People active in the silent era and people who keep the silent era alive. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

The Devil Music Ensemble

The Devil Music Ensemble, formed in Boston in 1999, is comprised of Brendon Wood on guitars, lap steel, and synthesizer; Jonah Rapino on electric violin, vibraphone, and synthesizer; and Tim Nylander on drums, percussion and synthesizer.

“The Devil Music Ensemble has established itself as one of the primary American groups composing and performing scores for silent films, and can be spoken of in the same breath as groups like The Alloy Orchestra and the Tin Hat Trio.” — Dylan Skolnick, Director of Programming, Cinema Arts Centre

The DME has been on numerous tours playing soundtracks for silent film; performing in museums, theaters, performing arts centers, and college campuses. The DME recently completed a 7-week tour that took them all over the entire United States.

Brendon Wood, from Tiverton, Rhode Island, has his Bachelors of Fine Arts in Music from the University of Mass. Jonah Rapino, from Toledo, Ohio, received his Bachelors Fine Arts in classical music performance from Boston University. Tim Nylander, from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, received his Bachelors in Fine Arts from Harvard University.

In its short history, the DME has been a rock trio, and eastern European folk band, a country band, a 40 piece modern orchestral ensemble, a house band for live theater, and a multi-member ensemble performing live soundtracks to silent films. Members of DME have also begun to make their name doing soundtracks for modern film, which include Darkon and The Day of the Cabbage, amongst others. "Violinist Jonah Rapino, who also scores silent classics, has created an evocative score on par with any Hollywood fantasy." — Eddie Cockrell (from a recent review of Darkon in Variety).

No single description of the DME performance experience can accurately depict this group’s versatile and genre spanning capabilities. The DME, striving to explore different sonic territory with every new project they undertake, keeps audiences surprised and anxious to come back to hear and see whatever they are doing next. To hear MP3s or find out more about the DME go to www.devilmusic.org. To contact the DME, email dvlmsc@yahoo.com or call Jonah Rapino at 617-427-3267 for telephone interviews.

From barns to 2000-seat performing art centers, here are a few of the more memorable places that the DME has visited of late: The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Proctors Theater in Schenectady, New York, The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, New York, The Block Museum in Chicago, Illinois, the Coolidge Corner Cinema in Boston, Massachusetts, The Starz Film Center in Denver, Colorado, the Balboa Theater in San Francisco, California, the Cleveland Institute of Art in Cleveland, Ohio, the Bantam Cinema in Connecticut, the Colonial Theater in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, the Vickers Theater in Three Oaks, Michigan, the Railroad Square Cinema in Waterville, Maine, Upstate Films in Rhinebeck, New York, the Saratoga Film Forum in Saratoga Springs, New York, The Wilton Town Hall Theater in Wilton, New Hampshire, and many, many more.

References: The Devil Music Ensemble.