Thurs, Dec 16, The Shades of Gray

The Shades of Gray are a solid party band with a few years under its belt whose genre appeal runs the gamut. They do rock, but it’s not too alt-rockish and oftentimes skews funk. And then they also do hip-hop tracks—covers and originals—with Bald Matt and Luckey on dueling vocals, in addition to bass, drums and guitar. And just this past week, Bald Matt sent me four new tracks, including “Dive Bars,” which, true to form, covers all three genres: funk-rock guitar swing and an emcee duo with a solid party vibe, rapping “Hoping one day we will be stars / But for now we play dive bars.” I’ll drink to that. 705 J Street, www.theshadesofgrayband.com.