Tonight, electro-poppers Roses & Revolutions are kicking off their very first headlining tour at our very own MilkBoy and it’s, without a doubt, the thing most worth getting excited about this weekend. Roses & Revolutions are Alyssa Coco and Matt Merritt, partners (musical and otherwise) hailing from Rochester, who are currently gearing up for the release of their Under the Spell EP. The band will be joined on this run by hyper-sexy, hyper-sassy, hyper-synthy, hyper-inspired-by-the-‘90s Rochester peers, KOPPS, who kick out R-Rated bangers inspired by the heyday of TRL. And opening the evening is equally charming model, actor, social media “influencer,” and chanteuse of the blues persuasion, Caroline Vreeland. (While all three acts are totally great, it’s also worth noting that their fashions are also all absolutely fabulous, so if you plan on coming out – which I highly recommend – make sure you put your ass together at least a little bit…)
A few weeks ago I got to speak with Alyssa Coco and Matt Merritt and they told me they’ve really been anticipating this batch of dates. “We’re super excited for our first headlining run. It’ll be Matt, myself, and a drummer and we’ll be playing lots of new songs, and some from the last EP… and maybe a cover…,” Alyssa tells me, while Matt adds, when asked about some of the highlights of the band, “We love playing live. That’s where it all started for both of us… It’s a super high energy live show.” He also cites experiences opening for KALEO and K. Flay as being especially exciting (They’ve also shared stages with our buddies Nina Nesbitt and VÉRITÉ.)
When asked about their process of making music, Matt tells me, “The two of us write basically everything. We’ve worked with a few producers who help get us to the finish line, but it’s mostly us.” However, for their new EP, they took a slightly new approach to writing and recording. “We’re super excited about it,” Matt tells me: “I mean, we had a song do well on Spotify and it got us a deal with our label, Nettwerk, who are just such amazing people. But, we knew this was going to be released and an EP, not like a-song-per-month or something.” “This is the first time we have done that, where it’s that cohesive,” adds Alyssa: “In the past it was always like ‘What is our identity? What is our brand,’ but with this, it’s like, ‘This is it.’”
*Roses & Revolutions play MilkBoy Friday, February 28, at 8:30pm. Tickets are $10-$12.
