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The BGN News Archive
There’s usually not a lot of crossover between punk and the World Cup. One notable exception was O’Brien’s which had viewing parties during the June (11-19) matches. They bragged Cheep Beer, No Cover and Big Screen. The city fell in love with the Scottish fans, they are everywhere! That prompted Decibel Dennis (McDonald) to array his ancestral tartan dress (Clan Ranald of MacDonald) on a trip to downtown Boston. Here’s a sports related item closer to Boston Punk: The Dogmatics, Spiller, and Fur Coat Judy are playing the Rock and Roll Hockey Fundraiser in Rockland on Saturday June 27 from 1 to 5pm. . The Facebook event page is here. VIDEOS......
If you have a fear of snakes (ophidiophobia) you might not want to look at this video for Hambone Skinny’s “Rattlesnakin’ Shake” it’s rife with snakes. It’s been a while since their last release. “Rattlesnakin’ Shake” puts them further into the backwoods of the Allston bayou than ever. It takes no time at all for the video to give you vibes from mojo territory. It reminds you of all the movies you’ve seen including the Sinners that mine the atmosphere of those places. The video mimics grainy film stock and old faded colors. Hambone Skinny
do their part by just playing. Their minimalist slide blues playing
has never been more mesmerizing.
Noise band Miracle Blood have been on the road since they released their Hello Hell album, thus their video for “Wasteland” has a lot of shots of them traversing their road trip. The group says that the song is about consumerism so it also makes sense. The shots of the band eating have been reversed, but they are not too graphic. Wasteland” was recorded at the same time as Hello Hell but was left off the album. The Bandcamp version of the song hits harder than the YouTube soundtrack. Go to Bandcamp to hear that.
Oglio Records is rereleasing Kurt Bakers’ Got It Covered album from 2010 on vinyl. That was Kurt’s first solo album. The video ads some filters and tricks to jazz up the original 2010 video for “Hanging On the Telephone” featuring Kay Hanley (Letters to Cleo). People call it a Blondie tune and we all know it’s by The Nerves. Get the other great tunes on this: We “Let Me Out”(The Knack), “Pump It Up”, “I’ve Done Everything For You” (Rick Springfield), “Is She Really Going Out With Him?”, “Cruel To Be Kind” and “Turning Japanese” . Get an autographed copy here.
The “Born to Break Even” video takes a fun idea and skates with it. Doghouse Rose is a skate punk band from Toronto on Stomp Records. Hand puppets get a work out on an elaborate mini skate park. The tune tells the sorry life of a sad sack who has everything go
wrong but does ‘break even’ in the end. They get their nuts
crunched and break their leg (finger) in a bad fall. All is rosey as
they get a hands up from Tony ‘Hand’ Hawk. It’s lots
of fun with the song thundering along.
The video for The Cowboys (from Bloomington, Indiana) song “Donzell’s Crystal Ball” is an easy way to check out the group. The other way is dive into the 19 cut album Captain Easy’s Downfall. The video shows their humor on top of their psych and garage style. A lot sounds like Sgt. Pepper’s era Beatles, meaning the arrangements get a lot of attention. There’s a lot to like here. Very much worth checking out especially if you like the ornate psych. Hear the album on Bandcamp. RADIO......
He started his own band The Runes. Their song “Can’t Be Wrong” got a lot of airplay. Hotel Saturn now does a version of it. Shel says all the old Runes material will be released again at some point. This was a good catch up for Shel’s history. We have the interview below. You can hear the Hotel Saturn album on Bandcamp.
Things are getting complicated at WMFO. A few shows, like Mike on the Mic and Skybar’s Rising are being simulcast on Bumble Bee Radio.
You get a lot of Wormtown history with these guys who are responsible for a ton of music through the years. There were some good Lyres stories. This interview was to talk up the Swamp Roots who are beginning to gig. They'll have an album out this summer. You get to hear a few songs previewed on the show. The song “Looking Back” was a stunner. It has a bluesy swampy backdrop with a sophisticated vocal performance by Artie that raises it to a higher level. Swamp Roots is playing Pinecroft Dairy West Boyleston on June 27. The Facebook event page.
The Mike on the Mic show is on WMFO 91.5 FM on Saturdays at 9 to 11am. To listen to past shows go to the WMFO webpage and hit the show listing on Saturday at 7am and then hit ‘archive’ for date. Joanie Lindstrom played a must hear garage fuzzer from the Gruesomes on her Late Risers Club show on 6/11. The Montreal band played the Burren last week with Muck and the Mires. “Je Cherche” is from a collection put out in 2003 titled Gruesomology 1985-89.
To hear Joanie’s Late Risers Show go to the WMBR archive page . Hit the LRC show for 1/29. PODCASTS...... Steev Ricardo had WMFO DJ Mike Newman (who we talk about above) on for an interview on Blowing Smoke with Twisted Rico. You get Mikes’ background. He was a music fan from a very early age. Mike has an outrageous story of meeting Elton John. Then Mike and Steev trade their Top Ten albums from the 70s.
