The summer of 2006 was when we first conceived of Brewster Productions. Right across the street from where this concert was happening, in the not-so-coincidentally-named Brewster Gardens, we were playing a game of “Midnight Wiffleball” when the idea of putting on a big summer concert ourselves popped into our collective heads. So here are the earliest seeds of Brewster Productions, the big August 11, 2006 Saucy Seth & the Clams of Death waterfront show:
We do exist! Yes, we’ve disappeared for a bit this winter, but we will indeed be coming back for another go-round on the Plymouth Waterfront. But this time, our 5th year of concerts, we’re doing it a bit differently. Sadly, because of variousreasons, we will only be putting on one main stage show at DCR Pilgrim Memorial State Park. But it will be one hell of a show, and we’ll still be rocking the Hedge House lawn with lots of acoustic shows.
You can expect an all-day music festival sometime around the end of July. And before that, starting the first weekend in July, we’ll be giving you 2 solid months of our popular acoustic shows on the lawn of the Hedge House (thanks again to the perennially-wonderful Plymouth Antiquarian Society).
This change was triggered by a wonderful event, the wedding of Brewster owner Scott McEwen and Erin Hollenbeck in the end of June. Don’t forget to congratulate them!
We’ll be seeing you – don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, and EMAIL us if you would like to perform at or sponsor the series. And for a not-so-informative (but Jaws-themed) teaser page, go the the concert series web site (it’ll be back up soon).
All shows at the Showmobile stage have been saved! The Chamber of Commerce now owns the stage and has contracted us to operate it.
Hey everyone. We have great news that just broke today in the Old Colony Memorial. We’ve been contracted by the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce (new owners of the Showmobile mobile stage) to open and close it for all events this summer. What does this mean? It means that us and every other event planner (like Project Arts and Lenny Vaz) no longer needs to worry about covering the cost of opening the stage – and not because someone has come to the rescue with the money, but because a real solution was found, and no one will have to worry about the DPW fees in the future.
Here’s the OCM article from today:
PLYMOUTH — It looked like this would be the summer the music died, at least on the Plymouth waterfront.
But the town has given its portable stage, known as the Showmobile to The Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce, which is working with a private organization that will open and close the stage for a nominal fee that will not be passed on to event organizers.
Jon Dorn of Brewster Productions said his company is poised to sign a contract with the Chamber. Brewster Productions was founded by a group of Plymouth South High grads and is locally known for the School’s Out Summer Concert Series, which offers some shows on the Hedge House lawn and others performed from the Showmobile in Pilgrim Memorial State Park. CONTINUE READING HERE…
Saucy Seth & the Clams of Death before our performance at prom May 7, 2004. From left: Jon Dorn, Seth McFadyen, Andrew Thompson, James Grinsell, Phil Hulse.
Sure, this is kind of a self-happy-birthday wishing, but that’s okay, I love my band and I figured I’d write something quick about them/us.
It’s been exactly 6 years since the band originally known as Saucy Seth & the Clams of Death took the stage Friday, May 7, 2004 at Lombardo’s in Randolph as the band for the Class of 2005 Plymouth South High School junior prom. We officially changed our name to The Eagle Hill Band in July 2008, and played our last show as the Clams of Death on December 30, 2007, but the band hasn’t changed a whole lot except for the name and a little thinning out of membership. What is now a 3-piece of Seth McFadyen, Phil Hulse, and myself (James just practiced with us yesterday, so we may be +1 this summer), was once us three, plus James Grinsell on the rhythm guitar, and the ridiculously talented Andrew Thompson on piano.
I think one of the big reasons we changed our name is that we don’t really consider ourselves Saucy Seth & the Clams of Death without the full 5-piece. It may sound weird, but to us, ‘Saucy Seth’ is a sacred name. It’s the first band I was ever in, and we achieved a pretty good amount of popularity at South HS – we had the honor of being in the long line of bands like the Skakopaths, the Leftovers, Leftout, Drive It Like You Stole It, Underage, and [our immediate predecessor] Comboguy. It’s not a lot in terms of the world of music, but it’s a pretty big deal to be the popular band in a high school for a short period of time. The big difference between us and those other bands was that we played classic rock. We all came from pop-punk and ska backgrounds, except Thompson, but we took that and decided to start a classic rock band. And it was damn fun.
And it still is damn fun. We’ve played a bunch of shows as a band over the past 6 years, sometimes with 5, 4 or 3 people, sometimes with our friend Nick Amendolare, and once as a 3-piece we called Nantucket Sleigh Ride. We’re still going strong as the EHB with Seth, Phil, and me holding down the fort all these years. We’re probably one of the more casual bands around, and I’d say that’s our best quality. We play when we want to – when we have time and when we can find a show. We’ve never once gotten too serious, or taken ourselves too seriously. We’re not a band “trying to make it” – we’ve already made it as far as I’m concerned – we’re a group of friends who can get together whenever they can and play music with incredible chemistry, and people seem to have fun watching us play.
