“We wanted to be confidently eccentric.”
If you’ve been a fan of the Boston Music Scene for some time, especially the heavier side of things, then chances are you at least know of BEDTIMEMAGIC. And if you’ve been to a show in the area, not even necessarily a heavy one, then chances are even greater that you’ve caught the sonic magic created when the duo of Nicholas Pentabona (Vocals/Bass/Keyboards) and Morgan Berns (Drums/Vocals/Pedal Organ) get together. Hell, we’ve seen them a few times already sharing stages with acts as diverse as Crippling Alcoholism, Miracle Blood and Sapling to name a few and they’ve never not entertained the hell out of us with a solid sound and solid stage get-up (More on that later).
The band recently completed a new full-length which we’ve been lucky enough to hear early (SO good, but more on that below and in our 2026 “Local Look” preview post) so we thought it’d be a great time to chat with the band and were fortunate that Pentabona graciously agreed to answer some burning questions via email about what fans can expect out of the record, the origins of BEDTIMEMAGIC and so much more:
If you’ve ever stumbled upon BEDTIMEMAGIC blind across the interwebs then you’ve probably seen that the band is described as “trash rock” so we thought it’d be a good idea to start this thing off by finding out exactly what that is and how the duo of Berns and Pentabona came to be:
Nicholas Pentabona: “We formed back in late 2013 / early 2014 when Morgan answered a Craigslist ad I’d put up. I didn’t know it at the time, but he was someone I was familiar with from the coffee shop I worked at. He was a regular with an eccentric personality, which made it easy to become enthusiastic about auditioning what else he had to offer.
The term “trash rock” was something to get people to go easy on how odd and multi-influenced our music was becoming. It’s a reference to both the Rochester Garbage Plate (a food item with a variety of unlikely foods), but also a gesture towards how much great art is simply thrown in the trash without anyone experiencing it outside the creator. We wanted to be confidently eccentric. Seemed like that needed new words.”
If that wasn’t enough of an explanation of the “BEDTIMEMAGIC sound” then we did ya one better with one of our most favorite questions recently: Is there one song or body of work that you’ve recorded (Released or on the way) that you’d say is your defining moment or something that captures the “definitive BEDTIMEMAGIC sound”?
“It’s hard to say what could be our most defining thing… in terms of recordings. We try to do something different every time. We enjoy being weird. We like to be controversial. It’s part of the fun. If I had to guess I’d say “Long Kiss Goodnight” (opening track on Pillow Talk) is a pretty on-the-nose cut. That song has all of the key elements of what our songs typically do… melody, heavy sections, the foot organ, dual vocals. That track, or “Count Sheep”, off of the LP Between The Sheets, is a pretty definitive track.”
Not only do BEDTIMEMAGIC pop up on many a dream bill across town and beyond but the band has been known to collaborate with quite a few artists across the scene, most notably appearing in various iterations on recent efforts by Miracle Blood as well as The Freqs’ newest single (As of this writing, Pentabona has popped up in the video for Magic Thing Ape’s “Clean” as well which you can peep here) so we were curious if there was an “ultimate” bill for the band to be apart of and maybe find out who they’d like to work with again. Ever the diplomat, Pentabona elaborated:
“A golden tenet of BEDTIMEMAGIC is for us to be honest, to be fair, and to be considerate. Shows come and go, popularity slides, but who you are through all that is paramount. Integrity, you know? For us, taking care of our friends, each other, venues, and the ocean of music everyone is building — that’s what it’s about. In a roundabout way, what I’m saying is it’s important to cherish all the opportunities that come along. I’m glad to still be making friends as time marches on. I’m happy with most bills, collabs, etc. Working with Seth (Crowell, Vox/Guitar for The Freqs) on that track (and a few others) ruled.”
