REVIEWS, FEEDBACK, AND "CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM" FROM "FANS" "If the White Stripes are now the bidet of guitar/drum groups, then The Demographic and their new release of 7 songs are the tubdumpers. Edgy forbidden pleasure, stripped down and accomplished, without toilet paper." "Holy Shit! Rawk!" "Wow, you don't suck." "check it out all you losers" "I just bought and downloaded that motherfucker!" "Love the suitcase bass drum! Good job dudes! (In response to our Nirvana cover)

—Daily Hampshire Gazette, Feb. 17, 2011

INTERVIEWS/PROFILES/REVIEWS

The Demographic is a minimalist two-piece whose straight-ahead approach is reflected in the title of this EP. The band consists of a guitarist/ vocalist and a drummer, with a sound that leans toward the similarly constructed Japandroids, and showcases a love for both noise and melody. The songs are generally short and urgent, clocking in at around two minutes. For the most part, they are effective if not overwhelmingly memorable. The band is actually at its best on the longer “This Broken Place,” whose darker, more layered atmosphere contrasts sharply with the rest of the record. More of this experimentation would be welcome. (Kevin Finn, Noise Boston)

One big FU to the prevailing trend of gazey, synth covered, vocal-distorted indie music, the Verse Chorus Curse EP by The Demographic is rock served raw. In seven songs, most of which clock in under two minutes, the duo from Northampton MA callously gallop through early 80’s hardcore, Pixies-type angular guitar rock, and the kind of over-driven blues-attacks that White Stripes make at their edgiest. Heady band comparisons for sure, but the simplicity and directness of The Demographic really harkens back to landmarks in the post-punk milieu rather than posting incremental progress away from those purest forms. Every song is solid. Even if you don’t identify with punk rock per say, this is one of those local bands to be excited about just for their musical energy alone. - Alexander Pinto, July 15, 2011, The Deli

The Demographic—Tom Pappalardo and Sturgis Cunningham—is a guitar and drums duo that likes to keep it pretty raw. Punky influences rule on this seven-song EP, from Fugazi and Bad Religion to The Pixies and even locals like Pop*A*Wheelie and Broker, though there is a token country-ish tune tacked onto the end like a post-NASCAR event gasoline-flavored after-dinner mint. Brevity seems part of the mission for these guys; the album is only 15 minutes long and the shortest song (1:12) is called "Reducer," a paean to the paring down of everything, as is "The Headliner." All these lyrics could be perceived as a comment on things like layoffs and consolidation and/or the dumbing down of media and communication into moronic soundbites. Pappalardo's voice has a distinct, Jagger-esque blues drawl that really makes the formula. —Tom Sturm, Feb 24, 2011, Valley Advocate

Excerpt from The Nightcrawler column
Feb 17th, 2011, Gary Carra, The Valley Advocate

In other news... talk about job protection. Not only did former No-Shadow Kick bassist Tom Pappalardo trade up to six-string guitar proper for his current project, The Demographic, but he refused to hire another bass player in his stead?

"Yep, we're a somewhat loud guitar and drum two-piece that cuts all of the bullshit out," he explains. "We write short and concise songs with brief intros and zero guitar solos."

Pappalardo is the first to admit that such stripped-down instrumentation appears to be the concept du jour, but he's equally eager to note that his Demographic was by no means an effort to jump on the bandwagon.

"We're a duo out of necessity and pragmatism more than [we're] trend followers," he says. "Myself and Sturgis [Cunningham] were in another band, and when our guitarist moved away, we decided we still wanted to play and didn't necessarily feel like making any new friends!"

This Friday, Feb. 18, the Demo-duo will officially debut its latest studio labor of love—a seven-song EP they call Verse Chorus Curse—at The Basement (iheg.com). In addition to hearing every track from said EP during the live shindig, Pappalardo revealed that attendees will also be treated to every other song they know how to play, plus a few they don't.

"Kinda the burden of writing such short songs," he chuckles.

