Steve Morse died last week. This is a huge loss
for the Boston Music community! He was the music critic for the Globe
for decades starting as a freelance in 1975. He supported the local
music scene and was always at a show! At the height of it he went to
200 to 250 shows a year. Steve was a sweet guy who cared about the scene
... and its people. You can tell that by the stories a lot of locals
had on social media.
The Music Museum does a nice job reviewing his career You can read
that here.
There was so much going on in the early eighties, one was the Propeller
Records phenomenon. Now, the famous cassette Propeller
Product 4-1 will be reissued on vinyl! You can get the
story and an interview with Justine Burrill (who was
in Wild Stares), who was the de facto leader at the
communal label, at the NoEcho.net
webpage and at Maximum
RocknRoll web site. You can preorder the two LP vinyl release from
Record Grouch.
Hear some of the Propeller groups on the Spotify playlist below.
Evil Felipe have an interview in the student run Simmons
Voice web site. They always seem to have a good handle on what they
are doing and where they are going. Their musical influences are also
illuminating because they are not groups we know. We can hear how
Sweet Pill from Philadelphia has a similar sound.. They mention
Mannequin
Pussy also from Philadelphia. That group is very adventurous. Evil
Felipe say they finds new groups going to house shows.
Askew in Providence is closing on December 1st. They
were going for seven years. They were a sister club to Alchemy in Providence
and the Askew crew will be working Alchemy which is nice to hear. They
say they have big plans for the future. You can find their full statement
on their Facebook page
Moving Targets have a Kickstarter
page for their next album. The current line-up has had three other
albums that we think are superior: Wires, Humbucker and
In the Dust. Kenny Chambers
is writing great material. Like the Nervous Eaters their current material
is as good as their earlier run. On the Kickstarter page, one of the
extras you can get is some lessons from Chambers. You can learn the
Moving Target songs right from the source!
We used to be able to see Robby Roadsteamer (Rob Pitylo)
on stage as part of the group Sweatpant Boners. Now,
you see him on the national stage pranking politicians. This week he
had a viral moment at the Bannon
out-of-prison press conference.
Mike Viola played Boston clubs in the later eighties
when he was very young. His first album was titled Kenmore
Sq. His talent brought him fame. He's done soundtracks
for movies like That Thing You Do and has written songs for
many prominent musicians. He's played The City Winery a while ago and
will play the Somerville
Armory on Dec 6.
All this is leading up to his part in a sketch by John Oliver on his
Tonight with John Oliver show. The segment was about using
the God Bless The U.S.A. song by Lee Greenwood. The
punchline is a song written by Mike Viola that displays America in a
bit less starry eyed vision. It's done in a video starring Will Ferrell.
It comes at the fourteen minute mark on this
video clip
VIDEOS......
The I Want You are a group with clever ideas. Their
video for "Darkside" is about the evil thoughts of bandmates that lead
to….murder. The band says: "Sure, creating music with people is usually
a good time. But what happens when the drummer won't stop playing loudly...
when the guitarist is tuning endlessly... when the bassist presents
a bass - with too many strings?!?!?" The video clicks like a fine low
budget horror show.
RADIO......
WMBR/Late
Risers Club are having their yearly fund raising starting on
Thursday November 7 to November 13. We have always been thrilled that
such a prestigious place like MIT houses WMBR with the Late
Risers, Lost and Found and Breakfast of Champions
etc.
This year all donations are done online at WMBR.org.
You can direct your donation to specific shows and DJ's. They'll have
some very good 'premiums' for donations. The trick is to get in there
early and scoop up the good stuff. It's hard to believe how long the
Late Risers Club have been doing punk. We don't take it for granted.
Stephen Fredette plays a lot these days at the Midway
Residency of Martin, Morell and Fredette . On A
Crash Course for the Ravers show of 10/19 he was a guest along
with Dave Thomas of the group Pony
that Fredette was also in. Thomas was also part of The Irresponsibles.
Fredette reviews his band history and then plays along with Thomas for
some in-studio songs. Thomas and Fredette are starting up a new band
relationship.
