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StressBalls sing in the New Year Song review in New Music section.

The New Year brings us news of album release from DMZ. You are reading that right...DMZ!!! DMZ: The Lost Studio Sessions 1978 on Crypt Records. will be out in this month.
Where do the songs come from? JJ Rassler has the story, “We went down to NY to record the Sire album in February 1978, and Seymour put us into a studio in Queens to lay down some basic tracks so Flo & Eddie could get an idea of what DMZ sounded like. And a few days later we headed to Syosset to record with Flo & Eddie.” Some more at the Perlich Post blog.

Read bassist Rick Coraccio’s version of that time in our Rick Coraccio Personal Journal. There is a promo video (below) with some song clips from the album.

The Lyres have a gig in Austin on February 13 at the Carousel Lounge. On the bill is the Mal Thursday Quintet and the Peacock Hens (from Austin. Here's a song by them on Youtube ). The next day Lyres play San Antonio.

Brian Coleman of Want List Records (and Buy Me Boston books) is going off on his own. He’s putting the last touches on his new record store Root For Us Records located at 26 Elliot St (at junction of Route 9) in Newton. It’s inside the Redi Dispensary building. He has a short video announcement for the store which will open in mid January.

Netflix’s Stranger Things almost broke the internet on New Years Eve with the large number of stay home viewers streaming the show. Netflix almost crashed. If you watched that you might not have noticed that Indiana’s proto punks The Gizmos had their album up on the wall (above left) in a shot in a fictional radio station circa 1976. That means someone doing that show is a long time punk, or did their homework and found out about the Gizmos.

This is the second time that Gizmo Kenne Highland has been drawn into the popular culture. His group the Vatican Sex Kittens got a mention in Stephen King’s book Under The Dome.

Kurt Baker will have his new single “Undertow Afterglow” out on January 9th. He has a link tree up on where to find it.

In a little over a month Valentine’s Day is coming up. Looking for a romantic bar? You probably already know it…it’s The Burren! It seems like a lot of people who meet at The Burren later marry. We thought it was about the music, but Boston.com has the story. They label it Burren Love Bar. It’s been posted on Tic Toc so it must be true.

UltraBomb is the group whose bassist, Greg Norton was in Husker Du. Their album Bridges That We Burn is due out on April 3. “Artificial Stars” is a single from that album out now. It’s an impressive piece of work. The group has a mighty sound that roars, but there are pop elements in it too. The vocals almost soar at points and backup vocals are very complimentary. One guitar lick is a hooky gem. At the same time the vocals get to scream level at one point in a very un-pop like manner.
The more times we listen the more amazing it seems. Right now the only way we know to hear it is via YouTube.

VIDEOS......

Worm’s video for the song “Skater’s Edge” is five years old but just got played on Blank TV. It's a hit of buzzing hardcore that’s still worth watching. The vid was filmed in Scituate, in better weather than we’re having now!

RADIO......

Skybar did his top records of the year on the 12/23 Rising show. He divided it up to Top National and Top Local. The glossy pop rock of The Cynz song “Love’s So Lovely” was a great beginning. Others on the National list were Press Club, The Jack Knives, Sprintz and The Boojums, Bob Mould, Motorbike and Hearts Apart (Italy).

Skybar had Weakened Friends, which we think as local, as a national group and they do come from Maine. The local list had Duck & Cover, Peppermint Kicks, The Ghouls, Happy Little Clouds, Oh The Humanity, One Fall, Gypsy Moths, Dropkick Murphys and more.

The Rising show is on Tuesday at 7 to 9pm. To listen go to the WMFO webpage and hit the show listing on Tuesday at 9pm and then hit archive.

Joanie Lindstrom did an all covers show on 1/1. She played Bullet La Volta doing a cover of Kiss’ “Detroit Rock City” that we hadn’t heard before. Church doing a faithful cover of “Friction” by Television. Twisting Tongues did a fab job on one of our favorite songs “Where Eagles Dare” by the Misfits. Murphy’s Law did a great job with Iggy’s “I Got A Right”, same with Big Drill Car playing the Buzzcocks “I Don’t Mind”.
Lots of other gems in the show. Joanie is coming up to her 39th Anniversary of being on the Late Risers Club.
To hear Joanie’s Late Risers Show go to the WMBR archive page. Hit the LRC show for 1/1.

