Submit your news here

Urgh! film at Mass College of Art 10/9 Photo: Miss Lynn

We went to check out a screening of URGH! A Music War this past week. The screening was arranged by Joyce Linehan and was presented as part of a tour of the film by "The Professors of Urgh"—musicians (and fanatics) Chris Slusarenko and Chaki, the hosts of A Very Opinionated Look At URGH! podcast. And WOW! these guys know SO much about the film. It was truly educational! They were very engaging and are great commentators. They had Hugo Burnham of Gang of Four as a guest post screening for a discussion of the filming.

We saw URGH! when it first came out in '81 or '82 at Nickelodeon Cinema just outside Kenmore Sq. At that time it was exciting, we didn't get much info on, or a chance to see. all the bands out there at the time, so this was very cool. It's all live concert footage and we learned that it was the brain child of Stuart Copeland (of The Police) and his two brothers also in the music business. We learned there are several versions of the film and basically because of mismanagement and maybe some bad ideas the film did not get the circulation it deserved at that time. It did however play on  VH1 Classic in later years.

The film has footage of some well known bands but other more obsure ones we'd never heard of: Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, Magazine, the Go-Go's, Toyah Willcox, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, X, XTC, Devo, the Cramps, Oingo Boingo, Dead Kennedys, Gary Numan, Klaus Nomi, Wall of Voodoo, Pere Ubu, Skafish, Steel Pulse, Surf Punks, Echo & the Bunnymen and the Police. In the poster for the film they list 999 but they were not in the version we saw.

Urgh! captures a wonderful time in punk/postpunk. It was still new and fresh and everyone wanted more! There were so many bands out there and some kept going and became well know, others not so much. It's worth a watch if this tour is coming to a city near you! Here's more info on the film on Wikipedia. And if you can't get to one of the screenings of the Chris & Chaki screening you can watch the film on You Tube here!!

Cliff Hanger RIP

URGH is also an "informal interjection or sound used to express strong negative emotions such as disgust, horror, frustration, or reluctance. " and that's how we feel because we just learned that Cliff Hanger (Croce)  of The Freeze passed away. He died in his sleep at the age of 65 on Saturday, Oct 17th.

Croce formed The Freeze in 1978 they were from Cape Cod. He was the group’s longtime frontman through numerous lineups. The band was well know in early hardcore punk. The band was on This Is Boston, Not L.A as well as releasing their own albums Land of the Lost, Rabid Reaction and Misery Loves Company. Check The Freeze FB page for info as it comes out.

Tang Records just released Boston Colliison a Freeze/Gand Green split 7 inch record of 2026 recordings of each band covers the other's songs. And The Freeze were currently playing shows and had planned on a new record soon. RIP Cligg Hanger!!!

New Nervous Eaters!!! There new album Eat Or Be Eaten is to set be released on January 15, 2027. It's on Wicked Cool Records which has definitely exposed the group to a wider audience. The album will include "C.A.L,F.L.A." which came out last year (it's in our 8/22/25 BGN) The teaser single "Where's Johnny Now" is out now. It's actually an older song the Eaters has been playing since 1979.and this one is primo Eaters material.

In the recording the band fires up. The first ten seconds tells you so much. One - the drum roll primes you for the onslaught. Two - the guitars are locked into a power progression. Three - Steve Cataldo provides a ricochet riff right off (one of his famous stingers). Four - the tempo and the volume signal the group is pumping it out like they have something to prove.

It feels good hearing Steve's voice again. The lyrics describe a character, a little dicey, but when they are no longer around it prompts the realization, "Johnny's disappeared". Steve sings that line at 1:22 and his voice cracks with hurt and immediately Steve's surrogate voice, his guitar, explodes in cutting riffs. He rips up the fretboard for 20 seconds.

Normally, most songs would take a breath here and dial down, and then dynamically work up again. Not in this song, here the group stomps on the chord progression with rejuvenated intensity. When the singing starts again you can feel the group is now all worked up. There is a sense of recklessness as the singing starts up but the guitar riffs interject a lot too. It builds up to Steve's final "Johnny's disappeared" which has as much emotion as we've ever heard from him.
After all that they tuck in a dark Dragnet theme coda for comic relief.

Steve Cataldo is the latest interview on the Life on the Other Planet podcast.  Steve has a long history in rock and it’s only lately that even we have been able to see the whole story. Vinnie gets into some of Steve’s early history and gets Steve to talk about working with Little Steven in his latest chapter with Wicked Cool Records.  Steve also talks about his current batch of songs.

