The BGN News Archive

Ricky Carmel RIP on the left.

Wayne Maestri on left.

Sadly, We've lost two early members of our scene this past week.

Ricky "Little Man" Carmel of the Lyres and The Last Ones died this week in FT. Meyers, Florida. Ricky was there with us early! In the days of Cantone's and earlier!

Rick Coraccio remembers Ricky: "In the autumn of 1971 my girlfriend Diane informed me that her nephew Ricky was looking for a guitar player for his band. I threw my Fender Duo-Sonic in my old MGB and headed out for the wilds of Natick. In the musty basement of the Carmel family home I met the band.

John Felice and his white Gibson SG, Paul Murphy behind his tiny kluged together drum kit that included an old music stand to hold up his ride cymbal, and Bassist Ernie Brooks borrowed from The Modern Lovers to help with the audition. Thirteen year old Ricky sang a few songs from a group I've never heard of with a funny name: The Stooges. John sang a few songs from another band I've never heard of: The Velvet Underground.

Well the audition went well enough and we played a few gigs, but Ernie had to go back to his band and the guys strongly suggested that I should take up bass guitar. When I agreed they pulled out a used Dan Armstrong which they had apparently procured in anticipation of my willingness.

And so it began. I am what I am today because of Ricky Carmel. Later he became a good enough guitarist to be in the Lyres, and then in The Last Ones along with his brothers Dean and Darren. I'll never forget him. Sure, he had his demons but fuck it, I had 'em too. We all did, and in a way it defines us. See ya on the other side Little Man, we'll rock out." Here is his obituary from his family.

and

Wayne Maestri, founding member of the F.U.s and The Straw Dogs died in Maine from cancer. (Fuck cancer!) There's been an wicked outpouring of love for Wayne on social media. He was in bands that changed peoples lives. We didn't know Wayne personally but I remember him always smiling and ready for any gig.

Here's his obit from his girlfriend (Lisa from Facebook): "Wayne Maestri passed away this morning at 7am. For the last 20 years, Wayne was my rock and my family. I came to Maine straight off the streets of Boston with nothing and no family. Very quickly we became each other’s family and inside of a month moved in together. He was a constant in my life. Even as everything else changed including our relationship, he was there and he was solid. Wayne had so much integrity and empathy. ...

Wayne was a fiercely private person. For the last year he had been fighting stage 4 cancer and we’ve been doing treatments hoping for as much time as possible. Only one or two other people knew. It was a personal decision he made, likely because he was always so afraid to be a burden of any kind. He felt as though there were bigger things in this world to help than him.

I’m grateful I was able to be with him this last year. We had a couple of great holidays together this year but after that there was a fast decline. He passed peacefully this morning. It was a well deserved rest. He will be missed and loved, he will be thought about every day. I know his loss will be felt by so many people and I’m so sorry for everyone also. If you have pictures or stories please share them." - Lisa

And now to the other news.....O'Brien’s is adding matinee shows to their line up! It’s part of a renewed community reach. The new matinee shows are done in cooperation with Get To The Gig Boston. They will be once a month, they will open the room early and have brand new bands play the first sets of the night. To submit your band to this new program go here. To see who's playing check the O'Brien's website and our gig listings below.

The Dropkick Murphys are getting a lot of attention these days and politics is a main cause. Ken makes that point on the Daily Show interview he had on December 4 last year (Here it is on YouTube.)

Then last week Michael Fanone, a Capitol Hill police officer, had a confrontation in a senate hearing and was wearing a Dropkick Murphy’s shirt. That scene was broadcast everywhere for days.
The Murphys have pointed to their 2025 song “Who Will Stand With Us” as the song that resonates the most now. About the new Dropkick Murphy’s album and tour. There are some Boston shows on the tour and several are already sold out. Check availability on the Dropkick Murphy website. Dropkick Murphys Instagram and Facebook page

Happy Birthday John Lydon. His 70th was January 31. Jim Sullivan (ex of the Boston Globe) has a write up with some insights on his Facebook page. Miss Lyn saw a live interview with Lydon in NYC in 2019 at the Museum of Art and Design. She summarizes the interview and we have embedded videos of the interview on that page. John talked about the Sex Pistols freely and gave some short opinions of fellow punk bands. Lydon may be difficult and plainly obnoxious at times but he and his bands changed our lives!!

