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The band formed last year in Boston with Eldridge "ER" Rodriguez and Tony Skalicky on guitars and vocals, Erin "E-Rock" on bass and vocals and Dennis (or just plain "D") on drums. The foursome operated on a philosophy that, as Skalicky puts it, "a broken heart only stops hurting when it stops beating."

The band's recent album, a five-song EP titled 6hz (Crapulent Cinema), was recorded in Boston and produced by Bob Logan (Vic Fireracker) and released in February. The songs pound away with the same dissonant-yet-melodic mesh of sound that propelled Mission Of Burma, Salem 66, The Pixies and other hometown college-rock bands.

As The Beatings prepared this month to embark on their first-ever national tour, Flagpole contacted the band and got down to business:

Flagpole: Why and how did the band as fans know it today actually come together?

Eldridge Rodriguez: After a very long period of taxing physical and mental trials, we discovered a conspiracy against us as individuals. We decided the best way to crush said movement was to join forces and strike at it as a cohesive unit. It was pretty much that no one else would let us play in their bands; we are all we've got, so let's play music that we would like to hear being recorded.

Erin "E-Rock": Dennis and ER played in Meristem at U-MASS, then I met E.R. in the bathroom at their Boston apartment and I started playing with him in Cancer Valley Community College...blah blah blah.

FP: Why play guitar-rock in such a teeny-bop-pop world? What's the matter, don't you want to make money?

ER: I think we are playing teeny-bop-pop to some degree. It's certainly based in pop music. It's influenced by the music we listened to when we were preteens to teens. I'm positive that there are millions upon millions of kids who would consider what we do to be safe, teeny-bop crap. There are grindcore kids all throughout this great nation of ours getting their hands on our disc and throwing it in the trash right next to the Backstreet Boys/Burger King Promo CD that they got in their junk mail. I guess it's just a matter of how much you involve yourself in any one particular music world. What's mainstream and what's fringe is all one's perspective. I love teeny-bop. Teen targeted music from the past was fucking awesome, shaping much of our rock today. And I'm an avid listener of "Jammin' 94.5" in Boston and "Hot 97" in NYC.

Tony Skalicky: I believe it is still quite possible to make money and make a living playing guitar in this bop pop dominated world. I take Robert Pollard as the ideal, speaking in a fame and money sense. He lives comfortably on his music and is not compelled by his record label to appear on the Superbowl halftime. Perhaps we are resigning ourselves to a smaller dispensation of the riches that mass culture spends on its entertainment, but if we even get that far, I will be satisfied with it.

D: We play what we like to hear. Leave the money-making to "P.Diddy and the Fam."

FP: A lot of the songs on the 6hz disc follow some standard structures but spin around with a lot of noisy chaos and nervous energy, too. What's behind all this? What leads you all to create the sounds coming out of the speakers?

ER: Gremlins and fairies in the gear.

TS: Emotional dependency on noise.

D: 6hz is a frequency the Army experimented with to spontaneously make enemy troops shit their fatigues. It is a mantra we live and die by.

FP: What would you like audiences who've never heard of the band to know? And what should they expect from the band should they show up at the Engine Room?

ER: They should know that we mean well, the folks at the show should expect a thin coat of phlegm on the stage at the end of the show; apologies ahead of time.

TS: They should know that we are not from Baltimore. They should expect some alcohol-related sloppiness and be prepared to forgive that, should it occur.

E: We are a collector's item.

D: We've got "spirit." They should expect to be pestered all night until they relent and give us a place to crash.

FP: Do the usual or inevitable "Pixies" comparisons in the media add up to be a curse or a blessing?

ER: Comparisons to any band can only be made with regard to that particular writers frame of reference. One writer made a comparison to Big Black, another to Silkworm and Galaxy 500, another to Pink Floyd, another to Sonic Youth, and so on and so forth. As far as I can tell most of those bands share very little with the exception that they are all "rock" bands. Personally, I've tried to emulate [Boston band] Kudgle. It is all a matter of whose pools of music a particular writer has dipped in and how familiar he is with it that determines his or her point of reference. But, in regard to people thinking, "Guy screams, female bassist/vocals, from Boston! Hey, these guys remind me of...", sure I can see it. If people want to compare us to a band that was instrumental in taking down the mediocre adult pop and shitty hair bands of the late-'80s, while influencing generations to come I think that's fucking fantastic.

TS: In print I think it is difficult to distinguish what is being described without establishing some context. So I suppose we have to be compared to somebody. I was flattered most when we were compared to Varnaline. If I had to choose, comparisons to The Pixies are a blessing, and the least of our worries.

E: I like Joan Jett too, but there have been no comparisons.

D: It's only a curse in Boston, where any positive press is a curse. Just don't compare us to the Boston band "Boston."

FP: Is Boston as snobby about its local scene as some of the touring bands from the South report?

ER: Boston is a good sized city with an enormous amount of bands. I guess some people are very protective of their local bands, while others are pettily competitive about local vs. out of town bookings in their city. There are a lot of venues in that town and some bands don't travel outside the city, they can play relatively steadily only occasionally leaving Boston. But, there are a great number of bands who love meeting and supporting out of town bands. Bands like Rock City Crime Wave are constantly getting out of town bands on bills. I don't know, it's probably no more snobby than any other scene.

TS: Boston is very proud of its own and if that is misconstrued as snobbery it is unfortunate. There is a great scene here with bands like Rock City Crimewave and Reverse, and so many circles running throughout, it is impossible to pin the scene down to any one adjective.

E: Lots of good bands, lots of good music.

D: This town can find fault in anything. Don't take it personally.

FP: What are you most looking forward to doing in Athens?

ER: Reading your road maps and spending time on your beautiful white sand beaches.

TS: Stealing R.E.M.'s lawn ornaments for my family back home.

E: Just Fred!

D: The world renowned strip clubs.