|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Before last year, local musician Tom Poitras’ songwriting spanned several genres over his decades-long musical career, from children’s music and Cajun to island music and punk rock. But he had never ventured into the political sphere.
Until now.
Poitras said his anger over policies and actions in Donald Trump’s second presidential administration have led him to speak out in the form of song.
Over the past several months, he’s gathered nine local artists to form a group called Blood n Dreams. In June, the band released its first album, “All Rise Up,” a folk-rock protest album with 11 songs written by Poitras.
“Everybody should be shaking the cages right now and rising up and speaking out because it’s the future of our country,” Poitras said. “It’s the future of our kids and their kids.”
The project, which the band recorded at Feedback Studio, an original music studio in Freetown owned by Tom’s brother, Ron, is the musicians’ way of going on the record to protest against the federal government’s actions and promote democracy, said lead singer Jerilyn “Jeri” Karam-Kozak.
“It’s a way to balance the story being told as far as what people want for our country,” she said.
The group formed informally through prior friendships and connections. Ron Poitras, the album’s producer, sound engineer and base guitarist, said some songs needed different components, like drums or horns, and he knew the people who could provide them.
Michael Gallant, the band’s trombonist, said Tom Poitras saw him playing at protests and heard “anti-fascist things to say through his horn.” For Michael Almond, the group’s backup vocalist and percussionist who has played in bands with Tom Poitras for over 20 years, joining the project was a “no brainer.”
Tom Poitras usually writes the songs in a folk style and then the songs evolve based on what the other band members bring to it. Several band members described the album as Tom Poitras’ project, which they were happy to contribute to because they have known him for years and have the same political views.
“If Tom asks me to do something, I’m more than happy to do whatever he wants,” said Steven Alfonso, a backing vocalist for the album and guitarist for one song, who’s known Tom Poitras since he was 11 years old.
Many of the musicians recorded their parts for the album separately, filtering in and out of the studio at different times. Some band members had not met before the project, but were united through their common beliefs. Many had not been involved in a political project before.
Several members are part of other bands or have full-time jobs outside of music, so they recorded the project around their schedules or other obligations. The band currently has six monthly listeners on Spotify and fewer than 1,000 streams for its songs. So while this is not a profitable endeavor for the musicians, many members said they would dedicate their time again to a similar project or live performance.
“It can be a lot of work sometimes on top of your regular job,” Karam-Kozak said. “But it feels like something you have to do. It’s worth doing.”
A local legend
Tom Poitras has been a staple in the local music scene for decades. He began open mics at the now-closed New Wave Café in 1997, where he said many bands formed and where he’s met several musicians he’s worked with.
His main gig since 2000 has been Toe Jam Puppet Band, an interactive kids band that combines live music with themed performances. He and band mate Vinny Lovegrove play about 150 to 200 shows a year. The full-time musician is also involved with several other bands, including Cool Banana Wig, the Gansett Bay Cajun Ceili Band, the Moonbellies and The Moldy Suitcases.
His foray into music began after college with punk rock in the late 1970s and has been “band after band after band” since then, he said. He started playing guitar in college at Southeastern Massachusetts University — now UMass Dartmouth — where he majored in English. He knew he liked writing and playing guitar and eventually “put two and two together.”
From there his songwriting and musical career officially began.
“I never really thought about it,” Tom Poitras said. “I was always into music.”
Most mornings, the songwriter wakes up around 4 a.m. to write and tinker with his guitar until “something feels good,” he said. For most of this past year, he’s wanted to write songs speaking out against the federal government.
Tom and his brother, Ron, grew up in a household where their father was always singing or playing Frank Sinatra. The two played together in the Gluons, a four-piece, all-original post-punk rock band, which eventually segued into Blue Hollow, another four-piece band in the goth pop genre. In the late 1980s, Ron Poitras turned to the recording side of the industry, and Tom Poitras worked office jobs while doing music in his free time until he started the New Wave Cafe open mic.