Mach Bell really is the “consummate entertainer” (quoting Thomas Nelson on a Facebook post). On Thursday January 22 he announced the nominees for the 6th Annual Cowboy Awards. Those will be held on March 15. Our award win in 2020 remains the only award we ever received in the history of the BGN. We’re in there this year for Top Media Event for going biweekly….stop the presses! Here’s the video version of the announcement ceremony.

The Heavy Culture Cooperative is a club in Easthampton, MA. They have a lineup of serious rocking bands for those out in Western Mass. Here’s their Insta and Facebook pages Two examples are Astral Bitch playing March 13 and Miracle Blood March 14 Read more about the space here. Check below in Gig Listings for FB links etc

Uncle Floyd (Floyd Vivino) died this week. If you know you know. For some of us he was the odd ball gem we loved to catch as often as we could on his The Uncle Floyd Show (1974–1998) on UHF stations. The Ramones and Smithereens were guests. David Bowie was a fan! You can catch the shows on The Uncle Floyd Show YouTube channel.

VIDEOS......

Bastard Leg has a video of a live set done at the Bieber Archives in Norwood on January 17. Bastard Leg has Joe Packard on bass. All Joe’s bands have been loud punk and that’s what this is.

The video is a great calling card. They show how together the band is. There’s a sense of momentum as the set goes on. You can see and hear how they get deeper into the groove and pump up the energy song by song. We love that white Mosrite shaped guitar they have. What brand is that?

The Spackles have a video for “Second Time Around” off their latest EP Music For Blockheads. The full quote “Love is better the second time around” may not be true in this song/video. There are a lot of odd happenings here. There always is with The Spackles.

The video is black and white and retro looking which matches the 1960’s film clips that Mike and Andrea Howlett have spliced in the storyline. We found ourselves singing the chorus to this song days after hearing it. The cutting guitar tone in the song is in all three songs of the EP.

The whole group sounds more straight ahead rocking to us these days. We like all the songs. They are all a quick two minutes each. Hear the EP on Bandcamp.

You are going to hear about Marc Valentine. He’s British, on Wicked Cool Records and he writes some power poppy, rocky tunes that are hard to deny. He now has a video for his song “NY UAP”. UAP stands for Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena – flying saucers, etc.

It’s directed by Danny Garcia who did films on Sid Vicious, Stiv Baters and directed Nightclubbing, the documentary about Max’s Kansas City. This video has a mix of a live performance and some NYC street scenes, both are colorful. The song has a strong groove and crunchy guitars and to top it off a whirly organ.

Semi-Famous is a band led by John Jughead from Screeching Weasel. Not Sorry is the second album by Semi-Famous, originally a fictional group in Jughead’s novel Weasels in a Box. Their first album had a song written by Jay Prozac. The video for the leading single “The Betrayal B4” is done comic book style. It has lots of color and a simple story that has good plot twists in it. The song is pop punk as you would expect.

Evan Dando was on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight show on Tuesday 1/20. He performed two songs. The first was “Roky” which was dedicated to Roky Erickson which was very cool. It was appropriately fuzz laden. The second song was the popular “Drug Buddy” (1992). There’s an interview that we got via Sterogum (their page on the Fallon/Lemonheads show ) where you get a good sense of Dando talking in real life. If you go to the Lemonheads Facebook page you can see a loose and sweaty set by the group at Lucinda’s in NYC.

There’s a lot of worthy Canadian groups showing up on our radar these days. Chronic Fatigue (Vancouver) is the latest. Their debut album is coming out later this year. It took us a minute to digest what the band was doing in the video for the song “Chronic Fatigue”. First we thought they were hardcore but when you listen to the beginning you can hear a very identifiable four chord garage pattern. The band does get into the hardcore but that chord sequence is what rules the song and the way the vocals are tucked into it is cool too. In the second half of the song they sort of give into the chords and have fun for a minute.

RADIO......

Joanie Lindstrom does some interesting theme shows. Last week 1/29 she did a show where she plays a band that she saw that had a memorable live show. She starts with two shows she saw at The Underground (Bauhaus/Au Pairs). It’s a wide variety of clubs but no Rat. Joanie used to live across from the Rat and went there many times, but it's not on the list this time around.