In case you haven't checked out the podcast yet he also has interviews with John Felice and Willie Alexander so check it out!!

And... more...Life on The Other Planet is showing in Plymouth, MA on Friday, November 13th at the Spire Center

And here is the Life on The Other Planet FB page

The Fuzztones have a live covers album, Just Once, coming out on November 6. Right now they've released their cover of "Help You Ann" by the Lyres. It was recorded in Dive a NYC bar in 1985. We have it below. Other songs from include "Louie, Louie", "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" and "Baby Please Don't Go". There are some sixties obscurities also. They are all live and from 1982 to 1985. You can get it on purple vinyl as well as digital version at Cleopatra Records and here's The Fuzztones FB page.

And for your viewing pleasure Richard Pasley sent us his video of the Lyres doing Help You Ann and and Soapy upstairs at The Middle East in Cambridge September 3, 1980

Also from Cleopatra Records is news of an upcoming Cheetah Chrome album to be released next year. Cheetah's most recent focus was on a that new album. Cheetah had been working with Cleopatra Records for several years. He opened his archive to reveal some of the most electrifying of all unreleased Dead Boys recordings too!!

​ From Cleopatra Records: "​ For all who knew and loved him, however, Cheetah's final project might well be his most meaningful, a celebration of the Dead Boys that he summed up just a few months ago, with typical Cheetah economy and humor, by saying, “The whole thing is PFG… Pretty Fucking Good.”.

​ The album is fronted by a variety of guest singers, including Cheetah as well as Hanoi Rocks frontman Michael Monroe, who gave us thoughts on the legend that was Cheetah, and the music they made together. ​ “So sad to hear that the legendary Cheetah Chrome is gone. ​ He was a dear friend and one of the last true Punk Rock’n'Roll icons. ​ The past couple of years I've been working with him on a Dead Boys Celebration- Album (with Cheetah Chrome & Friends) which is going to be great.

It features some cool guest singers as well as Cheetah and myself on vocals, doing some old Dead Boys & Cheetah stuff and some of Cheetah’s favourite cover songs. ​ The band featured Clem Burke on drums, Glen Matlock on bass and Cheetah on guitar, with James Williamson guesting on one track on guitar. I guess now that record will be even more significant when it comes out. ​ “Rest in peace, my friend.” RIP Cheetah and we look forward to this record!!

Television's first two albums are now out in remastered versions with extra cuts. There's 180 gram vinyl version, but that's $154.98. That's an arm and a leg says Venus de Milo, and she ought to know. There is also an album The Blow-Up which is a Television set from CBGB's on 3/31/74. That's close to ground zero for USA punk. You can get all this at Collectors Choice Music.

VIDEOS......

The Hummingbird Syndicate are ramping up for an album. "The Guitar Star" is the third pre-released single. The song is a hard hitter for the group. The concept came from the Voyager flight that sent some songs (including Chuck Berry) into outer space. The song imagines that the recording made it to The Guitar Star.

They synched the music to a live version of the song performed at the Burren. The live footage has superior quality. The video slips in plentiful effects that keep things moving. The guitar has some effects too with some wah wah in the solo.

There's a video for The Spackles song "Bag of Bees". We loved that unabashedly romantic tune. The video is simple, a couple in love walk through a Edenic landscape. We think we need more of this these days to heal our frazzled mind.

It didn't take Cold Expectations long to get a video for their latest single "Waiting for the Pills To Take Effect". Steve Prygoda is pummeled with pills in a recurring shot. There are live shots from a Sally O'Brien's show and some old film footage too. As the band says, if you are 'waiting for the pills to take effect' then you are hoping for something better. This song really works. It has its own sound with the synth bleeps and bloops bouncing around.

Ralph Fatello talks about his autobiography Don't Ever Buy A F*ing Monkey on Rat Tales. Ralph writes like he talks, so his interview is like reading the book. He tells the stories, and the punch lines are there. A lot of the interview is about his time in the service and his adjustment coming back to civilian life and that was maybe the most revealing and memorable part of the book to us.

There's still so much more to know, so you still have to get the book, but this will give you an idea of what it is like. Ralph tells us he has MORE books coming out too. Stay tuned for that news!

The Halloween material has been cascading in. There is a graveyard stomp from a new Rum Bar Records group The Jetstones from Champaign, IL. Lou met leader Billy "Freekout" Jetstone at the Ohana Luau in Lake George years ago. The initial single/video in the collaboration is "Party In The Graveyard".