PODCASTS......

Blowing Smoke with Twisted Rico brings Tracy Bonham in to tell her story. We think of Tracy as synonymous with the indie music in Boston in the mid-nineties. Her album The Burdens of Being Upright (1996) had the ubiquitous “Mother, Mother”. The album went gold.

Tracy was familiar with jazz and classical music from early on. She listened to the obvious punk like Police and Sex Pistols when they were popular. One of Tracy’s early bands had Reeves Gabrels (Cure, Bowie) in it. There were many labels vying for her contract. Her career took off fast. She talks frankly about how she lost momentum around 2000 and things fell apart. She once played live (on violin) with Page/Plant at the then Fleet Center.

She now has a new album titled Sky Too Wide. Here’s the video for “Damn The Sky” the leading single off the album.
Here’s her Christmas song “Un-F*k This F*kt Up Christmas” on YouTube.
Here is the Tracy Bonham website.

On The Elastic Glam’s last show of 2025 they did a countdown of the Top Neo Glam Songs of the Year that was voted by listeners. On that list was two songs by The Peppermint Kicks (“Little Doll” and “Number One Record”). Gyasi (from Nashville) and The Voltz also had two songs on the list – it was a thing.

The number one song was by NYC’s The Cynz covering Bowie’s “Can’t Help Thinking About Me”. Skybar has been playing The Cynz’s current single “Love’s So Lovey” and that song is winner too. Outside of the Top Ten, songs by Flavor and Florence Road were worthy. It was truly one of the best shows of the year for Sethyspice and The Elastic Glam.

Al Quint started his 12/22 Sonic Overload Christmas show with a fake out. Several traditional Christmas songs started but got cut fast before the familiar Showcase Showdown song “Merry Christmas, I Fucked Your Snowman” cranked in. After that it was more untraditional holiday hymns. Where else are you gonna hear “I Hate Christmas”, “Fuck Christmas”, “A Funeral On Christmas Sunday”, “Christmas In a Body Bag” and “Santa Stole My Baby”.

Ouside of Christmas Al remembered D Boon on the anniversary of his death 40 years ago with a set of Minutemen songs. We leave you with three hardcore Christmas songs: Snap-Her stating “I Hate Christmas”, The Clap singing “Christmas In A Body Bag” and Mistreaters complaining that “Santa Stole My Baby”.

On the 12/29 Sonic Overload Al played his favorite hardcore songs of the year. He started with locals Phagocyte. (Their album, Don’t Rain on My Parade Or I’ll Fucking Kill You). The first set alone was a block of pounding hardcore that would be hard to beat. The groups were: No Fucker, The Berserk, The Massacred (Boston group), Ultimate Disaster, Paranoid and Slang-5. We were glad to see locals Stress Balls make the cut with “That’s My Fucking Parking Spot”. Al is telling you that this is the best hardcore of the year. Your job is to put your ears to it.

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

Tim Livingston did his Best of 2025 show on Radio Warfare. No mystery that the Peppermint Kicks were on the list because Tim played them a lot in 2025. The Peppermint Kick have been on so many best of year lists and the amazing thing is that everyone picks different songs. That is an endorsement of the fine songwriting on that album.

We didn’t know that Tim Livingston had a band named The Last Conspirators, that had a ten year run and has a 50 track retrospective album History: 2006-2016 coming out. They have a video for the song “Addiction”.

NEW MUSIC/CD’s ......

Local band Stress Balls has a new four song EP coming out in March. One song from that is streaming now. The song “2026” is for the New Year. The Stress Balls sing the year like “20 20 666” that way they drill 'the number of the beast' over and over and punctuate it with a scream. That almost goes by us because the song is just a wonderful hit of punk. This is what we want our soundtrack to 2026 to sound like.

Thalia Zedek listed on Facebook why 2025 was such a good year for her. One of the reasons was this self-titled album by Via, a short lived band for Thalia in the late eighties. It was after Uzi and before Live Skull. The band only performed live twice.

The group sound is loud and aggressive. You can’t say it’s a wall of sound because a wall is static. This is an active, advancing aggression. Sometimes there are only two chords that are structuring the ferocity, like in “1000 MPH”. On that song they kept it to two chords for a full minute, and when it breaks down it changes but doesn’t rest or back off. There no backing off anywhere on the album. Every instrument is full on, all the time.

