If you’ve never been to the venerable Middle East nightclub in Central Square, Cambridge, Wikipedia is a good resource to help you appreciate the sanctity of the venue.
Under “Reputation,” the online reference reports, “According to the Weekly Dig, The Middle East ‘reigns supreme as Boston’s ‘best rock and roll joint’.[5] The Boston Globe has called it the city’s ‘hippest night spot.’[9] Rolling Stone described the club as ‘the exalted Middle East.’[10]”
Aidan Crotty of Bedford gets it. The 2021 Bedford High School graduate plays bass guitar with the band American Ink (https://www.weareamericanink.com/), which delivered a one-hour set at the club on July 29.
“That’s always been the venue. It’s got so much musical history; a lot of bands I look up to played there, so just to be able to share the stage felt really good,” said Crotty, now a sophomore at Temple University in Philadelphia.
“I was very surprised how many people we brought out,” he continued. “There were three or four other bands, all from out of town. Getting off the stage and talking to everyone, we found they came out for us. It’s very humbling. I’m very grateful for that.”
Crotty, lead guitarist Michael Romano, and drummer Nick Fauza formed American Ink in 2017.
“When we started, we aimed to be a pop punk band. Over time more and more influences have pushed us to create our own sound,” Crotty related. “The last couple of releases, we really found our sound, which is a lot more electronic. If you want a genre, it’s probably rock or punk rock. These are the two with which we still strongly identify.”
“I’ve always had music in my life,” Crotty said. “My dad is a musician.”
That’s an understatement. His father Martin, born in Ireland, co-founded the Boston band Cliffs of Dooneen more than 30 years ago. According to one publication, the group “arrived on the national stage with a smash debut album and a Billboard top ten single, and was a constant on MTV, and on tour shared the stage with bands such as Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins.”
“Then he did a solo project, more rock-pop oriented, under the name Flynn,” said the younger Crotty. Flynn’s song “Human” was sung by Cher over the end credits of the Farrelly brothers’ film “Stuck on You.”
Most of this transpired before Aidan Crotty was born. “Growing up I remember my dad playing his songs on a CD or an mp3 file.” But he does have memories of contributing to Flynn’s children’s albums. “My friends and I would go upstairs to his studio and sing my dad’s songs.” He added that Flynn also worked as a producer for Ellis Paul, the Boston singer-songwriter and folk musician.
Crotty said his father “was always very passionate, always driven when it came to music. I guess that transferred to me.”
Aidan Crotty said he took up the guitar about 10 years ago. “I had a lot of help, of course, and it came faster to me because I heard melodies every day,” he recounted. “It still was difficult at the beginning – we all have to start somewhere and it just takes time.”
“The main thing is having a passion for learning the instrument, really loving what you’re doing, and putting in that work.”
“In 2014 I was really starting to get the hang of playing where I felt comfortable reaching out to other people to play,” Crotty continued. That summer he met Romano, who lives in West Roxbury, at a guitar camp and they began talking and hanging out. The following year Crotty and his family moved from Brighton to Bedford.
American Ink — it was just “Inc” at the beginning – was born in 2017, when Fauza, the drummer from Wellesley, joined the guitarists. “We wrote five songs right away, and in 2018 got involved with Bedford TV. We did a live set on Bedford Day.” They played at open mics and “anything our families and friends could get us. That’s really how it all starts – the simplest gigs, and then it’s just word of mouth.”
In those early months, the parents did the driving, and “that was a big part of why we couldn’t play that many gigs,” he laughed. “Once we got our licenses, the amount of gigs rose exponentially.” American Ink released its first extended play in 2018.
The band’s music “isn’t a genre that everyone can get behind, especially when it comes to some of our more heavy songs,” Crotty acknowledged. But he added, “I think everyone can appreciate that we have a vast array of different sounds – that all sound like us.”
Almost all of American Ink’s repertoire is original. Crotty said he is always learning as a musician, recently focusing more on writing and how his technical skills “are feeling with the lyrics. They’re my songs and I can hear myself and my band in them. I think anyone can appreciate the amount of work and time – at times multiple practices a week.”
Despite the limits of the pandemic, American Ink has a repertoire of more than two dozen songs on its website, “and there’s stuff we haven’t recorded yet,” Crotty said.
All three members also share vocals. “In a band, you do what works,” Crotty said. “We treat this seriously, as a business, but it’s still a passion. There’s a lot of give-and-take. It’s just such an honor to get up on stage and play in front of people.”
Last month the band filmed a 53-minute documentary at Bedford TV, produced and directed by BHS graduate John McCulloch, that intersperses interviews with live footage, culminating with the show at the Middle East (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHsRZhhOjds).
Although they are all at different mid-Atlantic campuses, the three are serious about building their band. “We’re very spread out but we’re keeping the ball rolling,” said Crotty. “After the Middle East, we realized this is something special. When our parents drove us everywhere they believed in us; now we are starting to believe that as well.”
In between college classes, “We are sending each other new ideas, songs, mixes until we can get back together around fall break and play a gig or two more.” At Temple, Crotty said, he is in a city and on a campus known for its music scene. “I’ve been going to a lot of concerts and meeting a lot of people.”
“I can see making music forever, whether professionally or as a passion,” Crotty reflected. “It’s such a great feeling when you have something you created and share it.”
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