four years.
"You know, we won't have the usual smoke and fireworks," he laughed.
Their performance comes as a treat to many. Thanks to a distinguishable name and an infectious blend of upbeat, loveable pop music (who can resist a band that sings lines like "And she gave me a milkshake and a kiss/I don't need a whole lot more"?), Angry Salad has slowly carved a place for itself in Boston's music scene.
And so the band isn't completely new to Tufts. According to Whelon, Angry Salad has played a few shows at DTD over the years, where he remembers "the wine flows freely - I can still smell that inexpensive beer on our cables"
This Election Day show isn't their first political stint. The band is fresh off a month- long jaunt with MTV's Rock the Vote tour, where they traveled around South and Midwest with bands like Hootie and the Blowfish, Nine Days, and Beck to incite the youth of America to register to vote. "For us as a band, the only time we're only really productive members of society is that 40 minutes onstage. It was nice to be able to do." Whelon pauses, and laughs. "Listen, it wasn't Saving Private Ryan."
But it was an opportunity for Angry Salad to reach a newer, warmer audiences in states like Alabama and Louisana, where their music has yet to be heard all that much. One of these stops was Orlando, FL, where the band frolicked for a day, thanks to free passes to the Magic Kingdom. They enjoyed all the innocent fun a day at Disney World offers - the spinning teacups, Animal Kingdom... and a scandalous draft on It's a Small World.
"They (drummer Hale Pulsifer, bassist Brian Holland, and tour manager Jim Dand) insisted on shining a moon while we were in there. Bunch of heretics."
Young eyes weren't tainted, however - the guys made certain in advance that the boat behind them was empty. Whelan abstained from taking part in the treachery.
"Somebody had to take the picture," he explained.
Angry Salad's scandal isn't limited to family theme parks. The band recently performed on The Jenny Jones Show for the second time. Last time, the guys were treated to a show with a subject that Whelan remembers as "My Teen Makes Me Wanna Shoot Her When Her Body is Popping Out"
More recently, in mid-October, the guys appeared on a show entitled, "Geek to Chic," playing before commercial breaks, and a small set at the end.
"They had women who were perceived as unattractive nerds in high school, and evolved through the help of a lot of silicone. And then they'd bring out their arch-rivals from high school. We just sort of stand there on the side of the set. It was kind of like watching a car wreck up close."
"I had assumed it was a setup, but it totally isn't. You get the feeling that their sentiment is that this is gonna be their big break."
Angry Salad didn't always envision itself cruising around in Jenny Jones' limo. In fact, these Brown University graduates started out just playing weekends, and keeping weekly jobs at workplaces that ranged from the Big Apple Circus to an adolescent psychiatric unit.
"My friends were all working for Morgan Stanley, and going to law school. We liked music, and the idea of the band."
After the initial move to Boston ("It made more sense to move here; it's a bigger pond.") and the decision to move music to the forefront of their lives, Angry Salad's original bass player felt he needed to get a "real job."
"It was a matter of 'Do I want to live on peanut butter sandwiches and ride around in a van, or get work?'," Whelan explained.
The remaining members then auditioned for a bass player and a lead guitarist. Soon enough, the music moved itself slowly but surely into the forefront. "Things evolved. We starting passing up on shows that people wanted us to play because of our jobs. You go through comfort zones. Do we wanna play music, or be temps?"
The critical step came in 1997, when the group signed with Atlantic Records, and was finally able to play music and tour full time.
"We've got some great people who really believe in us. Fantastic, really supportive. [The record company] gives us all the slack we want when it comes to being creative and playing the stuff we want to play," Whelan said.
Since then, extensive touring - both opening and headlining gigs - has afforded Angry Salad the opportunity to cross paths with similarly self-made, hardworking bands like Tufts graduates Guster, (who, according to Whelan, "epitomize grassroots development") and Vertical Horizon.
"They're a great live band, really good guys that we've gotten to know really well. It's always great to ride someone else's coattails to another part of the country."
In order to embark on these cross-country tours, Angry Salad has to establish fan bases in places other than New England. While part of this can be accomplished by people liking what they hear at concerts, Angry Salad's main concern is radio airplay.
"There's no substitute. It makes the whole thing run."
The premise is simple: when people like what they hear, they'll show up at live show. Reaching the radio waves, however, is no easy feat - especially in today's cut and dry, rock and pop music world.
"Radio ranges from hard stuff on the right end to the sugary pop of Britney Spears. Then there's a smaller window, where you have, like, Third Eye Blind, and Vertical Horizon."
This is where Angry Salad wants to be, in the small-yet-popular land of Mix 98.5-dom that caters to music that's not quite hard enough to be rock, yet far from saccharine. And it's here where their problem lies. The few stations that cater to this music only have so much room for new, untested artists. Where Angry Salad has broken into local radio, they've been met with success.
"It's flattering to go to Lincoln, Nebraska, or Colombia, South Carolina, and hear people sing along.... [They] know the words better than we do."
The band hopes to release a new album next spring - some of whose songs you'll be able to hear tonight.
Angry Salad's next big Boston show (and last for a while) will be a New Year's Eve celebration at the Hynes Convention Center - a repeat gig from last year. It's an all-ages show, which the band is thankful for.
"Unfortunately, it's difficult to pull that off in Boston, with the Puritanical bylaws of the city."
The band promises to be offstage by 11:30, so fans can still enjoy the night's festivities, and hopes to repeat the success of last year.
"We had a great time doing it last year. We were standing in water, holding instruments that were connected to a lot of electricity. I'm thankful I'm here talking to you today."
They are also looking forward to talking with students tonight at the show. Whelan and the rest of the band are looking forward to the small, intimate setting tonight's show will offer, and plan to stick around afterward to talk music, guitars, or anything and everything with anyone who's interested - these guys love their fans.
"Election returns don't come in until later in the evening, so everyone should come out."
