The BGN News Archive

Life On The Another Planet at the Regent 10/24

The Life on the Other Planet, the documentary about the Boston punk scene, by Emmy® Award winning Filmmaker Vincent Straggas, is getting a lot of buzz.

Billed as "a definitive history of the greatest era, in Boston's Rock 'n Roll, the mid 1970's through the 1980's, Boston was at the forefront for producing some of the country's greatest Bands and music!"

An advanced screening will run at the Regent Theatre on October 16 at 7pm. The premiere for the public is at the Regent on October 24 with the Nervous Eaters playing after the film.

Tickets for that on the Regent website. Straggas has experience with documentaries and is connected to WGBH and got access to their film archives. The previews have been eye popping teasers. He’s interviewed a lot of the local musicians and scene makers, including us!! We don’t know if the premier will sell out, we do know that everyone we talk to is going to it.

You can now vote for the 2025 New England Music Awards. Go to NE Music Awards. Hardcore group Grip Bite has a nomination for Best Album and Video. Smitt E. Smitty and the Fezztones is in there from Song of the Year with “#1 Most Likely”. Performer of the Year has Adam Sherman nominated.

Live Act of the Year has this group of acts: Eddie Japan, Grip Bite, Happy Little Clouds, Kooked Out and The Ghouls. We were glad to see Fatal Flaw, who had some dynamite songs this year, nominated for Rock Act of the Year along with: Diablogato, Falsely Accused, Jennifer Tefft and the Strange, Lady Pills, and The Amplifier Heads.

Punk Rock Act of the Year has The Chelsea Curve and Grip Bite. Pop Act of the Year has Peppermint Kicks and Air Traffic Controller. The Rising Star: Massachusetts had Hotel Saturn who did accomplish a lot this year.

The NE Music Awards cast a much wider net than the BGN. There’s so much more than what we list here. Again if you want to vote go to the NE Music Awards webpage. Voting is going on til October 10. There are band bio’s and more info on the site also.

Brad Marino shares a song he whipped up in his home studio. It’s a cover of the Rolling Stones “When Blue Turns to Gray”. The song was on December’s Children in 1965. It was one of the first songs showing the more contemplative and vulnerable side of the Stones and as such was a favorite. Brad’s version - The Rolling Stones version.

BOOKS......

Just a reminder that The Cars: Let the Stories Be Told, the book by Bill Janovitz, is out now.
Janovitz covers the early Boston punk years while telling The Cars’ story. He interviewed Oedipus and JJ Rassler. There’s WBCN mentions of course along with Maxanne Sartori who was such a presence in those days. DMZ gets mentioned a lot because David Robinson was the drummer. For the same reason he does a rundown of the Modern Lovers early days.

The Rat figures in the rise of The Cars and there are details on that. There is a long quote from Mike Barnicle that heaps all the sleazy put downs he could come up with in one place, it probably just increased the club’s allure at the time.
Barbara Rhind, who now books The C-Note, tells about The Cars when they played the Scituate area at the Bell Buoy.
You can get the book in most bookstores. Here it is on Bookshop.org.
There is a good overview on the Ringer website.

VIDEOS......

The Spackles have a video for their song “Secret Hearts” off their Clamaro album. In the video they make fun about the ‘secret’ people may hide but being The Spackles the song hints that there may be some serious secrets requiring formaldehyde!

The video also made us listen closer to the song and we appreciate it more now. And the Midway is front and center, they use every corner for a scene, even coming out of the men’s room. Then there are the locals that get in the story. Bab’s O’Brien has a few scenes and Lenny of Stop Calling Me Frank gives his best sneer. Looks like Andrea Howlett took big advantage of banging Mike on the head – all for the sake of the video!

The Trinary System is Roger Miller’s rock band outlet these days. They have a new album coming out on Cuneiform Records. The title The Hard Machine could be a twist on William Burroughs’ book title The Soft Machine.

One song is released now, with a video is "Monkeys (on Your Back)”. The song starts with a strong insistent beat and the lyrics put you on the defensive with “in your darkest hour, the Darkness will reverberate”. Something is up. At the two minute mark Roger does one of his guitar solos that only he can do. It sounds like the guitar is going through a blender.

