The BGN News Archive

Hambone Skinny at The Jungle

We went to The Jungle to see Hambone Skinny and The Stigmatics on Sept 29.

Hambone Skinny did their usual Somerville Swamp....Hill Country ... eerie spooky blues ... playing in various open tunings with basic Meg-White-style drumming by Stephanie Feudale. For the last few songs Skinny Mike took out his hand made cigar box guitar (see below). It was gorgeous and kinda looked like a Ouija board. For a duo they had a big powerful sound.

Hambone Skinny

The Stigmatics

Up next were The Stigmatics do straight ahead Real Kids style rock with fuzzy Yardbirds style leads. The highlight was when Kenne Highland got up and sang the two last songs of the set; GG Allin's "Don't Talk to Me" since it was GG's 70th birthday and The Kinks' "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" (ha! that's for sure!!)

Kenne Highland's Airforce was headlining but we had to leave...sadly. But The Airforce flies again at O'Brien's on September 27th with Crow Follow.

Then we got these excellent Eric Law photos of The Dogmatics playing at Indie Fermentations. That's Nash Kato of Urge Overkill admiring Pete's playing. Nash showed up with Springer!

Dogmatics	at Indie Fermentations
The Dogmatics	Nash Kato admires Pete

Richard Llyod of Television has bile duct cancer. He has complications in the Liver and kidney. He has a Go Fund Me page to deal with medical and living expenses. He can't tour to make money in his condition. We've seen this situation more times than we want. Being part of Marque Moon gives Richard fame that will never fade. Beyond that he has proved with his solo albums that he has the magic in him that made Marque Moon so special. More info on People.com.

Dolly Parton's death reached people near and far. Jonathan Richman released a statement from his Bandcamp page: "Jonathan Richman here joining us all in paying respect to Dolly Parton, the talented, the gifted, the kind, and the loving. How about that gorgeous Tennessee accent when she sang? How about how every word in any of her songs was straight forward, easy to understand and warm? How about how you got the feeling that she wouldn't judge ya, even if you were very different from her? Thank you for everything Dolly Parton."

At the same time he released a digital single on Bandcamp. The first song is titled "When A Wall Is Ready To Come Down". It almost has no guitar, it depends on a emphatic drum beat. The lyrics seem to refer to the Berlin Wall and then universalizes it to all walls.

The other song "As My Heart Changes" has lots of free form guitar playing throughout. The lyrics talk about how Jonathan feels his heart changing as he grows older. He's happy he's not the passionate younger self. He feels his heart growing to the "universal". It gets ethereal when he says, "my heart grows into a plasma above the earth".

People like to describe Jonathan as childlike but this song zeros into growing older and equating that with being more spiritual. That's a wonderful message for us.

Radio Warfare did a remembrance of The Chelsea Curve and Linda Bean Pardee in the first half hour on the 8/28 show.

DJ Tim Livingston played three Chelsea Curve songs, a Jam, one by The Chords and then some locals - The Cavedogs and Reducers which were Linda's favorites.
Hearing The Chelsea Curve songs now we feel like they have an aura of classics already. The elements of song and recording seem absolutely perfect. Hear the show below.

September is the time for Punk Rock Week. Who makes these things up? In any case the Boston Public Library is on it. On Monday September 14 Ali Smith is giving a lecture titled, Women Were Never the Problem: How the 90s New York Punk Scene Taught Me to Survive a World Built to Destroy Me. Ali is an author and a photographer who was a NYC punk in the 80s and 90s. She's going to talk about "countercultural lessons learned as a punk in NYC, as well as a celebration of the lifelong tools punk gave her to survive the slings and arrows society reserves for women who refuse to comply."

This is an online lecture, pre apply on the Boston Public Library web page. The Parker Hill Library in Dorchester usually has a full week of Punk activities but this year they are closing down for repairs until October.

Condition Baker are playing the Big E on September 20th 4:30 pm on the E Stage…..after they gorge on corndogs.

