Guster returns to old neighborhood to play Somerville Porchfest
Guster, whose members met in 1991 while students at Tufts, didn’t choose the location at random. They lived just down the road, at 33 Aberdeen Road, in the 1990s, while they were beginning to make a name for themselves in the indie rock scene. (on facebook this week, band members shared an old video that shows them hurling a couch off their old apartment’s porch).
Guster singer Ryan Miller, reached by phone Thursday, said the band’s members have always looked back at the three years they lived in somerville fondly.
“Those were sort of like the fundamental, formative years of the band outside of college, when we were really just full time just being a band,” he said. “it’s very much part of our history, that street and that house.”
in their Aberdeen Road apartment — a four-bedroom that cost $1600 back then — they lived and worked together full time, parked their touring van out front, and wrote much of their landmark album “lost and Gone forever” in its living room.
They have since moved to spots around new england and new York, although their management office is still located just outside Davis square.
Miller said he’s been kicking around the idea of playing Porchfest for years, and looks forward to roaming the streets with everyone else ahead of his band’s set.
“i’ve been hearing about Porchfest forever, and we had always kind of thought that this would be a fun thing to do if we could ever work it out,” he said. “i’ve never actually been to one, but i’m excited to check it out and run around.”
The appearance comes just in time to promote the band’s new album “ooh la la,” its first in five years, which is out May 17. it comes less than two months after the band played to a packed house at the 5,000-seat MGM fenway, a concert that included an off-broadway style production that chronicled the group’s path to stardom.
it’ll be a more dialed down affair on saturday. in keeping with the event’s DiY spirit, Rothfarb said the band isn’t bringing a bunch of fancy equipment, and will simply perform using the Mixtape Misfits’ guitars, drums, and speakers.
“They don’t want to make it a big deal with a huge PA system or anything like that,” he said. “They want to keep it relatively chill.”
how chill it will be remains to be seen.
Aberdeen Road is not a particularly large street — especially for a band that has played around the world, and which each summer hosts and headlines a three-day music festival in Portland, Maine. The band’s next stop on its Us tour this year, two days after it plays Porchfest, is carnegie hall.
so Rothfarb said he is planning ahead, and this year secured a permit to close off the street to traffic for the show, to make sure there’s as much carfree standing room as possible.
somerville officials appear to have learned the news at the same time as Guster’s fans. The city “became aware yesterday that we have such a high-profile band signed up for Porchfest,” city spokesperson Denise Taylor said wednesday, adding that they are working with the police “to develop a plan to make sure everyone is safe.”
Guster has a history of doing pop-up shows in unusual locations. when the band celebrated “Guster Day,” an official honor bestowed by then-Mayor Martin walsh, it held impromptu busking concerts in places such as outside Twin Donuts in Allston and in the middle of harvard square ( joined, of course, by keytar bear).
every now and then, on their days off, the members do “dumpster sets,” wherein they set up in front of a random dumpster in a city, then tweet out the coordinates to fans, and then play for whoever shows up in time to see them.
This time, said Miller, “i thought we were just going to do it and not tell anyone, which is what we normally do,” Miller said. “i guess i was outvoted.”
The somerville Arts council, which puts on the festival, was thrilled — if a little shocked — to learn of the surprise appearance. Rachel strutt, its program manager, said Guster is the bestknown band she can ever remember seeing on the Porchfest lineup.
“we’re honored and excited that a band as big as Guster wants to play here,” she said.
This year strutt said organizers are expecting a record 400 bands will participate, in a lineup that will include a blend of purely home-grown talent, as well as appearances from some more established artists in the area, berklee students, and others hoping to play for large audiences of strangers. she pointed out that one of them, a band called Pond scum, has embraced the annual event so much the group released a live album recorded at last year’s festival, called “Porchfest.”
“i think the beauty of Porchfest is that anyone can play,” strutt said.
even Guster.