Album Notes

Boston-based power trio Riding Shotgun returns with their first full-length album in three years. "Boombox on the Dash" blends elements of alt rock, pop, and folk with the band's signature atmospheric soundscapes. "Boombox" is the first vocal album from Riding Shotgun, with bassist Tom Stepsis providing lead vocals and guitarist Joseph DePasquale and drummer Chris Antonowich providing backing vocals and harmonies.

NOTES FROM TOM

Demon Dog
This song began as a challenge to myself to write about a seemingly random topic...like one particular scene in a movie. This scene immediately came to mind and needed to be documented in song form.

Colors
I still remember the uneasy feeling of waking up extra early at someone else’s place in order to take the train into work. Standing on the platform, being rained on, and questioning what I was thinking and how this totally isn’t worth it.

When The Octagon Burned Down
When I was a kid there was a wonderful farm I would go to with my parents, the centerpiece of the farm was an eight-sided barn. A few years after I moved away, it burned.

Can’t Tell
There is a really strange feeling walking into a diner late at night and knowing something no one else knows. It’s even stranger when you are forced to interact with these people.

Aston
My home town.

Cheeseburger China Cat
A song written by our friends, The Don Loans Project. I believe this song is inspired by Bernie Madoff, but also gives a nod to a few other questionable characters.

Far Enough
My first car had a busted stereo, and a busted driver’s side door. The inside sometimes smelled of cigarettes and chocolate raspberry coffee. Most of the time it didn’t matter where it would take us.

Stop The War
This is a song I wrote with my dear friend Chris Smith in 2002. Chris was visiting me when I lived in Somerville and we wanted to write a protest song. Maybe this is it.