Willie Alexander at his art show this week. Photo: Kathy Chapman
We went to The Barrel House Z brewery, a new spot
for music in East Weymouth on Saturday to catch The New Frustrations
and Thee Associates.
We’ve wanted to see The New Frustrations since
their last EP
Lifetime came out in October 2023 . The new material was highlights
of the set. “Lifetime”, the title track, displayed their
song writing craft and their ability to deliver it live. All their material
evokes classic punk and pop influences that aren’t overt but get
triggered in your mind as you listen. That’s one of their main
tricks.
The New Frustrations at Barrel House Z
“The Words You Never Said” was the first song where all
three band members sang together and in harmony. It was a-ha moment
that was repeated in other songs.
Another thing they do is capture the magic of rock and roll love and
fanaticism. “Diane (Happy Hunting)” tells the story of the
joys of record hunting. An earlier song that they also did, “Radio
Generation” fondly brings back the magic that rock radio was it
was the primary way to hear the rock. The New Frustrations don’t
just sing about the magic of rock their whole performance bubbles with
it.
They recorded the Lifeline EP at Woolly Mammoth and live
they reminded us of The Neighborhoods both in the pop rock sound and
the upbeat tone of the performance.
Thee Associates with bubbles
Their covers displayed their layers of influences that inform their
songwriting. There was Ramones, Clash and Buzzcocks. There was the surprise
“Me and the Boys” by NRBQ (Bonnie Raitt covered that) and
the more obscure "Best Kissers in the World." Check out their
Bandcamp page for a treasure trove of memorable material.
The covers got us in the mood for Thee Associates,a punk cover band. Even before they played a note we love the
concept, that punk has its place and can sustain a group. It was obvious
from the playing and the band’s comments during the set that they
love punk and are thrilled to play it.
Thee Associates at Barrel House Z
They did“Born to Lose”, “I Fought the Law”,
“Ever Fallen in Love” (second Buzzcock’s song of the
night) and “ In the City.” They Played songs by X, Dead
Kennedy’s, Clash and B 52’s. There was the unexpected Dag
Nasty song. The set amplified the sense of fun that The New Frustrations
began. They had a bubble maker that added a visual sign of the playfulness.
The Barrel House Z has a lot going for it. First
was location, it is South Shore where we need more punk venues. It has
several well set up spaces. It has a bar, of course for the craft beer,
which has inside/outside options. There was a food truck. The band space
was in another large and comfortable room. The acoustics were very good.
Tom the bass player of The New Frustrations booked the show and is looking
to have more shows. He envisions a big six band bill even and the Barrel
House Z is set up exactly for this sort of thing. Sounds very doable
to us.
We went to Gloucester to catch the Willie Loco Alexander
art show "Goya's Head Found on Half Moon Beach"
at the
Jane Deering Gallery in Gloucester.
We all know Willie for the wonderful music he's given us over the years
- you know, "Mass Ave", "At The Rat", and a ton
of others. But Willie is such a multifaceted human being....he's not
just "WA" up there with the Boom Boom band, he's also an "artist,
inventor, poet, collector, archivist, seeker. And foremost, a humanist."
Willie is one of those artists that has so much inside he never stops.
His music career is long and varied ... and his visual art practice
is too.
There were several newer paintings on display but along with that were
large busy, multilayered collages on cardboard and copies of his crazy
- busy WA doctored Gloucester Times; heavily layered copies
of the newspaper with things Willie thought fit to be included in the
Gazettes but were not...flipping those heavy, packing tape covered pages
is a deep dive into his never-ending love and curiosity with the world
around him. In them you get a sense of his busy mind.
His paintings are filled with the joy he feels and sees around him.
Fields of color with fanciful blobs and drips dance around on the canvas ... you can almost hear the music emanating from them
... you can certainly feel it! And if you immerse yourself in the works
you find precious pieces in each of them that can draw you in and entertain
you, just like his Gloucester Times and collages. The gallery
is small but there is SO much to see and to take in with this show.
Plan to spend some time with this world of WA.
The show runs until November 3 and Willie is gallery sitting there
until the end of the show. He's posting his times on his FB page. Either
way you should get there to catch this wonderful delightful show.
