Westport’s Riverview – A hardcore band with humble beginnings

Back in the day, the South Coast thrived with the rise of the hardcore scene (who can forget how upset everyone was when Have Heart broke up?), but today, the post hardcore scene is making its revival.

Covering a fan base from Providence to Wareham to Boston, a group of Westport natives are creating a name for themselves in the music scene. Riverview, a four piece post hardcore band, consists of Dalton Winters (guitar), Ross Ketschke (Bass), Eric Canto (drums and vocals), and Lucas Murphy (vocals).

Originally a trio named Sally, this band went through a transition of sound and members since their start in 2011. Going from a trio, to a quarter/quintet (with yours truly on guitar, then on vocals when a quintet), and now sticking to four members, they finally found a sound that they want to stick with and continue on their new path.

As I sat down with Dalton, he had this to say, “The band started out as just a little talent show routine, and after that, Eric, Ross and I decided to try and make this joke into a reality. The name comes from the street I live on, which is funny because when promoters mail us tickets, they always have a comment about how they’re mailing them to Riverview on Riverview Drive.”

As we talked about how he likes the new sound in comparison to what it used to be, he added, “We used to just do covers, as most bands start out doing. It wasn’t until Eric and I sat down and tried to write some songs that we found ourselves in a genre.” He went into detail about their new sound as he said, “Most people used to categorize us with A Day to Remember as they were an influence on our band at one point.

We had that similar sound of clean vocals mixed with screams and the occasional breakdown to get the crowd rowdy. It wasn’t until about a year after we released our first EP that we decided we wanted to be heavier and have more of a raw sound. We released a few singles to give our audience a taste of our new direction and with the release of our last EP back in last October, our new sound suites us a lot better. It’s heavier, it’s raw, and it really shows our potential as a band.”

In December, Riverview is hoping to play out in new areas and give us New Englanders a taste of what post hardcore is these days. “We’ve written a few songs lately, and actually just finished recording one last week, and we hope to release it soon!” he said. Their music and merch can be found on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/riverviewmusic, and they ask that you take a listen and let them know what you think!

Backseat Boys – Riverview (unreleased b-side song)

Goodbye, Blue Monday – Riverview (b-side unreleased song) [ft. former vocalist Zachery Taylor]