Last September we sat down with Gentlemen Hall at Boston Calling, and frontman Gavin Merlot hinted at some pretty significant news and changes coming from the Massachusetts indie band. Topics ranged from a new lineup (former co-frontman Cobi Mike left the band a few months earlier), and a reported major-label record deal with Island/UMG. Things were happening.
Since then, the world of G-Hall has been pretty quiet, and their Facebook page went silent just before the New Year.
But something odd happened last week at South By Southwest: a Washington Heights, N.Y., band called Tribe Society played a bunch of shows, including one with Incubus, and they look a lot like those hometown boys we all knew and loved.
No official announcements have been made — unless we missed the news, which is entirely possible — and it’s feasible this is a 100% new band and project. Adding to all this SXSW sleuthing (hat tip to Adam at Do617) is that a new song called “Kings” was posted on YouTube earlier this month, and it’s wicked similar to a song of the same title GHall played back at Boston Calling. Listen to it below, and leave conspiracy theories in the comments.
So yeah, welcome aboard, Tribe Society. Feels like we’ve been friends forever.
Here’s a look at some SXSW evidence:
@Tribe_Society Austin, Austin Massachusetts? #RoadTrip #SXSW #Do512 pic.twitter.com/gEznhlSUg0
— MyMusicBoston (@MyMusicBoston) March 21, 2015
@Tribe_Society at the Island Life Showcase at The @BelmontAustin pic.twitter.com/s38YOCnWPm
— Maye Marley (@maye_marley) March 20, 2015
Hey Seth! And here’s the audio of new single “Kings”…