In
1985 Elvis Costello released “The People’s
Limousine,” a country single by The Coward Brothers.
Now the full story comes out, the single was by Costello and
T Bone Burnette. We know that because now there is a three
part podcast that tells the story of the duo. The True Story
of The Coward Brothers is a drama directed by Spinal
Tap master Christopher Quest and includevoiceovers
by Harry Shearer and others. Accompanying the podcasts
is a new Coward Brothers album with twenty cuts on it. They've
released the first song. “Always” is a quiet and calm piece
of music.
It’s going to be punk in the hallowed halls of the Boston Public
Library with Nancy Barile’s Author Talk at the
Copley Square Branch of the Library. I’m Not Holding Your
Coat is about Nancy’s involvement with punk in Washington
DC and Boston. As a teacher she has used what she learned as a punk
to inspire her students.
Nancy Barile’s talk will be on November 26
from 6 to 7:30. It's free but registration is required - do
that here!
VIDEOS......
It took a few years but Miracle Blood has morphed
into a powerful noise band. Their new album Hello Hell will
be released on November 15. The title song "Hello Hell" is
streaming now (the third from the album) and it comes with a video.
It's live concert footage shot in Athens, GA and Richmond, VA. It
shows their powerful attack. The guitar has some angular riffs along
with noisy chords. That’s coupled with a distorted sledgehammer
pounding by the rhythm section. There's more about the song and video
on No
Clean Singing website
The F.U.s are back from their Japan tour. Julie
HC from Toronto caught John Sox for an impromptu
interview. John said there was a dedicated base of fans over there that
followed Boston hardcore. The fans have all the Boston albums and there
are bands that play the Boston hardcore songs! He said the fans were
moshing and passionate. They were singing some of the songs and followed
the band from gig to gig.
The F.U.s also posted a song from a show in Osaka. See that above
to the right.
Brad Marino gives us a live song from his practice
place – the garage. “Shoulda Known” is from his
Four Track Attack EP from 2018. It made us go his Bandcamp
page where there’s so much good music.
We had to give ourselves one more hit of “Wax, Board and Woodie”
before giving up summer.
Rat Tales newly posted a video interview with Ad
Frank from 2011. We should all know a bit more about Ad Frank’s
music and career. He has been in Miles Dethmuffin, Permafrost,
Ad Frank & The Fast Easy Women and currently The
Daylilies. The video starts by showing the whole vid for “Man
on Fire” by Ad Frank and the Fast Easy Women and that was a good
idea. It's a fine piece of work. They captured some magic in that. YouTube
Frank was a sax player. Finding no takers for that he switched to
guitar. Miles Dethmuffin had a run and when it was obvious that no record
contract was coming, Frank moved on. At one point Randy Millman
gave him a regular acoustic slot at TT the Bears
that kept him going. Frank filled in as a singer for a group called
Quick Fix and that morphed into Ad Frank and the Fast Easy Women. Frank
has a lot of stories of his years playing on the Boston club scene.
Miles Dethmuffin is a large part of Frank’s
story and there is a documentary on them. We have that above to the
right.
Rat Tales also has the video of the 2024 interview
with the Dogmatics (Jerry and Pete) posted. We’ve
heard a few interviews with the Dogmatics and every one is different.
Here they bring new stories (one with Steve Marriot) and dig deeper
to get more details into their upbringing. Where else do you get a story
of buying a New York Dolls eight track from the original Building 19
in Hingham? They get into the Dogmatics origin story in more details
than ever. The Dogmatics keep on delivering.
RADIO......
Skybar had Linnea Herzog of Linnea’s
Garden in for an interview on his WMFO Rising
show. Linnea always has new things going on. They talk of her recent
tour. There’s a new EP coming out. A few songs have been pre released.
Skybar played one of pre released songs “No Vision” on the
show. Linnea played “Cherry” about “the beautiful
things in life” live in the studio. We talk about the new EP in
the New Music section below.
We have the interview embedded below.
Skybar will have Glenn di Benedetto from the Parlour
Bells on his Rising show this Tuesday 10/15. During the interview
Skybar will play most of the new EP, "To Be Or Not To Behave".
