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Jeff Conolly Benefit

Jordan Kratz RIP

We hope to see you all at the Middle East Down for the Jeffrey Conolly Cancer Battle of The Bands 2026 on Thursday March 15th with Mission of Burma, Classic Ruins, Unnatural Axe, Dogmatics, Hilken & Melissa Band and special guests. Get your tix at Ticketweb.

A lot of people have been thinking about Jeff, and Lyres, after Jeff started his GoFundMe page to help in his cancer treatments. There’s that new Lyres live recording On Fyre:Live from the Rusty Nail 1985. Lyres are also doing some live shows. Wes Eicenwald saw the Lyres in Austin at the Carousel Lounge just recently.

Wes who has seen Jeff play in DMZ in 1978 has a good perspective on the Lyres career. He puts it all in his Substak article. There is a video of the band performing “How Do You Know” on the page also.

Long time Boston and Maine punk rocker Jordan Kratz passed away last week. Jordan was born in Lynn, MA and always claimed to be the first punk rocker on the North Shore. He lived in Boston in the early '80's and had the bands The Transplants (with Danny McCormack) and the Half Transplants (with Kenne Highland).

The Half Transplants played a show at Gino's in Portland with the Brood and Jordan fell in love with Portland. Later, up there, he had The Gorehounds and Big Meat Hammer. He was a very well known and very loved Portland, ME fixture. You can read his official obit here. And here is a great remembrance of Jordan on the Maine Punk Rock History Facebook page.

Evan Dando has been in the news, in a bad way. It seems like he exposed himself masturbating in a private video without consent. In the next few weeks the chips began to fall. Drugs were an issue. Dando says he’s clean but reports (as in Paste magazine) report a list of suspected drugs: edibles, mushrooms, alcohol, Adderall and THC.

Then other victims reported similar cases going back to 2016. Evan has apologized and his wife wants him to go for a 30 day treatment program.
Ray move over, it’s a shame about Dando.

Congrats to the Square Root who had their seventh anniversary. They even survived a crash in December of 2022. They have made a comfortable and welcoming club. The Midway/Square Root make a great bar hop.

Politics are now a growing element in punk, how can it not be right? Locally the Dropkick Murphys have been in your face about it. The Burren are now regularly scheduling Which Side? A Protest Music Teach Out in their back room.

The latest was written up on WBUR’s Artsfuse web page. The writer is Clea Simon who used to write about Boston punk in the early days and is now a well-known mystery writer. The idea for the night is from critic Jim Sullivan and Joyce Linahan, who used to book Green St. Station and later was assistant to the Major of Boston.

The last night had the Dogmatics, Dennis Brennan and the Paid Protestors which include Anthony Kaczynski.
The next “Which Side?” will be held on March 24, 8 pm at the Burren and is already sold out!

BOOKS......

Rock n Roll Notes is a book that came to us from out of the blue. It's written by Jeffrey Allan Cohen who was on the Boston punk scene early on. The book covers that time period but also covers before and after. It goes up to 2025 with the CBGB’s reunion shows in NYC. It's a sort of a concert diary forCohen but is written as a fiction novel.

All we care about is Boston, we’re terrible, but hey it’s true, so we will look at that part of the book. In 1976 the main character Nick ends up on Green Street, Central Square, Cambridge. He works at a salad place in Kenmore Square. He listens to WBCN. He goes to the Rat, gives Mitch the cover and sees the Nervous Eaters, then the Jam. He sees the Clash at the Harvard Square Theatre. He talks about the scenesters there including Rita Ratt and Tontileo and the "girls from the Boston Groupie News". He takes in shows by Willie Loco, Real Kids, Marc Thor and DMZ.

Nick moves to Haviland St near Berklee. In the apartment building lives Aimee Mann. He sees the Police at the Rat. He gives a chapter to Human Sexual Response playing the 1270 club in the Fenway in 1981. Another chapter is the Del Fuegos and Los Lobos show at the Rat in 1984 and The Replacements at the Rat also in 1984.
The Dogmatics play Nick’s wedding. They ate most of the wedding cake! Marc Thor played the Wedding March on piano.

After 1984 Nick is off to New York. The book covers many rock genres including reggae. Nick has eclectic tastes. He also travels and there are concerts in New Jersey (Maxwells), New Orleans, New York, Michigan and Spain. It also covers his life and career. The book is 565 pages the Boston part is 130 pages.

It was rewarding to read someone write about the scene in their time in the city. Lots of people must have had that same experience. Again the Rat gets the attention as to the clubs. This is a self-published book. You can order it on Amazon.

VIDEOS......

Drew Stone has a local on his NYHC Chronicles show; Chris Wrenn who is the man behind Bridge Nine Records and the store of the same name currently in Beverly, has a book out- Fenway Punk: How a Boston Indie Label Scored Big on Baseball’s Greatest Rivalry.

Wrenn talked about the whole project and how hard it was to write the book. Then hiring an editor and getting it published. It all took years. In Chris’s first year in college he wanted to have a record label.
Sick of It All was the first favorite punk band. Chris was into graffiti in the 90s and he had a photo of gorilla advertising that he did. He painted “Bridge Nine DIY” on a bridge that spans the Charles River. He went back in four years and did some graffiti again. That was a great story.

Bridge Nine started in 1995. The first single came out in '96 and subsequent singles came slowly after. In 1999 circumstances led Chris to start merchandizing 'Yankees Suck' t-shirts and stickers outside of Fenway. They sold like crazy and that is the unlikely story of how Yankee Sucks merchandise helped to fund the Bridge Nine label. There are so many side stories involving the shirts and the store. It’s a very interesting interview. Chris is a very down to earth guy with no pretense. He tells his stories with few diversions.