In the show they played one of Fredette's groups, the amazing
Scruffy the Cat, with "Oldest Fire in the World". We have the
interview and studio songs embedded below.
A Crash Course for the Ravers show is on WMFO 91.5 FM on Saturdays
at 1pm. After that got to the WMFO
schedule page Hit the A Crash Course for the Ravers show on 1pm
on Saturday, then hit the 'archive' button.
Skybar had Abbie Barrett in for an interview. Abbie
outlines her early career and her backing musicians. Skybar was generous
with playing her recorded material. She also played a song live in the
studio. That naturally leads up to her current single "Freedumb" that
takes a stand on the political situation now. The song has Dana
Colley of Morphine on baritone and bass saxophone.
We were listening to David Greene on the Late Risers Club
when he played a song by the Welch group The Bug Club.
We heard them last June when David played a fun song titled "Quality
Pints" that we mentioned
back then. Since then they've put out the album On the Intricate
Workings of the System which includes "Quality Pints." It's a very
humorous take on everyday life.
"We Don't Care About That" lists the things they just care about and
suggests you shut up about it. "A Bit Like James Bond" hits the fantasy
that all males think they have some traits with 007. In "Actual Pain"
they get serious because they are in actual pain, don't you know? With
"Pop Single" they perform their version of a very commercial pop tune.
We're going to embed the song David played "Best Looking Strangers in
the Cemetery".
Another song that sounded different was "Washetebahn" by Cell/Borg
from Brooklyn. The sound is a combo of electronic/synth/surf/krautrock.
We like the synth and guitar balance. The rest of the album, on
Bandcamp, is much more electronic/synth oriented. Kraftwerk fans
- lend it your ears.
PODCASTS.........
Elastic Glam Show (11/25) started with one of our
fave T.Rex tunes "You Scare Me to Death". Then Sethyspice
played a row of local tunes: Count Zero's "Overthinking",
The Northern Line and "Lightning Strikes", Tell
playing "Owned", Jennifer Tefft and the Strange with
"Shoulda Known Better" and Little Billy Lost's "Dance
Angelina Dance". There was a fine glam throwback with Blackfoot
Sue and "Glitter Obituary". Another case of glam we have missed.
Then there were the Halloween tunes: Muse - "You Make Me Feel Like
It's Halloween", Tim Curry - "Sweet Transvestite", Lou Reed - "Halloween
Parade".
The 11/1 Electric Glam show started with a T Rex song
we didn't know, "Electric Slim and the Factory Hen" has some orchestration.
There was some boss new glam from Creem Circus, The Struts and
Bobbie Dazzle. The older classics came from Jinx, Sweet,
Mungo Jerry and Hello. There was room for the great "Rock and Roll"
by The Velvet Underground.
We know of new glammers Gyasi from Nashville from
the Electric Glam show. We see they have a new song "Sweet Thing" about
not being afraid to flaunt your individuality.
A lot of rock fans tend toward country music as they grow older. But
us, we like hardcore more and more. That makes Al Quint's Sonic
Overload a weekly destination. We've always had great hardcore
in Boston. On his 10/22 show Al starts his show with a Western Mass
band Yellow and their song "Red Yellow" from 2003.
We have that and three other songs embedded below. We liked the punk
feeling of "Desperate Housepunks" by The Ejaculators.
The Mad do the negative thing with "I Hate Music".
Band Gang vent fast and furious with "Dickhead".
On the 10/29 Sonic Overload show Al had loads of Halloween
sets. One began with a Boston band Broken Toys doing
"Smash Some Pumpkins". That was followed with Showcase Showdown,
who always can be depended on to buzz kill the holidays, with "The Only
Scary Thing About Halloween Is Your Fucking Face". We have those embedded
below along with a crazy hysterical garage rocker "Satan's Highway"
by Hookers.
Later Quint played locals Native Tongue and Moving
Targets. Then there was a punk set with Iggy Pop "I Gotta Right",
Dead Boys "I Won't Look Back", Patti Smith "Pumping" and Mink Deville
"Let Me Dream If I Want To".