So if I have a message to all you young musicians out there it would be: Make a band with your friends, don’t try to make friends from a band. If you’re only goal as a band is to get a record deal, chances are you’re not going to have much fun with it. If you’re looking to have fun, you’re much better off getting a group of your own friends together to play. With Brewster Productions, I’ve seen a lot of different young band scenarios, and my anecdotal evidence suggests that the laid-back attitude of my beloved EHB is the one that lasts 6 years (and counting).
Have fun with music – if you’re not having fun, what’s the point?
Lucas Carpenter returned to Boston April 12 at All Asia in Cambridge, along with Ben Carter and Jared Salvatore.
Lucas Carpenter stopped by the All Asia in Cambridge during his tour (he’s playing in CT tonight), and put on an incredible show, just like the last time he played with us August 7th at the concert series. Joining him onstage wasJared Salvatore‘s band, an incredible 4-piece from boston (you can expect to see them this summer), and our old friend Ben Carter. All three acts put on amazing shows, despite the tight time constraints, and Lucas had the whole crowd singing along to a bunch of his own songs, which must be an incredible feeling for a musician.
Make sure you come check out the Ben Carter this Thursday night at Sweetwater Cafe – it’s 21+, but it’s free! We also have show there for the next couple Thursdays, so check out our rad schedule (which is pretty packed after these few years of working really hard to eventually have a consistent schedule…that’s a self pat on the back right there).
Summer is inching ever-closer, so make sure you check out the SCHOOL’S OUT SUMMER CONCERT SERIES for the best indie music right in Plymouth, Mass. It’s going to be an incredible summer.
Lucas Carpenter performs at the School's Out Summer Concert Series August 7, 2009.
Last summer, Lucas Carpenter conquered the Plymouth Waterfront main stage with his infectious songs and awe-inspiring showmanship. Now, in just a couple weeks the Philly-based Berkelee grad is back in the area for what will surely be an amazing show. Lucas will be playing at ALL ASIA in Cambridge April 12th . Our good friend and local crowd-pleaser Ben Carter will open the show, which starts at 8pm.
On the other-Boston-shows front, starting April 8th we will be producing Singer-Songwriter Thursdays at Sweetwater Cafe (3 Boylston Place, by the Common). Also, we’re currently in the process of booking all the School’s Out Summer Concert Series shows, so if you want to play, or know someone who does, give us a shout (booking@brewsterproductions.com)!! Same goes for the Sweetwater shows.
Stephen Infascelli (left) was the special guest DJ for the Nike Indoor Nationals this past weekend. Brewster provided the sound.
Happy Monday,
So we got through our weekend of sound production at the Reggie Lewis Center, where we were in charge of music and a nice little bunch of announcers carrying around wireless microphones. If you were following our frequent tweets throughout the weekend, you probably heard about some initial troubles with the mics, which we swiftly solved on Saturday morning. And you probably heard about some crazy athletics going on. Being that this was Nike Indoor Nationals, it was the national championship for high school indoor track individual and relay team athletes. We saw people breaking national all-time records and having top-ten all-time performances right and left. You can read some of the results here.
Once we got past our first-day issues with an audio ducking system (we removed it and everything magically started working great), we had a great but occasionally monotonous time. Scott, Steve Infascelli and I sat up in a big scaffolding tower with our sound equipment and a bunch of food, where we diligently kept track of 4 wireless-mic announcers roaming about the stadium and 2 wired-mic announcers close by. Check out these photos, and we’ll be posting some more video soon.
CONCERT SERIES NEWS: This past Thursday, we officially started booking artists at the School’s Out Summer Concert Series! We are beyond excited about this. So far we’ve got a giant 3rd of July show, a Warped Tour send-off party for a band from Braintree, a couple old friends, and a bunch of new ones. Go to the concert series web site to read more and check out the schedule.
Greg Loftus at Sweetwater Cafe March 5, 2010. Presented by Brewster Productions.
The rad tunes were pouring out of a little room downstairs in an alleyway club tonight in Boston. Greg Loftus and Nate Cristofori, two of south-of-Boston’s finest, tuned up Sweetwater Cafe’s downstairs stage tonight. Nate started off the show with some great sing-alongs with his contagious piano-ing, and Greg closed out the evening with some incredible bluesy guitar and singing work. Check out the photos. Good night, and see you next week.
Nate Cristofori at Sweetwater Cafe March 5, 2010. Presented by Brewster Productions.
Here’s what’s going on next weekend: The two big shows are THE OKAY WIN 3/12 and 3rd LEFT 3/13, both at Sweetwater Cafe. Also next weekend, Team Brewster will be tackling the Nike Indoor Nationals track meet as the official sound team. We’re going to tweet about the wacky time we’re having the whole time with fun photos, so stay tuned to that if you feel like reliving your former athletic days through a sound production company. Which reminds me: Follow us on Twitter! Who knows, maybe we’ll end up like that girl @lovelybutton if Conan discovers us.
Photo gallery and video below!!
- Jon
PS – HAPPY 23rd BIRTHDAY TO SCOTT!
Photo: The Okay Win at the Acoustic Nights Free Concert Series, 2011.
