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RIP Matt Burns

Terrible way to start off the year but.... Matt Burns died last week. Matt is familiar to most local long haul Boston punk fans. As a casual Boston music fan, you might even have seen him a few times and not have known it because he was probably playing drums for a group you saw at some point.

Matt, number one, was a nice guy and fun to talk to. He had no pretentions. His major concerns were to hear some good music and when playing, make good rock.

Matt played in many bands. A lot of the time he was a pick-up drummer for a short term and even just a night. For many years he was the go to fill in drummer for half the bands in town – or it seemed.

He was in V (their song “1926” was covered by Thalia Zedek), and he was also in....Black Souls, Vatican Sex Kittens, Classic Ruins, Litehouse, Evert, The Vogon Poets, Nightland, Peecocks, Triple Thick, A Band Called Spike and the Coffin Lids. There’s more we just can’t remember them all. There was a point in the early 2000s where he seemed to be on stage every time we went out. In our news for August 5, 2019 we saw him in three different bands that week. That was typical.

Matt’s profile is so like us, and a lot of the dedicated Boston punk fans. We all just love the music so much. We loved talking to Matt because the music was the topic and Matt knew so much. He had the knowledge from a lifetime of listening ... plus the knowledge of playing it. That’s why he could ‘fill in’ in a moment’s notice. He would know the song and the feeling any group was looking for.

Kenne Highland had a story in his column about the Rat Beach Party in 2014 when a group dropped out. To fill the time slot...”Boston's BEST power trio: me, MJ Quirk, Matt Burns did a Michigan Rocks theme set in honor of the cold weather; "Ramblin' Rose" (MC5),"TV Eye" (Stooges) "Inside lookin' Out" (Grand Funk) and almost all Brownsville Station's Yeah album.”

In our Billy Borgioli interview in 2015 we asked Billy what he would do if his drummer Pete left, as was threatened, it was a simple answer.

BGN- So what about the Varmints’ next gig if Pete’s gone?

B- There’s Matt.

In September of 2014 Matt had a 60th birthday bash at the Lizard Lounge

In January of 2017 Matt had a stroke and ended up in the hospital. That took some rehab but by the end of the year he was back playing drums. This week he had an aneurysm.

We’ll miss Matt. He wasn’t just in the scene, he often made the scene what it was.

The Hardcore community is reeling from the death of Jimmy Flynn. His name was synonymous with Hardcore Stadium. That was the name of the venue in Central Square where he put on shows and the name of the booking organization for hardcore shows in the area especially those high profile shows at the Middle East. He did that for 20 years!!

With his passing there's a huge vacuum. He single handedly kept the hardcore scene rolling. It will probably take several people to step up and do what he has done.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help his family pay for funeral expenses.

A while ago Ted Condo the bass player of 6L6 passed away at age 57. He died from injures of a motorcycle accident in Ewing Township, NJ.

Ted was also in a group called Dusty Top Hat. He was in Manhattan on 9/11 and they say greatly affected.

6L6 were popular in the 90’s. They were a hybrid punk/metal band. Their three albums are available on Wonderdrug Records

Here’s a full live set from WERS from 1997

There is a GoFundMe page set up for funeral expenses Ted's obituary and some info here

And Happy New Year ... more bad news ...Dusk in Providence is closing at the end of this month.

It has been a popular spot for a decade and especially these last few years. It’s a familiar story, the building that houses the club is being sold and the club is not part of the new owner’s plans. Here’s an article in a local news outlet Here’s an appreciation by Rob Duguay of Culture Beat

The club will be open until the end of January. You can still catch a show there. Here’s Dusk on Facebook page and Instagram

Congrats to The New Frustrations on getting a TOP EP (for Lifetime) on the Power Pop News site’s Top Power Pop Albums and EPs of 2023.

They also rated on the Faster and Louder blog for a best of EP. There’s a lot of other local mentions on that list too: The Shang Hi Los, Stars Like Ours, Geoff Palmer, Justine and the Unclean, Brad Marino, Kurt Baker, The Family Township, The Matweeds, The Dogmatics, The Chelsea Curve, Danny the K and Shiverlane.

Bim Skala Bim played their 40th Anniversary at the Crystal Ballroom on Saturday and Alchemy in Providence on Friday. They received some nice publicity with Brett Milano in the Boston Herald. Dan Vitale and the group have gone through a lot since 1983 and they have 12 albums to look back on too.

VIDEOS......

It’s 2024 and The Nervous Eaters aren’t letting up on the gas pedal. Right off they have another video in this first week of the year. We’re getting spoiled with this run of vids. Having the video with the song has been a big plus and the Eaters are taking advantage of that dynamic.