Behind the Beat: Two Dudes in a Room
March 11, 2010 | By Matthew Dube, The Valley Advocate

"I was kind of considering that me playing music and recording music was kind of over with, that that phase had closed," says Northampton cartoonist, graphic designer and radio personality Tom Pappalardo. "[In] '07 and 08, I didn't do anything. In '09, I started recording things and putting them online."

Pappalardo, founder and bassist for No-Shadow Kick, decided to give it another go. Despite the fact that he'd recorded some guitar-heavy solo tunes and commercial jingles since his band went dormant, he says it never dawned on him that he could just form a band as a guitar player.

"All my new tunes were really guitar-based, but it didn't occur to me that I could play guitar in a band, and start one by just adding a drummer back in. Then seeing the two dudes from Calexico playing together opening for Neko Case, I didn't necessarily like it, but I was like, 'Oh, right, guitar and drums, that's something that people do.'"

To jumpstart his latest project, The Demographic, Pappalardo called on friend, former No-Shadow Kick collaborator and drummer extraordinaire Sturgis Cunningham, who says the duo fell together startlingly quickly.

"Tom called me up and said, 'I've got these songs, and they've been in a notebook for 20 years. Do you want to help me get them together?' I said sure, and within three or four hours of just screwing around in the basement, we've got a bunch of tunes, and we're like, 'It's on!'"

Within a few weeks, the nascent band appeared in—and won—a preliminary leg of the Happy Valley Showdown competition, thanks to a spirited Run-DMC cover and some witty stage banter.

Though a few of the duo's tunes are country-fried strummers, a majority are straight-ahead Husker Du-esque rockers, scratching an itch both fellows claim to have had for some time.

Pappalardo says that, like the lineup, he's keeping things musically simple. "I'm not a guitarist, so I'm writing extremely basic things because that's the extent of my ability, really," he explains. "And the approach we took right from the start was really sparse arrangements: no big intros, no big outros, no bridges on some, no choruses on some. It's very compact, so, therefore, I write a song on acoustic guitar and it translates pretty easily with loudness and we just fiddle around with the arrangement and it's good to go. And you have one less person—no bass player—and so you're tight. Whatever changes or parts, it feels like everything's just coming together easier."

The Demographic has already recorded several tunes, but will have to wait a few months to play more shows and release a full-length, as Cunningham is embarking on another tour as drummer for Nerdcore artist MC Frontalot. The two are unsure whether they will overdub some bass, but are certain that The Demographic will remain a two-piece.

In addition to expediency and ease of decision making, there is another advantage with the duo configuration. "Yeah, there's the money issue," Cunningham jokes. "We don't have to give a bass player anything because we don't have one. We don't have to split 20 dollars three ways."

Valley Video Feature: Outtake from The Demographic
October 19, 2010, By S.P. Sullivan, MassLive.com

OK, so the last few Valley Video's have been music-heavy, but we live in a music-saturated valley. This week's comes from Northampton graphic designer Tom Pappalardo and his band The Demographic. By day, Pappalardo is a graphic designer and cartoonist. You may have seen his comic The Optimist in The Valley Advocate. By night, he records commercials for the likes of Turn It Up! (They're "either well-loved or well-hated, depending on who you ask") and practices with drummer Sturgis Cunningham, the second half of The Demographic. (Editor's note: I don't actually know Tom's schedule; he could very well record commercials by day and draw cartoons by night, or any combination thereof.) Disclaimer: Some mild profanity.

The Demographic is mostly a side project, as Pappalardo notes that Cunningham is frequently busy touring or playing with the likes of Martin Sexton and MC Frontalot.

"Sturgis is always off filling in and sitting in with people all the time, so this is our little project," he said.

But despite the fact that they "haven't played a proper show yet," the duo were finalists in this year's Happy Valley Showdown.

Their debut EP, "Verse Chorus Curse" will be released in early 2011-ish, and the video you see above is an outtake from the recording session. Pappalardo shot it on a Canon HV30 with a wide angle lens adapter and used the audio straight from the mixing board.

And what's next after the EP release?

"Hopefully we'll play a real show before we turn a year old, because that would be kind of embarrassing," Pappalardo said.