Joel has been in many bands – 40 says Steev. Joel was in Smuggler a band that opened for Bon Jovi. He has a good story with that show. He worked himself into the sound engineer part of the music scene. He worked with the Dresden Dolls and Big Dipper among others.
There was an old school set that was neat with DOA, Minor Threat, Black Flag and Dag Nasty. That first Dag Nasty album Can I Say was released 40 years ago. We liked Sneer from England doing “Brain Dead”. We liked the constant refrain of “television, television”.
We also got stuck on Dean Dirg from Germany. They're hardcore but have a punk edge to them, especially in the guitars. Their album Raus from 2008 is 14 cuts of speedy core. We have the cut that Al played embedded “Be Smart Be Quick”. You can hear the whole album on their Bandcamp page. Quint had an extra set this show in memory of Henk Smit of Kangaroo Records. There were 18 songs from his Kangaroo Records catalog. You can hear the Sonic Overload shows on the web blog. Al has logged all the shows since 2009. NEW MUSIC/CD's .....
Stop Calling Me Frank have been very busy these last few years, both recording and gigging. After 40 years the band is having its day and they got there staying true to the character of their group. They've kept their unique sound through it all. Another lucky charm the band has is that they have always been able to capture their sound and appealing way in recordings while other bands struggle. Their latest album is Miles To Go. They have 10 songs on the album. Many are songs that were in their repertoire years ago but have been newly recorded. Three are newly written as far as we know. Last BGN we talked about “My Baby Is So Socially Distant”.
“Irritant” is a short beef about an obnoxious artist. We
say that because they list the cost of their past catalog as a complaint.
We love that the first line in the album is on their song “Good
Enough” from last year quotes Bob Dylan’s “Highway
61 Revisited”. The traditional “Whiskey in the Jar” is maybe the best moment of all. The arrangement is a slow builder and the sax riff is solid gold and they nail the whole atmosphere of the song. They feel so secure that they didn’t include “MB Anthem”, their song of praise for Market Basket, in the album. That’s confidence.
Nat Freedberg seems always to be in the song making frame of mind. His latest song is under the Freeloader name. The group has the A-liners: Charles Hansen, John Sheeran and Jim Janota. Nat sings “Sweet Jesus” with his familiar wry tone. He’s telling the bad crap about how things are and they’ll never be any better. He seems more annoyed than you’ll ever be and we wouldn’t have it any other way. The digital single cover image – The Shroud of Turin!
J Prozac is another prolific artist. He writes songs like most of us breathe. His current release is a split with Chicago’s Space Age Zeros. On “Digging Holes” Jay does his pop punk thing, but unlike most who bang out a short ripper, Jay arranges his material. You hear a piano plinking out some emphasis and the back ground vocals are not simple, they are a whole scored matter in themselves. The guitar solo is not a filler but a pre-planned effort. Even the lyrics elevate things where they say they “are looking for eternal light.” On his other song “Chemical Romance” Jay surprises again. This time it’s a pop punker done with an acoustic guitar background. How does that work? Just fine it turns out. Jay’s melodicism always is the heart of this songs and that’s the case here. It’s a charming love song. We have Prozac’s side of the split below. To hear the Space Age Zeros side go their Bandcamp page.
Pop masters Glowbox do up Wings’ “Junior Farm”. It’s a lot of fun and a sonic pleasure. The sound comes bounding out of the speakers. It must have taken time to nail all the ins and outs of this. This was done in conjunction of with a full set of Paul McCartney material done at the Magic Room in Norwood (6/19).
We liked these two songs (“H/A/C/K” and “Floating Here for Years”) from Among Legends (from Waterloo, Ontario) that are pre-released from their album Lose My Grip coming out on July 10. The music is hard, fast and lean. The bottom end of bass and drums is rumbling like an avalanche. It’s so prominent that it might detract you from the lyrics ...and they are plentiful. They generally seem to talk about getting a grip on life situations. Their Bandcamp page. We played the song over and over just to get that excitement from the rush of sound. What must they sound like live? They name check Bad Religion and The Alkaline Trio as sound alike groups. They have a video for “Floating Here For Years” but we are not going to link it because we think it detracts from the power of the audio alone. Gee, we’ve never said that before.
The Lolas are from Birmingham, AL. We love all their releases. “Leave Me Alone” is a simple tune by their standard but it has their appealing pop sound. It’s chiming and charming.
The Question were a Mod band from the mid-eighties in LA. They are slowly rereleasing their albums. We had a review of the last one Getting Through a month ago. I’m So Glad is a four song EP. The songs are mod for sure but they also have their own identity. There’s a quiet pop craft along with the mod ecstasy. You can hear the group’s spirit in the tunes. We’re suitably impressed. LA was lucky to have this group around.
Here's some good shows coming up ....
