For many metal fans, most great music can be traced back to bands like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Saxon, and Def Leppard, groups that were part of the iconic New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement that got started in the 1970’s and began taking a global hold in the early 1980’s.

And Verscythe is among their influence.

​When this New Bedford-based quintet takes to the stage of the Dusk club in Providence this Saturday night, their brand of power metal owes a debt to the bands that helped establish the metal genre, many of which are still filling the airwaves and selling out arenas around the world.

​Dusk is located at 301 Harris Ave. and the show will include the bands Three Points of Madness and Devil’s Champion.

“We make music for head bangers,” says Verscythe guitarist Jeff Rull. “People really feel this music.”

​“People like this music because it’s catchy,” says vocalist Justin St. Pierre. “It has staying power because you can really shut your brain off and enjoy it.” ​​

​But Verscythe claims they also have more modern metal influences, including bands such as Helloween, Queensryche, early Metallica, WASP and Savatage.

​“The reason I wanted to start this project was to get back to the roots of what I enjoyed, stuff from the past that made me want to play my instrument in the first place,” says guitarist Chris Reed. “That was old school metal, the traditional style that started it all.”

​Verscythe has one full-length record on their resume – “A Time Will Come,” released on July 4th, 2013. They have released two singles – “Animal” (last summer) and “Love Long Lost”(last February). They plan to release a third single, “Hail To The Darkness,” in the coming months. The band’s last local show was at Rasputin’s in Fairhaven on November of last year.

​The show at Dusk will include some songs from the 12-track follow up album they are recording at Reed’s home studio in New Bedford.

​“It was always my dream to have a recording studio in my home,” Reed says. “So during COVID, when the band was going through some lineup changes, I took the time to build a studio of my own.”

​Verscythe also includes drummer Myles Lucier and bassist Mike Moreira.

“No matter what genre of metal you listen to it all comes back to the traditional form of heavy metal,” Reed says. “Verscythe harkens back to where it all originated.”

Things are going well for Roger Chouinard.

As the drummer for the local metal quartet, All Sinners, the band’s self-titled debut EP is receiving praise form rock icons and radio hosts. In particular, the record has gotten a favorable response from one of Chouinard’s all-time favorite drummers, Fred Coury of Cinderella.

​But it gets better. This Wareham native has recently received endorsements from his cymbal, drum, and stick companies, providing financial support that behooves any up-and-coming musician. And as the owner of Purchase Street Records on Pope’s Island in New Bedford, Chouinard’s passion for music is showing rewards.

​Last February, All Sinners played to a capacity audience at The Vault in downtown New Bedford, opening for the Metallica tribute band, The Four Horsemen. The band is also receiving airplay on Providence’s WHJY-FM. On Saturday nights “The Metal Zone” has had All Sinners being played amongst metal giants such as Black Sabbath, Testament, Overkill, and Motorhead, some of the groups that the band members grew up idolizing.

​The nation’s premier drum stick company, Vic Firth, recently provided Chouinard with customized sticks that have “All Sinners” printed on them. He is also endorsed by RCI Drums out of Connecticut, and Ameida Cymbals out of Turkey. Turkey is the world’s epicenter of cymbal manufacturers.

​“I feel like these are accomplishments, it’s pretty cool,” Chouinard says.

​According to Chouinard, every drummer is unique with their own style of play, in addition to the equipment they use to perform their craft. He says that when he listens to music he pays attention to the way a drummer plays and how his drums and cymbals sound.

​“The drums and cymbals I use depend on the band and the style of music we’re playing. You have to play within the band, not playing above the band,” he says. “The drummer is only one component of a band’s chemistry. Different cymbals have different sounds. If I’m playing with my hardcore band, Draind, I’m going to want something loud because the guitar players are so loud. With All Sinners my cymbals are quicker – they dissipate real quick, they don’t sustain as much.”

​Chouinard describes himself as “an 80’s kid.” 

​“I was influenced by drummers like Fred Coury and Alex Van Halen, Troy Luccketta of Tesla, and Vinny Appice when he was with Black Sabbath. They were people I idolized and people that I could imitate.”

