THE BEATINGS
The Beatings formed in Boston in the late 1990's and released their first full length, Italiano in 2001. That album gained international praise landing the band in publications such as Mojo and Italian Vogue (the former being a bout of support for the band by taking the piss out of a British band's attempt to usurp the name by playing victims of the law in publications such as NME). Stateside, The Beatings began the first of many national tours earning praise by outlets like The Washington Post, who placed the album in the #5 slot of their yearly best and said of the album, “Rock as art, not just fun…a band that seems unconcerned with trying to fit into a certain niche and focuses instead on creating a riveting, propulsive and ever-changing sound.”
The Village Voice said, “These guys (and girl) fucking rock! ... Their recently released full-length, Italiano, is their best effort yet, and leaves no question as to whether the future looks bright for this Boston four-piece — it could be blinding. Request “Heavy Metal” — it’ll knock your socks off.”
The Beatings continued to tour and get play on outlets across the country like Live on KEXP, WBCN, WFNX, and dozens of others. They played clubs in every circuit from New England, NY, D.C. to Texas, Montata to LA and back, including multiple years at NYC’s CMJ Festival, and unofficial shows at the SXSW festival in 2011.
The Beatings were fortunate enough to share the stage with such wildly different and notable acts as The Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, The National, Juiliette and the Licks, Wesley Willis, The Hold Steady, Mclusky, Future of the Left, Negative Approach, Majong, These United States, Black Helicopter, Palomar, Wheat, among many others.
This was all carried out with a true DIY ethos. They formed the Midriff Records label to release their albums. They booked the tours, did the PR, assembled the CD's, called the radio stations for in studios, managed the band and took care of business themselves well before the internet boom hit the indie rock world making it easier to distribute music and find an audience.
They released 6 Studio albums after Italiano on their Midriff label;
6 Hz EP ("..the vocals almost falling apart, hoarse and broken, but very alive.” - The Big Takeover)
The Heart, The Product, The Machine and the Asshole EP ("flawless"- Magnet Magazine)
If Not Now, Then When? EP ("a ferocious five-song barrage that’ll take you back to the days when “post-punk” was an era, not a record store section. - Splendid Mag.)
Holding on to Hand Grenades (produced by Paul Q. Kolderie, "If greater success eludes The Beatings with the release of Hand Grenades then there is no justice in the world." - Blogcritics,)
Late Season Kids ("In a just world, it would outsell the latest mediocrities from any dozen Pitchfork-approved artists you could name, and hopefully it will." - Blogcritics).
Their final performance as a band was on Saturday May 18th 2019 at Great Scott with a packed room seeing off a 20+ year career.
RELEASES
PRESS
“These guys (and girl) fucking rock! ... Their recently released full-length, Italiano, is their best effort yet, and leaves no question as to whether the future looks bright for this Boston four-piece — it could be blinding. Request “Heavy Metal” — it’ll knock your socks off.”
“whoa! where did these guys and one gal come from? ”
“it’s a band that seems unconcerned with trying to fit into a certain niche and focuses instead on creating a riveting, propulsive and ever-changing sound.””
