The BGN News Archive

The Dogumentary film at the Brattle Photo by Michele Meadows

Saturday night The Dogmatics, A Dogumentary played at the Boston International Film Festival at a sold out Brattle Theatre.

There couldn’t have been a better audience! It was fans and family members who knew the band. Everything on screen got a reaction. One longer music clip got an ovation like it was a live show.

There aren’t that many films about local bands like this. We hope it inspires other bands to do similar. The Dogmatics were lucky they had Rudy Childs, who has experience in band docs (see our recent Rudy interview here), and Jada Maxwell who knew the band’s story completely.

Blowfish was in the film ... a lot! He was there in film clips from 1984 at the band’s Thayer St loft and from a current interview specifically for the film. He was asked to join everyone associated with the film, up on stage, for questions from the audience after the showing. He was up there with all the Dogmatics, as well as the film makers and Tim Downie who was the band’s roadie and road manager.

Charlie’s Kitchen was the meeting spot for everyone before and after the film.

The film did so well at the box office that there's talk of having a Somerville Theater viewing this week. It's also at being shown at the Fallout Shelter in Norwood on May 25. The Dogamtics will perform after the film is shown! Here's the FB event page for that. And you can get tickets here.

Check the documentary website and the Dogmatics Facebook page.

Brian Young of Crash Course for the Ravers had a car accident this last week. He had a bang on the head and a sprained wrist (see photo at right). He is recovering He missed doing his show this week. It was a Crash Course for the DJ!

Another venue!!! Deep Cuts is located at 21 Main St., Medford. The club will focus on music, food and beer. The capacity is 240 people. They've teamed up with Get 2 The Gig Boston for shows.

Their Grand Opening show, is May 20 with bands we've covered regularly: Zip Tie Handcuffs, Black Beach, and Today Junior. Get TIX here! Here's the Deep Cuts website.

Other shows coming up are The Jacklights, Blame it On Whitman, Bad Idea USA, Pink Slip on April 29th and Death Valley Girls on June 10th. .

The Downhauls got attention with their slamming cover of Hazy Shade of Winter;” That song is a track from their forthcoming EP Scream Into the Void. We got an early listen and we can say that the three originals hit even harder than the “Hazy Shade of Winter” cover. The group has definitely gone up a notch. There’s a yell in the middle of “Don’t Care” that shows very much how they do care. The playing and arrangements are super charged and sharp. At the same time the group performance give the impression of barely contained energy.

They have a EP release show on Friday, May 19 at the Lizard Lounge. The Downhauls website

Kenne Highland was at the Mad Painter CD Release show (of course, he's in the band!) along with Johnny Plankton, The Stigmatics and The Thigh Scrapers at The Jungle last week. He talkasabout it in his Kenne Hghland at large column this week and has lots of fun photos of the bands and people who showed up by Kenne and Captain Easychord. Click to go to Kenne @ Large page.

The garage/psych collection Nuggets is turning 50 years old. This has got to be everyone’s fave collection. The man behind it, Lenny Kaye, is having two celebratory shows in July. One show in Los Angeles with members of The Chocolate Watchband, The Seeds, REM and The Three O'Clock.

Two New York shows will have Patti Smith, Bob Mould, Jesse Malin, Marshall Crenshaw, Ivan Julian, Peter Buck, James Mastro and local Juliana Hatfield.

More at the Brooklyn Vegan website

Geoffrey Palmer (Connection/Kurt Baker) suggested Nate Doyle as someone to check out. It's easy to see why Palmer likes him, he doesn’t sound too far from Palmer’s sound. We especially like the song “I’m A Mess”. That’s the first song you’ll hear on his Spotify page.

Michael Grecco is having his FIRST East Coast multi-media exhibition “Days of Punk” at the Anderson Yezerski Gallery in Boston’s SoWa Arts District. The opening reception on Friday, May 19, 5-9PM!

Chronicling when PUNK first exploded in the US, the show’s images span 1978-1991, and were captured almost entirely at venues in Boston.
Greco will give an Artist Talk on Saturday, May 20 at 1PM, at the Gallery, in conversation with former WBCN-FM Program Director and DJ Oedipus.

This is not the first time Greco and had a convo with Oedipus. You can read an pretty awesome Q&A on greco's blog here (with a lot of great photos too of course!

