The VIVS

Date of Show: September 17th
Lizard Lounge
1667 Mass Ave
Cambridge MA 02138
lizardloungeclub.com

Doors at 8:30
Bill Goffrier/Big Dipper: 9:00 pm
The Vivs: 10:00 pm
Count Zero: 11:00 pm

Tickets $10.
Available at:brownpapertickets.com

Boston rock band The Vivs will celebrate the release of their newest material, the Why So Dark? EP, playing with friends Bill Goffrier (Big Dipper) and Count Zero at The Lizard Lounge on September 17th. The EP will be released the same day and features four songs as a sampling of their newest material.

Boston-based The Vivs features driving, Brit-influenced rock/power-pop with three-part harmonies and lyrics that are alternately funny and melancholic, but always richly evocative. Karen Harris (front woman), sings low. Terri Brosius, (keys) sings high and sweet. Pete Sutton (bass) sings gravelly right down the middle. The guitars are hazy, melodic, atonal, Richard Lloyd-ish. Influences are varied, from The Kinks, Scrawl, Fleetwood Mac, and trifecta of Smiths: Patti Smith, Elliot Smith, and The Smiths. They’ve elicited comparisons to Bettie Serveert, Yo La Tengo, Throwing Muses, Scrawl, and The Breeders, however they’re pretty hard to nut-shell.

The Why So Dark? EP is a sampling of the band’s newest material since their full-length release Mouth to Mouth in 2009. Mouth to Mouth received a plethora of praise from New England publications, landing on top 10 lists at The Boston Globe and Cape Cod Times. Slightly less heartbreaking than the full-length, these new four songs add a third voice (bassist Pete Sutton’s) and more clearly-defined Brit-invasion element, to the mix.

The Vivs had a hard time choosing which of about a dozen new songs to record first, and they plan to follow this EP with another as soon as possible. The four tracks represent a range of the The Vivs’ newest stuff. From the sun-splashed retro power pop of “Sun’s Coming Out” to the post-punk loud shrug of “Forget It”, this mini collection reveals their love for paradox and tension: three-part harmonies against a backdrop of loud, guitar-driven rock, for example. And as Harris says, these four songs all embrace the power of the non-word, too; there are lots of “Ba ba’s” and “ooo’s” and “ahhh’s”….Because sometimes an “oh” or a “ba ba ba” says it better than anything else.

To celebrate the release of their newest material, join them and friends Bill Goffrier (Big Dipper) and Count Zero at The Lizard Lounge on Septemeber 17th.

The band is available for interviews. Physical album copies and press spots for the show are available upon request.