After the Jump Fest

Pela

Brooklyn’s Pela probably gets “band you want to root for most” honors at the festival. There’s something about Billy McCarthy’s vocals, like Hold Steady’s Craig Finn, that drip with bar-band earnestness—it’s just a bunch of average guys trying to make a living through music. Pela’s sound alternates between sing-along anthemics and the rootsy rock of Springsteen. This is the band you randomly hear in the background at 2 a.m. at Great Lakes and suddenly go, “Wow. This is really friggin’ good. Who is this?”
If you’re into: The Hold Steady, Marah
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