The Rising show is on WMFO 91.5 FM on Tuesdays at 8pm. After that
got to the WMFO
schedule page Hit the Rising show on 8pm on Tuesday, then hit the
‘archive’ button.
Joanie Lindstrom played a striking punk song on her
Thursday Late Risers Club show. The group was Fake
Fruit, that’s funny right there, and the song was “Mas
O Menos” (which means More or Less).
The lyrics paint a very argumentative and seemingly doomed relationship.
“Oh what a tangled web…” the lyrics admit. The vocals
talk over the music like Wet Leg did with “Chaise
Longue.” In the end the lyrics , in Spanish, are “Don’t
talk to me/I won’t listen.” This is from an upcoming album
titled Mucho Mistrust. The group played Wareouse XI
this last week.
To hear Joanie’s show go to the WMBR
archive page and hit the Late Risers Show for Thursday 10/10.
PODCASTS.........
The
Elastic Glam show keeps us up to date with the new stuff. This
week it included Daisy Granade, The Stone Foxes, Half Cubes,
Bobbie Dazzle, Kaleo (“Rock N Roller” done live),
Gyasi (so glam, so good), Gail Ann Dorsey and Last
Diner Party. Get up to speed with this glam podcast from Cape
Cod.
Al Quint opened Sonic Overload by
playing “Love Comes In Spurts” on the occasion of Richard
Hell’s 75 birthday. Later he played “Warthog”
off the Ramones Too Tough to Die album that came out 40 years
ago. Time is marching on!!
Al had an early punk set with The Flys (1980), Subway
Sect, Girls At Our Best and The Police (“Contact”).
Girls At Our Best is less known. We have the song “Getting Nowhere
Fast” embedded below.
A second punk set had Ramones, The Consumers (Here’s
the song “Teenage
Love Song” on YouTube), Radiators from Space, Killjoys,
Psycho Surgeons and Warum Joe.
Poor Impulse Control from Cape Cod have a new single
out. “Fresh Cut Stomp” is a thumping hit of hardcore. There
are some stern words in the lyrics. “Get the fuck out, don’t
come back” is one line. The heated rhetoric builds up the pressure
in the song.
Rum Bar Records wants you to know that Muck
and the Mires last release Zoom Breakup
is available on vinyl. Also the group is out touring. They’ll
be at Bayside Bowl in Portland on October 26. We’re
relating that to you just as an excuse to embed a Muck and the Mires
song. We need our Muck!
Linnea’s Garden's new EP titled Looking
Forward to the Moment. Some of the songs have been pre released.
Those are “Cherry” and “Chaotic Bisexual Summer”.
The first song on the EP is “No Vision” and it the heaviest
song the group has composed. It’s made more dramatic by the sudden
delicate strumming of chords that interrupt the din. The song is about
“being lost in your life.” It’s the first time (that
we know) that Linnea uses images of her ‘scientific life’
in a song.
The song “210” seems to be about just doing what you want
and doubling up on it…”turn it to 10, do it again”.
Thus the idea 2 times 10. We like the cover that is made for the song
which has Linnea at the210 Smoot mark on the MIT bridge .
Linnea has grown with her guitar work. It’s getting heavier
and she uses that directly in her songwriting. That leaves one song
“Nice Things” that remains unreleased.
For Closure is a LA band that gets all different
labels thrown at them: power pop, Replacements like, punk, emo and melodic
hardcore. What got our attention is that one song “Moon at Noon”
was voted Coolest Song in the World on The Underground Garage. We are
going to embed “Moon At Noon” below for you to hear. You
can then listen to the rest of their new album Cliffside Serenade
on
Bandcamp.
Here's some good shows coming up .....
October 18, 2024 (Friday)The Fuzzstival
at The Armory: Sweeping Promises, Babybaby Explores, Yhwh Nailgun, Bong
Wish, Balaclava, Mingko, Nurse Joy, Lupo Citta, The Spatulas, Plant Fight
October 18, 2024 (Friday)Salem
Access TV is filming this show - it will be broadcast at a later date: The
bands are Gwello, The Negans, and Aluminium.
it's at 285 Derby St Salem. Starts at 5PM!!! This is a Symphonix exclusive event
- there are only 40 tickets available for sale at $20 each & This is a BYOB
event - check out the FB
event page for HOW to get tickets.
