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The BGN News Archive
It was a hardcore bill at O’Brien’s on Wednesday that got us out. As we got there the group on stage was on its last song. Near the end of that the singer ran off the stage through the crowd and out the door. The band was still playing. People were laughing. It reminded us of March 2005 when Richard Nolan of Third Rail did the same thing but in his case he ran out of the club into a frigid cold night!
The next band up was Compassion Fatigue. The
drummer was dressed in a mere G-string. (Oooo-
lookie here) The band’s hardcore sound was chaotic but they were actually
disciplined. They were starting and stopping on a dime.
It was all worked out. They did a lot of segues that were led
by the bass player who was nimble fingered even though his sound
was distorted and aggressive.
Ritual Blade was serious hardcore. It
was that fast, loud and intense version that makes you feel like
you are getting hit with something. The lead singer was bare chested
as he sang like his life depended on it. You can get the idea
on their
bandcamp page but this is best experienced live.
Nothing compares with getting the full brunt of the attack.
There was some moshing and at O’Brien’s there’s
not a lot of room but it was controlled enough.
It was back to O’B’s the next day. We walked into a fullish club and it was hopping with the Nice Guys doing their lose garage punk. It was their last song. We misjudged the begin time and missed the set. We do wish they would post the set lists on the O’Brien’s site. (hint hint hint)
We did get to catch another set by Zip Tie Handcuffs.
We love this corner of psych pop punk that they've made their
own. The lyrics can be oddball yet interesting, like what
happens when you fall down a hole that goes through the earth?
They have the ability to summon up a frenzy with the first note.
It’s a combo of the busy drums and the way the bass player
hits his notes with up and down strokes. There’s a lot of
chords too. There is a lot of creativity and rule breaking in
the songwriting. A song lurches in an unexpected direction or
even just stops cold. Sometimes the chords seem to change
in a mechanical way, like three steps up – one over –
back, then three down. And they know how to make that work.
They're a clever bunch. The crowd gave them a vocal response like
they did with the Nice Guys.
We try never to miss one of DJ Easy Ed’s nights. The Midway had one on Saturday as part of this month’s Dirty 30 Anniversary for the club. It was a lineup of four Rockabilly bands with Easy Ed spinning cool tunes in between. As Ed was spinning his records we were trying to ID them. They're on the unusual side so we fail. We wish he would posted a set list somewhere so we would some way to knowing what he was playing. Other than that we just listen and love it.
Roy Sludge started the night. Roy performs in many configurations. This night it was a trio. He had Johnny Sciascia (of the Cranktones) on bass. The guitarist was Jim Scoppa, who was the first in a line of superior guitarists for the night. He played fills all through the songs and his touch was smooth as silk. He was in Duke Levine territory and there aren’t a lot of people in that territory. His playing earned many rounds of applause.
Outside of the fact that you are in guitar heaven Roy has his
humorous truck songs. He did his hits like Back the Truck
Up an ode to the trucks going down Storrow Drive and hitting
the low bridges.
The Fearless Leaders from Worcester added English Invasion into their Buddy Holly influenced rockabilly. They went back and forth. The English Invasion material was very much in the early Beatles Cavern style. The other material was in the Buddy Holly/Tex Mex area. They covered Farmer John by the Premieres but transformed it with their own distinctive bass line.
They had the same good time attitude as the other groups tonight but stuck out because of the their distinctive combo of influences.
Providence’s Barley Hoppers do their thing without a drummer. In our regular punk world this is heresy but when they do it we don’t even notice. How the hell? It’s that they play with such easy grace and natural rhythm. This is music that makes you feel good. They do Lonesome Town that captures it’s wallowing-in-solitude mood. On this guitarist Ray Reniere places notes slowly bent with the whammy (on his orange Gretsch) that mimic the way Rick Nelson approached a note. Ray has tons of fills that he rolls our effortlessly. They do Seven Nights to Rock (also done recently by
the Connection) the 1956 ditty by Moon Mullican. They go into
country with a covers of Johnny Cash twice (Ring of Fire was one
song) and Honky Tonk Blues by Hank Williams. The
Barley Hoppers did what all the groups did on this bill;
make sure the song is quality and sung to perfection and then
lay on a plethora of guitar riffs. It works for us.