Everything is cheesy by design with The Jetstones. The music is fuzzy garage. The video is one scene and there is much dancing but no choreography…please! The poster for the video says, "Music for vampires, sleestak and low budget special effects". If you are wondering, what is a 'sleestak', it was a monster on the TV show Land of the Lost. Hear the single on Bandcamp.

The Hellflowers, also Rum Bar connected, have a Halloween song/video. Seems someone has a creature crush for the Creature from the Black Lagoon. "Creature" is tuneful garage and Ramones style song.

There's good news and bad news. Good news: There's a new documentary out titled Punk Brighton. Bad news: They mean Brighton ENGLAND! They had a scene there in the 80s especially. Peter and the Test Tube Babies were part of it. Like a lot of media that looks back at punk the social and political part is equal to the music part.

It premiers on October 28 in England, when it will become available here, we don't know.

PODCASTS......

Blowing Smoke with Twisted Rico had Zack Lazar in for a talk. Zack was the bassist for Black Helicopter for a while and then Kudgel. Now he's in Execution Style which had an album released in May this year.

Zack grew up in Ashland, MA. He was a DJ at Framingham State without actually being a student. One of the first local bands that impressed him was Green Magnet School. He started playing in bands around 1990. There was lot of talk about Kudgel and tracking their recording history. Then they focused on The Black Helicopter's That Specific Injunction album which is one of Steev's favorites.

Finally, it was talk about Execution Style. The seven cut Hell At Capacity album is a sonic wrecking ball of hardcore. Listen to it on Bandcamp.

Al Quint started his 10/12 Sonic Overload show with The Damned "New Rose". Al makes the point that the song was released this month 50 years ago and was the first English punk recording. When we hear it, it transports us back to the Rat and the group's first tour to teh US. We'll never forget those nights and lucky for you we have it documented in our BGN Interview with The Damned from that night!! Dave Vanian just turned 70 years old, Al informs.

There was a nice local art rock set with Native Tongue/"Blame It On Gravity", Moving Targets/"Changing Your Mind" (from the 15th Anniversary Suburban Voice Compilation)and New Parts From Old/"Jar".

Al played The Monsters from Switzerland off their new album Off the Road We Go. They are always primitive garage. We spotlighted a song from this album last week. The song Quint played is as raw and trashy as things can get. "Fuck Shit Up" does service to the title. It's little more than a mantra of "fuck shit up"…and that's a song.

Al played local group K.O. Queen. Their Girls! Girls! Girls! album is very intense. They are hardcore/queercore. They have some personal issues that play out in a churning hardcore soundscape. To appreciate it we recommend going to their Bandcamp page and checking out the lyrics which are plentiful.

The hardcore is also plentiful on Sonic Overload. Check out all the shows on the web blog. Al has logged all the shows since 2009.

The Elastic Glam show had locals Sapling and Lynda Mandolyn at the beginning of his 10/9 show. For Sethyspice Halloween is a religious holiday, thus Mandolyn's "Let's Hear It For the Monster Squad" was a must play. Just before that song it was "Frankenstein" by The New York Dolls.

Notable new glam songs were from Doc Rocs/"Supernaturalize", Gysai/ "You Got the Look", Fever Dog/"Out of Control" and Boys In the Back/"No Good For Me". The Starbenders doing "Tonight Tonight" off of the Smashing Pumpkins tribute was standout. The album is from Sumerian Records and is on Bandcamp.

We've been waiting for this show for a while. The 10/10 Punks in the Garage (from WAIF in Cincinnati) podcast has a spotlight on Boston punk dedicating the whole sixty minutes to Boston. They started with The Real Kids' "All Kindsa Girls" and followed with one of John Felice's influences The Remains.

The show always represents sixties garage. Along with the Remains they had Barbarians, The Lost and The Rising Storm. When they played DMZ followed by Lyres early on, it brought back the sorrow of the last few months. Jeff Conolly will always be remembered for his musical genius like this forever.

Some essential songs that got played were: LaPeste/ "Better Off Dead" , Jonathan Richman/"Roadrunner", Nervous Eaters/"Talk To Loretta" and MOB/"That's When I Reach for My Revolver". Some neat picks were Daughters /"See You Anymore" , General Foodz /"Love Potion # 9", Freeze/"American Town", Transplants/"Suicidal Tendencies" and New Models/"Permanent Vacation".

They made it a point to focus on Willie Alexander and acknowledging his influence and importance. They played "At The Rat" and then "Maybe More Than You" by The Lost. They closed with The Last Ones and "Number One Again". We were blissed out. A fine hour of Boston punk.