VIDEOS......

Hummingbird Syndicate have a new single/video. "Six Lines About Leaving" is solidly in the Sunshine Psych style that typifies their material.

Has anyone produced such a zen like song like this? The band is so calm and so in the same place. Those beginning bars of the song are blissful, the 12-string seems so effortless right.
In the video Jon Macey and Lynn Shipley look like they popped out of Laurel Canyon. The lyrics do have the song located in LA.

Lynn has the perfect singing tone for material like this. When she sings, "rivers rise to fall" you feel like you're getting a gem from the Dalai Lama. When the band has its melodic break it is a refreshing mantra in music.

The Hellflowers (formed in 2015) have gotten there name out there a lot lately. Rum Bar Records released their Teenage Radio album of punk covers. There new video/song "Wild Ones" hit the right chord with us. It is a punk anthem. They fly the punk flag and sing about rebelling back in the day and still rebelling today.

In the video they edit in some shots of their predecessors/influences like Siouxsie and the Banshees, X, Slits and more. The song has a lot of drive with a very singable melody line. This single is from an album titled Haunted to be released in February of 2027.

RADIO......

Skybar on his 8/25 Rising show had a long tribute to Linda Bean Pardee and Babs O'Brien. Skybar had Linda in the Rising studio a few times. He played songs by Chelsea Curve, Orbit, Frigate and a Speedfossil where Linda helped on the vocals.

The Rising show is on WMFO 91.5 FM on Tuesday at 7 to 9pm. To listen to this show go to the WMFO webpage and hit the show listing on Tuesday 8/25 at 7pm and then hit 'archive'.

PODCASTS......

The Podcast Scene Mom Says had a remembrance of Linda Bean Pardee. Dani Cutler was a DJ in Phoenix but now is in Massachusetts. In addition Dani memorializes Jorge Rodriguez from Worcester, known to many as Tasteless Jack. He died the day after Linda.

Dani also reports on music news. One surprise was a news story that shows that AM/FM still has a massive audience, way bigger than Spotify. She also reviewed the way YouTube tallies its viewer count. It's industry news that should interest working musicians.

On Al Quint's 8/24 Sonic Overload show he started with some local bands. First was Brain Killer who existed from 2008 to 2013. They have a few albums on Bandcamp. Al then played some new Tang releases. We knew about the split single with Dropkick Murphys/Outlets but we didn't know about the one with Gang Green/The Freeze. Gang Green play "Broken Bones". You can get the vinyl at Tang.

There were two more Tang rereleases on the Sonic Overload 8/31 show. "Screwed Up" from UK's Menace was put out in 1977. We can't believe this punk nugget got by us. We are corrected! It's classic punk. You can hear it on YouTube. Tang also released an early Slaughter and the Dogs album Do It Dogstyle. Al played "Boston Babies".

In memory of Dolly Parton Quint played a cover of "Jolene" by Bates, Blaster & Scam. The melody gets through the hardcore backdrop, but at the end there are a few curses. There was another song titled "Dolly Parton" by Silverfish.

Al did an extra section for Labor Day. There is some eloquent Labor Day protest even in the titles: "Customers Fuck Off" suggest Acid Reflux, "Work Won't Love You Back" justifiably warns Daddy's Boys and "Let Me Sleep" demands Le Peste.
You can hear all this on the Sonic Overload shows on the web blog. Al has logged all the shows since 2009.

The Elastic Glam show for 8/28 had a new song by Grub that was a bit grittier than usual for the glam show. The group comes from Australia. Both the song and group seem new. Here is the song on Bandcamp.

With Alice Cooper playing the Big E this year September 19, Sethyspice played "Billion Dollar Babies" and then "Kick out the James" with Alice and Suzi Quatro. Some classic glam comes from Jinx, Showaddywaddy and Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side.
There was a Tim Curry RIP tribute with "I'm Coming Home".

On the 8/29 Punks in the Garage (from WAIF in Cincinnati) podcast they had a Time Machine Special. They asked listeners if they had a time machine, what concert would they go back to.