There’s some horns in the arrangement also, and that's not usual for a noise song like this. The album will have eight songs. You can preorder it on Bandcamp. To catch up with Roger's full fall schedule go to his blog.

Speedfossil have a 20 cut retrospective out now called Time Flies: 10 Years of Speedfossil. We’ve certainly enjoyed their unabashedly sixties pop nuggets. They also have a new song “Peg Leg” with a video. It shows the band recording the song at Q Division. They will be celebrating their album at The Sound Cove’s Super Sonic Showcase, a matinée party on Sunday, October 19 at The Burren in Somerville with The Chelsea Curve, Happy Little Clouds, and others.

PODCASTS......

Blowing Smoke with Twisted Rico has Jerry Lehane of the Dogmatics in for another interview. Jerry has a lot of perspective on the scene from his long career.

The convo started with the record release show at the French American Victory Club in Waltham a while back. Jerry said they worked hard on that, starting 6 months in advance. Jerry does a good job going through the whole thought process and the steps that led up to the show. Some of those steps: pick venue, deposit, find bands, get back line, get PA, soundman, get people help.

Steve talked about the Dogmatics new member – James. James has brought a lot of new talents and music to the band. After that they talked about new album Nowheresville. Now, they have three writers: Jerry, Peter and James. Jerry says he writes short songs and does that with no apology. Steev does a good job leading Jerry into talking about all the songs on the album.

The Revolution Come and Gone is a podcast that has two half hour episodes on the Boston Scene. The podcasters seemed surprised that Boston had a scene in the 1980’s ... really? The first episode starts with Mission of Burma. Michael Cudahy talks about being inspired when he first saw them at the Space in 1979.

Clint Conley talks about getting some very good gigs in NYC in the early days. He talks about the other bands that clicked with MOB: Human Sexual Response, La Peste, Maps and The Girls. The conversation with Clint leads to La Peste and Cheater Slicks.

The second episode begins with talk about The Rat. It begins with Toby Ingalls (of Lou Miami) describing the club. According to him ‘the owner of The Rat was Mitch’ – he had that wrong. Jon Bernhart of WMBR tells his time going to The Rat. One of his first shows was with Husker Du and an unlisted REM show. Clint Conley and Tanya Donnely talk about performing there.

Then the podcast takes up the story of Ed’s Redeeming Qualities residency at The Rat. The band made their reputation from those shows. The Breeders had their first show as the residency. They also mention having Danny Mydlack as a guest. We haven’t heard of him in a long time.

The 9/20 Elastic Glam show was a Marc Bolan Tribute show. The beginning and ending sets were Bolan related. There was the BBC death announcement. There were duos with Marc and Gloria Jones and David Bowie. Two of our fave T Rex tunes were in the mix “Cosmic Dancer” and “Children of the Revolution”. The Black Crowes did a version of “The Slider” and Def Leppard did “20th Century Boy”.
There was still time for locals Little Billy Lost and Peppermint Kicks.

On the 9/26 Elastic Glam Sethyspice had a deep cut we weren’t aware of, a song by The N’Betweens. That group was a name for Slade before they were signed. The song was a cover of Big Brother and the Holding Company’s “Move Over”. Perfect cover.

New glam cuts were “Queen of Mean” by The States, “Could Have Been Me” by The Struts with Brian May, Creem Circus doing “Edge of the Morning” and “Biding My Time” by Swedish rockers Marvels.
There was a set of locals with Little Billy Lost, The Chelsea Curve and Stop Calling Me Frank. We loved hearing the almost forgotten Jobriath with “Imaman”.

On the Sonic Overload 9/22 show Al played local group Leather Daddy. The song was “”Head” from a seven inch EP from 2015 which seems to have been their time. All five cuts are very intense. We have the EP embedded below.

He played “I’ve Been So Mad Lately” by Butt Trumpet, a name that always makes us laugh. We hate to admit it but we like it because of the plethora of swears that they spew out…and also the punk spirit they have.

