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| Miele Keyboardist Melissa Lee Niles and guitarist Joe Spilsbury |
On Tuesday, March 12, Miele played a rocking set at the Midway Café in Jamaica Plain. The musicians in this talented rock band—vocalist/keyboardist Mellissa Lee Nilles, guitarist Joe Spilsbury, bassist Cedric Lamour, and newcomer-drummer Jeff Edwards—are hot on the local club scene. A year ago, they released their first, well-received album Transience.
Miele kicked off the evening with “Spring Rain,” a quiet original that opens and builds up with some very beautiful piano by Lee Nilles, followed by stellar guitar picking by Spilsbury. Lamour's bass guitar work was notable. “It’s a new release and we’re in the middle of recording it right now,” Lee Nilles informed the crowd before dipping into the opening piano chords. Following two more originals, “Anxious Ghost” and “Unfiltered,” Spilsbury broke a string on his guitar with his hard, signature strumming. While he restrung his guitar, the rest of the band went into a jazzy jam with Lee Nilles leading the beat with a piano verse that was incredible.
With the band whole again, Miele launched into “Hold it Together,” one of their best jams that dates way back in Miele’s song canon. It sounded fantastic with Spilsbury’s heavy distortion guitar leading the way, and Lee Nilles voice reaching high levels of wailing in the chorus. “Such an energetic song,” she declared at the end of the tune, and yes, the song has a ton of flow and energy to it!
Other notable songs in the latter part of the set were a politically driven anti-Trump song, “We Don’t Care,” and the popular Miele set closer “Slip Away.” In “We Don’t Care,” the song goes through several cool transitions, beginning with a slow, distorted drive and gradually picking up. The riff by Spilsbury is highly original, and I hope this song gets played at more of their upcoming shows. The song closes with several minutes of incredible musical wails by Lee Nilles—“Ahhh, ahhh, woo, woo,” followed by the music slowing down and then picking up again with Lee Nilles singing over and over again, “We don’t care.”
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| Miele bassist Cedric Lamour |
Then the show wrapped up with Lee Nilles thanking the audience: “Thank you, so much everyone, this is going to be our last song—it’s called ‘Slip Away.’ If you guys like our music we have CDs in the back. Thanks so much to Lockette for inviting us to be here. It’s always fun to play a show with other badass ladies. I want to see more of that in the scene.”
“Slip Away” is one of Miele’s heavier originals with fewer transitions than some of their other songs. It follows a more continuous flow of rhythm. The piano, drums, and guitars all keep a steady rhythm that syncs nicely with Lee Nilles vocals. At the end, the song gets heavier, then slowly fades out with Lee Nilles’ piano, and once again picks up for a final chorus. Spilsbury strums one last powerful chord on his guitar to close it out.
This Boston-based band is what Boston is famous for producing—original and amazing musical talent. The musicians have said that they strive to “celebrate the emotions, spirit, and wisdom that live and breathe in all of us, as well as the rage, the desire, and the chaos that erupt out of us when we cannot give them voice.”
Miele’s next concerts are at Boston’s New Music Showcase at Union Tavern, Somerville, Friday, April 5, and Club Bohemia, Central Square, April 20. For updates about other concerts that continue to be added to their spring and summer schedule, check Miele’s website or Facebook page: www.mielemusic.com,www.facebook.com/mieletheband.
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| Miele live at the Midway |
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