The first wish was to hit the Rat and see who ever was playing. They played the Real Kids from Live At The Rat. People mention the greats Ramones, Clash, Cramps, Blondie and New York Dolls. Rudi from Northern Ireland was an unexpected one. The BGN got in there too! We suggested Paley Brothers/Flaming Groovies at the Paradise in 1978, one of our all-time favorite shows.
The concept made for a very fun show.

NEW MUSIC/CD's ......

Today Junior's new album Stranger Days is finally released. They have pre released four excellent singles. They have some hooks and sonic immediacy that should attract new fans. After three albums and an EP they seemed to have tweaked their game and made their signature sound work on a higher level.Today Junior have an interview in CultureBeat.com where they talked about the lyrics on Stranger Days being more personal than last albums. They spent most of the time talking about how they recorded the album. They bounced between home recording and studio.

On the first song "If You Want To" they start it with a simple descending line that sticks in your ear and the vocals are another hook. The drums are pumping away non-stop. It's a lot of their tricks done up nice and tight.

"Keep on Pushing Me" about the pressure of living today emphasizes the point by having the whole group just chugging away nonstop for three minutes. The whole chords strummed hard tucks into the rhythm and helps drive the point home.
"Werewolves of Boston" mentions Allston in the first line. It's a neat take on the vibes of Allston in the day and night.
The band tends to be positive but "Waiting for a Change" has them a bit down at the state of affairs. That captures what a lot of us are feeling too.

The band has always self-tagged their sound as surf. Their first album was Ride the Surf. That's one big insight into their sound. The guitar is clean sounding. There are no distortion or power chords. In "From the Sun" they are on the beach with the sun in their eyes and heads in the sand. Their other song "Werewolves" pegs them as night people, but they get out in the day for sure. The song starts with a "Pipeline" style glissando. The solo starts simple and then digs in a bit. The vocals use some falsetto in spots to add to the airiness of the mood.

The album ends with "So Long" a five minute tune. It's slow (compared to their usual pace), dreamy and romantic. This is one of the few groups we peg with romantic but it is there. At the end of the tune even the drums sound romantic! A wonderful song to end the album. We've been fans of Today Junior since 2015 or so and we just wait for the rest of the world to jump on board.

Massive Nightmare are a newer Boston group that had their first recording in 2024. With a new album out in a month titled Ain't My World they have a leading single "Get Bent". They have a poppy alternative sound. This recording sounds full to the brim. They come across like they are in complete control and know exactly what they want to sound like, more like an experienced band than a new one. We love that last wobbly note that comes to a crunchy halt. The song was inspired by the 1985 film After Hours. We are now very interested in hearing this whole album.

We glommed onto Adult Learners when we saw it mentioned in Providence's Rag Mag. They're from Boston and play a garage lo-fi organ led pop. There is a Blondie comparison to be made but they don't make it. They do mention Canada's Pointed Sticks. We played their "Out of Luck" single till the grooves wore out in 1979.

Adult Learners' self-titled debut EP has five songs. The amazing thing is the style that the group has absorbed. They don't sound like they should even exist today. This is the sort of group that would pop up in the CGGB's early era. Seeing the group live will be an objective now.

It's time for another split single in the Rob Moss and Skin-Tight Skin series. This time the other band is TA-80, a pop punk band from Phoenix. They have a few albums on Bandcamp. They cover Skin-Tight Skin's song "Two Slices of Bread". Turns out that song was done as a homage to Willie Alexander and the Boom Boom Band.
We didn't know that. We went back and could see how the song could be in Willie style. Sal Baglio plays guitar on the track and we think he is channeling Billy Loosigian. Give it a listen.
TA-80 whip up the tempo on "Two Slices of Bread" and do their magic on it to make it sound like one of their pop punk nuggets. It's a cool transformation.