We love just looking at the list, that alone tells a story of Boston punk, with Limbo Race at Storyville, Thrills at Cantones, Peter Dayton at Inn Square Men’s Bar and La Peste at The Space. You can check out the playlist here. We were at a few shows Joanie lists like The Whore Moans at the Midway and DMZ at Church and The Outlets at the Baseball Tavern. Joanie played “I’ll Be the Heartbreaker” by Thrills. Here it is on YouTube. It’s been too long since we’ve heard that song. We forgot it was four minutes long. Also it was a reminder to hear Unsane again.

The show had a solid line up of punk songs along with the memories. To hear Joanie’s Late Risers Show go to the WMBR archive page . Hit the LRC show for 1/29.

PODCASTS......

After The Elastic Glam’s traditional T. Rex opener (this time “Telegram Sam”) DJ Sethyspice played the Jeff Tweedy song “Lou Read Was My Babysitter”. It’s a heartfelt salute to Lou that Tweedy had on last year’s Twilight Override triple album. Later Sethyspice played The Velvet Underground’s “Pale Blue Eyes”. We couldn’t find much about this new glam artist Caro but we like the song “Street Tough Doll”. Here it is on YouTube. Oh Daisy doing “Guillotine” was another glam good one. Here it is on Bandcamp. Throwback glammers were Slade’s “Take Me Bak Ome” and The Sweet’s “Ballroom Blitz”.

On the 1/30 Elastic Glam show Sethyspice gave some time to long time glam artist Michael Des Barres. The occasion for this is the release of the new song “Kiss or Kill Me” by Des Barres on Rum Bar Records. That led to songs by Des Barres former glam groups Silverhead (“Hello New York”) and Detective (“Recognition”). Plenty new glam acts like SilverGlam, Kat Robichaud, Voltz and Rodger Wodehouse along with classics from Suzi Quatro and Kicks round out the show.

Al Quint started his 1/19 Sonic Overload show with a set in memory of Wayne Maestri the bass player of the FU’s and Straw Dogs.
Al played a set of post punk groups like Essential Logic and Swell Maps. We were taken by the song “Ba-Ba” by Spread Joy from Chicago. The bass is amazing on this, both the bass line and the recording. The bass is so pronounced. Another surprise, the song was from 2021 but sounded fine amidst the older material. We have it below.

One set began with a 40 year old cut of Soul Asylum titled “Whoa”. It’s nice to remember how punk they were initially. Then the set got local with Salem 66 (“Shimmery Fish”), Uzi (“Criminal Mind”) and Kudgel (“15 Second Crush”). A nice finish was “Sit On My Face Stevie Nicks” by the Rotters. That was an outrageous song from 1978. The group was from just outside LA. They tell their story here. Here's the song on YouTube. Or hey, listen to the whole Sonic Overload. The 1/19 show is packed with great hardcore!!

Early on in Sonic Overload 1/26 podcast Al Quint played “Master Plan” by Whyte Lipstick. They are a young Boston garage punk group. They have a spirit that reminds us of the early punks. You can hear their two albums on their Bandcamp page.

Another local song was “Sinners” by HellDog from 2025. We went to Bandcamp and listened to their January 2026 release. This group has a thunderous hardcore sound. The ground must quake when they play live. Below we have the song “One of Them” to give you a dose of their sound.

There was an early punk set with the Tights (British) doing “Howard Hughes” , Elvis Costello doing “No Action” and Joe Jackson “I Got Time”. There was so much choice material on the show but we’re going to just give you one more example. This is “Boxed In” by Boston hardcore group Feeble Minds. We love the frantic air about the song and the repeated cries of ”boxed in” which give a sense of panic.

You can hear the Sonic Overload shows on the web blog. Al has logged all the shows since 2009.

NEW MUSIC/CD’s ......

The Bags are at full creative mode in their second return to the stage. We are bonkers for the current release “The Creature”. The song is immediately engaging. It has a very traditional melody and structure. There’s a neat tone on a guitar doing short arpeggios and then a dynamite solo. The lyrics can be understood as The Creature being a fear that is finally overcome. That is nice message we take inspiration from it.

This is from the upcoming album The Bags Go Deep. Go to The Bags Bandcamp page and listen to the last six songs posted that look like they will all be on the album. They were all recorded at Woolly Mammoth with David Minehan. We have it on our Top Ten Songs.