October 19, 2024 (Saturday)The
Fuzzstival at The Armory: Doug Tuttle, Greg Freeman, Latrell
James, Francie Medosch (of Florry), Paper Lady, Prewn, Clifford, War Machine,
Corporeal, Pew Pew.
October 19, 2024 (Saturday) 5th
Annual Punktoberfest music and craft beer festival at Thirsty First
Lowell. Bands will be Nick Barbarian, Savor The Silence, Welch Boys,
First Pick, Ruffian Dick, The Ghouls, OnlyThings, SOTAH, Sonic Bomb, CE Skidmore
and the DFB and The Promised End - TICKETS!!
October 19, 2024 (Saturday)Stop
Calling Me Frank's 40th Anniversary featuring Jay Allen, Stop
Calling Me Frank (two sets!), State of the Union, The Piranha
Brothers, The Spackles at The Midway
October 21, 2024 (Monday)The Stress
Balls, Dave Strong, Joe Gallo and the Qualms - At the Jungle, Somerville,
MA. 5PM/Free
October 24, 2024 (Thursday)Stupidity,
Cocktail Slippers and the Wynotts at Alchemy, Providence
FB
page.
October 25, 2024 (Friday)Moving
Targets, The Long Wait, Spiller - Middle East Up - Facebook
page
October 25, 2024 (Friday) Bootleg Dan presents
Cocktail Slippers, Stupidity, The Chelsea Curve, DJ Sherman at
The Burren
October 25, 2024 (Friday) Cape Cod show
with Noun (from Philly, featuring Marissa Paternoster from
Screaming Females), Grasshopper Green (Falmouth), Modern
Hut (New Jersey) at The Christ Church Episcopal in Harwich Port. 6:30
doors, 7:00 bands $15, all ages, no drugs/booze.
October 26, 2024 (Saturday)Tiger
Bomb, The Cocktail Slippers, Stupidity, Muck & The Mires at The
Bayside Bowl, Portland, ME FB
page
October 30, 2024 (Wednesday)Gang
of Four are at The Cut in Glooucester!
Tickets.
October 30- Nov. 2, 2024 (Weds - Sat)
International Pop Overthrow is here, at the Square Root. 21 bands.
In there are: Hummingbird Syndicate, Corin Ashley, Speedfossil, Cold
Expectations, Fezztones, Sal Baglio, Kelly Knapp, Girl With a Hawk
and many more. Check
the FB page for bands/times/tix
November 1, 2024 (Friday)Coffin
Salesman (Record Release!), Motel Black, Saeddyr, Squallie
Greenthumb at Faces Malden.
November 2, 2024 (Saturday)Neutral
Nation and Diablogato at Askew in Providence. Doors
at 8, bands start at 9. FB
page
November 8, 2024 (Friday)Boston
Punk Rewound/Unbound. The Arthur Freedman Collection - "2024 marks
the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Rat, a location that looms large
in both the Freedman Collection and in Boston lore. To mark
the occasion, the Harvard Film Archive and the Loeb Music Library—who
collectively steward the Freedman tapes in the collection—have partnered
to bring you an evening celebrating the bands, venues and wider scene documented
in the Freedman collection."
Read
more here!! and see you there!! 7PM at The Harvard Film Archive 24 Quincy
Street Cambridge, MA 02138
November 8, 2024 (Friday)Hilken
Mancini Band, The Cujo, Mary Lou Lord at Sonia , Cambridge,
November 8, 2024 (Friday)Steve
Conte Trio, Tiger Bomb, The Shang Hi Los at Koto Lowell
- FB page.
November 8, 2024 (Friday) Wormtown show
with Swamp Roots, Thee Sonomatics and The Wray-Ons
(playing the music of the Link Wray & The Wraymen) at Husky's Pub (413 Park
Ave, WorcesterMA) Bands start at 8 PM. .