Skin-Tight Skin also change up TA-80's "Black Glitter". They have a straight forward seventies rock feel and it does justice to the songs stand out chorus that which has a stop/go movement that is a neat attention getter. Marshall Keith who was in the Slickee Boys has some slick licks that also garner attention.
Like all these other spit singles in the series they make you appreciate each bands strengths and creativity.

And now for our Rum Bar section. You can't go wrong with "Teenage Kicks" by the Undertones. Rum Bar has a version of that by Christina Jean & Her Allstars. Jean is a California musician who is in Christina Jean & the Howlers. In the Allstars are Mini Mendez and Richie Boom Boom Mendez from The Glimmer Stars. It's a very good version. Now, we figure Rum Bar has an album lined up that will follow this.

Rum Bar scooped up The Laissez Fairs from Las Vegas. Rebooting sixties psych is their game and they play it well. They currently have a five song EP titled 5 Believers. Listening to the first cut "Pacific Coast" it's surreal how fast you get the sixties vibe. When you listen to the sonic landscape of the song you can imagine how deliberate and careful they must be when recording. You can easily get lost in the details if you listen closely. The only thing that breaks the spell is the last cut "Lonely Times Are Coming". That song has a harder kick and the lyrics break the love and peace vibe. We think it works great as a contrast. We especially like the vocals on this.

Kurt Baker has a new single "Wonder Women "/"When Fantasy Calls". The story here is that "Wonder Woman" is from an album that Kurt recorded in Spain during Covid. That album will eventually come out.

The song is in a 70's area rock style and very convincing too. Kurt is a chameleon. "When Fantasy Calls" is an obscure Slade cover. This may the heaviest sounding recording Baker has ever made. It has the Slade riffs done with heavy fuzz laden guitars.

Dirty Fences from NYC have their fourth album coming up in November. They have one pre-released song. "Off The Rockers", which is the title tune, comes charging out of the gate with urgency and it never slows down. Even the guitar solo is a mere 10 seconds, as if to say "sorry, no time for this". The music is punk, garage and seventies rock too. The vocals have character and emphasize the melody in spots to make it all memorable.

There's a lot of people going bonkers over the new album by The Cramps. Gravest Gravy is a collection of 1977 recordings. They were part of the recordings for Gravest Hits done at Ardent Studios but were never released. Henry Rollins picked the songs and Ian MacKaye engineered the tapes. It includes covers the band didn't record later. Things like "Hungry" by Paul Revere and the Raiders and "Problem Child" by Roy Orbison. There are early recordings of songs the band later rerecorded for subsequent albums. Fans got to hear this.

We've been waiting for the full album to come out from Toronto's Wine Lips and here it is - TV Diner, on the dependable Stomp Records. Their video for the song "Projector" off the album was one of our faves. We didn't realize til this week that we saw them at O'Brien's in 2019. They had the energy and sound back then but we think they went up a level or two since.

The sound is garage punk that veers into some psych here and there. Sometimes the guitars are fuzzed up other times it feels like one guitar through an amp with no pedals. The songs are based on chord changes but are broken up with lots of change ups and details that break up any easy formula. Every song is a compact hit of tight playing and energy. There are a lot of lyrics for the punk/garage style they play.

They have plentiful observations and gripes and they are all current complaints. This is all about living in today's world. "Cut It" is about addiction. "Fried V" is about the results of addiction, like being "dusted". "Trip To The Doctor" says no matter what you do, you will have something wrong and end up at the doctors. "Semi Detached Furnished Home" proves that Canada has the same housing issues as the USA. "Strip Club DJ" is a funny look at the perfect job of the Strip Club DJ, who they claim is "living the dream".

There's lots of humor and truth in the lyrics. We got a nice punk hit out of this and will be playing it more.

There's another teaser single from Sweden's Psychotic Youth's upcoming album Ready Go. "Rat Race" is the familiar story of being caught in the daily grind. Psychotic Youth frame it with a Vox organ leading the charge. Its fast paced to mimic the race element. A neat tune. These guys never miss.