On the 9/29 show Al played a song by the Alleybeats. We don’t remember them but Al announced that they were from the early eighties. They were a local Rockabilly band. We enjoyed that explosion of Rockabilly at the time. Nice to be reminded of it and to hear our locals which we have embedded below.

You can hear the Sonic Overload shows on their web blog. Al has logged all the shows since 2009!!

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

The Prozacs have a new four song single, No Way Out. It is going to be available on different colored vinyl. One song “Nerf Gun Warrior.” is streaming on Bandcamp now. The music has a hard pop punk guitar drive that belies the harmless ‘nerf’ in the title.
It’s a characteristic can’t fail composition by J Prozac.

The Salem Wolves’ new EP is Greatest Hits. In this case the ‘hits’ are other groups songs. They cover The Replacements, Husker Du, Jawbreaker, INXS and Tom Waits. They even steal another cover – the EP cover is from Neil Young’s Harvest album.

The group always brings a dramatic flair to all their efforts and that is true here. We like that they are not obvious songs that have been overdone. We were taken in with “Never Tear Us Apart” (by INXS) with the nuanced vocals by Gray Bouchard. It’s the same with Tom Wait's “Dirt In The Ground”.
You can see where they make it a point that the songs have emotional heft.

Satch Kerans Band has released a five song EP; Gotta Be Better. Satch Kerans could bring back the singer storyteller as a thing with this EP alone. His lyrical storytelling is that strong.

The first track “Gotta Be Better” is a harrowing tale that rings so true that you feel the life lessons to the point of embarrassment. When he sings, “I just remember the look of disgust/on that bartenders face, “ you wince because it stings. Each songs displays life lessons learned the hard way. We’re still very partial to the previously released “Helen of Troy”. What a great feeling that song has.

The music is straight ahead rock with no pretentions. The band is super. Most of this was recorded at Wooly Mammoth with David Minehan.

The group Hong Kong has an odd concept. They are sort of a punk pop Oi group lead by a gorilla. What that means is you get these punky pop tunes that have a lead gruff gorilla voice with some sweet backing voices. On top of the power chording backdrop you have some simple and catchy guitar lead lines.

You can hear that on “Backbone” embedded below. They just have released the 14 cut Gorilla Anthems 2020 – 2025 which collects their releases. Up to this point they have been mostly heard in Europe. There is another cut on the New Noise website.

Kingdom of Birds are from Toronto. They have a new digital single titled “Kenny”. They are a combo of grunge and post punk. We like them because they make a point to rock it with a strong riff. After multiple listens we were even more impressed how they drive that riff. They will have an album Vermin out in February 2026.

We loved the video for “Garbage Day” from Mellonball from Germany. Now they have “129” a song about restrictive German laws.

They have a driving punk sound and the lyrics are as charged as the power chords. In the video they roam the streets slapping on stickers wherever they go. We used to do that, I think there is a law against that in Boston now. But we still see them everywhere!

N.E. Vains has some members from New Haven and one from Canada. Their album Running Down Pylons will be out on November 7. They released the title song and that has lots of attitude and sounds barely contained, all that bodes well for the album.

There is a lot of garage energy and a dose of irresponsibility too. It sounds like the lyrics are about running down cautionary pylons. Says the band, “Running Down Pylons is your new soundtrack to making the lives of local traffic construction workers a living hell.”

We featured Milwaukee’s Radioactivity last issue when they released the title tune to their upcoming album Time Won’t Bring Me Down. “Why” is their second song from that album. We like their sound, it’s a combo of garage and punk with no pretentions. The song makes its mark in a mere 1:38. We are looking forward to the album now.

Xray Xeroxx from LA is a group, actually one guy who plays all the instruments. The music is minimal as you would expect. The recording is lo-fi. Most of the titles on the new EP tell the story of the song. “Wasting Time” is about wasting time and “Everything is Terrible” is ... ditto.

We liked the title “Social Media Made Me Hate My Friends” because, well, ya that’s happening. Xray Xeroxx throws in a few expletives and reasons along the way. We found it so satisfying. It will only take a minute and a half of your time.