You can hear the whole show on the
Sonic Overload web page
NEW MUSIC/CDs......
We thought "Stop Pushing Me" by Fatal Flaw was a superior
pop song. They've followed that up with "Enough," a pop song that seems
so light but actually is very substantive and ends up giving you a life
lesson and leaves your feelings uplifted.
The lyrics asks what does every billionaire lack that you have? The
answer is 'enough'. You can be satisfied with enough. The song makes
its point succinctly and glides along as the band uses all the rock
pop tricks they know.
The vocals catch the perfect tone and the harmonies fill the sonic space.
They get some power chord crunching going on that is alternately relieved
with some healthy bass pumping at some points. "Enough" has left us
with an optimistic glow, that is much needed these days.
We have the song on our Top
Ten Songs
Just looking at the cover of The Northern Line's digital
single "Lightning Strikes" you can see what this new Boston band is
aiming for - some Brit pop, Manchester Mod action.
The group is formed from members of Strangeways, The Daily Pravda, The
Luxury and Looking Glass War (they get around).
They are confident enough to make this single almost five minutes
long. By the time it's finished you've become accustomed to their sound
and that chorus starting with "band the drum" is a signature moment
you remember.
They also have time in the middle for a neat organ solo, the type you
don't hear much these days. At the end they let the guitar and drums
go loose. It's very satisfying and fantastic for a first effort.
We know they have more of this coming and we are all ears.
Shiverlane won us over big time with the three singles
that preceded their new album Sketches from the Departure
Lounge. "I Get Nervous", "Aeroplane Driver" and "Little
English Pleasures" revealed a rock pop group that had some off beat
takes on subjects and the musicial setting was quirky too. We ate it
up!
In a lot of ways they seem like a regular group but not really. They
do things the Shiverlane way and that makes everything different and
new. One thing is the voice. That lead singers' voice becomes very identifiable
and you come to love its character by the time you've taken in the album.
Check out songs "Hippie Bottom Girl", "Little English Pleasures" and
"Aeroplane Driver" for the voice. Where else can you get that?
They also like the bass a little higher in the mix than usual and that
works for us. They let themselves stretch at the end of some songs like
"Beat Skipper Wings" where the guitars pile up and then one piano note
repeats and "Bella Bereaver" where the drums stamp out an emphatic rhythm
not played during the song. The last song "The Kings List" takes a different
tack than the other songs here. The band sound is downplayed and the
vocals are the focus.
This is an album to love. We hope that this is just the beginning of
a long run with Shiverlane.
Diablogato takes you places on their new Snake
Oil Salvation six cut album. They take you to Heaven's
Gate, a Jet Black Night, a Lost Highway, a bend in the river, into the
unknown and then "anywhere and nowhere at all".
They always have spun a web of exotic influences and Snake Oil
Salvation does this better than ever. It takes five seconds of
the first song to get sucked in by the guitar sound. They mine rockabilly
and use it as a structure to add the mystery of primal elements. They
talk about 'sulfer, death and decay" and "between the flames." It feels
like a fire and brimstone sermon from a preacher in the Deep South.
Here, though, it seems very secular and real life driven.
Diablogato have defined the image of their group. It now has a power
that transcends the individual songs. On their "Lost Highway" video
they displayed their homage to David Lynch and that's the sort of complicated
mystery they strive for.
The Gypsy Moths have a new single "Heart to Heart".
It's about a rough break up. We've all been there and they capture that
feeling here. It has some good lines, like "if I had a heart to break
you could have really done some damage to me." It's a wonderful mix
of instruments, including horns. It was recorded at Ed's Barn
in Canton. We hear so many primo recordings come out of there.
We caught the new Stupidity single when it was the
first song on Skybar's Rising show. Sweden's Stupidity
was touring the states that week too. "Cold Cold Shoes" is actually
a Fleshtones song and Stupidity has the Fleshtones
singing background on their version. The song has a stomping beat a
la Fleshtones and it has a big sonic hit with full vocals and horns
kicking it all the way through. It even has a healthy howl at the two
minute mark. It's a super garage rave up.