And were we speaking of punk rock history? well we are now...again....

This week we have Johnny D's Allston Closing Night Installment #NINE from Bob Martel - Ten bands and Bill Tupper as MC....those were the days folks and these are never heard before audio recordings of Johnny D's closing night! Let this be a history of Boston punk for you if you were not there!!

The ninth band was 9th band: Prime Movers (featuring Cam Ackland, Dennis McCarthy) - Listen here.

For some visuals here is the BGN photo coverage of Johnny D's closing night and the BGN coverage of the 2010 Johnny D's Reunion at Church.

VIDEOS......

The Godfathers of Hardcore is a documentary about New York’s Agnostic Front. At the beginning they get right in and focus on the two main guys Roger Miret and Vinnie Stigma, the film gets wrapped up in Stigma. He’s a real New York character and every scene with him is lively and entertaining.

Later they tell Roger’s story. He lives for hardcore but life has demands too. Roger is torn from his family with all his touring, and he feels guilty because of it. Roger also did a stint in prison for position of cocaine. His childhood was a nightmare with child abuse by his father and finally his mother shooting his father. Then he has a heart attack.

All this is more than you expect. It’s not just a band/music story.

You get lots of short clips of music, but no complete songs. For a while they talk up the hardcore scene itself and a little about the New York scene in the Lower East Side.

RADIO......

Key of Caustic were on Skybar’s Rising show this last week. The band was created during the Covid shutdown. We’ve been impressed with their line of singles. Skybar played four of them so you get an idea of their punk sound. This is all leading up to an album this year.

Skybar also played the brand new “Snake Charmer” by Sapling. They use the traditional tune from the “Snake Charmer” which is clever. We have a link to it below in our New Music section (scroll down!).

This Tuesday Skybar has Todd Erickson who was in Shake The Faith and is now in Holy Smoke. That’s the group that covered the Cars’ “Bye Bye Love”

To hear Skybar’s Rising show listen Tuesday at 8pm at 91.5 FM or go to the WMFO schedule page and hit Rising on Tuesday at 8 pm and then hit the archive button.

Tuesday’s Late Risers Club was veteran DJ day. This week it was Tim Kelly’s turn. He played a song by The Dahmers. We linked to a Dahmers song before called “The Ghost of Roy Orbison”. Tim played “Bats Need Friends Too”. It’s a mere 1:16 but it has a classic bouncy punk sound like The Rezillos.

He followed with a strong set after that with The Darts, Dan Webb and the Spiders, Kepi Ghoulie (doing Ramones), Ramones, The Reducers ("Out of Step” – so good – the bass!) and The Voodoo Dolls.

Tim had a new song by Gossip Collar. Who’s that you ask? That’s Tom and Victoria from Spitzz. This new project is both garage and goth. We have “I See Shadows” lined up to play because it shows their goth-y side. Tim played “Shallow Eyes”.

Tim capped it off with “Old World” by Jonathan Richmond from 2008.

The hear Tim’s whole show go to the WMBR Archive page and hit the link on the Tuesday 10am show for Feb 25.

PODCASTS.........

The very dependable Blowing Smoke with Twisted Rico interviewed Bootleg Dan this week. Dan got a higher profile when he started booking for Red on Red Records. True to his name Dan passed on some bootleg CD’s to Steev. They get carried away with the Classic Rock shows they both saw for a while.
Dan started listening to rock in 1964 with the Beatles like a lot of people of that generation.

Dan said that the idea of distribution for Red on Red records didn’t work like they thought and he has since has focused on booking bands from the label especially out of town. Dan is also booking Mach Bell gigs. He’s got a small East Coast tour with The Chelsea Curve. Another band he is helping is the Len Price Three.

We interviewed Dan in March. You can read that here.

We came across this podcast called Dig Me Out that had a show discussing the Moving Targets 1991 album Fall.

They both praise and criticize the album. The best thing is just hearing three people discuss the ins and outs of the album for close to an hour.

NEW MUSIC/CDs......

“Snake Charmer” by Sapling is the latest single released of the forthcoming Amor Fati album. The song has all low… very low tones ... and fuzzed up at that. They use the traditional tune of the “Snake Charmer” which is clever. The lyrics are titillating in a French postcard sort of way.