​Chouinard didn’t take to the drums until the age of 18, inspired by his uncle Bobby Chouinard, who played drums for Billy Squier. Today Roger owns 13 drum kits.

​“I’d probably own more drums if I had more space in my house,” he says. “I have drums everywhere.”

​Chouinard’s first kit was an orange-sparkle 4-piece Dixie brand from Japan. He threw it out when he acquired an upgrade of Tama drums.

​And now he receives financial support from the companies whose instruments he plays. His endorsements allow him toreceive discounts of 20 to 30 percent on any drums, cymbals or sticks that he purchases.

​“A cymbal could range in price from $50 to $700,” he says. “But a company will give you drums and cymbals for free if you’re playing to 30,000 people a night. They want their brand to be seen.”

​Drummers can choose from a variety of different cymbals with a variety of different sounds, including rides, crashes, splashes, hi-hats, and China boys. They can range in size from six inches to 24 inches.

​Chouinard talks about how he approaches the creative process with his drumming.

​“I do a lot of listening at first and I take it slow,” he says. “After someone brings a song idea to rehearsal I’ll start by playing something simple and after I’ve heard it a hundred times I’ll start to put my own stamp on it. You have to play to the dynamics of a song. Some parts will be softer and some parts will be more powerful and aggressive. You have to respect the song.”

​

If your idea of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day includes raucous and rowdy sing-a-long songs, the Pourmen know how to get your blood flowing.

​For the 10th consecutive year this New Bedford-based sextet will bring their Celtic punk to the Whaling City for a Sunday, March 12th show at The Vault in downtown. Starting at 6 p.m., the concert will be the final stop on the NBPD’s Unity Tour Riders’ St. Paddy’s Day Pub Crawl. The show will open with a set from New Bedford’s Molly O’Leary, who will also join the Pourmen later that evening for a couple of songs by the Irish band, the Cranberries.

​“We’re a sing-a-long, drink-a-long band,” says Richie O’Toole, the Pourmen’s vocalist, who also plays mandolin, banjo and guitar. “An important part of the show is including the audience. I’m happy to share the microphone if someone knows the words.” 

Known for blurring the line between the audience and the stage, the Pourmen’s musical itinerary will include original songs from their multiple albums, along with modern Celtic rock covers of bands such as Dropkick Murphy’s, Flogging Molly, and the Pogues. They will also perform their own amped-up versions of traditional Irish drinking songs.

​“Our original songs are from the cobblestone streets and salty pubs of the Whaling City,” O’Toole says. “We have a lot of imagery from landmarks and infamous characters from the city’s history.”

​The songs of the Pourmen can be enjoyed atthepourmen.bandcamp.com.

​“This is the most exciting time of the year for this band,” O’Toole says. “We’re a lively group.”

​The Vault show will be the only local performance from the Pourmen around St. Patrick’s Day. But if you want to enjoy more Irish revelry, the band will be playing two more shows in the region. On Friday, March 10th, they will perform at Cape Cod Beer in Barnstable for a 7 p.m. show, and on Saturday, March 11th, they will do a 6 p.m. show at Stone Path Malt in Wareham. Both shows will include Irish step dancers.

The Pourmen have built a regional reputation for their performance skills. The band has been invited to do a three-day residency at the Lansdowne Pub in Boston, located outside of Fenway Park. The band will perform on St. Patrick’s Day on Friday, March 17’th, with shows to follow on the next Saturday and Sunday.

​St. Patrick’s Day will be the 10-year celebration of the Pourmen’s first-ever performance, a show at Slainte in downtown, the current location of PLAY Arcade.

In addition to O’Toole, the band’s lineup includes bassist Kris Motta, guitarist Keith Sylvia, drummer Dan Hoffman, fiddle player Katie Cooke, and John Curtin on tin whistle and mandolin. Guitarist Noah Whiteside will join the band for their Boston shows.

​The metal band Three Points of Madness has discovered that playing shows as a cover band allows them to slip in some of their original songs as a way to introduce their creativity to new audiences.

