SALEM — They say success comes slowly, but for Salem-based band Hyber that may not be the case. The trio of Jeanette Abbene, Kris Musto and Eliza Kessler, which has only been together for about three years, was recently nominated for “Best New Artist” at the 2020 Boston Music Awards. Hyber is among 10 finalists; winners will be announced on Dec. 11.
“We’re just wildly excited to even be nominated for something like this,” said Abbene, the band’s drummer and backup vocalist. “We had no idea this was even an option and we didn’t know that anyone would think of nominating us. It’s so cool to be nominated for something like this and to be recognized by so many of your peers.
“Actually, I saw it on Facebook before we even heard from anybody about it. Someone I knew shared it and it popped up on my feed, and when I saw it, I just couldn’t believe it.”
Things got going for Hyber back in 2017, when the trio would meet at a garage space in Lynn and work on songs. One song became two, and eventually the band — which describes itself as “a trio of nerds from Salem, Mass., rockin’ some pop grunge emotional jams — had enough material to put together an EP (extended play).
Fast forward to August 2019, when Hyber dropped its debut EP SleEP. The five-song project’s first single, “Ghost,” caught some traction early on, enough so to convince the group to do a music video for the song. Since then, the band has released another single, “You Were,” along with an accompanying music video.
“It was a really interesting process that none of us had ever been a part of before,” Abbene said about making a music video. “But it was a ton of fun. We were able to shoot at some great spots in Salem and also go back to our original practice space in Lynn, so that was great.”
Immediately following the EP’s release, Hyber hit the road for as many shows as they could before winter hit. They planned to spend the winter off from the road to write new music — a “Hyber-nation,” as Abbene jokingly said — but the COVID-19 pandemic ended up making the layoff much longer than anticipated.
“We were only planning on not playing shows for a couple months, but it’s turned into almost a year of not being able to get together and play,” said Abbene. “We’ve all been working hard and Kris has been writing a ton, so we’re excited to start getting back into it and making music together again.”
Those interested in voting for Hyber in the “Best New Artist” category at the 2020 Boston Music Awards can go to https://bostonmusicawards.com/vote/.
Mike Alongi can be reached at [email protected].