It’s been too long since the last new material from Justine and the Unclean. We think “Scorpion Bowl” from February 2021 was the last release. This week we got “The Chasm” from the group. We're getting the old kick by hearing Justine’s voice, then Charles Hanson cutting out a section with a guitar solo. The group sounds like they are having a ball. The blurb on Bandcamp mentions the Who and indeed the instruments are bashing it out like the Who in their heyday.

More good news is that this is from a forthcoming album titled The Signal Light coming out in June. The recording was done at Woolly Mammoth.

Even the artwork is of interest. Stephen Fredette did it ... and Steve Prygoda did the graphic design.

After a few preliminary singles Answerman now have the whole Black Light Poster album out. They are mostly garage rock sounding. We sort of got that from the singles but with the album it’s even more obvious. They join a long line of Boston bands that have had this sound. We can even imagine JJ Rassler of DMZ playing some of these guitar lines, like in “Prophet” and “BKND”.

The guitars have a thick heavy tone and they easily lay down a layer with that. They make sure they inject some energy and keep things simple and that works for them. The lyrics are thoughtful rather than the obvious and lighter fare of older garage.

The more we listened the more we enjoyed those garage vibes. “Jenny” was a song that hit a spot that doesn’t often get reached these days. “The Trick” is a successful change of pace song. Using some acoustic guitars they get a thoughtful moody feel.

We want to hear and see more of Answerman in the future!!

We were stunned how good Blame It On Whitman’s new EP is. We saw their first show in July 2017. Their last album was actually a big step up. They were arranging and the songwriting was up a few steps on that from their demos.

This EP starts with “Marigold” a flower associated with the sun and warmth. The songs seem to celebrate a relationship. The guitar has a few clear toned notes at the beginning and there is a full band with heavy drums as voices increasingly intertwine and swirl around until they diminish and it feels like you are in a daydream as angelic voices take over and fill the song and then slowly recede. This whole song is quite unlike anything anyone is doing. It’s an artistic statement more than anything. It’s not just an idea, it’s also fully realized.

“Pack of Smokes” has another unusual construction. The band plays full volume for the first 30 seconds. The vocals have an emo tinge to them. Then things get softer. There’s some synth and a clarinet line. The vocals get airy. Then it’s instrumental for two minutes which we would describe as impressionistic.

“Carry On” is about a drunken night. The tone is sad. The lyric “take your drunk ass home” comes across as a memory that is shameful. They capture this human tragedy to the point that it seems like a mini play.

After you’ve been softened up by “Carry On”, the next song “Easy in the Spring” stars quietly with some chiming guitar and rolling bass. This builds up and you get some emo vocals that pine for the warmth of spring. This is a more straight forward song but still has the emotional punch of the others.

Where did all this come from? We don’t know but surely this sort of work will impress people. This sort of talent goes places, it seems to us. Blame It On Whitman are playing around, we would suggest catching a show. They are opening at the Off With Their Heads' 20th Anniversary Party at The Sinclair on May 15th. TIX and at Deep Cuts in Medford on July 29th. (Check out the gig listings by scrolling down!)

Come continue the rereleases of their catalog. Now it’s Near Life Experience from 1996 ... with three bonus tracks. You can order the album via Bandcamp

Listen to the first cut of the album “Hurricane” blow. It sounds monumental.

Rum Bar has been on a Rockabilly kick lately. They have a nice selection of the acts on a sampler titled Las Vegas Roundup.

We went right for Shanda & the Howlers because of the commanding vocals by Shanda Cisneros. The choppy chord action at the beginning sounds like a progression the Lyres would pump out, then some cutting guitar and sax action. They got it all cooking.

Also on the Roundup is Angela Tini, Mozzy Dee, Jittery Jack (with Amy Griffin) and The Raging Teens. The five cut EP is here.

We have Shanda & the Howlers’ “Want You Anyway” keyed up to play below.

There’s more good material from Woolly Mammoth this week with Huck 2’s new song “Star” which was recorded there.

“Star” tells the tale of striving for fame that seems obviously doomed. They know how to effectively deliver the mood. They do it in 2:43 and it seems to go by even faster.

