Drummer Brian Viglione, a member of the Dresden Dolls, is now working with the band World/Inferno Friendship Society.
(Robert E. Klein for The Boston Globe/File 2007)
G FORCE | BRIAN VIGLIONE
He's taking on the World
Drummer Brian Viglione, a member of the Dresden Dolls, is now working with the band World/Inferno Friendship Society.
(Robert E. Klein for The Boston Globe/File 2007)
Last spring Brian Viglione was looking at a stretch of unclaimed time. He was, and remains, on hiatus from his duties as drummer in Boston's beloved punk-cabaret duo Dresden Dolls, and had just finished some recording with Nine Inch Nails for the "Ghosts I-IV" release. Then late one April night he got a text message from Jack Terricloth, leader of the wildly eclectic collective World/Inferno Friendship Society that read: "Hey man, wanna gig? Lots of work, no money. Call me." A year later, Viglione is an entrenched member of the band, which plays the Paradise tonight. In October 2008 he moved to New York and has been having a ball performing with various bands, producing the upcoming Black Tape for a Blue Girl album, and generally bobbing around in "a vast soup of musicians and friends."
We caught up with the busy but cheerful Viglione by phone last week from a Burlington, Vt., tour stop.
Q. So that text message was too good to turn down, huh?
A. (Laughs) It was so perfect. It was a hilarious message but at the core of it he was being very sincere and I knew exactly what he meant. This is a band that's all about doing the work, getting out there, and playing music that I love. I'd been friends with Inferno for several years since we and the Dolls had played shows together back in 2003. And I thought what a completely perfect opportunity to really be on the road steadily and play with people that I love.
Q. World/Inferno is the kind of band that has a rotating lineup. Do you see yourself sticking with these guys for the long haul?
A. The level I've sort of integrated myself has definitely been a full-time commitment. I would love to stick with this band for as long as possible. There's such tremendous potential for the group. One of the things that's been tough for them is they never really quite got the infrastructure to push things forward. It's been a very DIY, sweating-it-out-on-the-road thing, but recently we've upped the ante in several different ways. We got a new merch setup happening, management, and new US booking agent and raised the bar of bookings in Europe. So in all these different, small but significant ways we're able to make life a little bit easier in the group.
Q. And the music is right in your wheelhouse.
A. Yeah, it's right up my alley. It's like a mix of jazz and punk and soul and circus music and it has energy to the hilt. The audience . . . really puts it over the top. The kids are like stage diving, waltzing, swing dancing, and slam dancing with each other. You get it all under one roof and it's a helluva time.
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