Freeloader Freeloader II

Within the one-year span of February 2019 to February 2020, Boston’s Nat Freedberg (Flies, Titanics, Upper Crust) released two solo records on the Rum Bar Record label, plus a third one, entitled “Freeloader: The Path of Least Resistance,” with Boston rock titans Jim Janota (drums), Jim Haggerty (bass) and Charles Hansen (guitar). Over the last pandemic year, while loafing around at home, Nat found himself idly accumulating another Freeloader album’s-worth of rockers. These guys redefine the meaning of the word "old," and belong to that class of ossified musical objects that can only be identified by radiocarbon dating. Nat, the oldest and probably most decrepit, has been a pallid, furtive habitué of the Boston music scene since the early '80s. His previous bands were the Flies, the Titanics, the Satanics, the Clamdiggers, and the Upper Crust. Janota is widely admired as the best rock drummer in Boston, a distinction which has done absolutely nothing for him in the way of tangible reward. Likewise, Haggerty is in great demand on the Boston circuit, holding down the bass in multiple bands while the front-people warble on earnestly about whatever they believe to be interesting and important. Hansen is a world-class guitarist, teaches at Berklee, and plays in several bands, but he too could only loosely be termed a billionaire.