Midnight Peg are a hardcore band from Edmonton, Canada. Their new album Skinning is an intense affair. The music is pounding hardcore and the lyrics demand listening. The band says they are depicting ‘paranoid contemplation’ and the lyrics are “underpinning motifs of sexuality, survival, absurd ritual, and the ubiquity of violence”.

The lyrics are all on Bandcamp. The band is sharp and precise. The singer Raquel ‘Rocky’Mann is exceptional. This is a band that you have to invest some time in to get all that they are doing.

Virus Nine from Columbus, OH are a street punk band whose song “Stay Proud! Stay True! Stay Punk!” was popular anthem that hasn’t been available since 2003. That's rectified now with the 13 cut Blastin’ Away being released on Punkerton Records.

They nail the Oi ethos big time in this song. "'Cause when you think that all is lost/You know we'll be/Right there with ya, til' the end/We're brothers you and me" and "Barroom Brawls and Irish songs,/Your braces and your boots!/Cheers to the living!/Salute the dead!" The whole album will be released in December of this year.

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

October 11, 2025 (Saturday) Longshot, Dead Horizons, Far Too Late, Dementia 13, August Gold 6pm with $10.00 entry. Halloween party and show. 50 Jefferson St. in North Attleborough, MA.

October 11, 2025 (Saturday) The Lazy Anarchists, Scotty Saints & TB, Flock of Rejects, Slow Coyote for a 3PM matinee at The Midway

October 11, 2025 (Saturday) The Downhauls, Roxy and The Crisis, Gene Dante and The Future Starlets at The Middle East - Up - 8:00PM All Ages

October 11, 2025 (Saturday) Hell Flowers, Osis, Love Shamans at The Jungle - Music at 8:00 pm FB page.

October 11, 2025 (Saturday) Clone, Gossip Collar, Ghost Painted Sky, Midnight Psychic at O'Brien's

October 11, 2025 (Saturday) Lyres, Mal Thursday Quintet, Tiber Bomb at VFW 6859 in Portland, ME check FB page for location directions

October 12, 2025 (Sunday) The Cadavers, Shiny Beasts, The Black Souls, Wray-Ons for a 3PM matinee at The Midway

October 12, 2025 (Sunday) Scurvy Dog Mega Show with Hope Anchor, Clone ,THERE , Mirror Men ,) Midnight Creeps , Miracle Blood ,Death Pesos ,) TV Moms , Memory Lame , Quitters , the Frenzy of Tongs , Muffin - Music starts at 2PM FB page.

October 16, 2025 (Thursday) Moving Targets celebrate the release of their new LP and are hitting the road with Atlanta based melodic punkers in Billy Batts and the Made Men, with special guests Spiller at Faces alden

October 16, 2025 (Friday) Tiger Bomb, Hell Flowers, Kris Rogers & The Dirty Gems at Gritty McDuff's in Portland, ME FB page.

October 17, 2025 (Thursday) TREE, Neighborhood Shit, Cult Dialect, Vicegrip, Hell Dog - Central Square Elks Lodge [7PM]

October 18, 2025 (Saturday) The Downhauls, Roxy and The Crisis, Gene Dante and the Future Starlets at The Middle East UP- All Ages FB event page.

October 18, 2025 (Saturday) Al Barile Day at Roadrunner All proceeds to benefit Dana Farber Cancer Institute ... info coming...

October 18, 2025 (Saturday) 6th Annual PUNKTOBERFEST with Duck Island, Concrete Ties, Knock Over City, The Graniteers Burp, Lovewell, Pink Slip, The McGunks, DHS, Stress Balls, New Reality, Jesse Ahern at Thirsty First Tavern Lowell FB page.

October 19, 2025 (Sunday) The Sound Cove presents the first ever Super Sonic Showcase with The Chelsea Curve, Cold Expectations, Speed Fossil, Happy Little Clouds, Corin Ashley and Eric Barlow at The Burren this is an EARLY show 2- 5:30PM. FB page.

