Change is the only constant for Itchy Fish

Malleable HUMANWINE embraces fluid lineup

photo by Max Cassidy beat to hell by Abrogated Munificents

The Boston Herald
By Barry Thompson
Saturday, February 16, 2008

To stand out in the ultracompetitive Boston music scene, a band must bring something extraordinary to the table or have a good gimmick. At a glance, HUMANWINE is an act that manages both. But scratch the surface and the gimmick reveals itself as a philosophy that encompasses music, art, politics and life itself.

Soon HUMANWINE won't be a Boston band: Plans call for a summer departure to, well, everywhere.

"Our goal is to keep moving and not stop, like a fish," said vocalist and co-songwriter Holly Brewer, sitting in a Jamaica Plain pub.

"We've been (in Boston) three years," Brewer said. "It wouldn't matter if it was France or Mozambique. I would still be itchy."

Having purchased a school bus, HUMANWINE, which plays tonight at the Middle East, is in the process of converting the engine to run on vegetable grease, the electrical systems to run on solar power and turning the interior into living quarters for two to seven people.

"We end up taking people with us," said Brewer. "If someone's like, 'I'm good at what I do, and I want to go to Oregon,' they tour with us to Oregon. We drop them off, and pick up somebody else. We're like a Greyhound, except you play music."

Naturally, a liquid roster necessitates liquid songs.

"Sometimes you can't get somebody who plays upright bass," said multi-instrumentalist M@ (as in Matt) McNiss. "So we're like, 'We don't have a bass player, so we'll have the piano supplement it.' Then it's, 'Well, that changes the orchestration of what we're doing.' "

HUMANWINE formed in New Hampshire in 2001. The group matches parabolic lyrics set in the metaphorical realm of Vinland with haunting, neo-classical-anarcho-math-punk. Band mates, rightfully, cringe at comparisons to the Dresden Dolls, not that they hold a grudge. Brian Viglione of the Dolls played drums on HUMANWINE's "Fighting Naked." To the band, labeling itself anything would be self-defeating.

"That's what art is, the connection with life in your medium," McNiss said. "If you're guarding it, saying, 'We're a blah blah band,' you're shorting yourself."

Odds are any band dedicated to artistic freedom won't last on a label, which explains why HUMANWINE split from Cordless Recordings last year. Aside from an anti-corporate, self-reliant ethic, HUMANWINE does without boundaries.

"We like the sentence 'Change is the only constant,' " Brewer said. "Vinland changes, too. With the quilt of Vinland, every song is a patch. If you hold it a different way, each song shines differently."

barrythompson84@gmail.com