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'String rock' band Darlingside at New West Main July 1

SALISBURY —  The New West Main restaurant hosts a folk-rock band with local roots on Saturday, July 1, at 8:30 p.m. The regular dinner menu will be served, and the cover charge to see the band is $3 per person.

Although Darlingside calls Northampton, Mass., its home, band member Don Mitchell grew up in Lakeville and is the son of Betty Mitchell.

The band formed while Mitchell and the other musicians were students at Williams College. Not your usual gang of rock hooligans, they met while they were all singing in an a capella group on campus. They live together in a house in Northampton now, which their website at darlingside.com promises is “reminiscent of the Grateful Dead’s 710 Ashbury, except with less substance-abuse and more granola.â€

The band is touring the East Coast and has made recent stops on Block Island and in New York City at the Brooklyn Bowl.

Unlike the rock bands of legends, who leave a trail of broken hearts and furniture behind them, the five 20-something members of Darlingside have mostly left tidied-up beds and perhaps crumbs of homemade granola after each stop on their concert tour.

“We discuss philosophy on tour, we don’t really get drunk and trash hotel rooms,†Mitchell said.

Being unconventionally tidy and peaceful doesn’t make this indie rock group less appealing. Area music aficionados describe their sound as “crisp,†“classy and suave†and “eclectic and elegant†and say the band is “destined for greatness.â€

Their new album has just been released and features a mere five songs, all of which have compelling lyrics and the band’s trademark mix of a folk-rock sensibility with guitars, drums and string instruments.

All the band members, including Mitchell, sing. In addition, Auyon Mukharji plays violin and mandolin, Sam Kapala plays drums and pennywhistle, David Senft plays bass guitar and guitar and Harris Paseltiner plays guitar and cello.

“It’s our instrumentation that’s unusual,†Mitchell said. “Instead of multiple guitars, we use cellos and mandolins and violins to perform our lead instrumental parts. We call ourselves a string rock band.â€

To get a preview of the band’s sound, go online to darlingside.com or visit their page on myspace.com. There are also some performances recorded live on youtube.com, but they mainly feature older songs by the group.

Copies of the new CD can be purchased at New West Main, which is behind the old firehouse in Lakeville.

Lakeville Journal

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