A Blast Of Exasperation – Gretchen Shae & the Middle Eight
The great ‘80s poet and philosopher Ferris Bueller once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Gretchen Shae & the Middle Eight, however, are taking a different approach. This October 1, the explosive Boston alt-rock band are set to release their third single of 2021 in “The Business of Broken Dreams,” a driving look at the world around the music community that displays no interest in slowing down.
The self-released single follows July’s “UnNatural Love” and August’s “Red Light/Green Light,” which combined with “The Business of Broken Dreams” and new music will help share the quartet’s forthcoming EP. But this new ripper of a tune shows off what Gretchen Shae & the Middle Eight — formerly known simply as M8 — do and do best: Craft hard-charging alternative rock bangers with a punk rock edge and razor sharp songwriting smarts.
Gretchen Shae & the Middle Eight are:
Gretchen Shae – Songwriting, guitar, vocals
Al Francis – Drums and vocals
Justin Fyfe – Lead guitar and vocals
Quincy Lord – Bass
“‘The Business of Broken Dreams’ is about the drive for immortality through music,” Shae says. “As musicians and artists we all strive to leave an imprint on the world; often that drive causes us misfortune. We may lose people along the way because our drive gets the best of us. I wrote the song in the fall of 2020 amidst the pandemic. Not having live venues as an outlet, I found myself in a Keats-ian ferver. I was writing at least a song per week. This song made the final cut because it expressed the frustration I think many of us had after having so many concerts cancelled.”
That frustration shines through over four relentless minutes, “The Business of Broken Dreams” showcasing the band’s dual vocal attack and frenetic pacing, illustrating a struggle we’re all facing in 2021. As Shae and guitarist Justin Fyfe belt out their respective lyrics, the ache and exasperation blast out of the speakers. The track was recorded at The Noise Floor in Dover, NH, by Ryan Stack, and mastered by Anthony Cimino at Mojo Studios in Franconia, NH.
“The song reflects my mindset in that it offers the foreboding tones of ambition,” Shae adds. “Ambition can lead us to success, but it can also lead us to despair. There is a constant struggle as an artist to find the balance between living in the moment and looking for what is next to achieve. ‘The Business of Broken Dreams’ has a feeling of struggle, searching, seeking for something that is slightly out of reach. Unlike our previous two songs, the chorus proclaims: ‘We want it all and we want it now. Don’t care who we hurt. Just show us how.’ These lyrics are a reflection of the society we live in today. People want things instantly -- at any cost.”
Gretchen Shae & The Middle Eight showcases a sonic departure from Shae’s other Boston band, The Knock-Ups, and finds the Berklee College of Music professor — who has performed on stage with U2, the Smithereens, and The Runaways’ Cherie Currie — branching out musically into some uncharted territory.
“This is unlike any other project I have worked on before,” she adds. “The music moves away from the punk rock roots I sprung from; hence, ‘The Middle Eight’ portion of the name is meant to suggest that the design of each song will have a cathartic high point that you do not find in a punk rock power chord song. ‘Skeleton Closet’ will be the next single we release. It too, carries the theme of the kind of world we exist in today where everyone has many sides: who they are, who they present, and who they would like to be.”
