Simmer In Your Hotseat is the debut album by Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

-based band The Main Drag

The Main Drag

The Main Drag is an indie pop/indie rock band local to Boston, Massachusetts. The group incorporates elements as diverse as folk-pop to orchestrated electronica together with their occasionally oblique lyrics...

, originally released on indie label Endless Recordings in 2004. It was recorded by Adam Arrigo himself while still in college, with the help of Matt Levitt (violin/string arrangements) and contributions from various guest musicians.

Background

Arrigo and Levitt had been collaborating for over three years, and with a successful first recording of "Admit One" they began to produce their debut record. With the help of local producers and musicians, Arrigo began producing Simmer In Your Hotseat over the summer of 2004, drawing on material spanning two years. While working on the album, Arrigo was employed full-time at a local mental hospital in Lynn, MA, where he ran exercise and music groups for schizophrenics, head injury patients, etc. The album title was taken from an exercise tape, Sittercise, which Arrigo used in his morning groups. The tape professed activities such as: "Ride your bicycle and milk that cow!" But there was one command that no one seemed to understand: "There's hot oil on your seat...simmer! Simmer in your hot seat!" This command thrust the room into mass confusion, and the tape insisted on returning to it: "Alright, you're done riding that donkey? Let's simmer again!" While the origin of this title is quite ridiculous, it reflects the album's recurring themes of different types of debilitation.

Endless Recordings, The Main Drag's label at the time, arranged for the band to open for Arcade Fire in November, 2004. In 2005, a video was made for the song Famous Last Words, starring Adam Arrigo, Cory Levitt, Nate-Reticker Flynn, and Tom Keidel.

Track listing

All songs written and produced by Adam Arrigo, except I'll Drink to That (Arrigo/Le-Khac).

1. "North Shore, Music Therapist" - 4:46
2. "Broken Clocks" - 4:11
3. "Admit One" - 4:46
4. "Tunnel Lights" - 3:41
5. "Tax Season" - 4:09
6. "Bicycle Paths and Crosswalks" - 2:59
7. "Withhold" - 4:50
8. "Famous Last Words" - 4:23
9. "Disappointed You" - 4:46
10. "I’ll Drink to That" - 5:00

Personnel

• Adam Arrigo: vocals, guitars, drums (tracks 3, 5, 9)
• Matt Levitt: violin/arrangements, backup vocals (track 9)

• Cory Levitt: bass (tracks 1, 4, 8)
• Omar Tuffaha: bass (tracks 2, 3, 5, 7)
• Long Le-Khac: bass (tracks 9, 10), keyboard (track 10)
• Nate Reticket-Flynn: drums (tracks 2, 7, 8)
• Richard Wilner: drums (tracks 1, 4, 10)
• Brett Hitchner: keyboard (tracks 4, 8)
• Patrick Mangan: irish fiddle (track 7)
• Ellen Gorra: cello (track 3)
• Eric Adler: banjo (track 9)
• Dan Cardinal: bass (track 5)

• Recording and mixing: Adam Arrigo
• Mastering: Sid Obando
• Artwork by Matthew Lauprete, CD art by Gordon Cieplak

External links

• The Main Drag's official website
• The Main Drag's MySpace