Before his first child was born, Tom Poitras told his wife he needed to make a living out of music to be a happy father. When he met Lovegrove at New Wave Cafe, he had the opportunity to do so.
He described the puppet band as high energy and said about 70% of its music is original with some Scooby-Doo music mixed in. Tom Poitras is sometimes recognized in public as “Mr. Tom,” and for him, kids are the best audience.
“If you have a stinker of a song, they’re walking away,” he said. “[If] you have something good, you know it.”
The bands he’s in range in size from two to 10 people, though he prefers the larger groups. Tom Poitras also plays with musicians across generations, including his son Hank, who plays the fiddle and accordion for the Blood n Dreams album.
The venues he frequents with his various bands include the zoo, farmers markets, nursing homes and libraries. His music spans several genres and incorporates a mix of original projects coupled with covers, depending on which group he is working with. Apart from songwriting, his other musical talents include guitar, lap steel, ukulele, a stick dulcimer and the kazoo — one of his favorite instruments.
Communicating through music
Several band members compared the current political movement to the anti-Vietnam War protests and civil rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s when music served as a powerful tool. Tom Poitras said for the Blood n Dreams album, he drew inspiration largely from 1960s protest music and artists like Joni Mitchell and Woody Guthrie. Band members and fans of the album said music can and still does play a similar role.
“Music is a way of expressing that’s less derivative, less harmful, less judgmental,” Almond said. “People are willing to hear you musically.”
Ron Poitras said musical statements have become more regional rather than national now because the music industry has shrunk with digital platforms. He said people and organizations had more power during the Vietnam War than they do now.
“Being part of that protest movement back then, there was an optimism, and this is cloudy,” he said. “This time out, I don’t know where it’s going to end.”
Bryn Dews, who attends weekly standouts on Fridays for de-ICE Hanscom — a coalition peacefully advocating for the elimination of ICE transport flights from Hanscom Field — creates the playlists for some of these standouts. She said music keeps people happy, connected and “plugged in” at protests. Without it, people tend to go off in pairs and there’s less connectivity, she said.
The album encapsulates what the standouts are about, Dews said. The songs “All Rise Up,” the album’s folky and vocal heavy opener, and “No More Kings,” the album’s soft rock fourth track, are currently in the weekly playlist alongside other songs like “This Land is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie and “Respect” by Aretha Franklin.
“It’s time again to stand up. Raise your voice and sing,” Karam-Kozak sings in “No More Kings.” “Rise up and shout. Rise up and sing. Rise up and shout: No more kings.”
These same two songs by Blood n Dreams, along with, “Wake Up,” are also in Michael Grimley’s playlist. Grimley is a member of Indivisible SouthCoast New England and the Indivisible Mass Coalition tech team.
“For people who are feeling anxious or angry, [music] can soothe the savage beast,” Dews said. “It just calms the brain down.”
Feedback for the project has been positive so far, band members said. The songs themselves speak of unity like “All My Friends Are Here,” “Milk & Honey” and “Maybe,” which call for solidarity and peace and changing the world.
“There is something ancient and sacred about getting together with people and chanting or singing about what’s important to you,” Gallant said. “It sort of scratches that itch.”
Several band members said they would participate in another project or perform live if the opportunity arises. Dews said the de-ICE Hanscom group is hoping to have the band play at one of their standouts.
Tom Poitras has already begun working on more political songs, into which he tries to sow hope. While he prefers to be writing about outer space insects — a reference to a bug themed show Toe Jam Puppet Band performs — he said he will continue writing political music for as long as it pours out of him.
“A lot of what we do is we’re preaching to the choir,” he said. “I don’t know how many lines I need, but everybody should be expressing themselves in urgency right now.”
Crystal Yormick is a recent graduate of Boston University and a frequent contributor to The New Bedford Light. Email her at cyormick@newbedfordlight.org.
