The Hands Off Love Affair originally came together as a kind of therapy. The band was a way to deal with the loss of our past musical projects. Matt, Ross, and Dave coping with the breakup of In Vision and Flip 22, while Tony sought to fill the void where Throe used to be. More importantly it was to grieve for our friend and Dave’s sister Danielle. The four musicians got together mere days following Danielle’s wake. In light of recent events, a soundtrack dedicated to emotions ranging from anger, confusion, grief, and sadness was played out over guitar strings, drums, bass lines and piano keys.
Soon from the excitement of new material, new emotions were ushered in the studio. The feelings of victory and success soon made appearances and materialized into song. To complete the puzzle the four soon enlisted Greg Higgins from Tony’s past project Throe to fill the vocal void.
After completing five songs, the band booked their first sold out show at Bill’s Bar for 11/25/2006. Now it was time to pick a name. Ross drew from his love for cinema to come up with a name suiting the project. “I wanted something that drew from both sides of the coin. Something that would also run the gambit of emotion we do. The Hands Off Love Affair came from a way to describe the relationship developed between the two main characters in Wong Kar-Wai’s In the Mood for Love.” Through out the film neither of the characters refutes nor confirms the obvious passion for one another. “I loved the beauty and purity with the contrast of the complexity and pain of the situation the characters found themselves in”.
Finding themselves at home with their new found name the band went on to play another sold out show at Bill’s Bar and booked some recording sessions with long time friend and collaborator Raymond Jeffrey. It was during those sessions that the band felt something had gone missing.
Those emotions that had inspired so much in the beginning were no where to be found during the first part of those recording sessions. Feeling drained and frustrated the creative process hung in stalemate. Outside personal issues became to take precedence over the music. It was during this stagnant period that Gregg and the rest of the band decided to part ways. Even with out Gregg the remaining four returned to the rehearsal studio to try to stir up those old feelings and sounds.
For a short time the four of them struggled to rekindle the satisfaction they acquired not so long ago. Matt, Dave, and Ross convened at Dave’s one hot summer evening to discuss the present frustrations felt inside the group. That same evening Tony was at his gradation commencement across town. It was there when he discovered something that would bring back those same sets of feelings that inspired The Hands Off Love Affair in the those early days of rehearsal.
During the graduation ceremony one voice sang “America the Beautiful” so strong and so clear that Tony had difficulty keeping his thoughts focused on anything but that one thing. Shortly after receiving his diploma Tony found the source of his distraction in Kels Ferguson. Tony provided Kels with some instrumentals that The Hands Off Love Affair had recorded with Ray Jeffrey some weeks back. It wasn’t long before a meeting was arranged and the five musicians got together.
When asked about the first night Kels says, “The first night we talked a lot. We were feeling each other out. I talked about my musical theater back ground. The guys mainly cracked jokes and talked about bands I had never heard off.” With introductions out of the way the five musicians got together and made some music. Matt recants this experience, “That first night we played what would become “Over”. Kel had worked on it from the Recording Tony gave her. We were expecting her to have some ideas and just get an idea of how her voice sounds. But, when we played it felt like a completed piece. Then the rest of us just kind of looked at one another. Nobody said anything. But, we all knew”. What the band now understood without discussing was that those emotions were back and Kels had brought them with her.
The band is now back working diligently writing new material. They have once again gotten together with producer Ray Jeffrey to record an up-coming E.P. You can hear the first song “Flower Like Years” in its unmixed and early stages on the band’s myspace page. When asked about the future Dave says, “That first night we played was all magic. I know it sounds cliché. But, we seriously spend all our time trying to keep up with it.” Keep checking back on The Hands Off Love Affair to see if they do just that.
sounds like a plan. we have a show this Saturday at Tammany Hall in Worcester, 18+, $7, with Prying Eyes, Hierosonic & Keep Me Conscious, hope you can make it down.
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