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Pela
299,681 plays (24,702 listeners)
Pela’s frontman Billy McCarthy was born and raised in Santa Cruz, California and dropped out of high school at age 16, after which he played in failed bands up and down the west coast, later moving overseas to Europe to make a living as a subway busker. He worked in 10 countries, most of which would have him only long enough to pay for one-way tickets to the next city. (During this tour of duty he attempted to play a restaurant in Italy dressed as a pirate; had his front teeth knocked out in a fist fight; and lost the tip of his index finger somewhere along of the way.)
Eric Sanderson (bass) and Nate Martinez (guitars) are from New York. They went to the same school upstate, and have been playing music together for almost 10 years. Eric first encountered Billy while the latter man was busking at a Brooklyn subway stop. Eric was impressed by what he heard. The last member of this merry band, drummer Tomislav Zovich, joined up in 2003. Tom’s from New Jersey via Croatia and received his musical education playing weddings with his dad.
Currently, all four members of Pela live in the not-so-fashionable waterfront neighborhood of Red Hook — the setting of Hubert Selby Jr.’s Last Exit to Brooklyn, and home to many artists, dock workers, cranes, and shipping containers. They make desperate songs about addiction, isolation, hope, murder, sex, and Mexico. In spite of the dark subject matter they’re quite catchy and have led one writer to opine that “Pela’s music recalls what might happen if Modest Mouse hitched a ride on U2’s wide-horizon rock’n’roll tour bus.”
Eric Sanderson (bass) and Nate Martinez (guitars) are from New York. They went to the same school upstate, and have been playing music together for almost 10 years. Eric first encountered Billy while the latter man was busking at a Brooklyn subway stop. Eric was impressed by what he heard. The last member of this merry band, drummer Tomislav Zovich, joined up in 2003. Tom’s from New Jersey via Croatia and received his musical education playing weddings with his dad.
Currently, all four members of Pela live in the not-so-fashionable waterfront neighborhood of Red Hook — the setting of Hubert Selby Jr.’s Last Exit to Brooklyn, and home to many artists, dock workers, cranes, and shipping containers. They make desperate songs about addiction, isolation, hope, murder, sex, and Mexico. In spite of the dark subject matter they’re quite catchy and have led one writer to opine that “Pela’s music recalls what might happen if Modest Mouse hitched a ride on U2’s wide-horizon rock’n’roll tour bus.”
Top Albums
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Anytown Graffiti
Pela
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All in Time
Pela Buy- Download Album
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All in Time EP
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Top Tracks
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lost to the lonesome
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Episodes
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Latitudes
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All in Time
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Venom
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Shoutbox
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loobieloo wrote:
What?! They were discussing possible new material jst last May ... Bummer indeed! Reminds me of Sound Team's fate : fatally underrated bands!
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onigama wrote:
WTF?! I never had the chance to see them live - shame! Really really sad news... ;-(
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kwsn wrote:
aw man that's a huge bummer :/
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hazel_figurine wrote:
Brassland re-posted their break-up letter. http://www.brassland.org/news.php?story=237&artist=141
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CossRooper wrote:
WOW I JUST STARTED LISTENING TO THEM. just my luck. http://www.pelamusic.com/2009/09/18/thank-you-and-good-night/
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wnc wrote:
terrible news that they split up. one of the most slept-on bands of the 21st century. i hope you caught them live when you had the chance.
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baeblemusic wrote:
Propped upon undeniable intensity, Pela's make their last performance of 2007 a memorable one. Watch it all here: http://www.baeblemusic.com/concertvideo/TheBoweryBallroom/Pela.html
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nolif3r wrote:
scrubs
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tallsaint33 wrote:
very solid album and grows more and more on me every time i listen to it! good work
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Cookie_Mountain wrote:
Man, Billy's had a rough life. Being in a band isn't all sex, drugs and rock n' roll.
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thedarksun wrote:
recently created an interview with pela :: http://musicisart.ws/?p=618
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zach414 wrote:
Have they ever recorded Philadelphia?
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juliepenner wrote:
Saw these guys rock out in Denver and they absolutely killed. Best show I've seen in a long time. I love the album.
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Jay_Fiedler wrote:
I saw them at Sasquatch too, and I can verify that they killed it. They just fuckin rocked! That was, I'm gonna have to say, the second best set of the weekend (behind Okkervil River).
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goggleboy wrote:
Just saw these guys at the Sasquatch Festival. Absolutely KILLED. One of my favorite shows of the weekend.
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AlexHelling wrote:
I think it is pronounced Payla, and rhymes with Kayla or Hey la. At least that is how I heard it on the radio.
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Janeinma wrote:
Billy has thousands in medical bills. If you can, we should all help : http://www.pelamusic.com/ to donate through paypal.
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wnc wrote:
rest of the tour canceled. frontman falls off stage, onto a pintglass, shreds the shit out of his hand. torn tendons, etc. everybody loses!
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GypsyFingers wrote:
'tenement teeth' is the master of my heart
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Zyend wrote:
Shoegaze? Post-Rock? Come on! It's getting ridiculous!
Videos
See more
News
Video – Backstage Waiting on the Stairs
3 Sep 2009 | from
Videographer Matteo Bava has created a new video of the lads performing backstage, before the show at Neumos in Seattle.
You can see more of Matteo’s work at his website.
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28 Aug 2009 | from -
27 Jul 2009 | from -
26 Jul 2009 | from
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Recent Activity
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tessahu, Juxander, schwarzkoppf and 12 other people added Pela to their libraries. yesterday evening
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burbankhays wrote about Pela in Top 20. 15 days ago
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illcounsel added Pela to illcounsel’s library. 16 days ago
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paulderev updated the wiki page for Pela. (diff) 17 days ago
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kgcarlso, SaraBollwinkel, rickeyrat and 23 other people added Pela to their libraries. 17 days ago
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onigama linked Pela to pela_bbq. last month
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onigama linked Pela to pela-1. last month
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onigama linked Pela to pela. last month
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onigama uploaded pela_bbq to Pela’s images. last month
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onigama uploaded pela-1 to Pela’s images. last month
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