Passionplay is a newer band who almost ended before it even truly started. "Matt (O'Brien, drums) and Alan (Hague, guitar) had this project they were working on," says vocalist Paul Turillo, "they had like a full LP worth of material they had recorded, but their vocalist went AWOL. This project was formed from the ashes of that.
"When I ran into them at a show at AS220 they told me about how the whole thing went down. I had just moved back to the New England area after my old band dissolved and I was getting that itch to do something again, so I threw it out there and told them if they needed a vocalist I'd be more than happy to meet up with them and see how things go. They also recruited our friend Josh (Connell) to play bass."
The persistence paid off, which is clear on Passionplay's recently released self-titled EP. Over the course of 8 tracks, the Providence, Rhode Island-based outfit incorporate fast hardcore, chaotic metallic hardcore, and traces of power violence into their songwriting. It's a fun ride:
"We all have some common ground on influences," Paul tells No Echo, "but we also have some wildly different ones as well, I'm not sure if they show so much, but I'd say we're influenced by bands like Converge, Endzweck, Modern Life is War, Propagandi, Full of Hell, Punch, Charles Bronson, AFI, pg.99, Southern Death Cult, Verbal Assault ...ummm the good ol' Rivalry Records catalog, Black Tambourine... I can go on and on."
No Echo asks Paul about how he and his Passionplay band mates feel about their local music scene, and some of the other bands they feel a kinship with. "Providence is a pretty small place, so like the metalheads, punk kids, noise heads, all kinda run into each other at different shows. There's friends in the Northwest I'd love to do something with maybe someday.
"Dry Socket is a sick hardcore band from Portland, Oregon. They just put out a release on Get Stoked! They all used to play in bands I used to play shows with and stuff.
"Anxious Wave is a great band form our area, they're not confined to one specific sound they draw in these elements of like noise rock and hardcore, it's punky, it's dancey, it's fun, those dudes have been in a bunch of bands throughout the years, members were in like, Lowlife, Product of Waste, Deathwish, etc."
Passionplay will be released on vinyl and cassette in 2021, but for now, hit up Bandcamp to help support.
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