We heard the new Oh The Humanity song on Skybar's
show this week 10/29. Oh The Humanity are one of the most hard hitting
groups out there. We've seen them live a few times, like in 2016
and 2017
and 2018
. They not only put out a righteous blast but also can lay bare some
emotional angst.
"Gutted" is the first single of the band's forthcoming album, Ground
To Dust, which will be released in early 2025 via Sell
The Heart Records.
The song is a mere two and half minutes but there's lot of words (we
want lyrics) and music jammed in there. The song is the usual raucous
and energetic roar at the beginning. At the one minute forty second
mark they have some twin guitar work which is one of their staples then
when the vocals come back they are in the screamo mode and the drums
are slamming hard. Most bands never get to a level like that. Super!
Weegee are a noise band from Brooklyn who have their
album Primitive Thrill coming out on Oct
31. They do have a primitive garage sound mixed with noise. They make
a grinding guitar scrunch that they make more listenable than you expect.
There's a little Velvet Underground stuff going on with the more modern
noise. This is based on the song "Spellbound" that they've released
from the album. Along with the noise the song lurches along like a wounded
animal.
We like their name. Weegee
is Phil'n Phlash's favorite photographer
The Discarded are from Ontario and have an unusual
line up - a father and two sons. They've played with The Sonics, Teenage
Head, and The Forgotten Rebels. Their a new album The Green
Door coming out on November 25. Their pre-released single
is "Testify". They remind us of the MC5 when they do
their testifying in the song. They plead, "Ok, brothers and sisters,
I want one minute of your time".
The guitars are very much MC5 too. There are no punk power chords going
on here. The savage drum beats at the beginning of the song tell you
everything. This is old school pre-punk hard rock. A real nice find.
The Eradicats from Kansas City, Missouri play a loose
lo-fi rock, skunk rock they call it. The Best in Show
EP has some laughs.
The song "Serious Medical Condition" sounds like us half the time.
"I think it's killing me" the singer complains. "No it isn't" the background
singers sensibly answer. "Frank and the Lighthouse" is basically about
getting up those steps.
In the $3.00 EP's last song titled "Our Last Song" they warn, "You're
not even gonna believe how short it is", as the song abruptly halts
at 23 seconds.
Wow, this first album is way beyond what you would expect from a new
group! The Joy Buzzer formed in 2021 are from NYC and
they are on Wicked Cool Records. The album Please to Meet You is a stream
of no fail pop gems. They have the knack. It just reeks of the Yellow
Pills collections .
The singing, playing and recording are so pitch perfect. The songs
seem to flow one after the other without a let down. They even get a
pop nugget with a title like "Try Not to Be an Asshole (for a Little
While)".
The album cover that redirects The ReplacementsPlease
to Meet Me is a brave move too.
Here's something way out there. This is a cover of "Institutionalized"
by Suicidal Tendencies by UK group Sonic Boom Six.
The music starts with dub, then to a ska beat, then it speeds up into
hardcore. The talk up is a polite female English voice. Instead of a
Pepsi the singer requests a "cup of tea, just a cup of tea". It's hilarious.
Hear it to believe it.
This is off an album called Masters of Trumpets that
has 11 hard rock/metal covers by ska, jazz and other unexpected genre
groups. Fun to search through for your favorite groups. Here's the
Bandcamp page for the album.
The Distained are a skate/hardcore group from Australia.
They are very good and they're high schoolers too!! They have serious
songs and they have silly songs. We are going to embed "Slamdanceathon".
It's a hardcore epic tale of John the "best slamdancer of the human
race," they claim. Check out the lyrics on the
Bandcamp page and then try some other songs.
If this is what high schoolers are doing nowadays, we have hope for
the future! Here's a video of the group live doing "Lynched"
.