You think you might get guitar fatigue after the three previous groups but when the Cranktones startup it's all new again. The bass player was Johnny Sciascia who did double duty which was also the case for drummer Stan Kozlowski who also played guitar for the Barley Hoppers. We were glad the club was full up for this bill. We tell you every time to hit these Easy Ed shows and we’re telling you again. 
And in other news .... Again we want wish The Midway a Happy 30th as they go intot heir 2nd week of their Dirty 30 Celebration!! Here's a great article on the club from WBUR: Read it here. Here's some good shows coming up ..... 
July 17– July 30: The Midway’s Dirty 30th Anniversary Celebration Spectacular (see below for particulars) July 26 (Wednesday) Thrust Club, sister, Death Cloud and Double Star are at The Midway July 26 (Wednesday) Black Beach, Bike Thiefs, The Owens at O'Brien's July 26 (Wednesday) Hammydown, Colbis the Creature, Ozlo at O'Brien's July 27 (Thursday) Actor|Observer, Born Without Bones, No Hope / No Harm, Backwards Dancer at Great Scott July 27 (Thursday) Brain Solvent Propaganda Presents: Una Bèstia Incontrolable, Bombers, Video Filth, Innocent at The Middle East Up. July 27 (Thursday) The Upper Crust, Supersuckers and Salem Wolves at ONCE Ballroom July 27 (Thursday) Hambone Skinny, Detroit Rebellion and Jon Bach are at The Plough & Stars July 28 (Friday) My Aim Is True turns 40 - A Night of Elvis Costello covers with three SUPER Groups you won't want to miss - members include Anthony Kaczynski, Jonathan Screnci, John Sheeran, Melissa Gibbs, Charles Hansen, Tom Baker, Linda Shore- and more!! At Sally O'Brien's check otu the FB page July 29 (Friday) The Knock Ups, Endation, Dalton Deschain and Girl On Top at PAs Lounge July 29 (Saturday) The Scandals, Burning Streets, Michael Kane & TMA and The Lot at The Midway - afternoon 4-8PM show July 29 (Saturday) The Electric Queens record release party with pals Creaturos, Beware the Dangers of Ghost Scorpion and Dandy Sherman at The Lilypad Inman Square. 10PM start. July 29 (Saturday) The Real Kids, Muck & The Mires, Watts and Gene Dante & The Future Starlets night 13 of the Midway Dirty 30!! July 29 (Saturday) Night Birds x Peacebreakers, Conmen x Western Addct, Wound Man at 55 Bishop Allen Dr, Cambridge, MA 6PM-11PM July 29 (Saturday) Out in wistah at Ralph's - State of the Union And further out....
August 5 (Saturday) Brian Young's A Crash Course for the Ravers has Carissa Johnson - on WMFO 91.5 from 1-4PM August 5 (Saturday) Coffin Lids, Downbeat 5, Other Girls, Bunch of Jerks at Sally O'Brien's August 5 (Saturday) The Silver Mirrors, Instant Shawarma, The Facc-Tones and The Sound Down Cellar at The Midway August 5 (Saturday) The Knockups, The Caught Flies, Black Hatch and the Labor Pains are at The Chit Chat Club in Haverhill August 5 (Saturday) Rancid and The Dropkick Murphys are at the Brockton Fair! 4:30-9Pm check out the FB page August 6 (Sunday) Loser's Circle's Record Release Show! they are back from their US tour and celebrating their new release on CD and vinyl! at The Midway FB page August 6 (Sunday) World/Inferno Friendship Society with Diablogato and Stars Like Ours at The Middle East
August 8 (Tuesday) Poptone...which is Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins from Bauhaus, Tones on Tail and Love and Rockets are at The Paradise August 11 (Friday) The Way Ways (EP Release), Today Junior, Andy Sadoway at Great Scott August 11 (Friday) Michael Kane and the Morning Afters, Scotchka, Kreisau Circle, Kato Kaelin at O'Brien's August 12 (Saturday) They're on the road again - OC45 Summer Tour Kickoff! feat. El Escapado, In The Meantime at the Middle East Up for an early-ish show 6:30 PM - 11:55 PM August 12 (Saturday) The Modern Voice, Black Helicopter, Wrought Iron Hex, Scuzzy Yeti at The Midway August 13 (Sunday) Pinkerton Thugs all ages punk show at The Middle East = also on the bill The Warning Shots and Duck and Cover. This is a daytime show- 1-6PM Check the FB page for more info as it is posted. August 13 (Sunday) - This is Bob Colby's 65th Birthday Extravaganza - it is also he LAST show in Boston!! Viva Gina, DYR FASER, The Land of Enchantment, Kingdom of Love, Cold Expectations, Carissa Johnson (solo acoustic), The Very, Randy Black and the Heathcroppers and The Wrong Shapes. At Once in Somerville and the show runs 3PM until Midnite! FB page August 14 (Monday) The Silver Mirrors, Spo, Scotty & The Gang at Great Scott August 15 (Tuesday) No Time, Concrete Elite (tx), Savageheads, Cinderblock and Piss Dogs at Ralph's in Worcester.