“Why You Tell’N Me Now” sounds BIG. Steve Cataldo knows how to make every chord progression sound new and emphatic. Like many of his songs the opening chords seem to indicate something of import is going to be revealed and he always delivers on that promise. Beyond the song, the recording adds to the performance. There’s a liveliness, everything rings and reverberates. Then there are the visuals, when they sing “Queen of Iceland” the Viking visuals’ epic quality adds to the mix.

We know there’s more coming from them this year too! Awesome!

RADIO......

Skybar has Andrea Gillis on his Rising show this Tuesday. She will do some songs live in the studio. Andrea has been knocking people out with her voice since the Abbey Lounge days. Her recent recordings have been attention getters. The songs have had a deep resonance born from experience that hits all the harder with the vocal performance.

Listen to the show on Tuesday at 8pm on WMFO 91.5 FM. After that go to the WMFO schedule page Hit the Rising show on 8 to 10 pm on Tuesday, then hit the ‘archive’ button.

PODCASTS........

Blowing Smoke has been busy during the holidays. First there was an interview with Peter Prescott of Mission of Burma, Dredd Foole and the Din, Volcano Suns, Kustomized, The Peer Group and Minibeast.

Peter said his first rock experience was the Beatles. How many times have we heard that? Peter was on the punk scene early with The Molls. Then it was right to Mission of Burma. Peter says MOB was influenced by hardcore. The speed and the harder attack seemed like the future. Peter has a very good perspective of all his groups.

Steev also had Clif Hanger and Bill Close of The Freeze in for an interview. The way they started was hearing the Ramones and figuring they could do that.

The “I Hate Tourists” single got a lot of airplay on WBCN and buoyed the group. The single was on the Top Ten singles of the year in the Phoenix. Based on that airplay they scored some gigs on the Cape, like the Mill Hill Club. In Boston they played the Rat with the Outlets, then Lou Miami and Human Sexual Response.

Also based on the single they got on the Newbury Comics This is Boston Not LA album.

A bad review in Forced Exposure caused the band to have a rift with the Boston scene. They got harassed from the Boston crew. The group was stuck between punk and hardcore. They sort of fit in with both and neither.

Steve Cataldo produced one of their albums and John Hartcorn of the Neighborhoods did another. When Modern Method records folded so did the Freeze, so they said.

They claim there were close to 50 people that were band members in the Freeze over time.

We had our Year End Review last week, thus we have two Elastic Glam shows that we will direct you to.

The December 29 show had two big ballad glam tunes – Andy Taylor with “The Last Straw” and No Tears doing “I Want To Be With You Tonight”. We like the Velvet Insane’s “Boogie Star” more and more. Sethyspice followed that up with “The Romantic” by Girl With a Hawk. We never heard much of Mud, they were very much a British phenomenon. “The Cat Crept In” made us understand their glam appeal.

The Elastic Glam listeners voted for the Top Ten Glam Songs this year. They have a Spotify playlist where you can see and hear the winners.

Then there was the Elastic Glam show for this week. They played one of our fave Slade songs “Run Runaway”. They played local group Garden of Hedon who have glam mixed in with other genres of retro rock drama. They played “Rock’n’Roll Angel” by Hammered Satin, from LA. They've been playing glam for 10 years. They're worth getting familiar with. Peruse their Bandcamp page

There’s a lot more of interest too.

Boston Emissions had their, two hour/30 song, year-end review. Anngelle Wood started with Sapling. That group certainly introduced themselves and made a big impression this year. Anngelle ended with One Fall, again another group that did so much in one year. There were the Jacklights, Chelsea Curve, Wire Lines, Stars Like Ours and the Shang Hi Los. Boston Emissions covers a wider range of music than we do, thus she has some non punk songs/groups you can catch up on.

NEW MUSIC/CDs......

Hammered Saint have their first vinyl release; a 45 single pressed on white vinyl and limited to 300 copies. The songs are “Dirty Work” and ”Steal The Show”, and a of cover of The Alley Cats “Nothing Means Nothing Anymore.”

You can order it on their Bandcamp page

In 2015 a lot of people were captured by Double Trouble by Fireking. It got lots of airplay and the band played a lot of shows around town. We all became familiar with Anthony Kaczynski. He’s been a universal backing musician for countless groups including Magnetic Fields and Plimsouls recently.

Here we are in 2024 and the Fireking album SPEEDWAY, which has been in the works for a long time, is beginning to be released.

This single “Today,” like the album, was produced by Ducky Carlisle.

“Today” seems like a person ruminating on their life at that moment (today). When you look at the lyrics which are on the Bandcamp page you notice that the chorus is one word – ‘today’. The way Tony sings it is a graphic illustration of how amazing his vocalizing is.

For those that know Double Trouble, this will be a welcome return to the rewards of that album. For newbies this will seem like a pop gem and will want to follow up to get more.

