About The Best Times

In the summer of 2021, painter, photographer, and musician John Clarke went to a house party in rural western New England and heard something special: the keyboards, drums, and bass of the party band playing with John’s longtime friend and train-hopping partner, the talented electric guitarist John Roberts.

John Clarke took it as an opportunity to form the new rock band that he’d been contemplating—one with multiple songwriters who could explode song seeds into versions that might otherwise be missed by one artist working alone. To spice up the sound, John called in vocalist Erika Nelson, who had sat in with him during a performance years earlier.

This is how The Best Times were born.

The band entered a fertile period of songwriting and gigging, and people took notice, including troubadour rocker Johnny Irion, who offered to record their debut EP, which quickly expanded into an LP project: their new album, Revel.

The Best Times serve up cinematic, affecting songs driven by John Roberts’ powerful electric guitar, Keith Berthiaume’s soulful piano and organ, tight vocal harmonies from John Clarke and Erika Nelson, and the rhythmic backbone laid down by drummer Mike McKenna and bassist Dan Krhla.

The band has developed a mantra of sorts: “This life ain’t no dress rehearsal. The Best Times are now.”