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

May 1, 2023 (Monday) Mill Pond Falls, Norris The Terrible, Modern Day Idols, Jim Healey at The Silhouette

May 4, 2023 (Thursday) D-Tension & the Secrets and Reality Alley This is a double record release party - early show from 8pm to 10pm FREE at the Warp and Weft in Lowell.

May 5, 2023 (Friday) The Midnight Devils, Hammered Saint, The Mighty Suicide Squirrels, Warthog (Ramones Tribute) at Sammy's Patio in Revere. FB event page.

May 5, 2023 (Friday) Dentist, Salem Wolves, and Strange Pains - Faces Brewing, Malden, MA

May 5, 2023 (Friday) Midnight Creeps at Dusk, Providence RI

May 5, 2023 (Friday) Township and Stars Like Ours at The Burren - 7PM FB page.

May 6, 2023 (Saturday) Randy Black & The Heathcroppers have a First Saturday of Every Month 4-6PM residency at Plough & Stars

May 6, 2023 (Saturday) One Fall, The Chelsea Curve, Ruin The Nite, with special guest Eddie Japan for the Rock & Roll Rumble Finals at Sonia FB event page.

May 6, 2023 (Saturday) Dark Spring Boston Festival at The Middle East Down - line up coming - FB page.

May 6, 2023 (Saturday) Cathedral Ceilings, Hilken Mancini Band, Lupo Citta at The Midway - 8PM

May 6, 2023 (Saturday) Doc Hopper, Mikey Erg, Charmed & Strange, and Nate Doyle at Faces in Malden

May 6, 2023 (Saturday) Alexander, Tuxis Giant, Housefires & Al Z (Tatooine Punk Scene) at Fields West, Allston

May 6, 2023 (Saturday) The Fleshtones, Country Westerns, and Liquor Store at Askew, Providence, RI

May 7, 2023 (Sunday) The Fleshtones are at City Winery TIX

May 7, 2023 (Sunday) Speed Fossil special guests Guided by Choices and Falsely Accused at The Worthen House Attic, 4-7pm.

May 10, 2023 (Wednesday) theWorst, Baabes at O'Brien's

May 10, 2023 (Wednesday) The White Bear Principle, FEEP, Nightvisions at The Silhouette

May 12, 2023 (Friday) Dreamwell and Amitie at The Cantab Underground.

May 12, 2023 (Friday) Key of Caustic, Burp. Museum Direktors and Hammered Saint at The Warp & Weft in Lowell (197 Market St) -music at 9PM - FREE

May 12, 2023 (Friday) MOD NITE with The Sharp Class (UK); Chelsea Curve, Tiger Bomb, Muck & The Mires, DJ Sherman at Geno's Portland, ME- FB page

May 13, 2023 (Saturday) State of the Union is on A Crash Course for the Ravers on WMFO - here's a link!

May 13, 2023 (Saturday) Somerville PorchFest!! Crow Follow, Linnea's Garden, Happy Little Clouds 4-6PM at 32 Stone Ave. FB page. Porchfest website

May 13, 2023 (Saturday) Somerville PorchFest!! The Black Souls 4-6 PM at 33 Adrian St ...and right around the corner...

May 13, 2023 (Saturday) Somerville PorchFest!! Alenka, Sly Fang, Common Disaster, Hammerd Saint at 14 Lincoln Parkway 3:30 PM start. FB event page.

May 13, 2023 (Saturday) Condition Baker, The Grimly Pleased, The Grommets, The Grubs at The Midway - 3PM Matinee.

May 13, 2023 (Saturday) Muck and The Mires, The Chelsea Curve, Sharp Class, Tiger Bomb at The Jungle - FB page

May 13, 2023 (Saturday) Answerman, Phantom Ocean, Black Hatch, The Endorphins at The Midway - 8PM

May 13, 2023 (Saturday) Kepi Ghoulie with his best lineups ever! Bface on bass and Atom Bomb on drums and also Brad Marino, and The Jacklights at Faces, Malden - TIX

May 13, 2023 (Saturday) The Hold Steady, Dinosaur Jr. with special guest Come at Roadrunner 7PM - FB page.