October 24, 2025 (Friday) The screening if Life on the Other Planet by Vincent Straggas is at The Regent Theater. TIX!! 7:30PM

October 24, 2025 (Friday) Tigerman Woah, Real Beaut, Duck & Cover at Faces Malden

October 24, 2025 (Friday) Wreckless Wreck Chords Presents Wreck-0-Ween '25 - TWO Nights Friday: WORM, Rocket Gods, Far Above the Ground, Ragz To Stitchez(NH), Screw Cart, The Wax Skulls at The C Note in Hull - FB page.

October 25, 2025 (Saturday) The Annual Wreck-0-Ween '25 - Night two with WORM as The Misfits, Cry Havoc, Witches Tears, Dogs in the Woods, The Ungraded, The Woods, Cheryl's Boys, The Angry-Las at The C Note in Hull - FB page.

October 25, 2025 (Saturday) An International Garage Rock Shakedown with Stupidity, Muck & The Mires, The Chelsea Curve, Pop!, at The Stone Church Music Club, Newmarket, NH FB page.

October 26, 2025 (Sunday) Galaxy Cake, Pleasing Terrors, American Ocelot at The Jungle EARLY show 5-8PM

October 30, 2025 (Thursday) Stupidity, Chelsea Curve, Little Billy Lost, at The Burren

November 1, 2025 (Saturday) STAFFY FEST - Celebrate the life of Staffy with all of his friends. Sing songs that meant a lot and mean a lot more now.- with The Marvels w/ Guest Singers, Duck & Cover, The Black Cheers at Faces Malden TIX here -

November 1, 2025 (Saturday) Warthog, Tj & The Wasted, Gloomy June, The Spots at The Midway 8PM show

November 2, 2025 (Sunday) City Mouse (from LA) Bad Idea USA, Weird Fear at Faces Malden

November 5, 2025 (Wednesday) Ravagers, Speed Teeth, The Ghouls at Deep Cuts Medford, MA

November 6, 2025 (Thursday) GBH, Slaughter House, The Mainliners at Brighton Music Hall - FB page TIX link

November 7, 2025 (Friday) Minibeast at Deep Cuts Medford, MA

November 8, 2025 (Saturday) The Dogmatics and The Carnivals (Kevin Patey's new band) at the Boston Harbor Distillery (Dorchester) FB event page for more info

November 8, 2025 (Saturday) Badterms, Impact Driver, Poor Impulse Control, Battery March, The Workers at O'Brien's

November 8, 2025 (Saturday) The New Frustrations, The Fatal Flaw, The Instamatics at The Jungle

November 8, 2025 (Saturday) Oneida, Thalia Zedek Band, Bong Wish at Deep Cuts | Medford, MA

November 8, 2025 (Saturday) The FU's, Psycho, Execution Style, and D.O.D. - Ralph's Diner, Worcester, MA

November 9, 2025 (Sunday) Oh The Humanity!, In the Meantime, On The Cinder, Addalemon, Static Friction for a 3PM matinee at The Midway

November 13, 2025 (Thursday) MDC, Scumbari, Urban Waste, Grip Bite at Alchemy (Prov, RI) FB page

November 14, 2025 (Friday) Steve Conte, Muck & the Mires, Gene Dante & the Future Starlet, Pink (acoustic) at Deep Cuts in Medford FB page.

November 14, 2025 (Friday) Zagnutt, Hixx, The Peasants, The Guilloteenagers at The Midway for a 3PM matinee show

November 22, 2025 (Saturday) Rama Lama Ding Dong Fest: Johnnie and the Foodmasters, Film and Gender, Lithophanes, Germ House, Devil Honey at O'Brien's

November 25, 2025 (Tuesday) Isles, Adulting, Lovewell, Blame It On Whitman, Dear Maryanne at O'Brien's

December 4, 2025 (Thursday) Agnostic Front, Raw Brigade, Violent Way at The Middle East Down

January 24, 2026 (Saturday) Hooligan Holiday Boston with The Oppressed - ALL AGES show at The Middle EAST 7PM doors. FB page

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