It looks like The Graneros has ended. We loved that band! Now Matt Wolz has moved to a new band, Fox Canadian. The new group has some of the same qualities. Matt has such a distinctive voice and guitar combo attack that it would be inevitable that the overall sound would be similar. One difference is this Port West album is even more driving and unrelenting than Graneros. Matt has upped the intensity!

That is obvious from the first tune “Buzzkill” and that’s the level the whole album stays at. Matt revves up his voice and digs deep. It’s not just playing the guitar hard, it’s the heavy emotions that go along with it, that makes the experience. This is a nice hard rockin’ way to start the new year.

This was all done at New Alliance Studio.

Bob Moss and the Skin Tight Skin have dropped their third single leading up to an eventual album. His thing is to have guests contribute a notable performance for each song. He succeeds in that here with Jen D’Angora on vocals and Dan Kopko on guitar (both from the Shang Hi Los).

The music has a nice buzzy atmosphere to it. The lyrics refer to Venice, the Himalayas and the Sahara Desert making the point that the “the world is a playground – if you live it that way.”

The Wynotts were active from 2007 to 2009 and they are active now. The songs on Way Back Now were recorded back in 2009. We saw the group back in April 2009 at Church with The Outlets and Underball (“Toaster Thrower”!)

Bob Cenci is in The Wynotts. He brings some of his Jerry’s Kids hallmarks but shows much more than that in the course of the seven cuts. He wrote 3 of the songs. “Antidote” has a punk type vocal in the verses but sounds like retro 50s in the chorus, even putting “boo hoo” in the lyrics. Later Bob rips a good solo.

His other songs “Retreat” and “Follow You” are tuneful and swing along in a way you don’t expect from Cenci. Jerry Kids, The Wynotts and now U-ey at the Buoy – Bob has proved his versatility.

A big plus is that The Wynotts have three songwriters and three lead vocalists! Peter Devincent brings his Underball influences to his song “Hey, Sharon,” Michele Kish, yet again, brings a fresh point of view and her vocals perk up the group sound a lot.

The Wynotts didn’t get the attention they deserved. Maybe they will this time around. They promise to be actively gigging this year and they have seven more songs recorded from 2009 and they say they have a lot more in their heads ready to come out.

There is a pop collection that has an early Boston group demo tucked in there that makes it notable to us....

Looking for the Magic is a collection of “American Power Pop in the Seventies” that has a Fox Pass song. Fox Pass led by Jon Macey was one of the earliest groups that formed the Boston punk community. This is from 1974, when as the liner notes states, he was distributing the first issue of the Boston Groupie News to local clubs. (Read About Us to find out more about this)

We are so used to the meticulous playing and recording by Fox Pass and Macey that the loose and carefree “Some Kind of Jerk” comes as a surprise. There’s some good playing by all. We can imagine this performance done live would raise eyebrows because rock was subdued in those early seventies days. This is one of the earliest recordings of Boston punk, heck even their first single “I Believed”/”Prized Possession” a year later can make that claim too.

The collection also has The Cars, The Marshalls, Jonathan Richman and The Paley Brothers. If you like power pop you can’t go wrong with this collection.

The three CD album comes from Cherry Red.

You can look for it at specialty record stores and even Walmart has it!!

Ruffian Dick have been together for about a year, they're a metal/punk mix. They are former members of Sick Joke, Lewd, and The McVeighs.

On their album She’s Hypnotic the group is high energy, all the time. They are like hyperactive kids. You want to calm them down and give yourself a quiet moment or two. No way with Ruffian Dick. Riffs are pumping from the first second of every song and don’t let up 'til the last second. The guitars are squealing and raging non-stop. In “Lets Do Some Business” the guitars are going crazy and you think they can’t top it…then the guitarist does some speed sweep picking that’s over the top. Over the top is in a day’s business for these guys.

We love the drummer. The drum sound is a thud, not much tone to it, but you hear it in the middle of the action all the time. He really shines in “Casper.” If they do this live, it must be fantastic!!

You can check out their video of "Kids Today" ... also on She's Hypnotic, to get a taste too.

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

January 8, 2023 (Monday) OrangePeelMystic, Scove Cone, Blazers Over Turtlenecks at The Silhouette

January 11, 2023 (Thursday) Punk Rock Karaoke with members of (Bad Religion, Circle Jerks The Dickies, Pennywise, Goldfinger) Pick a song, they give you the lyrics.They call your name and voila! you are the singer in a punk rock band backed by the finest hand picked side men.Simple...there will be a sign up sheet at venue - The Middle East Down. We went to one in 2015 and it was loads of fun!!

January 12, 2023 (Friday) Today Junior, The Modern Faces, Perfectly Lethal, The Infinite Wet Secret at The Middle East Up.