Cavern's of Gold is a digital album whose profits all go to
help the flood victims in the Ashville area. The album is all various
artists and there are 278 songs…all for $10. Some artists we know are
REM, The Woggles and the Bo Deans.
There's a real nice one by Kevin Kenney, streaming
now. Get
the album on Bandcamp
Spun Out are from Detroit. They play synth pop on
their album Dream Noise. On the first song
"Paranoia" they get noisier than they do in the rest of it. There are
some big sweeps of distorted sound coupled with long cries of "paranoia".
It makes for a catchy song.
Oh man, this is funny. Last time we talked up Last Quokka
from Australia they were ranting on the
cost of living. This time they are "OTC", meaning On The Couch.
It seems like they've been working like dogs, and through breaks, and
not getting any respect. So now it's on the couch for them. And what
is a CEO anyway and what do they do except go to functions and give
each other 'wristies' under the table? It's half taking/ranting and
half singing with the punk rock background. The Aussies have it down.
The long lasting Fleshtones have a new album titled
It's Getting Late (and more songs about Werewolves) and it
has 13 cuts. Time has not slowed this band down. It's loaded with cheesy
organ fills and some sharp guitar solos by Keith Streng.
Some song titles: "Morphine Drip", "Big As My Balls", and "Come on
Everybody Getting High with You Baby Tonight". Iggy Pop has his Raw
Power the Fleshtones have their "Wah Wah Power". Our pick to click is
"The Consequences". Peter Zaremba has his moment digging
into the word "ramification" at the end.
We talked about the song "I Know the Future" by Montreal group The
Lookout. Now they have a whole album; I Know the
Future.
The group straddles the divide between punk and hard rock. All the
songs have attitude and the lead singer (Martha Rockhard)
knows how to deliver it. The songs are power chord driven. Guitar solos
are shorter and more restrained than usual for this type of music and
that's a good thing. What The Lookout does is make the songs more interesting.
"I Know the Future" is still a standout. We also like "Walk Away",
"Silvertrack" and "Hot Date".
Here's some good shows coming up .....
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 (WE'VE BEEN TOOLD THE DOORS CLOSE AT 7PM. THUS YOU SHOULD BE SURE TO GET EARLY TO GET IN) 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)Rebuilder, Fatal Flaw, and Man v Ghost at O'Brien's
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)
Hixxgiving at The Midway...with Black Clouds, HIXX,
Freeloader, Strangemen - 3PM Matinee
November 9, 2024 (Saturday) A charity show
for Marblehead SEPAC! with DEER TICK and Other Brother
Darryl at Abbot Hall in Marblehead - 7-11PM FB
page for tickets.
November 14, 2024 (Thursday)Linnea's Garden celebrate the release of their new EP, "Looking forward to the moment." also on the bill The Ghouls, CATWOLF, and goodkarma - at Deep Cuts Medford
November 15, 2024 (Friday) RumBar Records presents Rumsgiving with Vibeke Saugestad (Genuine Powerpop FROM NORWAY!Featuring Ken Fox -Fleshtones) on bass. ONLY AREA APPEARANCE! also on the bill The Shang Hi Los and Muck & The Mires - at Sally O'Brien's
November 15, 2024 (Friday)The
Rumours, The Downhauls, Yes Nanny (debut show, woo!) at Koto Salem.
November 16, 2024 (Saturday) Bootleg Dan
presents The Dowhauls, Midnight Creeps, The McGunks at Buttonwoods
Brewery. Cranston, RI.
FB page
November 16, 2024 (Saturday)Kal
Marks (Release Show!) Paper Lady, Black Beach at Deep Cuts, Medford
November 20, 2024 (Wednesday)Joy Buzzer (Album Release Celebration!)
7:30-9:30pm at Carroll Place , 157 Bleeker St, NYC. FREE. We review the Joy Buzzer album below in the New Music section.
This has it all - pure pop for now people, Bleeker St, NYC and FREE.
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
December 21, 2024 (Saturday)The Del Fuegos at The City Winery - TWO Shows 3PM and 7:30 PM TIX
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!