August 19 (Saturday) Ocelot Records Presents: The Tenafly Vipers, Bucky Harris, A Minor Revolution, The `88 Rangers at O'Brien's August 22 (Tuesday) OI!! - Rixe (France), The Brass, Bombers, Security and The Stance at The Middle East Up August 24 (Thursday) The Surfrajettes, Tsunami of Sound and The Beachcombovers are at Regent Theater in Arlington (FB page) August 25 (Friday) Eyehategod and The Cro-Mags at The Middle East Up (FB page) August 25 (Friday) When Particles Collide and Petty Morals at Fury's Publick House in Dover NH August 27 (Sunday) Stop Calling Me Frank, State of The Union, The New Frustrations, The Only Things at The Midway - afternoon show 4-8PM August 27 (Sunday) Brian Young's A.C.C.F.T.R. featuring Casanovas in Heat! 91.5 WMFO 1-4PM
September 8 (Friday) The Nervous Eaters and Glider , State of the Union and Casanovas in Heat at Out of the Blue Gallery Central Sq. here's the FB page to get updates. September 9 (Saturday) The Stigmatics are on A Crash Course for the Ravers on WMFO 91.5 from 1-4PM September 9 (Saturday) The Gala, Future Carnivores, Stars Like Ours and Courters at O'Brien's September 10 (Sunday) A Giant Dog, The Dazies, Boston Cream at O'Brien's September 10 (Sunday) GBH and The Casualties at The Brighton Music Hall September 11 (Monday) Roky Erickson at the Brighton Music Hall. WOW!! Get yer tix here. September 16 (Saturday) Boston vs Tokyo Rock n Roll Showdown with Muck And The Mires, The Fadeaways (from Japan), Mellvins (from Japan), Jittery Jack at O'Brien's Pub September 16 (Saturday) Chameleons VOX At the Middle East Also on the bill: Soft Kill , Way Out and The Milling Gowns FB Page September 18 (Monday) Duck & Cover and the Quiggs are at Once with a fake version of The Dead Boys...no Stiv no Jimmy Zero -how can you call that the Dead Boys?? sad.
September 22 (Friday) The Ataris and The Queers at The Middle East - this is an early show- 6PM -10Pm September 28 (Thursday) Stiff Little Fingers are doing their 40th Anniversary tour they have Death by Unga Bunga opening for them - at the Brighton Music Hall October 8 (Sunday) Petty Morals are having a Ballroom Blitz at Once Ballroom with a Flea Market and Art Show -also on the bill Muck & The Mires, The Dazies and Lady Pill (set times and more are on the FB page) It's 2PM- 8PM November 4 (Saturday) Human Sexual Response at HOB November 9 (Thursday) The Proletariat at ONCE Ballroom w/ Siege and Black Beach November 10 (Friday) The Proletariat are at Narrows Center for the Arts w/ Black Beach in Fall River, MA (FB page for info) CONTACT US AT....misslynbgn@yahoo.com -Send us your gig listings, your news and anything else ya got!! You want your CD reviewed?? Contact us for that too.
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July 28 (Friday) The Scandals,
Neutrinos, Burning Streets at Dusk in Provi...early show 7-10PM
July 30 (Sunday) Fast
Times Nervous Eaters, BarRoom Heroes, The Revilers -4-8PM
at The Midway!! Night 14 of the Midway Dirty 30. at The Midway
August 8 (Tuesday) Weakened
Friends are at O'Brien's
August 16 (Wednesday) Salem
Wolves, North by North and Day Grazer
at O Brien's
September 7 (Thursday)
Teenage Bottlerocket, OC45 and MakeWar at The Middle
East
September 20 (Wednesday)
X doing their 40th Anniversary Tour- at the Brighton Music
Hall
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