The main sound is the two guitars of Zedek and Jerry Di Rienzo playing a close cacophony. Zedek's voice rides above the din and is surprisingly melodic. It lights the way and clarifies the songs by giving them individuality. Despite the noise, nothing sounds samey.
Here is some more info on the Mundane website, with quotes from Thalia, Brokaw and Jerry Di Rienzo.

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

January 5, 2026 (Monday) Ingrate, Funeral Thirst, The Iron League at The Silhouette Lounge

January 7, 2026 (Wednesday) The Slackademics, Threat Level Burgundy, Boy Polloi at O'Briens

January 7, 2026 (Wednesday) Hobo Wizard, Mussel Time, Car Girlfriend, Witches Tears at The Silhouette Lounge

January 7, 2026 (Wednesday) Gumm, Sinister Feeling, Peace Test, D.O.D., Through & Through at AS220 Providence

January 9, 2026 (Friday) Clock Out, Cooked, Latch, Billy, In Contempt at O'Brien's

January 9, 2026 (Friday) Black Helicopter, Spiller, Daughter of the Vine at Faces Malden

January 10, 2026 (Saturday) Sweetie, Never Better Baby, Tatooine Punk Scene at O'Brien's

January 10, 2026 (Saturday) Condition Baker, Never Gonna Make it, Josh Mcelvie, Weigh Boat at O'Brien's

January 10, 2026 (Saturday) Burp, The Prozacs, TJ Welch & the Wasted at Moon Base One, Salem, MA

January 11, 2026 (Sunday) The 15th Annual Joe Zippo Memorial Benefit Show with Burp, The Prozacs, TJ Welch & The Wasted at Moon Base One, Salem. 7-10PM All Ages. TIX

January 12, 2026 (Monday) Osis, Revenge Bodies, The Woods at O'Briens TIX

January 12, 2026 (Monday) Gozerian, Boilermaker, Targus Targus at The Silhouette Lounge

January 16, 2026 (Friday) Baabes, Bedtime Magic, Nevertheless AM, Bad at Drawing at The Middle East Up

January 16, 2026 (Friday) Alien Drag, Muck & the Mires at The Cabot Theater, Beverly, MA

January 17, 2026 (Saturday) Silver Screams, Static Friction, Screw Cart, Fear is a Mind Killer at The Midway - this is a Matinee show at 3PM.

January 17, 2026 (Saturday) No More Youth, The Greying, Mortar, Alchemy, Crime Of Passion at O'Brien's

January 17, 2026 (Saturday) The Park Hill Romance, Late Night Idle, The Sleds, blindspot - The Midway

January 17, 2026 (Saturday) Big Time Kill, Proles, Endation - 9:30pm show at Koto Salem

January 18, 2026 (Sunday) Galaxy Cake, The Haymakers, The Spackles, Bob Cenci’s Orange Guitar - another 3PM matinee at The Midway

January 23, 2026 (Friday) Smitt E. Smitty & The Fezztones, TELL, Yes Nanny (this  is a celebration of the new music video for TELL's new single "Things To Do When It's Dark.") at The Warp & Weft Lowell MA

January 24, 2026 (Saturday) Hooligan Holiday Boston with Stars and Stripes, Stigma, Fuerza Bruta, Hub City Stompers, Bad Terms, The Stress - ALL AGES show at The Middle East 7PM doors. FB page

January 24, 2026 (Saturday) Stop Calling Me Frank, Unnatural Axe, Last Stand - this is a 3PM matinee at The Midway

January 24, 2026 (Saturday) Sapling, John Hovorka Band, Crow Follow at The Square Root

January 28, 2026 (Wednesday) Gene Loves Jezebel, Gossip Collar, Black Season Witch, Silver Rein -Middle East UP - 18+, $20, 7:00 PM Doors TIX

January 29, 2026 (Thursday) Evan Shore/David Harrison/Cam Ackland at The Village Social Club, Brookline - 7-9PM FB page

January 29, 2026 (Thursday) Puke Pistols, Lithophones at The Model, Allston

January 31, 2026 (Saturday) Snowbeasts, Spirit Hotel, Neponset Monastery at O'Brien's