Warf Cat Records has pushed out some publicity for their LaPeste anthology I Don't Know Right From Wrong: Lost La Peste 1976-1979 Vol. 1 coming out on April 17. They've released the second song “Acid Test” to streaming on Bandcamp. We have that below. The song was recorded by Ric Ocasec in 1979.

They have also shown the extras that will be available. They say: “I Don’t Know Right From Wrong tells the full story of La Peste with a presentation of their unreleased studio recordings, demos and the two tracks that were officially released during the band’s run. The accompanying book features tons of newly uncovered photos, a long-form essay by music journalist Andy Cush & micro-essays (by many local musicians)”

The album will be available in CD and 2 vinyl records with one version including a pin and poster. See the Bandcamp page to preorder all this.

Great. Now, 45 years wasn’t too long to wait, was it?

Cape Crush have been around since at least 2023 but they got a boost of attention because they are signed to Knyvet publicity – see how that works? Their new single “Calm & Delivered” is in advance of their first album Place Memory which will be released on May 1.

The song fits the power emo description they give it. It sounds positive and upbeat but the lyrics get into some personal issues that sound complicated and not all positive. The sonic envelope of the recording is rich and varied. The guitars have the perfect pop crunch but in other spots they chirp and cut sweet riffs. The vocals float on top and bob melodically all the way. It’s all so well done. It’s obvious we are going to hear a lot from Cape Crush in the future.

There’s a video on YouTube. The sound quality was better on Bandcamp.

It’s been two years since a release by locals Black Beach. They now give us an eight cut album Mail Thief on Bandcamp. One song, “Broken Glass” is streaming now. It’s a dark sounding song almost like a David Lynch soundtrack. It has surf and goth sounds going. The bass is mixed high and really rules the song. We found ourselves drawn into the darkness.
The album will be released on March 20.

Hedge are a trio from Worcester, MA. They play hard punk with pop overtones. It’s a combo we like. They have a six song album out - Freeze Frame High Five. If the one streaming song “Hey Dude” is any indication, this is a killer album. It’s got hooks, riffs and twists. We have to wait to March 27 to have the album released. We’ll live off “Hey Dude” till then.

Rum Bar Records has single with a story. They've released “I Can’t Pretend” by Gene Champagne. The song was originally done by The Barracudas in 1981. It was covered by Canada’s Teenage Head in 1985. Gene Champagne who drummed for Teenage Head is taking another swing at the song.

You can hear how Teenage Head beefed up the song. You can also hear how Gene takes the Teenage Head arrangement and makes it work better with up to date recording tech. In Gene’s version the bass has punch missing in the other versions. The vocals are tight and the drumming brings everything together. Teenage Head takes the slide guitar in the original, which you can hardly notice, and makes it a feature and Champagne has smartly kept that.

In the end it becomes a typical Rum Bar release with the straight ahead rocking sound that marks the label’s groups.

Rob Moss has done the opposite of his usual working routine. Rather than have his band add a guest to every song he's gone solo. Rob plays all the instruments and did all the recording and mixing on “And The Lies Go Round”. The chorus has a clever vocal hook. We like what sounds like multi-tracked guitars after the chorus. It has a charming warm sound to it.

Redd Kross and the Hard-Ons have a split six song EP. It’s simply titled Redd Kross/Hard-Ons. The three Redd Kross songs are acoustic. The Hard-Ons are plugged in. You can order the EP on Bandcamp. The whole EP will be released on February 27. The streaming songs you can hear below.

Sharp Pins are from Chicago. They played the Armory in Somerville last week. They have an appealing jangly pop style. It’s coupled with a garage style and a not too refined recording that gives everything a throwback feel. The songs are melodic sixties affairs.

Their current album, Balloons Balloons Balloons has 21 cuts. They never play too fast or raw and they are not afraid to go slow with the ballads. All this makes it ideal to hear the whole album at once. Skybar played “Takes Too Long” on his Rising show on 1/27. We have it embedded below. That song starts with Who like drums and is upbeat.
To hear the whole album and their previous albums go to their Bandcamp page.

Jaquero is an emo group from Italy. “Hold Me Close” hits hard and the emo vocal do their job adding the tension. It has big guitar and drum sound. It is less than two minutes long which caught us off guard.