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

We heard local group Little Low on Skybar's Rising 10/13 show. It has such a strong and thundering low end that we had to check out the group. They put out a self-titled release in 2022 which was a light acoustic affair.

Something has changed in the ensuing years. Their new song "Underrated Heartache" is an aggressive blast. The group says that the song did develop from an acoustic song. The rearrangement is dramatic. The excellent recording was done at New Alliance in Somerville. Check out Thoughts Words Action's page on Little Low

Lynda Mandolyn loves Halloween. Last year she had a single "Gimme Gimme Halloween" for the holiday. This year she has "Let's Hear It For The Monster Squad. The monster squad is Frankenstein, Wolfman, Dracula and the Mummy. They are ghouls "on a mission" sings Lynda. It's got a classic garage sound. Garage rock is a great fit for Halloween for some reason.

After we listened to a few songs by Split Dogs from Bristol, UK we felt like we had been beat up - sonically. The recording they get out of the studio is extremely immediate. That along with the aggressive group attack is as brutal as sound gets. The group tags themselves as punk and hardcore but to us it sounds like old fashioned hard rock taken to the extreme. The influences they name are: Plasmatics, New York Dolls, Motörhead and The Stooges. Their live show must be brilliant!!

It doesn't do us any good here in the USA but we have to mention the recording studio they used which is The Station House in Leeds. They do a funny thing with song titles. They name them very very close to songs you might know, like "Born Too Loose" and "Shake Sum Action". We are going to embed "Rock N Roll Business" below. If that does it for you then you have 12 more songs on the same level.

Peter Greenberg's post on Facebook told us all we needed to know about this album. "Penniman Records has just released a limited edition LP of demos, live and party recordings from the Savage birth years of 1983/1984. Many songs are from before the release of our 1st LP and unheard before. It was compiled from tapes that I had in storage and curated by Barrence, Phil (Lenker), and me." Order it Penniman Records

Here's an uncompromising hardcore group. Unsanitary Napkins are from New Zealand. The music is fast hardcore with anarchistic lyrics with a feminist point of view. The title of the EP is The Balls Are Back In Town. They sing about "power hungry men", "reject normalisation/atrocities, warcrimes" and "Fuck your AI takeover". "Pervert Glasses" is about someone wearing Meta glasses. We want to yell along with them.

The Rumkicks are from South Korea. Their current album Born Rude is a fine punk rock album. They must be popular because their Facebook page has thirty eight thousand followers. Their songs are half sung in Korean and half in English. The lilt of the Korean language fits in solid with punk music. Sometimes it's hard to figure which language they are singing in.

The Ramones rule with the Rumkicks. The song "Punk Rock" has the lyric "I wanna, I wanna be a punk rocker." Then there is "I Don't Wanna Die". "Rude Girl Oi" has them doing the "oi, oi, oi" chants. They even do a fave punk rock move by having a song titled "Fuck You". We love it. Here's a one minute video of the group on stage.

K-Man & The 45s are a ska punk band from Montreal. Their current album is Heed The Call. They are as sharp as The Interrupters but with five members they work the horns a lot so they are tight and full sounding. The bass player delivers in every song. The band does a lot of touring and the lyrics go to drinking time and again but the songwriting covers more ground than that.

In "We Won't Stop" they go into a pseudo dub section which we liked. In "We Won't Stop" they ride the phrase and make you dance to it and sing along with it. They do it again with "Buzz Off" and "Heed the Call". The subject matter of the song "I Wear Black" reminded up of the Blackjacks' song "(That's Why I Always) Dress In Black".

Most songs are fast and snappy. "Working in the Sun" starts slow and languid. They lyrics are about the groups friends working hard in Jamaica. It works as a change of pace. If you are a ska fan this is something to check out.

CorMae from Austin are an appealing punk/riot grrrl band. Their songs on their album Everything is SO GREAT! Deal with frustrations but they are relatable and it's done with humor. They are stuck in a "Rut", they are giddy that they can charge it to their "Credit Card, You Got It" and they have ADHD and ask "where's my shoes, where's my keys".

They do it with plenty of punk attitude and an aggro punk attack. They sound like classic old school punk with "Tired" where they say, "I'm too tired to lie down". They sing/talk the lyrics with a blasé voice. It's so close in subject matter and method to "I'm Bored" by Destroy All Monsters.

I, Doris is a group from England that break a few expectations with their self-titled EP. At first listen they reminded us of Jilted John, that is, with lyrics having a humorous take on personal foibles. Then we started to notice a few of the songs were actually older hits with new words. "Do It Myself" was actually the Go Gos "We Got the Beat" and "Wonderwoman" was Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive".