November 9, 2024 (Saturday)The
Pist, Grip Bite, Neighborhood Shit, Trollmilk, 1PM doors - Matinee
All Ages Middle East FB
page
November 9, 2024 (Saturday)Shaggahs,
The Wynotts, Carnivals, Hot Franks at Faces in Malden - FB
page
November 9, 2024 (Saturday)Silver
Screams, Black Helicopter and Jay Allen and the Archcriminals
are at The Square Root.
November 9, 2024 (Saturday)TRAITRS,
Dead Leaf Echo, Gretchen Shea and the Middle Eight at The MIddle East
Up
November 16, 2024 (Saturday)Kal
Marks (Release Show!) Paper Lady, Black Beach at Deep Cuts, Medford
November 23, 2024 (Saturday)Diablogato,
The Long Wait, Speed Teeth at Faces in Malden tickets
November 23, 2024 (Saturday)Hi-End,
Duck and Cover, Color Killers at The Square Root
November 30, 2024 (Saturday)Midway
Matinee of Punk! with WORM, Presidential Disgrace, Screw Cart,
Neponset Monestary - at The Midway for a 3PM Matinee!!
December 6, 2024 (Friday)Warrior
Soul, All Sinners and Speed Teeth at Koto Salem
April 20, 2025 (Friday)Gang of
Four at The Crystal Ballroom, Somerville. Tickets.
CONTACT US AT....misslynbgn@yahoo.comSend us your gig listings, your anything else
you've got!! You want your CD reviewed?? Contact us for that too.
We interviewed David Bash on the week where his International Pop Overthrow is
coming to town. It's some backgroud on the history of the event and of course talk about POP..........
We bring you into the Rat Room at the Hotel Commonwealth.
Jimmy Harlold invited a group of scene veterans. It was a Rat reuion
with lots of stories exchanged. Get to see the room and the people.........
Johnny Angel writes a mystery novel Looking for Lady Dee steeped in Boston punk and Thrills history.
It's no apologys given for the punk lifestyle. ....
It appeared before us like a chimera and it's
still growing...it's the Pipeline 25th Anniversary celebration.
We interview mastermind Bob Dubrow about his background and
search for what motivates him as well as Pipeline history and
the show....
The Boston punk community comes out for a good cause.
Neighborhoods, Upper Crust, Dents, Dogmatics, Roy Sludge Trio, Ed
Moose Savage, Downbeat 5 and Classic Ruins raise some money and
rock the house at......
He's legendary and his surprise birthday party was legendary in turn. Only in your Boston Rock and Roll dreams could you come up with a night like this.......
In a case of reverse outsourcing Carl Biancucci of the Classic Ruins also plays bass in the English group Shotglass Killers.
He tells us about a gig at the 100 Club with a reformed Damned....
The Konks' hypnotic bashing was a smart mindlessness that you got addicted to. They are calling it quits and we'll miss 'em and there's no free clinic out there to help us either...........
Thank god for 110 Instamatics or we wouldn't have a lot of our early Boston punk photos. Kathy Flynn used hers to get some pics of the Rat and The Club and she sent them to us to share with you..........
One of the interesting things in the early days of Boston punk was seeing the attention grow around us. One watershed moment was when we heard that a Time Magazine reporter was going to visit the Rat. We didn't like the resulting article. But you can decide. Take a look at the ....
...
Let's get real. We are all getting older and will die. Do you ever consider how you will be remembered? I'm talking about your tombstone. It's morbid, it's in poor taste, it's .....
Crotch biting...head bleeding...dick jiggling...it's all in Miss Lyn's report (with photos to prove it) from the GG Allin 10 Year Memorial Tour at the Middle East....
Punk started 25 years ago. Did any of us think we would ever make it this far? Probably not, that was punk; nihilistic, "no future!". Here is a place to remember, and give a moment of thought to, those who didn't make it
this far...
The minute she hit the scene she was every male punk's heart throb. She was beautiful. She had a winning personality. She had a ...well...a...glow. That could be my heart talking because I, Blowfish, confess: I too am Judy's love slave. We didn't just love Judy, we worshiped her. So, now all of us members of Judyism have somewhere to meet and offer our prayers of unrequited love.
1977-The Damned were ready to piss on Blowfish and started to undress Miss Lyn! And people seemed to like it!! This interview IS outrageous...for then AND now!