We loved the overall sound and hti repeat a few times. “Monday” is the other side of the digital single. It is less frantic than “Hold Me Close “ and has an easy song structure and they rely on the melody and quiet emotion to carry the song. If you like emo this is very good. We have “Hold Me Close” below. You can hear “Monday” on YouTube.

Bearings from Canada has been together since 2017. They have four albums. Their latest is Comfort Company. They're a young band comparably and as such the songs deal with working things out. There’s an emo feeling to the singing. We like the song “Feel Less”. Dealing with a down feeling brings the music to a place we relate to. We like the chorus with the lyrics, “feel less, depressed”.

Here's some good shows coming up .....

February 2, 2026 (Monday) Weatherless, Rain House, Literally Nobody, School at The Silhouette Lounge

February 2, 2026 (Monday) Discontent, Can’t Lose, Unhinged, Bullzeye at O'Brien's

February 5, 2026 (Thursday) Sparks the Rescue, 5ever, Megan From Work at O'Brien's

February 6, 2026 (Friday) Sparks the Rescue, We Demand Parachutes, Borderlines at O'Brien's

February 7, 2026 (Saturday) My Indie Valentine Market at Warehouse XI - it's a juried indie makers market centered on shopping small and buying local for Valentine’s Day, featuring locally handmade goods—art, jewelry, ceramics, candles, body care, textiles, artisanal chocolates, hand-illustrated cards & more. No imports. No mass production. Just thoughtful, handmade work by New England makers. 11AM - 4PM Union Square Somerville - FB page.

February 7, 2026 (Saturday) Muck and The Mires, White Dynamite, Sonic Bomb, The Humanoids, We Own Land At Sonia’s, Cambridge Doors at 7pm. 18+ $20 Show will be shot by Sonic Lobotomy TV. FB page

February 7, 2026 (Saturday) Book Release party for Fenway Punk: How a Boston Indie Label Scored Big on Baseball's Greatest Rivalry! Come learn about how friends from the Boston hardcore punk scene cashed in on the rivalry between the Red Sox and the New York Yankees, bankrolling the Bridge Nine label, launching Sully's Brand, and funding albums by bands like American Nightmare, Terror, Have Heart, Death Before Dishonor, and so many more. At, you guessed it Bridge Nine Records in Beverly! 7PM - FB page

February 7, 2026 (Saturday) DEVA, Charmed and Strange, The Jacklights, TELL at The Midway

February 7, 2026 (Saturday) The Grownup Noise, Happy Little Clouds, Josh Gondelman at Deep Cuts, Medford

February 7, 2026 (Saturday) Restraining Order, COA, Peace Test, Can't Lose, Price of Redemption at Alchemy, Providence, RI Matinee show 2-6

February 8, 2026 (Sunday)  Yeah, it's Super Bowl Sunday night, but the afternoon belongs to Boston Hassle's Anti-valentine Flea Market. Lots of bands- Osis, Doug Tuttle, Silent Spring, Noise Nomads and more!! .   https://www.instagram.com/_hasslefleamarket/?hl=en

February 8, 2026 (Sunday) Shit-Faced, The Erections, Who Killed Spikey Jacket?, Uniformed Service, Phantom Rider Middle East UP TIX

February 8, 2026 (Sunday) Restraining Order, Colin of Arabia, Peace Test, Can't Lose at Alchemy, Providence, RI  this is a 2PM matinee show.

February 11, 2026 (Wednesday) TREE, Sky Tigers, Hell Beach at Deep Cuts, Medford FB page

February 13, 2026 (Friday) Rockin Bob Punk Band, TJ Welch and The Wasted, Still Sedated at O'Brien's

February 14, 2026 (Saturday) American Ocelot, Happy Little Clouds, Girl With A Hawk, Galaxy Cake at The Middle East Up.

February 14, 2026 (Saturday) Spiller, Diablogato, 99 Shots at  Deep Cuts, Medford

February 14, 2026 (Saturday) Gwello, Musclecah, Ruffian Dick, The Deadlines at The Raven Worcester FB page

February 18, 2026 (Thursday) The Haymakers, Bob Cenci's Orange Guitar at The Lizard Lounge Cambridge - FB page.