Following our deep dive into Dave Habeeb’s Beautiful Was The Fight a few years back now (Watch it everywhere now by heading here), we’ve been hyper aware of the health of the Boston Music Scene and, with the pandemic eating up some of our favorite venues or just the big machine swallowing up spaces on the regular, we’re continually curious how artists in the scene feel as well. We posited that question at Pentabona and he responded with thoughts on what would help strengthen the scene as well as what fans of live music can do to help:
“Definitely more venues for smaller artists. Those are important. And I think ‘zines — or, hell, websites like yours — are hyper-critical to the life of the “scene”. People need to take chances. Go see shows with bands you’ve never heard before. Get out there! Leave your damn house. Things could be better but they can always be better. The more chances folks take, the more this can keep bustling. I’m optimistic for the future of music communities with technology, though ultimately, this is an in-person, sensory, tactile thing.”
Back to the BEDTIMEMAGIC live shows and the aforementioned attire we mentioned previously, we were curious about the significance of the matching pug unitards worn by Pentabona and Berns on stage with Penatbona revealing whose idea it was, an aversion to wearing pants while performing (And reminding us of one of the greatest Tommy Lee rants ever that you can hear at the beginning of “Planet Boom” here) and more:
“Morgan sprung those on me. I hated them at first but now I am used to it. He suggested wearing wrestling singlets because I HATE wearing long pants when I play live. I swear profusely when I have to do that… they tug at my legs. Fuck ’em. Then he went and bought us pug suits and was like here you go. I laughed. He did not laugh. Now they are permanent.”
It’s always been fascinating to us how a band made up of two people reproduces what’s on record in a live environment and especially if that’s ever hindered what can or can’t be played live with Pentabona revealing that’s definitely been the case at times while also going deeper into his philosophy on instrumentation and whether or not he prefers the stage to the studio or vice/versa:
“Oh for sure. Between The Sheets was made during the pandemic, and we can’t do half those tracks justice live. They pretty much are studio tracks. We tried doing “Hittin’ The Hay” live…it feels weak.
When I was a kid I didn’t usually have people to collaborate with as often as I would have liked. I was in bands, sure, and jammed with folks, but overall I was writing and trying to make songs by myself. Sometimes I’d record a bass line on my 4-track or boombox, play it back, and play a different line over it. That didn’t always give me a sense of how a song would go, though. I eventually taught myself to play rhythm lines and lead lines at the same time, stealing ideas from classical guitar, jazz, flat picking blues, etc. If you think of your instrument as TWO instruments, you can break it down into two sections to intertwine with each other.
We are 100% a live band. We prefer to play live. Everything is centered around the live show.”
As mentioned, ahead of this interview we were lucky enough to have a chance to hear the upcoming NEW record from BEDTIMEMAGIC and asked Pentabona to elaborate on what’s to come, when to expect it and more:
“New record is coming in the first few months of 2026 on The Ghost Is Clear Records. It’s called “Lie Down With Dogs” and is thirteen freaking songs. Boy, that was a lot of work.
It’s more of what we regularly do but a lot purer. We let our hair down quite a bit. We weren’t beholden to a timeline or ideas. We just produced output. Nothing was off the table.
It’s been great building rapport with Alex Allinson (Engineer). He has such a homey, comfortable place to work and has become a great friend. He’s chill telling us what works and what doesn’t now. That fucking guy had to endure so many late night texts and phone calls while we were doing pre-production… me going ‘Hey man, listen to this weird voicemail I reversed. Can we use it?'”
Wrapping everything up all nice and tidy like, Pentabona teases what’s next for the band in the studio, on the stage and at the cafeteria???
“I’m already working on riffs for the next record. Probably more touring. I am into cucumbers lately.”
Lie Down With Dogs is on the way in early 2026 through The Ghost Is Clear Records and you can get all up on the latest with that one and more BEDTIMEMAGIC, um, magic by heading here or here. If you’re looking for an instant fix you can hit the Bandcamp space here and if you like your music a little more live then be sure and catch BEDTIMEMAGIC opening for BAABES with Neverless.am and Bad At Drawing on Januaray 16th at Middle East Upstairs (You might just catch us there, too??) with tix for that one available now by heading here.