Got Free Time? Check Out Free Beer

By student Nicole Dombrowski

Free Beer has slowly become a local favorite of the underground scene in Mansfield and Norton.  A crowd of fifty teens and twentysomethings with American Apparel hoodies, skinny jeans, and ratty, old Vans hold tall cans of Pabst while waiting for the band Free Beer to walk on stage. The band’s five members— Mike Doolan (lead singer), Kirk Vance (bassist), Tyler Kershaw (drummer), Ryan Techiera (guitarist), and Alex Consentino (guitarist) — derive inspiration from many genres. They incorporate influences from ska, punk, and hardcore rock, targeting a crowd of hipsters and hardcore punk fans.

Free Beer began playing a lot of basement shows, hence the satirical name “free beer,” yet went on to tour parts of New England and New York this past summer. Although the band has been surprisingly successful, starting out as a joke band without real direction, the members have no desire to gain widespread attention and instead revel in performing for the sake of having fun. “If I could play a dirty Allston basement show once a week for the rest of my life, I’d be really happy” says singer Doolan.

Kirk is an admirer of ska and pop punk; Tyler, who’s also involved in another local favorite, The Devil and a Penny, listens to experimental rock; and Doolan and Consentino are fans of thrash and hardcore. Although inspirations between the band members cover a wide range of musical interests, Doolan says that, “The bands that inspire us to make the music we do would have to be: Ceremony, Infest, Joy Division, and Lars Vegas. We all collectively listen to those bands way too much and love them.” Fellow local bands are Darkwoods, Beartrap, Undark and The Radium Girls, Energy, Horseplay and Vaccine.

Free Beer is willing to perform almost anywhere. “We've played everywhere from dirty basements in Allston, cruddy backyards, a garage we weren’t invited to, youth centers, VFW's, KOC's, 21+ bars, all ages bars, [and] actual concert venues with a stage” explains Doolan. Free Beer has acquired a following of loyal, local fans. With their new album release Everything is Real out last month, Doolan recalls some people singing along with him that he had never met before. “Free Beer shows are always insane. Watching Mike get so into singing is awesome and they always change it up,” says fan and friend Tori Goodwin.

The band started as just friends who enjoyed fooling around with different sounds and originating as a hardcore band with a jazz song, drawing peculiar attention to them. Later, they became even more hardcore and wrote a ska song. Now the band describes their music as hardcore/thrash/power violence genres, making them a unique band, not just locally. Fan and friend Steph Piccirilli says that, “Free Beer will always be my favorite band to go see, they get the [mosh] pit really going and it’s just always a different show.”

Aside from the outrageous mosh pit, many of the shows they perform are at VFWs to collect money for local charities. The band doesn’t make any money off their shows or merchandise. Instead, the money goes into booking other venues or whatever charity they are playing for that night. Two members are in school and three others hold part time jobs, which causes tough scheduling conflicts. Although they hope to continue Free Beer for as long as people will listen and support them, the band seeks alternative options for money to live on.

Free Beer has recorded three releases, with more to come. The first was a split album called Mora Bora with other local Mansfield band, The Prom Dates. The Prom Dates covered one of Free Beer’s hardcore songs while Free Beer covered a pop/ska song originally by The Prom Dates. On Mora Bora, each band had one cover and one new release. Shortly after, “Sports: Part II” was recorded in bassist Kirk’s basement using the band’s own recording equipment. The album is “full of quirky, inside joke hardcore songs that only a handful of our friends really get. But kids all around seem to love the music itself too,” says Doolan. 

The latest EP containing four songs titled “Everything is Real” took over five months to record because of conflicts such as school, work, and the band’s “laziness.” With Everything is Real, “We slightly moved away from the joke lyrics a little bit and went in a more serious direction. Although the songs are more serious, they have deep hidden jokes in them that the untrained eye will not pick up on,” Doolan states.

The band sells t-shirts, stickers, and pins, mostly designed by their friends attending Mass Art. Pins, stickers, and flyers are often distributed at shows for promotional purposes. Free Beer has a Facebook page with 1,005 fans. The band also has two other websites: MySpace page as well as a BandCamp site, which offers a digital album that can be shared, embedded, or downloaded for free.

Although Free Beer remains a local, unsigned band, they’ve maintained a following of faithful fans and friends. Free Beer is also notorious for putting on extreme, memorable shows. “I’ve been told we're pretty crazy when we play. Especially Cons[entino]. Some come check out Cons. And only Cons,” jokes Doolan.

 Free Beer will be playing at the Mansfield VFW next Friday at 7 p.m.