And when this Providence-based band performs at Knuckleheads in the south end of New Bedford this Saturday night, the trio will be including three original songs – two previously recorded tracks, and a new, unreleased number.

​“Our major influences are classic Metallica, Iron Maiden, Tool, and Dream Theatre,” says bassist Ron Pacheco of Dighton, MA. “In addition to those bands we’ll also be playing songs from bands like Rush, Alice In Chains, and Slayer.”

​The songs scheduled to be performed include “Medusa’s Stare,” and “Nightmares” from the 2019 album “Circus of Madness.” The band’s music can be found on all of the major streaming services, including the albums “American Papers,” “New World Order,” and their latest, “Reefer Madness.”

​In addition to Pacheco, Three Points of Madness includes singer/guitarist George Petrus and drummer Sean Daudelin.

The evening’s music will start at 9 p.m. with a performance by the act, One, which is the new project of Jim Silveira of the Pantera tribute band, Trendkill.

Three Points of Madness plays at Knuckleheads three or four times a year. The bar is located at 85 MacArthur Drive. The band will have an all-original performance at the Providence club, Dusk, on Saturday, March 18th, sharing the bill with New Bedford metal outfit, Verscythe, and the Massachusetts band, Devil’s Champion.

The cozy and intimate atmosphere at the Interwoven maker space in downtown New Bedford will be a fitting setting for the performances of milkymaze and Jacquelin Roy.

​This Saturday, March 4th, this pair of songwriters will share their candid portrayals of the human experience at a 7 p.m. show. Located at 634 Pleasant St., there is a suggested donation of $10, which will go to fund the artists.

​A native of Brooklyn, NY, this will be milkymaze’s second live performance since moving to New Bedford less than two years ago. She most recently played with her band at the 4752 Music Festival in downtown last October. Saturday’s performance will be solo acoustic.

​“My songs have always been really hard for me to share, they’re very personal,” milkymaze says. “Writing songs are a form of therapy for me – I’ve been through a lot. To work through my feelings, as it is for a lot of people, I feel exposed when I play, which is why I don’t do shows very often.
​“The music that really pulls on my heart strings is usually a vocalist who doesn’t sound perfectly in tune all the time, I love imperfections. I like a lot of old blues music and old country music. There’s a lot of that in my music.”

​A resident of Boston, Roy most recently played in New Bedford at a show at Destination Soups on 149 Union St. last December. That was when milkymaze was introduced to her songwriting.

“I fell in love with her music, it’s very tender,” milkymaze says of Roy. “We treat music in a similar way. I thought we should do an intimate show together. It’s a perfect opportunity for me to play solo.”

​The music of both artists can be found online, including Bandcamp.com.

​milkymaze shares a quote from Roy that she relates to.

“Music for me has always been a way of trying to deepen my understanding of the human experience through my subjective lens and also serves as a very meaningful healing space for me.”

​“We’re not seeking out opportunities to perform all the time,” milkymaze says. “But we do think that it’s important to share our music and our songs.”

​

If you’re looking for an inclusive, uplifting dance experience, the Co-Creative Center in downtown New Bedford could have what you want.

​The “Body Body Body” Underground Dance events have been enjoyed by the community since 2017, and are currently happening on the first Saturday night of the month – events that last from 8 p.m. to midnight at the 137 Union St. space. The events are conducted by the New Moon Production Company, led by New Bedford’s Andy Anello. 

​The evenings will feature four acts – three resident deejays and a musical act. This Saturday will include deejays Anello, baye, and Neil Matheson, along with the music of the Providence band, Space Heater X. There will be free bottled water available, but no food or other beverages. A $5 donation is requested but not mandatory.

While the event encourages queer and marginalized visitors, it is not exclusive to any lifestyle. They promote the event as open to people of all races and sexes, ethnicities and income, with no homophobia, no body shaming, and no non-consensual touching. 

“We’re trying to offer a friendly, welcoming space that’s very dance-floor focused,” Anello says. “These types of parties are a release for people. You may have had a stressful week so when you get on the dance floor you forget it all, have fun and kind of lose yourself. We provide a space for people to have that release.”