The Bad Waitresses from Toronto have an advanced single from the forthcoming album In the Hollow. "Loving Kind" has a dark and hard sound. We didn't realize how dark until be read the lyrics. They spell out an intense and scary relationship. Finally the singer says, "I bet you'd love me more / if I were dead". Whoa, hold on there. This does have a gothy backdrop so this is probably vampire love, which is common enough film fodder. It shocked us, none the less. We'll see later if the album follows up on this.

Finish band Kingwhip describe themselves as metal and grunge. They are loud and heavy for sure on their new album Endless. We like the song "All In, All Out" which is a bit more nuanced. There are points where they let the drum/bass carry the load and the vocals show a bit of vulnerability. And we love that introductory riff.

Hear the whole album on Bandcamp. We have "All In, All Out" embedded below.

Another Finnish band. Aparat are a hardcore band. Their new EP is titled Kun maailma palaa (As the World Burns). A lot of hardcore can go by in a blur. We like Aparat because we can hear the chord changes. It gives us something to hold onto as the hardcore roar whips by. We have the song "N.Y.T." embedded below. To hear the whole four song EP go to their Spotify page.

Still Insane from Quebec City have been together 20 years. Their latest album is When Friendship Is Not Enough. It is skate punk and it's fast and loud. The other attribute is that it's unrelenting. There is no change of pace or slowdown, it's all full speed ahead for all 12 cuts. They also have this thing where they just pound as hard as they can, especially in the song intros. We love that.

The group has opened for NOFX and Bad Religion. Bands have to worry that Still Insane might show them up, judging from this album.

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

September 11, 2026 (Friday) Celebrating Alle gegen Alles. Punk@50 with the Geothe Institute- we have CAVA (feminist punk from Germany) at The Midway

September 11, 2026 (Friday) Dick Tate’s Delusions Of Grandeur Field Day Isaac Martin at The Square Root

September 11, 2026 (Friday) Mercury On Mars (featuring Jonny Dicenso from The Delirians), TELL, Replaced By Robots, Cat TV at Thirsty First Lowell

September 12, 2026 (Saturday) Big Pizza Fest Presents: Vicegrip, Aces High, Billy, Divorce Cake, Neponset Monastery at The Midway for a 3PM matinee

September 12, 2026 (Saturday) The 14th JP Music Festival!! Some great bands like Diablogato, Motel Black, Rick Berlin w/ The Nickel & Dime Band, Smitt E. Smitty & The Feztones, Walter Sickert And The Army Of Broken Toys - You can see the full line up here. Location - Pinebankon the northeast corner of Jamaica Pond. Take the T folks there's hardly any parking.

September 12, 2026 (Saturday) Putt Putt Punk at Starland Sportsplex & Fun Park in Hanover with The Stress Balls, Sean Griffin of the Ruffians, Junk Punk, Tommy Ready . Addy: 637 Washington St, Hanover, MA Show at 6PM, music at 7PM- and...your ticket gets you a full round of mini golf woven directly into the night’s mayhem.

September 12, 2026 (Saturday) The Lotts ( UK), The Lansburys at Faces Malden

September 12, 2026 (Saturday) Sapling and Battlemode at Electric Haze in Worcester, MA for a Matinee w/music at 2PM. FB page

September 17, 2026 (Thursday) Vive Le Punk: A Punk Documentary by Danny Garcia - 50 years after the British Punk explosion, this documentary follows four bands that are still active today (Sham 69, 999, Ruts DC and The Boys) and features interviews with Charlie Harper, Joe Corre, Dr. John Cooper Clarke, Gaye Advert, and other Punk Rock luminaries in search for the meaning of Punk and the relevance of its message today.  At The Regent Theater 7:30PM TIX!!

September 19, 2026 (Saturday) BAABES (Album Release), Today Junior, Dr Vet and the Dead Pets at O'Brien's

September 19, 2026 (Saturday) Punks for Pets at Nick-A-Nees! with Sourpunch, Musclecah, Green Sabbath, Hope Anchor, Yonks -this is a 1:30 PM Matinee - Check the FB page for items to bring!!