January 31, 2026 (Saturday) Crimps, Whyte Lipstick, Feak Phone (Portland), Andy California at The Midway (8PM)

January 31, 2026 (Saturday) Death Before Dishonor, Shattered Realm, Bayway Street Power at Alchemy, Providence, RI

February 2, 2026 (Monday) Weatherless, Rain House, Literally Nobody, School at The Silhouette Lounge

February 5, 2026 (Thursday) Sparks the Rescue, 5ever, Megan From Work at O'Brien's

February 6, 2026 (Friday) Sparks the Rescue, We Demand Parachutes, Borderlines at O'Brien's

February 7, 2026 (Saturday) Muck and The Mires, White Dynamite, Sonic Bomb, The Humanoids, We Own Land At Sonia’s, Cambridge Doors at 7pm. 18+ $20 Show will be shot by Sonic Lobotomy TV. FB page

February 7, 2026 (Saturday) Shit-Faced, The Erections, Who Killed Spikey Jacket?, Uniformed Service, Phantom Rider Middle East UP TIX

February 7, 2026 (Saturday) Restraining Order, COA, Peace Test, Can't Lose, Price of Redemption at Alchemy, Providence, RI Matinee show 2-6

February 11, 2026 (Wednesday) TREE, Sky Tigers, Hell Beach at Deep Cuts, Medford FB page

February 20, 2026 (Friday) Lux Lives East Coast 2026 Featuring: The Evil Streaks, Gossip Collar, Cryin Caleb, DJ Kogar the Swinging Ape playing Lux and Ivy's Favorites all night long at Faces Brewing Co. FB page

February 21, 2026 (Saturday) KCUF, Oh The Humanity!, Leisure Boys, CE Skidmore at Faces Malden

February 21, 2026 (Saturday) Worshipper, Zip-Tie Handcuffs, Gossip Collar, Bastard Leg at Deep Cuts

February 21, 2026 (Saturday)Inplainsight, Dowsing Rod, Evil Felipe, Horrendous Downplay at O'Brien's

February 28, 2026 (Saturday) Osis, At The Hands of Man, Mussel Time at The Jungle TIX

March 7, 2026 (Saturday) TREE, Catching Hell, Beantown Boozehounds, Hammered Saint at O'Brien's

March 14, 2026 (Saturday) Plymouth Punk Rock Mini Pop Up Market at Barrel House Z ! vinyl records, housewares, accessories, handmade jewelry, oddities, vintage goods & clothing. Weird stuff for weird people. Craft beer, all ages, no cover. FB page

March 19, 2026 (Thursday) The Len Price 3, The Chelsea Curve, Stars Like Ours and DJ Sherman at The Stone Church Music Club, New Market NH. FB page

March 20, 2026 (Friday) Angry Samoans at the The Middle East Up FB page

March 20, 2026 (Friday) The Len Price 3, The Chelsea Curve, Muck & the Mires, Pop! at Deep Cuts, Medford, MA FB page

March 21, 2026 (Saturday) - The Bags and Trinary System are at The Crystal Ballroom. TIX

March 28, 2026 (Saturday) Lyres, Dogmatics, The Downhauls at Deep Cuts, Medford, 7-11PM NOTE: $25ADV / $30DOS / 18+ Promoters profits will be donated to the fund to help the Lyres fund to pay for Chemo therapy - FB Page

April 11, 2026 (Saturday) Blood For Blood, Skinhead, COA, Neolithic - All Ages, $30, 7:00 PM - Middle East SORRY SOLD OUT

May 2 & 3, 2026 (Saturday & Sunday) The Oddities & Curiosities Expo Boston -Hynes Convention Center- 900 Boylston St, Boston- 10AM - 5PM - the world's largest traveling oddities event showcasing hand selected vendors, dealers, artists and small businesses with all things weird. You'll find items such as: taxidermy, preserved specimens, original artwork, horror/halloween inspired pieces, antiques, handcrafted oddities, quack medical devices, creepy clothing, odd jewelry, skulls/bones, funeral collectibles & much more. We truly have something weird for everyone at our shows. All items you see at our shows are legal to own and sustainably sourced. Outside of our curated vendors, we host sideshow performers on stage all throughout the day. Check the Website and FB page for more info and TIX

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