The BGN News Archive

The Del Fuegos reunion

It’s another year in the history books. One Fall won the 2023 Rumble at Sonia on Saturday. Congrats to this exciting new band.

The beauty of the Rumble is that it comes with prizes that help the band move along with their career. We look forward to some more recordings. Even though they didn’t win The Chelsea Curve got lots of attention, as did the other bands in the contest. That’s what makes the whole thing such a positive affair. Rumble FB page.

It was just a year ago in May when the big Channel 42nd Anniversary show at Roadrunner, featuring a Del Fuegos reunion, was canceled at the last minute. Everyone was shocked and Dan Zanes showed his anger on some Facebook posts. They said at the time they were working on rescheduling the show. (You can read about that here)

Now a year later no Channel Anniversary show but there is a Del Fuegos Reunion. It’s July 15 in East Bridgewater at the Commercial Club (off Rt 18). The band was excited to do that show a year ago and now they get to do their thing in their own way. Here's the FB event page and the Eventbrite page to purchase tix. It's an outdoors event too!

Were you fans of Victoria and Tom in Spitzz? We were and ... we've missed them. Well, they are at it again with Gossip Collar. This time it's Victoria on guitar/vocals, Tom on guitar/makes noises, and Megan Conroy, who has played in bands with Victoria previously, on drums. Gossip Collar is little darker, more post punk than their previous bands Showcase Showdown, Spitzz, and Secret Hearts ...but that sounds great to us!

Their first show is scheduled for Monday, June 19th at State Park with Alijca Pop (from Memphis) and Daughter of the Vine. Here is their Bandcamp page.

Roger Miller of Mission of Burma has been teaching guitar lessons for years. Now he is doing it via Skype. This would be great for just getting the inside info on how he plays some of those MOB songs.

The lessons are based on an individual’s interests and are All-Ages. Miller has coached a 9 year-old into writing songs, some of which were quite epic. He says: “I am very interested in helping musicians write songs, create riffs, whatever their interest. Everyone has a natural ability to do this, and I love bringing it into the world.”
You can read more and sign up on his website

Michael Greco 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! Here's the link.

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 FREE but you must register (here)

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 the final Johnny D's Allston Closing Night Installment - It's #TEN - 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 tenth bands were: 10th band and last straw: The Dogmatics, Piranah Bros. (swinging from the ceiling), and Doug (who'd had enough) - listen to it 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.

OK what else is going' on out there?.....

Siouxsie Sioux wrapped up her first show in a decade in Brussels. She did mostly Banshees songs. Brooklyn Vegan has more of the rundown with the complete set list along with some videos of the show.

Joanie Lindstrom gives us another vacation report. This time it’s Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In Frankfurt she saw the original Ratskeller (see right) and she caught a show by the Stranglers. There’s many a record store, bar, cocktail and gig along the rest of the trip. The old European cities are awe inspiring and this is a vacation one would want to duplicate.

Hit this link for Joanie’s Germany/Austria/Switzerland

This is a fair review of the new The Damned album Darkadelic. It's by Adrian Hextall and they talk about the songs specifically and put the album in perspective with the bands history. Read it all on the Global Mind website.

While the King of England gets his crown, Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols fame will be playing London’s 100 Club. He'll be singing “God Save the Queen” but of course this time it will be “God Save the King.” Glen says he’s having a hard time trying to get a good rhyme for ‘king’.... and that he won't be watching the Coronation ceremony.

Read more about it on the Guardian

Meanwhile a current English group, Throwing Stuff, from Manchester, has a new anti-monarchy song for this generation. “No God, No King” sounds angry enough. Hear it below.

More about this on the Punktuation magazine

We got a good lead on a new group from Joey Barron ex of The Drunk Nuns. Skating Polly is two sisters from Oklahoma (and a drummer). They've been together since 2009 and have their sixth album coming out. This video, should capture your interest It's from a live set but sounds good enough for a record release to us. The group has their own colorful country look and a riot grrrl sound a lot of the time.

Skating Polly will be at the Middle East Up on July 2. Tix here.

Meanwhile Joey has taken up ukulele. He has a YouTube channel where he pumps out uked-up punk cover songs mixed with originals that have some biting social criticism in them. This guy is unique!!

BOOKS......

Thurston Moore's memoir, Sonic Life, will be published on October 24. It focuses on Sonic Youth and how his early life led him to NYC and forming the group. We remember Sonic Youth playing Storyville many years ago!

The book's almost 500 pages long. You can get a signed copy preordered here Read more about it here

The SSD book How Much Art Can You Take is coming out soon! You can finally get a gander at it on the SSD Facebook page. It’s got many Phil n Phlash photos and some essays. It will be ready for presale very soon so check out the SSD merch page where you can pre-order.

And then there's Scream Therapy: A Punk Journey through Mental Health. It's by author, podcaster and lifelong punk fan Jason Schreurs. He shares how punk rock saved his life and the lives of many others by finding like minded people and a community through punk. "Scream Therapy champions the importance of creativity, identity, and wellness in a world that needs it now more than ever. The book challenges readers to find their own creative communities and the catharsis they provide. Punk musicians, advocates, activists, and fans present the subculture as a model for stronger support networks and a healthier, more empathic world. Meanwhile, psychiatrists, counsellors, and health practitioners—all with punk backgrounds—explore alternatives to traditional mental health approaches and treatments."

You can order the book here.

VIDEOS......

Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk is a two and a half hour 2018 documentary spans over 30 years of the California Bay Area’s punk music history with a central focus on the emergence of Berkeley's inspiring 924 Gilman Street music collective. Directed by Corbett Redford, narrated by Iggy Pop and executive produced by Green Day, it spans 30 years of the East Bay history.

They cover Tim Yohannan and Maximun RocknRoll. There are tons of band clips and photos. They tell the story of many local characters that you would never know about unless you were there. The end of the film gets wrapped up in the Green Day story.

Rancid, who is in the documentary above because they played Gilman St club, have a new album, their tenth, poised for release on June 2 on Epitaph Records.

They have two videos of songs from that album. One is the title track song “Tomorrow Never Comes,” That’ above left. We are even more enamored with the other song/video released “Don’t Make Me Do It.” It's shorter, at just a minute in length. There’s a lot of repetition of the song title which sticks in your head and makes it catchy. The music is busy and gets you pumped up. That song/video is above and to the right.

More about the album with a list of songs at the Alternative Press website

One Fall won the Rumble Saturday night. Their video of “Rats Abandon Ship” got by us four months ago. This is such a dynamite band! No mystery why they won. They play with power but it never usurps the song. It always seems that the song and the arrangement are there first. That’s very plain in this video.

Also came out a month ago – Color Killer covering Drivin N Cryin’s song “Keys to Me.” They got a message from Drivin N Cryin themselves on Facebook. The band posted “This is awesome. Who are you?”

Color Killer does a great job on this.

RADIO......

Skybar‘s Rising show had Todd Erickson from Holy Smoke in for an interview. It turned out to be a very thoughtful interview. Erickson has a good perspective on his days with Shake the Faith.

To listen to that show go to the WMFO Schedule page and The Rising show at 8pm Tuesday then hit the archive button.

We keep hearing about the UK group The Len Price 3.

Joanie Lindstrom began her show with their song “Chinese Burn” this last Thursday. That’s all the convincing we needed. Hear that song below.

And we liked everything we read in this interview with the band on the Blood Makes Noise website . It includes a 14 song streaming playlist that is dynamite. It’s got MC5, Stooges, Clash, Who, Chuck Berry and “She Does It Right” by Dr. Feelgood. They are hoping to get to the US, and Boston, later this year. We hope so too!

Joanie followed The Len Price 3 with The Downhauls super new “Spit the Poison Out” from their upcoming release Scream Into The Void (which you can pre-order here). And The Downhauls have their CD Release at The Lizard Lounge May 19th (TIX!!)

To hear Joanie’s whole show go to the WMBR Archive page and hit the link on the Thursday 10am show for May

Still healing from his car accident Brian Young still made his A Crash Course for the Ravers show on Saturday with Mach Bell as a guest. They played a few Thundertrain songs. Mach talks about how he turned down the job with Joe Perry at first, but changed his mind pretty fast.

Mach sang some live songs. One medley included Bolan and Bowie.

To listen to that show go to the archive version by going to the WMFO Shedule page and hitting A Crash Course for the Ravers at 1pm Saturday then hit the archive button.

PODCASTS.........

Blowing Smoke with Twisted Rico has a punk legend Gregg Turner of the Angry Samoans in the studio to talk.

We knew Greg in the early punk days with his work in the magazine Back Door Man. He also worked for Creem magazine.

He relates the origin of the band's name. The Angry Samoans had a song titled “They Saved Hitler’s Cock” we always wondered if they had heard the Unnatural Axe’s song and took the hint form that. Steeve asked. It turns out no, Greg said they got the idea from the same movie the Axe did, They Saved Hitler’s Brain. Greg said he never knew about the Axe song until Steeve asked him in the interview!

Another Boston story was when a blond headed fan brought them to a relative’s apartment to watch Reanimator. That fan was Evan Dando.

Gregg has solo work that's very different from the Samoans material. His song “I Dreamed I Saw Lou Reed Last Night” sounds, maybe not surprisingly, like the Velvet Underground. Here it is on YouTube

NEW MUSIC/CDs......

The Downhauls' EP Scream Into the Void can now be preordered on Bandcamp.

Right now they have one song you can hear. “Spit the Poison Out” will give you a good idea about how this EP rocks out. This band is just unrelentingly cranking.

The Family Township’s sound is early 70’s and pre punk. They do it very well. The writing and recording are spot on. The group is now on Red on Red.

Always check out The BGN Top Ten

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

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 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 - 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) Gossip Collar (Tom & Victoria from Spitzz), Alijca Pop (from Memphis) and Daughter of the Vine at State Park.

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 23, 2023 (Friday) Baabes, ESH & the Isolations, Goon Platoon, Ruffian Dick, Turn Heel at O'Brien's

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 9, 2023 (Saturday) The Zip-Ups, Cold Expectations, Glow Box at The Worthen Attic 4-7PM Matinee

July 15, 2023 (Saturday) The Grip Weeds, Fling. American Ocelot at The Square Root - FB page

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 23, 2023 (Sunday) Cro-Mags (Performing Best Wishes), The Long Wait, Klaxon, Face First, S.A.C at Alchemy in Providence RI

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 5, 2023 (Saturday) Huck 2, Alabaster Sons, Bobby Oakes and TV Models, Getaway Moon, Daisy at The Midway Cafe for a Matinee Show.

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

September 10, 2023 (Sunday) Huck2 Album Release Party! With special guests Key of Caustic, Motel Black, and Acrylic Killers at , The Middle East UP Doors at 5:30PM

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.

December 8, 2023 (Friday) Huck 2, Gretchen Shae and The Middle Eight and Key of Caustic at Koto Underground, Salem

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.