May 15, 2023 (Monday) Luxury Deathtrap, Summercult, Hands of Spite, Dropbear at The Silhouette

May 17, 2023 (Wednesday) KCUF, Tatooine Punk Scene, Hall Monitor, Superdown (acoustic) at The Silhouette

May 17, 2023 (Wednesday) Micah Schnabel, Vanessa Jean Speckman, Time & Place, Squallie Greenthumb at Faces in Malden

May 19, 2023 (Friday) Opening Reception for Michael Greco's multi media exhibit “Days of Punk” at the Anderson Yezerski Gallery in Boston’s SoWa Arts District. 5-9PM. The show runs runs through June 17.

May 19, 2023 (Friday) The Downhauls EP Release! at The Lizard Lounge - more info to come on the FB page.

May 19, 2023 (Friday) Wreckless Wreck Chords Presents The Return Of TREE w/ WORM, Old North End(O.N.E), Goon Platoon at The C Note Hull

May 20, 2023 (Saturday) Kermit's Finger, Jonee Earthquake Band, Charmed & Strange, The McCritters at The Midway for a matinee @ 3:00pm

May 20, 2023 (Saturday) Radio Knives, Dead On Sunday, Llynks, Bullpup at The Midway 8PM FB page

May 20, 2023 (Saturday) Mach Bell Experience, The Claws (L.A.), Girl With a Hawk at The Square Root 8PM

May 20, 2023 (Saturday) Midnight Creeps at Ralph's Rock Diner Worcester

May 22, 2023 (Monday) Strawberry Coffin, Adapter Adapter, Blue Manic, Rougarou at The Silhouette

May 24, 2023 (Wednesday) Doom Lover, Thrust Club, Daphne Blue Underground, Really Great at The Silhouette

May 25, 2023 (Thursday) C.E. Skidmore & The Damn Fine Band (and friends) Mike Frazier, Jared Hart, and Miketon Graton at Faces in Malden

May 27, 2023 (Saturday) Highway Chapel, Nymphidels, Happy Little Clouds, Johnny Plankton and the Sea Monkeys of Sole at The Midway for a matinee @ 3PM.

May 28, 2023 (Sunday) Boston Vinyl & Variety - at Fields West Allston, LOADS of record stores, vinyl vendors and other vendors like Wanna Hear It Records, Ancient Injury Records, Kitty Levesque Vintage, Black Mold Market, Archie Snow, Gonzo Sonic, Judge Amps - Amp Demo Table, Period Three Records - Lathe Record Cutting and for the Merch Swap - Leave An Item Take An Item - 5-10PM - FREE but RSVP here

May 30, 2023 (Tuesday) Louzy, Trash Rabbit. North By North, Wild Velvet at The Midway

June 1, 2023 (Thursday) Gretchen Shea and The Middle Eight, Detroit Rebellion, Stubborn Hearts at Notch Brighton FREE but RSVP here and bring some shelf stable food to donate.

June 2, 2023 (Friday) Justine & The Unclean, Barrence Whitfield & His All-Star Band, Spiller at Faces in Malden TIX

June 2 & 3, 2023 (Friday/Saturday) Southbridge Mass will have its moment with the Alt_Together Festival! (Southbridge is between Worcester and Springfield) Friday’s bands are: Remy, Gold Star Boulovard, Mattias Band, Back in 86', Gx42, Saturday’s bands are: Lurid Purple Flowers, Evil Felipe, Circus Trees, Bobby for Apples and Whalom Park. FB page Tickets are here

June 3, 2023 (Saturday) Eddie Japan, Magen Tracy & The Missed Connections, Carissa Johnson at Faces in Malden. FB page.

June 3, 2023 (Saturday) Mach Bell Experience, Joe Hart Band at Magic Room

June 8, 2023 (Thursday) Tysk Tysk Task, PiNKLIDS, Trash Rabbit at Notch Brighton FREE but RSVP here and bring some shelf stable food to donate.

June 8, 2023 (Thursday) Done, WOJTEK (FL), Headfoam (FL), Constantly Terrified, Psychic Weight at O'Brien's Allston

June 8, 2023 (Thursday) SkyTigers, Between Skies Perennial Quest ay Faces Malden

June 11, 2023 (Sunday) The Thigh Scrapers, Classic Ruins, The Ballbusters, Loretta at The Midway for a 3PM Matinee show.