February 20, 2026 (Friday) Lux Lives East Coast 2026 Featuring: The Evil Streaks, Gossip Collar, Cryin Caleb, DJ Kogar the Swinging Ape playing Lux and Ivy's Favorites all night long at Faces Brewing Co. FB page

February 21, 2026 (Saturday) KCUF, Oh The Humanity!, Leisure Boys, CE Skidmore at Faces Malden

February 21, 2026 (Saturday) Worshipper, Zip-Tie Handcuffs, Gossip Collar, Bastard Leg at Deep Cuts

February 21, 2026 (Saturday)Inplainsight, Dowsing Rod, Evil Felipe, Horrendous Downplay at O'Brien's

February 28, 2026 (Saturday) Osis, At The Hands of Man, Mussel Time at The Jungle TIX

February 28, 2026 (Saturday) North Shore Hard Core with Born Cursed, Tension Scale, Billy From Boston, Latch - at The Lafayette Club Amesbury, MA - FB page.

March 7, 2026 (Saturday) TREE, Catching Hell, Beantown Boozehounds, Hammered Saint at O'Brien's

March 13, 2026 (Friday) Lover of Eve, Carissa Johnson & The Cure-Alls, blindspot, Joshua Sweet at The Middle East Up

March 13, 2026 (Friday) Astral Bitch, Shazbot, The Entire Earth at The Heavy Culture Coop North Hampton MA - FB page

March 14, 2026 (Saturday) Plymouth Punk Rock Mini Pop Up Market at Barrel House Z ! vinyl records, housewares, accessories, handmade jewelry, oddities, vintage goods & clothing. Weird stuff for weird people. Craft beer, all ages, no cover. FB page

March 14, 2026 (Saturday) The Cretins, The Instamatics, Shepards, Charmed and Strange at The Midway

March 14, 2026 (Saturday) Miracle Blood, Sexless Marriage, Woundlicker at The Heavy Culture Coop North Hampton MA FB page

March 19, 2026 (Thursday) Celebrity Sighting, Nice Guy,/ Whyte Lipstick, Merry Merry at O'Brien's

March 19, 2026 (Thursday) The Len Price 3, The Chelsea Curve, Stars Like Ours and DJ Sherman at The Stone Church Music Club, New Market NH. FB page

March 20, 2026 (Friday) Angry Samoans at The Middle East Up FB page

March 20, 2026 (Friday) The Len Price 3, The Chelsea Curve, Muck & the Mires, Pop! at Deep Cuts, Medford, MA FB page

March 21, 2026 (Saturday) The Bags and Trinary System are at The Crystal Ballroom. TIX

March 28, 2026 (Saturday) Lyres, Dogmatics, The Downhauls at Deep Cuts, Medford, 7-11PM NOTE: $25ADV / $30DOS / 18+ Promoters profits will be donated to the fund to help the Lyres fund to pay for Chemo therapy - FB Page

April 3, 2026 (Friday) Osis, Tension Scale, Static Friction at Moon Base1 in Salem, MA, 24 New Derby St.  https://www.moon-ns.org/. 

April 11, 2026 (Saturday) Blood For Blood, Skinhead, COA, Neolithic - All Ages, $30, 7:00 PM - Middle East SORRY SOLD OUT

April 11, 2026 (Saturday) Spackles, Jay Allen and the Archcriminals, The Mesos at The Square Root

April 17, 2026 (Friday) Slamdinistas One night only at the Square Root with  Sado Domestics- FB page

May 2 & 3, 2026 (Saturday & Sunday) The Oddities & Curiosities Expo Boston -Hynes Convention Center- 900 Boylston St, Boston- 10AM - 5PM - the world's largest traveling oddities event showcasing hand selected vendors, dealers, artists and small businesses with all things weird. You'll find items such as: taxidermy, preserved specimens, original artwork, horror/halloween inspired pieces, antiques, handcrafted oddities, quack medical devices, creepy clothing, odd jewelry, skulls/bones, funeral collectibles & much more. We truly have something weird for everyone at our shows. All items you see at our shows are legal to own and sustainably sourced. Outside of our curated vendors, we host sideshow performers on stage all throughout the day. Check the Website and FB page for more info and TIX

May 9, 2026 (Saturday) Whyte Lipstick, Puke Pisstols, The Lithophones (ex-spits ex-Tampoffs) at The Square Root.

CONTACT US AT....misslynbgn@yahoo.com