June 23, 2026 (Tuesday) Bounce House, Puke Pisstols and Snax on Wax spinning records before the show and between sets all night long. at Deep Cuts Medford June 24, 2026 (Wednesday) Contracharge, Cartridge, The Blind, D.O.D at O'Brien's June 24, 2026 (Wednesday) Leftöver Crack, sadplant, Doll's Head, DUIs at Alchemy Providence RI FB page. June 25, 2026 (Thursday) Linnea’s Garden, TIFFY, The Lookout Honeys, Indoor Friends at O'Brien's June 25, 2026 (Thursday) Nekromantix, Diablogato, The Rumours at Alchemy Provi RI FB page. June 26, 2026 (Friday) The McGunks, M.O.T.O, C.O.B at The Midway June 27, 2026 (Saturday) Silver Screams, Still Sedated, Past Life Crisis at The Jungle - this is a 4PM MATINEE (Miss Lyn's Retirement Party!! YAY!!)
June 27, 2026 (Saturday) Actor Observer, Godseyes, Nailed Shut, Fracture Type, Neverless AM at Hardcore Stadium (the Cambridge Elks Lodge) doors at 7pm - Tickets are door only - Lineup is stacked, show will be packed, so best get there early!! June 27, 2026 (Saturday) Badterms, The Downhauls, Farewell Drugs at The Ugly Mug Diner, Salem June 27, 2026 (Saturday) Swamp Roots is playing Pinecroft Dairy West Boyleston. The Facebook event page. June 27, 2026 (Saturday) Ceremony East Coast, Gossip Collar, Proles, Find a Better Body at The Parlour, Prov RI June 28, 2026 (Sunday) Weird Nightmare, Today Junior -at Deep Cuts Medford, June 28, 2026 (Sunday) Miracle Blood, Conan Neutron, The Freqs, Dwelley at The Middle East UP - 7:30PM
July 4, 2026 (Saturday) Scurvy Dog Parking Lot Mega Show you know, wi9th a ton of awesome bands!! check out the FB page. July 10, 2026 (Friday) Cape Crush Record Release Show! with One Fall and Good June at Deep Cuts - FB page. July 11, 2026 (Saturday) Vinto Van Go (Chicago), Smitt E. Smitty & The Fezztones, Galaxy Cake , Mad Painter at The Midway - 7:30PM SHOW July 11, 2026 (Saturday) TREE, 99 Shots, Eight Foot Manchild, Catching Hell, Pledge of Allegiance at The Brighton Music Hall 6.00PM Show TIX July 18, 2026 (Saturday) Stop Calling Me Frank at The Midway July 25, 2026 (Saturday) Baabes, Joudy, Parachute Club at Deep Cuts Medford TIX July 25, 2026 (Saturday) Grub Sweat and Beers Night ONE at O Brien's check out the O'Brien's page for bands
July 31, 2026 (Friday) GANG GREEN: 40th Anniversary (18+) F.U.'s, SPECTACLE, The Promised End, Worm at The Brighton Music Hall 6PM show!! TIX!! July 31, 2026 (Friday) Jonee Earthquake, In Shreds, BAABES, Typhoid Mary at Koto Salem September 25, 2026 (Friday) Social Distortion, Descendents, The Chats at RoadRunner TIX September 25, 2026 (Friday) Muck and the Mires, The Sharp Class, The Chelsea Curve, Dj Sherman at Deep Cuts Medford September 28, 2026 (Monday) The "Sex Pistols" at The Royale October 16, 2026 (Friday) The Damned at The Royale 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.
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The
Mike on the Mic show on WMFO had Shel Pierce of Hotel
Saturn in to talk. Shel has a long Boston history. Born in
Cleavland he came to Boston to go to B.U. Like many other college students
of the time, he soaked up the Boston music scene. He saw the Nervous
Eaters, Robin Lane and the Chartbusters, Classic Ruins and Thrills to
name a few.
This
last week’s Mike on the Mic show also contained a Blowing
Smoke with Twisted Rico podcast. Steev Riccardo talked
to three Worcester music veterans Artie Sneiderman (Crybabies,
The Actions), Steve Aquino (Lyres, Crybabies, The Wray Ons)
and Dave Szczepaniak (Peak 15, Lyres) who are all now
in 
The
next week Blowing Smoke posted an interview with
Joel Simches. Joel has been involved in so many facets of the
Boston music scene. Steev leads him from his work with WMFO. He helped
set up the new performance room that we saw at Live Music Day. He’s
also a DJ there. 
Al
Quint’s 6/8 Sonic Overload was a salute to Pride Month.
The first eight song set was hardcore hitting hard with no shying away
from blunt pro pride lyrics. Some titles: Trans Is Beautiful”
by Cliterati, “Gay Marriage Is Better Than Your
Marriage” by My Revenge and “Homophobes
Are Just Pissed ‘Cause They Can’t Get Laid” by Propagandhi.
June
22, 2026 (Monday) AdLo, Good & You, Merry Brigade,Irma Jones at The Silhouette
June
27, 2026 (Saturday) Rock and Roll Hockey Fundraiser
in Rockland willl feature The Dogmatics, Spiller, and
Fur Coat Judy, at the 
July
3, 2026 (Friday) Gossip Collar, Farewell Drugs, Yes Nanny at Obrien's Pub
July
25, 2026 (Saturday) Grub Sweat and Beers Night TWO
at O Brien's check out the 
ACEBOOK