Guerilla Toss is the voice of underground music in Boston. Since 2012 they’ve had nine releases, toured relentlessly, and had lineup changes. Founded at NEC, Gtoss set out to rebel against the current music trends and investigate musical improvisation. They consciously avoided harmonies and melodies. They have buzz, like they can’t play house shows anymore, too many people wanna come out, so they have to play the bigger DIY places. They’ve gotten pretty big in Boston, a lot of people really like them. But they are not going to be a local band anymore, they are moving to New York.
I think the reason the younger or new-to-Boston crowd is so drawn to Guerilla Toss is because when to come to Boston and get exposed to this scene, Gtoss is one of the first bands brought up. And then when you hear that psych-noise you are just like “Oh my god. What!?” It’s over stimulating. I can’t classify them or give them a genre, and some bands are like that, unlabeled-able. They’ve made sense of all the noise, garage, and experimental jargon Boston has to offer. Their jams are so good that I can’t even comprehend how they were able to make them, it’s raw and funky.
Their more recent stuff sounds more fine-tuned, but not like becoming boring, but almost more organized in a way, like they’re learning about what they sound like and how they wanna progress. It’s more experienced.
Guerilla Toss is notorious for their abrasive, physical, and piercing live performances. They are very much live act. You need to see them, or even just YouTube them. Back when Simon Hanes was the bassist, he would just go nuts, like he would get naked and flail around. It was somatic. Kassie Carlson’s energy and screams pierce right through you and you can feel yourself being sacrificed to the music. It’s like they’re completely disconnected but more lucid in the moment than anyone else in the room. I asked Kassie what it’s like to perform, and she said “In order to be like that you got to disassociate from the people. But when we’re on stage the only thing that matters is the other people.” You can see the band using the performance as a physical release, and so the audience gets physical and let’s go of whatever is inside them too.
The members of Guerilla Toss seem to breathe Gtoss. The three longest running members, Kassie, Arian, and Pete, provide a strong core is good which is good for their image. They provide stability, and stability is important to people, like even when others leave you know those three will be there. You can tell they are close by the way they look so strong and confident together.
I think about when they tour, and when they get city where no one knows them and they perform, what the audience that doesn’t know them thinks. They must think “What just happened. Who are those people? What did they just do?” Because people in Boston know. And I think the move to New York is good, because now more people will know. There is probably more shows to play in New York, so hopefully that means more well-deserved money to make. They’ve gotten as big as a band can get in the Boston underground and have been crushing it for years. So a new scene to change and develop in can’t be bad.
They are going to be releasing new music soon, so you know they will probably tour, so I am sure it won’t be a lifetime before Guerilla Toss plays in Boston again. I can’t even imagine how flipping nuts a Boston Gtoss show will be when they don’t live here anymore.
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