Berklee Today: Alumni Gentlemen Hall
Gentlemen Hall (from the left): Phil Boucher '07, Rory Given '08, Brad Alderman '07, Jacob Michael '08, Gavin McDevitt '06, and Seth Hachen '06
The six alumni in Gentlemen Hall are off and running with a new EP and a high-profile Billboard Battle of the Bands win.
Several years ago, they were fellow Berklee classmates. Today, as they performed at a South Boston street festival under the deep-blue sky of a late-summer Saturday, these six musicians are Gentlemen Hall (GH). And rock stars to the tween girls holding out their arms, iPhones, beach balls, postcards, and CDs to be autographed.
"I'm dying," one girl said to another. "He touched my shoulder!"
The anthemic, electronic-rock band was introduced to the festival crowd as the winner of the first-ever Billboard Battle of the Bands. That triumph secured their appearance on ABC's May 2011 Billboard Music Awards broadcast live from Las Vegas. The band performed on the same stage as Rihanna, Beyoncé, Black Eyed Peas, Cee Lo Green, and Keith Urban.
"The biggest adrenalin rush I've ever had in my life," Gentlemen Hall vocalist and guitarist Gavin McDevitt '06 told Billboard Executive Editor Bill Werde during a backstage interview at the music awards, which was live-streamed on Billboard's website. "We're a baby band. Something like this is the biggest thing we could ask for."