The song we like the most because it reminded us of Jilted John the most too was "Just Some Doris". That seems to be a redo of "Sugar, Sugar". Doris is their nickname for a plain jane, judging by the lyrics. We have that embedded below. This is the sort of group we would have glommed onto on college radio in the early punk days and it would just add to the fun. You can hear this intriguing six song EP on Bandcamp.

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

October 20, 2026 (Tuesday) Cradle of Filth, Moonspell, WORM, Black Satellite - Big Night Live

October 23, 2026 (Friday) In Contempt, Vicegrip, Skives, Will Tell Aim at O'Brien's 7PM

October 24, 2026 (Saturday) Cambridge Record Fair! 55 tables of RECORDS! Early admission for you record fanatics 10AM-12PM ($10) then $5 admission 12-5PM in Kendall Sq at t he Date Aligheri society FB page

October 24, 2026 (Saturday) Puke Pisstols, Triple Thick, Lithophones, Deuce Club The Band at Underbones

October 24, 2026 (Saturday) Osis, Mirrormen, The Sandy Clams, Mirror Stars at The Midway MATINEE at 3PM

October 24, 2026 (Saturday) Wanted, Ballistix, Axe Collector, Sodrotter at O'Brien's

October 29, 2026 (Thursday) Ziptie Handcuffs Halloween trick-or-freak party Ziptie Handcuffs, The Freqs, Black Hatch at Underbones

October 30, 2026 (Friday) Spectacle at Jacque's Underground - 5 bands but we don't know who the other bands are yet.

October 31, 2026 (Saturday) Halloween Cover Show with My Chemical Chungus as My Chemical Romance, Tiffy as Charli XCX, Makeout Palace as Cake. Costumes encouraged. at Deep Cuts Medford.

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 4, 2026 (Wednesday) Genre is Death, Art Gray Noizz Quintet, Gossip Collar at Deep Cuts, Medford

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

November 7, 2026 (Saturday) Flipper, SQRM, Facepaint, Lewd, Violent Protest at Ralph's Diner, Worcester

November 8, 2026 (Sunday) Unnatural Axe, Warthog, The Spackles, The Sonic Wavelength at The Midway MATINEE at 3PM

November 12, 2026 (Thursday) Silver Screams, Black Helicopter, Osis at The Square Root

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 13, 2026 (Friday) Still Sedated, Blitzkrieg, Queen Rhapsody at Thirsty First in Lowell

November 14, 2026 (Saturday) Hixxsgiving with Hixx, Zagnutt, Sex Zombies, Tj Welch & The Wasted at The Midway 3PM MATINEE

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

November 15, 2026 (Sunday) Stop Calling Me Frank, Ape Hangers, Dogmatics at The Midway 4PM MATINEE

November 20, 2026 (Friday) Minibeast, Thalia Zedek Band, Flying Vipers at O'Brien's

November 21, 2026 (Saturday) The Annual Women of the Pit Boston Winter Coat Drive: with Clock Out, Burn Kit, Josephine With a Cause, DJ Matawana at The Middle East UP - All Ages EARLY show doors at 12NOON

November 21, 2026 (Saturday) Spectacle, Modern Day Idols, Tad Overbaugh and the Late Arrivals at The Midway 3PM MATINEE

November 21, 2026 (Saturday) Little Billy Lost, Typhoid Mary, Crow Follow, The BickerSins at The Midway 8PM show

November 28, 2026 (Saturday) Joe Gittleman & Friends, Diablogato, Mark Lind at The Middle East UP All Ages

November 28, 2026 (Saturday) K.C.U.F., Unseemlier, Today Junior, Grub Lord at Deep Cuts Medford

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

December 12, 2026 (Saturday) Crow Follow holiday show with Crow Follow, Adi Sun solo, Randy Black and the Heathcroppers, Joanne the Band - at Underbones

December 17, 2026 (Thursday) Christmas Party with Kenne Highland's Air Force, Still Sedated, JayAllen, Mickey Bliss (psst, it's his birthday) at The Jungle

December 18, 2026 (Friday) Lydia Lunch special guests Cryin Caleb, Matt Nelson and Tim Dahl at Koto, Salem - FB page

December 31, 2026 (Thursday) New Year's Eve Show with Salyse, On What You're On, Kier Byrnes & The Kettle Burners, Hambone Skinny at The Jungle TIX!

January 21, 2027 (Thursday) Dead Pioneers, Neighborhood Shit, Dizeaze, Cartridge at Sonia

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.