January 13, 2023 (Saturday) Dead Leaf Echo, The Veldt, Iceblink, The Spearmint Sea at O'Briens

January 13, 2023 (Saturday) Kid Gulliver at The Square Root

January 14, 2023 (Sunday) Stop Calling Me Frank, The Spackles, Screw Cart, Jay Allen and The Archcriminals at The Midway - Matinee show at 3PM.

January 14, 2023 (Sunday) Chris Brokaw's new band Lupo Sita with Hidden Fountain and Pledge Pins at O’Brien’s

January 19, 2023 (Friday) O Positive and Three Colors, are reuniting at the Paradise Rock Club (show at 8pm) for WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS-A Benefit Concert For A Friend In Need. The evening will raise funds for a friend’s medical bills in her battle against brain cancer. FB event page.

January 19, 2023 (Friday) Wargraves, Marianne Toilet and The Runs, Scarecrow Hill, Auzzy Blood at The Middle East Up

January 20, 2023 (Saturday) Key of Caustic, Jennifer Tefft & The Strange, Ski Bunny, Never Gonna Make It at The Midway 8PM

January 24, 2023 (Wednesday) Sweet Petunia, SiMoN (On Tour From Japan), Ivy Boy, Daphne Blue Underworld at The Silhouette

January 26, 2023 (Friday) Hooligan Holiday Night 1 - Suited and Booted with DJ Boss Hooligan, Stress The White Boy, DJ Ruben Doc Marten Soundsystem

January 27, 2023 (Saturday) HRT'S (Heather) Birthday Masqueerade with Hands of Spite, CE Skidmore & the DFB, KCUF, Shake, GHOST GRL at The Midway 8PM

January 27, 2023 (Saturday) Hi-End, Classic Ruins, CYNZ, Rearview Romantic at The Square Root

January 27, 2023 (Saturday) BikeTrasher, Miracle Blood, Neck Dive at Faces Malden - tix here!

January 27, 2023 (Saturday) Hooligan Holiday Night 2 - The Templars, Battle Ruins, Merauder, Violent Way, Powerhouse at The Paradise

February 3, 2023 (Saturday) Wired for Sound, The Instamatics and The New Frustrations at The Jungle at 4pm...Matinee show.

February 3, 2023 (Saturday) Happy Little Clouds, Crow Follow, more TBA at The Jungle

February 4, 2023 (Sunday) Gossip Collar, Wake In Fright, The Brave Noise, Stress Balls at the Cambridge Community Center, 5 Callendar St Cambridge. All proceeds to the Jimmy Flynn Memorial Fund

February 7, 2023 (Wednesday) Pledge Pins, Nice Guys, Andy California at The Silhouette

February 7, 2023 (Wednesday) Jon Spencer, Tiger Bomb at Sun Tiki Studio, Portland, ME - FB page

February 8, 2023 (Thursday) The Dreadnoughts, The Gobshites, Mickey Rickshaw at The Burren - 7-9PM show.

February 9, 2023 (Friday) The Dreadnoughts, Mickey Rickshaw, The Pourmen at Stone Church, New Market, NH>

February 10, 2023 (Saturday) Gretchen Shae & The Middle Eight, Ex-Hyena, Looking Glass War at Faces Malden

February 10, 2023 (Saturday) The Dreadnoughts, Mickey Rickshaw, The McGunks at Askew in Provi, RI

February 17, 2023 (Saturday) Payphones, Hell Bech, KCUF, Jeff Rowe at Faces Malden

February 17, 2023 (Saturday) Warthog (Ramones Tribute), Tsunami of Sound, Bikini Whale (B52s Tribute), The Angry Debutantes at The Midway

February 25, 2023 (Sunday) LøbøHømbre, Pint Killer, The Hagglers, Shuriken at The Midway for a 3PM matinee show

March 2, 2023 (Saturday) Tj Welch & The Wasted, Hold Fast,| The McGunks,| State Of The Union for a 3PM Matinee at The Midway

March 2, 2023 (Saturday) Negative FX, Wrecking Crew. Wound Man, Savage Heads, Please Die, Eye Witness at The Middle East Down - all ages 1PM matinee show

March 17, 2023 (Sunday) Junkyard's 35th Anniversary Tour also on the bill Casket Rats at Koto Salem

April 13, 2023 (Saturday) Children of the Flaming Wheel, Electric Street Queens, Orange Whip, Christian Kids -8PM at The Midway FB page

April 19, 2023 (Friday) Quattracenta, Thalia Zedek Band, Rip Room - at The midway - 9:30 show.

May 4, 2023 (Saturday) The Lights Out, Gretchen Shae & The Middle Eight, BBrain K & The Parkway at Faces Malden

May 16, 2023 (Thursday) The Dead Boys, Nervous Eaters, The Plimsouls at Sonia this is a 7PM show.

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.