Local band set to perform at Middle East tonight

There are few people who would argue that Boston isn't home to a flourishing local music scene these days. With such a wide variety of venues and a tremendous range of musical tastes to cater to, it's hard for any one band to truly find its niche.

But having lined up a show tonight at The Middle East, The Tourist is one area band defying the odds.

This show "is a big deal," says band member Peter Sax (vocals, synthesizers, and sequences). "We just finished mastering our six song EP, and we're really excited to get back out because that's what this whole year has been leading up to."

Comprised of four members, the band's music is a blend of live instruments and electronics. Travis Pullman (guitar and synthesizer), Tracey Sampedro (drums and handsonic), Fetus Murillo (bass), and Sax combine their various musical talents to create a brand of music that the band describes as "electronic fusion." While this classification seems simple, it is a description that the band does not arrive at without much debate _ each of the musicians brings to the band his own influences and musical style, making the band's sound difficult to categorize.

"Travis is a lot more jazz oriented, Tracey has a lot of eighties sound, and mine is mostly mournful," explains Sax. "Together we kind of make the most kind of party music we can. It's definitely got an outlook to it, but it's not really sell out music."

Having formed only a little over a year ago, the band is one of the younger musical groups working the Boston music circuit. In a short time, however, The Tourist has been making big strides. In addition to completing its EP over the summer, the band has found a growing audience for its unique brand of music _ The Tourist has gone from performing at smaller local venues to well-known music locales such as the Paradise. The group has even expanded its horizons beyond the borders of Boston and performed at the legendary Elbow Room in New York City.

"It's hard to break the barrier from 50-100 people coming to see you and 300 people. We're now starting to get to the venues where we can play and get a much bigger following," Sax said.

This process has been facilitated partially through the band members' experiences with other bands prior to forming The Tourist. The band has been able to take advantage of connections made through earlier musical endeavors.

Finding gigs "hasn't been that hard because we started getting those connections [through earlier bands]. It's been easier for us to start getting places. It's tougher for other bands who don't know anyone," Sax said.

"A lot of friends helped us out with our first shows," added Pullman, noting the importance of knowing people who are supportive of your work and willing to help out any way that they can.

Finding a name for the band actually proved more difficult than getting a foot in the door at major Boston venues. At one point, the group was working from a list of over 50 possible names, resorting to asking friends for their favorite picks.

"It became a game of attrition," says Sax with a laugh.

After much deliberation, The Tourist seemed to fit the band perfectly "because we're all just passing through," he continued. There is "an idea of transience, and we don't know exactly what we're here for. I think it works, and people seems to like it."

While the foursome have become friends since forming the band and spend time together outside of rehearsal and performances, they do not hesitate to admit that compromising between four very different musicians is sometimes a source of tension. They agree that this becomes most apparent when they set about writing new music for the band's repertoire of all original music.

"Our writing process is kind of vicious on each other," confesses Sax. "We butt heads a lot. Eventually, after we almost kill each other, we come out with a song that kicks ass."

Most of The Tourist's 13-song set is comprised of songs that have been written by all four members. Sometimes one person will stumble upon a particular riff, bring it to the rest of the band, and let the creative sparks fly. Other songs develop from jams. In the end, however, "the finishing process is definitely a collaboration," says Pullman.

The band is very honest about its aspirations, admitting to finding appeal in musical stardom so long as it doesn't mean changing their style. They want to perform as much as possible and ideally be signed to a strong indie label.

We want to be "as big as the type of music we play can take us. We're not going to change our style if we get big," says Sax. "You have artists like Stereolab and Bjork who do well, and that's all we're looking to do. We're not looking to be on MTV," says Pullman.

Tonight's performance at the Middle East is proof positive that The Tourist is on the right track. Afterall, according to Murillo, they are simply "glad we pulled through the summer." Because students make up a large part of concert audiences in Boston, the summer months are a difficult period for area bands.

"Summer months are always make or break time for a lot of bands," says Sax. "People go away, and there are no shows to be had. Our whole goal was to get this EP out, and then really hit hard when the students first came back. We feel like we're doing that. There's still starts and stops, [but] we're right on schedule for where we wanted to be.