​The parties feature a wide variety of dance music, from the disco-era to contemporary. The umbrella of styles includes a vast spectrum of electronic music, including House, Techno, Drums & Bass, along with an array of music made with synthesizers, samplers and drum machines. New Moon provides the sound system and lighting for the event.

“You don’t usually find parties like this outside of the larger cities like Providence, Boston and New York,” Anellosays.

​The Co-Creative Center is described as a co-working hub for the community of social and creative entrepreneurs in the South Coast. It also presents music concerts throughout the year.

​Another feature of the “Body Body Body” event will be the Marie Equi Zine Library. Owned and operated by New Bedford’s Neesh Savino, the library features an international collection of zines devoted mainly to queer art and culture. Visitors are invited to take a break from dancing to peruse and enjoy these hand-designed periodicals unique to the pre-Internet age. Savino has been collecting these zines for more than 25 years, and has been offering this unique pop-up installation at events since 2018. The library is named after New Bedford native Marie Equi, a renown physician, activist, and queer feminist.

​“These zines are a way to share the space with people who like the atmosphere of the event but want to do something in addition to dancing,” Savino says. “It’s another way to engage with the community besides the unspoken aspects of dance and music. It’s a chill-out space for sharing interesting micro stories from every corner of the globe.”

​There will be reading lights available for visitors and most of the zines are kept in plastic covers to avoid damage. The zines are non-circulating and are not for sale.

​“Body Body Body” got its start in alternative spaces in New Bedford, including yoga studios, art studios, lofts, and storefronts. They currently put on 12 shows a year – nine at the Co-Creative Center and three outdoor events in the warmer months. This summer there will be two parties at Riverside Park in the city’s north end on the first Saturdays of July and September, with a tentative party scheduled at Buttonwood Park, known as the Roller Dance Party, in August.

​“Everyone shows up for the purpose of the event, it’s different than a club or bar where people might just be going to have a drink,” Anello says. “People aren’t just happening upon it. They’re dedicated to the idea of the night which creates a really great vibe of community, and people get to know each other.

“If a space is safe for marginalized people, it’s safe for everyone.”

The music of Skyjelly would be great for an art museum.

​And that’s what you’ll get this Friday, March 3rd, when this Fall River-based quartet brings its unique blend of sounds to the New Bedford Art Museum/Art Works! for a free 5 p.m. show.

​Fitting a vast panoply of descriptions, this group creates a soundscape that includes ambient, avant-garde, psychedelic, electronic, guitar rock and touches of Middle Eastern influences to arrive at a obscure package of noises that invites personal interpretation. 

​The Skyjelly show will be the second installment of the First FriYAYs concert series to be held at the Art Museum. Last month the series debuted with a performance by Molly O’Leary and John Fernandes. Located at 608 Pleasant St. in downtown New Bedford, the event offers a cash bar. Visitors can peruse the gallery while listening to the music, a distinct melding of original sounds and visual art.

​“We’re an Indie rock, Middle Eastern, desert blues band,” says Skyjelly Jones, who plays guitar for the band. “I’d like to think we’re unique.”

​Many would agree. The music of Skyjelly can be experienced online, including Bandcamp.com. The group will be playing new songs from the album, “Spirit Guide,” to be released later this March. The evening is likely to include spontaneous, one-of-a-kind improvisations. 

​“We’re malleable within our own weird parameters,” Skyjelly Jones says. “We play a lot of recognizable songs from our catalog but we may go off on a particular song, depending on how we feel. We have enough material so that we can play to the feel of a room.”

​“I love Skyjelly because they’re sonic adventurers. They create really immersive soundscapes,” says New Bedford’s Scott Bishop, who curates the concerts. “Skyjelly knows how to create really entrancing vibes. I’m always drawn to people creating new sounds, and they do exactly that — with spacey effects, middle east-tinged riffs, and vocal percussion loops. If it’s hard to imagine what that sounds like, trust me, it will make complete sense when you hear them live.”

​Skyjelly Jones says that the band enjoys pushing their creative envelopes.

