Boston, MA: November 30, 2025 - Danny Francis, 21, sits in his home studio fitting in a casual mixing session with Out For A Rip artist, Jack Rooks, 21, after our interview. (Grace Abdayem)
Out For A Rip is a grass roots Boston based record label founded by working musicians in the New England scene. The independent music collective prides itself on its DIY ethos, working with fellow local artists who share the goal of building a positive and inclusive scene.
Boston, MA: November 30, 2025 - Francis listens to musical collaborator Rooks weigh in on the current mix of unreleased material by Frogs. A band which Francis and other Out For A Rip founder, Matt Spasek, are both members of. (Grace Abdayem)
Danny Francis, a junior Independent Recording and Production major at Berklee College of Music, founded the label with his Frogs bandmate, Matt Spisak, and fellow Boston artists, William Donahue and Sammy Scott in 2024. Under “Out For A Rip” they provide musicians with recording, mixing and mastering services, releasing three EPs and several singles with local artists this past year. In November, the label released “Blackout Karaoke” , an EP by Jack Rooks, which Francis produced.
Boston, MA: November 30, 2025 - Rooks nods along to the recording project Francis plays for him while working in his home studio. (Grace Abdayem)
Rooks met Francis at Berklee when he was majoring in songwriting, before leaving the school after his first year. Their relationship as songwriter and producer developed naturally as the two began to work through Rooks’s long backlog for Francis’s IRP class.
Boston, MA: November 30, 2025 - The desk at Francis’s home studio with equipment for digital and analog recording. (Grace Abdayem)
Last fall, the two agreed that it was time to start recording with a “purpose” of putting together an EP. When asking Francis to take this step, Rooks felt at ease,
“PLAYING WITH DANNY AND WRITING AND THEN ALSO HAVING RECORDED SOME MUZZLE SONGS WITH HIM, IT DIDN’T FEEL LIKE I WAS GOING OUT ON A LIMB TO BE LIKE, WOULD YOU WANT TO RECORD? IT MADE SENSE BECAUSE WE'D ALREADY BEEN RECORDING ANYWAY.”
Boston, MA: December 5, 2025 - Empty cans crushed by dancing bodies litter the basement floor of Out For A Rip HQ as Boston band, Awnthay, load into the space for their set. (Grace Abdayem)
In September, Francis moved his studio to a new house where he now lives with Rooks and other members of his band Frogs. The house, known lovingly as “Out For A Rip HQ,” is where the label throws basement shows with stacked bills of New England artists for a steadily growing local audience.
Boston, MA: December 5, 2025 - Audience members caught messing with the lamp while standing in Out For A Rip’s backyard for a quick smoke break in between sets.
Boston, MA: December 5, 2025 - Hollow Earth performs the penultimate set of the night under the artificial hanging candle light, a visual signature of Out For A Rip’s basement venue. (Grace Abdayem)
Boston, MA: December 5, 2025 - Francis offers Lord Candlestick drummer, Ash Harrison, a snack he grabbed upstairs from his kitchen as the audience moshes behind him. (Grace Abdayem)
On choosing artists to work with, Francis prefers a personal approach,
“WE LIKE WHEN PEOPLE COME UP TO US. WE'RE NICE PEOPLE. IF YOU'RE LIKE, YO, I WANT TO DO THIS, WE'LL PROBABLY DO IT. YOU KNOW? I FEEL LIKE THERE'S NO WAY TO EARN A WAY TO HAVE US RECORD YOU OR BOOK A SHOW. YOU JUST HAVE TO, LIKE, BE A PERSON.”
Boston, MA: December 5, 2025 - In between sets, Francis gets a break from live mixing and holding down the fort and is able to discuss a possible recording and mixing collaboration. (Grace Abdayem)