June 15, 2023 (Thursday) Chris Wagner (Modern Day Idols) solo show at the Natick Common, Natick. Set time: 5-7pm.

June 15, 2023 (Thursday) Modern Day Idols, Tad Overbaugh and the Late Arrivals, If We Go At All at The Central Tavern, Milford.

June 19, 2023 (Monday) Dropbear, No / Nations, Weatherless, Not Bad Not Well at The Silhouette

June 21, 2023 (Wednesday) Lupo Citta, Valley of Weights, Nat Freedberg at The Silhouette

June 21, 2023 (Wednesday) The Rippers Rage (Rage Against The Machine Tribute), Rawstrum, The Melted Chapstix at The Midway

June 24, 2023 (Saturday) SkyTigers, Loud Love, Dave Strong Band, Coffin Salesman (stripped down), The Zombie Mafia at The Midway for a 3PM Matinee

June 26, 2023 (Monday) Gretchen Shea And The Middle Eight, Salem Wolves, Luxury Deathtrap at The Silhouette

June 26, 2023 (Monday) The Murder Junkies 30 Year GG Deathaversary Tour (Playing a full set of all old GG songs) with local lineup Psycho, Midnight Creeps, Scümbari - At Alchemy, Provi, RI Doors 7pm Music 7:30pm - FB page.

June 29, 2023 (Thursday) Bad Idea USA, Pink Slip, The Jacklights, Blame It On Whitman at Deep Cuts, Medford.

July 1, 2023 (Saturday) The Crank-Tones at The Midway for a 3PM Matinee

July 16, 2023 (Sunday) Holy Smoke, Little Billy Lost, Shiverlane at The Midway 3PM Matinee

July 21, 2023 (Friday) Midnight Creeps, Hammered Saint, Sourpunch at The Midway

July 22, 2023 (Saturday) Blame it on Whitman, Jerrys Got Jokes, SleepJumper, Dear Maryanne - at The Midway 3PM Matinee

July 22, 2023 (Saturday) The Lemon Drop Gang EP release with The Dogmatics, The New Frustrations at The New World Tavern Plymouth MA. Facebook page

July 29, 2023 (Saturday) Color Killer at The Square Root

August 5, 2023 (Saturday) Crown Court, Violent Way, Oil!, Klaxon, Doc Marten Soundsystem at The Midway - 8PM

August 8, 2023 (Friday) Modern Day Idols at Exhibit A Brewing, Framingham. 7-9PM

August 19 & 20, 2023 (Sat & Sun) In Between Days Festival - 2 Stages, 2 Days, 24 bands ... and Cool Vintage and Local Market Place, Vinyl Record Pop Up Shop, Food, Modest Mouse , Weakened Friends, Paper Tigers, Clarissa Johnson, Dutch Tulips and the South Shore’s own Gypsy Moths. You'll want to get your tickets now because they have a ‘tier’ system. They have some "tier" ticket scheme so the longer you wait the higher the ticket prices are. FB page

August 25, 2023 (Friday) Bone Up Brewing Seventh Anniversary Festival Night 2 - 6pm -10PM with The Guilloteenagers, Blood Lightning, Lesser Glow

August 25, 2023 (Friday) Mach Bell Experience, The Cynz (NYC) at Back Room at the Burren

August 26, 2023 (Saturday) Bone Up Brewing Seventh Anniversary Festival Day 3 12:30pm- 10PM with from 1st to last: DnA's Evolution, Glacier, Sundrifter, Clouds Taste Satanic, North Star the Wanderer, SkyTigers (6PM), Brain Famine

August 27, 2023 (Sunday) Bone Up Brewing Seventh Anniversary Festival Day 4 - 12:30pm - 7PM - with Weisstronauts, Organ Meats, Hobo Wizard, Cortez, Major Stars, Crowfeeder

September 3, 2023 (Sunday) Belvedere at Faces Malden

October 11, 2023 (Wednesday) The Mission UK & The Chameleons: Deja Vu Tour 2022 Rescheduled to 2023!!! also on the bill Theatre of Hate

October 26, 2023 (Thursday) Mudhoney at The Brighton Music Hall 18+ TIX

November 3, 2023 (Friday) Modern Day Idols Single Release Party with Tad Overbaugh and the Late Arrivals at Square Root, Roslindale.

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.