​“We try to make interesting, cool sounds, and we get bored easily,” he says. “I believe in the adage, ‘If you end up with what you’ve expected, you’ve made a mistake somewhere.’”

This won’t be the band’s first performance at an art gallery. They’ve brought their music to a variety of galleries and untraditional spaces throughout the northeast.

​The Middle Eastern influences in the band’s sound come from Skyjelly Jones. Part Egyptian and part Lebanese, he includes the 11-string instrument, the oud, to contribute to the band’s amalgamation of instruments. 

​The band also includes bassist Scott Levesque who was formerly with the indie rock band Wheat, while Skyjelly Jones was a contributing touring member for Wheat, and produced the band’s fourth album, “Every Day I Said A Prayer for Kathy.”Skyjelly’s drummer is Dave Melanson and their percussionist is Andy.

​“NBAM”S first FriYAY event was absolutely electric!” says the museum’s Executive Director, Suzanne de Vegh. “Despite the frigid temperatures (it was 7 below) we had a surprising number of happy, hearty souls turnout for Molly andJohn’s performance. I was so moved to see folks strolling through the galleries hand-in-hand, it reminded me of when I was in college.” 

When the South Coast Brass Band plays the Zeiterion this Friday night it will be with their traditional exuberance, but performed with heavy hearts.

​Their annual fundraiser for the New Bedford Boys & Girls Club – an evening of New Orleans Mardi Gras music – will be the band’s first show since the passing of their beloved friend and musical comrade Gilda Pietragalla–Downey, the manager of Gilda’s Stone Rooster in Marion, who died recently at the age of 98.

​“In many ways this show will be a celebration of Gilda’s life – she really was beyond category,” says Mike Rocha, trombone player with the band. “She touched the lives of so many musicians from this area. She really was our patron saint for so many years. She was an incredible person who shared her gifts with the world.”

​And the music of the South Coast Brass Band is fitting for a celebration of life.

​“The sounds of New Orleans are uplifting, spiritual sounds, and we focus on playing music in that spirit,” Rocha says. “New Orleans has faced some tragedies but always seems to bounce back, and music is so important to that entire culture. It’s music every night of the week there, and our goal is to bring that to this area.”

​The South Coast Brass Band features five horn players, a drummer and a percussionist. They include Rocha, Paul Chadborne on tuba, Shawn Baptista on trumpet, Ryder Corey on tenor sax, Susan Gedutis-Lindsay on baritone sax, Dan Schwartz on percussion, and Charlie Kalajian on drums. Their instrumentation is similar to the famed New Orleans-based group, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

​“We’ll be playing tunes that you will hear in New Orleans during Mardi Gras,” Rocha says.

​This will be the fourth year that the South Coast Brass Band will be performing to raise money for the Boys & Girls Club. In 2018, 2019, and 2020 they performed at Greasy Luck in downtown New Bedford, before doing a virtual broadcast in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. They did not perform for the event last year.

​ This is only one charity that the group performs for. They are also scheduled to do a fundraiser for the Immigrants Assistance Center Gala on May 12’th at the Kilburn Mill. They traditionally perform at the Cape Verdean Recognition Day Parade, the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament Parade, as well as doing numerous shows at Cisco Kitchen & Brewery in New Bedford’s south end.

​Raising funds for the Boys & Girls Club is an endeavor close to Rocha’s heart. He has been on their Board of Directors since 2013.

​“I learned how to play basketball at the Boys & Girls Club,” he says. “It fostered lifelong relationships with friends, and to this day I look back fondly on my memories of going to the club and being a part of that.”

​Programming at the club includes music and art, as well as after-school programs to support kids academically.

“We’ve had our challenges over the years but we have some exciting things taking place, we’re not just a gymnasium,” Rocha says. “It’s really special to me. It’s dear to my heart and part of my home.”

​And for many years, Gilda’s Stone Rooster was a home.

“Gilda taught us that it’s all about the music and community, her gift to us was all about building community,” Rocha says. “So to be able to give back to the Boys & Girls Club and celebrate Gilda’s life and being able to celebrate one another is very important.”