THE LIGHTS OUT: IN THE STUDIO AND ON THE [NEW] RECORD

As they hone their vocal, plunking and riffing chops, those “’80s sounds” will likely come in handy for the Michael Jackson cover set The Lights Out will deliver at the Middle East on Saturday night. The band’s broken out the glitter gloves once before, but they were Zombie Michael Jacksons for a Halloween show.

“Both hands on the wheel” is a standard practice for safe driving, but flying down Storrow Drive with Adam Ritchie at rush hour in the rain while one of the mixes off his new record is blasting through the speakers doesn’t exactly make for a leisurely ride. This is not to say that Adam’s a bad driver. (The man’s an Eagle Scout, after all, but that’s another story for another time.)

As we barrel toward Mad Oak Studios in Allston, Adam, the lead guitarist for Boston rock outfit The Lights Out, can’t help but join in at certain points over the course of the track.

But instead of fixing his fingers in a predictable air guitar clutch, his digits bend at the knuckles, hammering on the wheel along to the synthesizer solo woven on tape between the four-part harmonies and distorted guitars.

See, The Lights Out have never, ever incorporated a synth into their sound before—or keys in any other capacity—and for On Fire, the forthcoming record they’re currently mixing, they’ve got them all over the place, including cameos from theremins, clavinets and a Hammond organ.

“We went nuts and used every keyboard sound invented!” joked Adam in the Mad Oak kitchen, where we were joined by Rishava Green, The Lights Out’s frontman and rhythm guitarist, and Matt King, bassist. “We were at an Aloud show awhile back,” recalls Rish, “and Adam came up to me and was like, ‘You know what, I’m thinking of getting a keyboard and putting it into the band.’ And as it turns out, it worked out really well because Adam’s moved beyond being the lead guitar player. Now he’s more like the colorist of the band. Our sound palate has expanded.”

“We’re able to add a lot of ‘80s sounds and saws and all that fun stuff,” Adam adds. “That’s kind of one of the fun things about the band and the point where we’re at now.

Kind of like what Rish was saying—I don’t consider us having a lead guitar player anymore. We kind of share a lot of the guitar playing on this album.”

As they hone their vocal, plunking and riffing chops, those “’80s sounds” will likely come in handy for the Michael Jackson cover set they’ll deliver at the Middle East on Saturday night. The band’s broken out the glitter gloves once before, when they were Zombie Michael Jacksons for a Halloween show.

This time, they’re skipping the ghouly make up and expanding the set list to include some of the poppier stuff, including that “MAMASAYMAMASAHMAHMAHCUSAH” ditty, according to Rish. Are they adding choreography, too?

“We’re just gonna sing the stuff,” Rish says.

Matt shrugs. “If someone wants, we’re not gonna discourage Thriller dancing.”

THE LIGHTS OUT
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