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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 include voiceovers 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.

More of the story can be found on The Brooklyn Vegan

BOOKS......

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.

Barile’s talk is part of a program called Revolutionary Music: Music for Social Change. Looking at the wide ranging line up we think it’s fantastic that punk got in there.

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

See the Miracle Blood Bandcamp page to order the album in CD and viny.

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.

This is the place to get your hardcore fix.

You can hear the whole show on the Sonic Overload web page

NEW MUSIC/CDs......

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!

Here’s “He’s Not the One” from Zoom Breakup on Bandcamp

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 the 210 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.com Send us your gig listings, your anything else you've got!! You want your CD reviewed?? Contact us for that too.