The Rising Storm is an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

group that was active at

Phillips Academy ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = Ma ...

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...

, United States, between 1965 and 1967. Their music is considered to belong in the

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

and

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...

genres. The original members of the group were Bob Cohan (guitar), Todd Cohen (bass), Charlie Rockwell (keyboards), Tom Scheft (drums), Tony Thompson (guitar, lead vocal), and Rich Weinberg (guitar, vocals). The Rising Storm is most notable for their 1967

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, ''Calm Before'', which is cited by rock and roll historian

Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born January 19, 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

as being "one of the rarest and most respected garage band albums." Unterberger devoted a chapter of his 1998 book, ''Unknown Legends of Rock 'n' Roll'', to the Rising Storm. More than fifty years after the group's founding, mint copies of ''Calm Before'' can fetch four figure sums among

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...

record collectors interested in the

era. In 2018, ''Calm Before'' was re-mastered and reissued on vinyl by

Sundazed Records Sundazed Music is an American independent record label based in Coxsackie, New York. It specializes in obscure and rare recordings from the 1950s to the 1970s. In 2000, Sundazed had a staff of 15 and two mixing studios, including a vintage audio ...

. The notoriety of this rare album has been the subject of articles in the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', ''

Boston Magazine ''Boston'' is a monthly magazine concerning life in the Greater Boston area and has been in publication since 1805. History and profile ''Boston'' magazine was started in 1805. Metrocorp, Inc. bought the magazine in 1970. The company also owns ...

'', the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', ''

Mojo Magazine ''Mojo'' is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom, initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer. Following the success of the magazine '' Q'', publishers Emap were looking for a title that would cater for the bur ...

'', and a feature on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

's ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

''. In addition to ''Calm Before'' and the many authorized and unauthorized reissues it has spawned, the Rising Storm has released two other albums, ''Alive Again at Andover'' in 1983 and ''Second Wind'' in 1999. The band is still active and has reunited to perform on multiple occasions: in 1981, when they played at

The Rathskeller The Rathskeller (known as The Rat) was a live music venue in Boston that was open from 1974 to 1997. It was considered the "granddaddy" of Boston rock venues. During its heyday, the Rat hosted such acts as the Cars, the Pixies, Metallica, Dea ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, with songwriter and record producer

Andy Paley Andrew Douglas Paley (born November 2, 1952) is an American songwriter, record producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist who formed the Paley Brothers, a 1970s power pop duo, with his brother Jonathan Paley. Following their disbandment, And ...

sitting in for Cohen on bass; in 1982, when they played at their 15th class reunion in

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia * Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Ando ...

; in 1992, when they played at their 25th class reunion and gigs at

T.T. the Bear's Place T.T. the Bear's Place (often referred to as T.T. the Bear's or, simply, TT's) was a live music venue in Central Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts that operated from 1984 until July 25, 2015. History T.T. the Bear's began in 1973, opened by ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, MA and

Maxwell's Maxwell's, last known as Maxwell's Tavern, was a bar/restaurant and music club in Hoboken, New Jersey. Over several decades the venue attracted a wide variety of acts looking for a change from the New York City concert spaces across the river. Max ...

Hoboken Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,69 ...

, NJ; in 1999, when they opened for the first

reunion of the Remains at the

Paradise Rock Club The Paradise Rock Club (formerly known as the Paradise Theater) is a 933-capacity music venue in Boston, Massachusetts. Due to its relatively small size, it appeals to top local alternative rock performers as well as American and British bands vi ...

; in 2002, when they played at their 35th class reunion; in 2007, when they played at the Dirty Water Club in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and opened for

the Yardbirds The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The band's core lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist and later bassist Chris Dreja and bassist/producer Paul Samwell ...

at the Primitive Festival in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, with progressive musician and composer

Erik Lindgren Erik Lindgren (15 December 1954) is an American composer and pianist. He runs Arf! Arf! Records, and has led or been a member of several ensembles such as The Space Negros and Birdsongs of the Mesozoic. Early life Lindgren was born in Harrisb ...

on bass; in 2014, when they performed at the

WMBR WMBR is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's student-run college radio station, licensed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and broadcasting on 88.1 FM. It is all-volunteer and funded by listener donations and MIT funds. Both students and commun ...

Pipeline 25 Festival, celebrating "50 Years of Boston Rock", with Cohen returning as the group's bass player; and in June 2017, when they returned to Andover to play for the 50th reunion of the

Class of 1967, an event that was the subject of a feature story in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. A short documentary film chronicling the band's origin, music, and 50-year history is in limited release. In April 2023, a profile of the Rising Storm was added to digital archives of The Music Museum of New Englan

Discography

*''Calm Before'', Remnant BBA-3571 (USA), LP 1967 *''Calm Before'', Eva 12012 (France), LP 1982 (unauthorized reissue) *"Baby Please Don't Go", "Message To Pretty" and "Don't Look Back" on ''Endless Journey - Phase 1, Psycho 1'' (England), LP 1982 (unauthorized release) *"Frozen Laughter" on ''The Magic Cube'', Eva-Tone 116811 (France), LP 1982 (unauthorized release) *"The Rain Falls Down" on ''Psychedelic Archives - USA Garage #1'', Strange Things (England), Cassette Tape 1990 (unauthorized release) *''Alive Again at Andover'', Arf! Arf! AA-007 (USA), LP 1983 *''Calm Before'', Stanton Park SRE-001 (USA), LP 1992 *''Calm Before & Alive Again at Andover'', Arf! Arf! AA-034 (USA), CD 1992 *''Ain't Dead Yet'', Arf! Arf! AAV-001 (USA), Video 1993 *"A Message To Pretty" on ''Sixties Rebellion #8'' - Mondo Mutiny, Way Back MMLP-65001 (Germany), LP 1994 (unauthorized release) *"Signed D.C." and "Trying to Fool" on ''Frozen Laughter - A Tribute to the Rising Storm'', Stanton Park STP-021 (USA), 7"EP 1994 *"Love Starvation" and "Signed D.C." on ''New England Teen Scene - The Next Generation'', Arf! Arf! AA-044 (USA), CD 1994 *"She Loved Me" on ''The Arf! Arf! Blitzkrieg 32-Track Sampler'', Arf! Arf! AA-068 (USA), CD 1997 *"Frozen Laughter" on promotional CD included with ''Unknown Legends of Rock 'n' Roll'' by Richie Unterberger, 1998 (cited below in note 2) *''Second Wind'', Arf!Arf! AA-083 (USA), CD 1999 *"Baby Please Don't Go" on ''The Arf! Arf! l Cheapo2-CD Sampler'', Arf! Arf! AACC-089/090 (USA), CD 2001 *"I'm Coming Home" and "She Loved Me" on ''The Rising Storm'', Penniman PENN45024 (Spain), 45rpm 2016 *"Frozen Laughter" on ''Sky Girl'', compilation by J. Dechery and DJ Sundae, Efficient Space ES002 (Australia), LP and CD 2016 *''Calm Before'', Sundazed (USA), LP 5550 2018

References

External links

The Rising Storm website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rising Storm Garage rock groups from Massachusetts Musical groups established in 1965 Musical groups disestablished in 1967