September 20, 2026 (Sunday) Hot Slander, The Ghouls, In The Meantime, Mass Spy, Voice of Dissent at The Midway 3PM Matinee!

September 26, 2026 (Saturday) Platorum & Bootleg Dan Presents, White Dynamite, Muck and the Mires, Dogmatics, $20/$25 at Deep Cuts Medford

September 27, 2026 (Sunday) Kenne Highland's Air Force, Crow Follow, BILL at O'Brien's

September 28, 2026 (Monday) The "Sex Pistols" at The Royale

September 30, 2026 (Saturday) Social Distortion, Descendents, The Chats at RoadRunner TIX

October 1, 2026 (Thursday) Bootleg Dan presents The BickerSins, Girl With A Hawk, The Glimmer Stars (from LA) at The Parlour, Providence

October 2, 2026 (Friday) Bootleg Dan presents The Glimmer Stars, Girl With A Hawk, Peppermint Kicks at The Square Root

October 2 & 3, 2026 ( Friday & Saturday) The Amazing Royal Crowns along with Boss Fuel (reunited!) and Lenny Lashley's Gang Of One at Alchemy in Providence - 5PM doors!! TIX for Friday TIX for Saturday

October 9, 2026 (Friday) URGH A Music War is playing at Mass Art with Hugo Burnham as guest speaker. Buy Tix Here!

October 10, 2026 (Saturday) Soraia, The Downhauls, Bad Idea USA at The Midway

October 10, 2026 (Saturday) The Long Wait, Farewell Drugs, 99 Shots at Faces Malden.

October 14, 2026 (Wednesday) Roger Miller Release Show, Tanya Donelly + Chris Brokaw . at Deep Cuts, Medford, MA

October 16, 2026 (Friday) The Damned at The Royale

October 17, 2026 (Saturday) Bootleg Dan presents Cold Expectations, Dogmatics, The Cynz, Stop Calling Frank, the doors 6pm. $20 Calling Me Frank at Under Bones, Davis Square

October 17, 2026 (Saturday) WOW!! Punktoberfest at Thirsty First in Lowell...tons of bands including Farewell Drugs, Tension Scale, Cittizens, The Damaged, Beantown Boozehounds, Michael Kane & The Monring Afters... and MORE!!

October 18, 2026 (Sunday) Screeching Weasel & The Queers at The Middle East 7PM.

October 31, 2026 (Saturday) Punkoween round two. hardcore and punk bands covering Bad Brains, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, and Slapshot. Pink Cream — opening the night with a full mixtape set. Every genre, no rules. A true mix. Mad Brains — celebrating 50 years of Bad Brains, played by Milo’s Syndicate, Flack Blag — members of The Bags, Blood of Saturn and Catching Hell scream the hits from Hermosa’s Beach’s finest. Black Flag. Charbroiled Nuns — covering the Dead Kennedys. You know them as ChumHuffer, DK comparisons since 2021. Tonight they borrow their name from a lyric in “Bleed for Me.” Slapnot — closing the night with Slapshot songs, played by the actual Boston hardcore legends who helped write them. Born at Slapshot’s 35th anniversary show, they’re also known as The Long Wait when they’re not covering their own legacy. At The Middle East FB page for tix.

November 6, 2026 (Friday) Sweeping Promises at Deep Cuts

November 13, 2026 (Friday) Another chance to catch the film Life On The Other Planet with the Nervous Eaters performing too!! at The Spire Center for the Performing Arts in Plymouth. FB page for info & tix.

November 14, 2026 (Saturday) Bootleg Dan presents Glowbox, Girl With A Hawk. Anne Husick and Interstate Johnson at Under Bones, Davis Square

December 5, 2026 (Saturday) Bootleg Dan presents Tom Springer Band, Spackles, Amanda White Band at Under Bones, Davis Square

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

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