If you missed out on tickets for Billy Strings over at Thompson’s Point and you’re looking for some quality live music Friday night, you might wanna dip over to Sun Tiki Studios on Forest Ave. and catch a local outfit called Rascal Van, ’cause these kids are the real goddam deal.
Rascal Van’s a four-piece that features quartet of local youngsters who graduated high school back in June. They came together as a band about six months ago, but tbh they sound like they’ve been playing for a helluva lot longer than that. They’ve got a jangly, indie-rock sound that belies their tender years, tight and polished, yet utterly devoid of pretension, and their tunes are well-crafted nuggets of sonic bliss.
And they clearly enjoy playing together.
The line-up includes frontman Aedan MacDougall on lead vocals and guitar, Ben Marchessault on guitar, Maggie Ellis on bass and vocals, and Nate Dickson on drums, but they’ve also played a handful open mics around town, most notably at the High Fidelity Brewery, as a two- or three-piece, with MacDougall and Ellis the constants.
MacDougall said he, Ellis and Dickson gravitated toward one another as students in the PATHS music program at Casco Bay High, and added Marchessault later to help fill out the sound.
“We discovered that we had a lot of similar ideas about making music, and we wanted to play the songs we’d been working on together live,” MacDougall said. “Ben and Nate have been friends for a while, so when we wanted to expand our sound, he was the clear choice.”
Rascal Van’s been working away on their debut release over at Monaco Studios, where MacDougall also interns, and they’re going to release that record soon, play a few more shows, and then call it a day when three of the four Rascal Vansters head off to various colleges come autumn.
So the unfortunate fact is, you better go see ’em now, ’cause you may not get another chance.
Rascal Van plays at the Sun Tiki Studios on Friday, July 28, with special guest Jaade. Doors @ 7pm, music @ 8pm. Limited number of tickets left, available here, $10 in advance, $15 day of show.
ThatPortlandSound 