You can get Fenway Punk at the Bridge Nine store in Beverly or through Chris at ChrisWren.com. Chris will be doing a book reading at the Brookline Booksmith on March 3 at 7pm, the book launch at the Bridge Nine Beverly store on March 7, at the Square Root on March 30 at 6pm and the Harvard Book Store on April 9 at 7pm, and at Lala Books in Lowell (May 2)..

The book launch at Bridge Nine will feature two bands that are in the book. The show is at 7pm. You can go to the store (282 Rantoul street, Beverly) and preorder the book, that puts you on the will call list. They are limiting the audience to 100. They will have the books you ordered at the show, you will be the first to have it. That’s going to be a scene!

Casket Rats are busy gigging and making their presence known. They are working to make themselves your go to Boston metal group. They check all the boxes: riffs, tattoos, V shaped guitar, hair whipping, well-worn denim jackets, squealing harmonics and twin guitar leads.

The new video for “Stealin’” has them on stage at the Middle East singing (or boasting) that they have “the devil inside”. To us they have the early Megadeath magic where they would appeal to a wider fan base than just metal.

Brad Marino has a video for his latest song “Calling Your Bluff”. The cool rocking tune fits fine in the skate park backdrop. It was shot at Red Alert Skateshop in Rochester, NH.

Richie Parsons' Surf’s Up Cannabis store is almost open. In conjunction with that, the ex-Axe man was interviewed by the DotLife Podcast. Richie comes across as knowledgeable and prepared. This is the sort of person you want in charge.

Before this Parson’s connection to Dorchester was always interesting and entertaining but now it’s a major plus for locals that are wondering how this business will fit in with the community. Here’s one of their own telling them everything is alright.

TELL’s new video for “Things To Do When It’s Dark” is directed by Rick Berlin. It was filmed around Lowell and at the Warp & Weft club. The song is an anti-ICE protest. Local protest group Indivisible Lowell are in the video. Tell’s leader David Wildman is rousted by ICE and chased through the city. Rick got a neat running through a tunnel shot that makes the vid.

We liked Jaquero’s (from Italy) last song “Hold Me Close”. Their new song/video is “Twentyfour7”. They are an emo group and true to form there is a ton of emotion captured in this mere two minute song.
The protagonist of the song doesn’t care if they waste every day as long as they are with the one they love. “’Cause you make me feel alive again” they repeat 'til the end.
The video takes in a group that are all punked out and living intently . We’ve all done it, hanging out and the relationships are everything.

RADIO......

Skybar had John Powhida in for an interview on the 2/24 Rising show on WMFO. John always has a lot going on and has many stories of local musicians that he interacts with. His new group is named John Powhida Infirmary (Facebook page).

Skybar spun a premier with the group’s new song “Elvis’ Voice Has Left the Building”. John also performed several songs in the studio. To hear the show go to the WMFO schedule page. Hit the Rising show on Tuesday from 7 to 9pm and then hit ARCHIVE.

PODCASTS......

Steev Ricardo is celebrating his seventh year of Blowing Smoke with Twisted Rico with a show at Sonia on Sunday, May 10 from 3 to 7pm. The lineup is: Black Helicopter, The Long Wait, Hammered Saint and the Black Souls.

On the 2/16 Blowing Smoke podcast Steev had Ali and James from Cape Crush in for an interview. Cape Crush received a lot of attention with their debut album titled Place Memory.
The members are both from the North Shore. James was in a series of hardcore groups. The band's first show was at Sammy’s on Revere Beach in 2022. They describe their music as Power Emo. Steev delves into the songs and gets some insights there.

The record came out in conjunction with Wanna Hear It Records in Watertown. Ali says that the store has lots of punk in stock. Ali is also a founder of Moon Base One and they talk about how that works along with the music scene in Salem. They revealed that Cape Crush is referring to Cape Ann and not Cape Cod.

The video for Cape Crush’s first single “Calm & Delivered” has 115 thousand views on YouTube in a month. They now have a second song/video for “Place Memory”. We have those two videos above.

On his 2/16 Sonic Overload show Al Quint played a song by Jed Whitey that is a good all round put down from one band to another, “We Used Your Record As A Beer Coaster”. There was some punk in the mix with Klark Kent’s (Stewart Copeland) “I Don’t Care”, Sonic Rendezvous Band with “ City Slang", and 999’s “High Energy Plan", and that sounded fantastic, we hadn’t heard that in a while!! Here it is below.

There was a neat local set. I began with the first Lyres single “How Do You Know”, then The Customs (local via Peter Greenberg) and “Long Gone”, Barrence Whitfield and the Savages singing “Georgia Slop” and the Neighborhoods doing “Monday Morning” live. Al played “Committed” from the 2026 remaster of Unsane’s Occupational Hazzard album from 1998. That was raging and deserves a listen. We have it below.

T'he snow delayed the Sonic Overload 2/23 to be posted a day late. That’s pretty good actually. So many people didn’t even have electricity for days after that whopper of a storm.
Al played a local group named Bombers. It’s 7 minute hardcore song that had some hard rock in it too. It was a 2017 song titled “Loaded Gun” off the Loaded Gun Demo. The lead guitar just slices through the track. We have it below.

There was an English punk set with The Fall, The Wall and the Damned. One of the last sets was a local punk set with LaPeste, The Vandykes (1984 with Frank Dehler of the Axe and Roger Tripp of LaPeste) and Primitive Romance.

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

DJ L.B. Worm started his 2/23 Wormtown Underground Radio show with a perfect choice – Jonathan Richman’s “Abominable Snowman”. That was followed by Jittery Jack and Miss Amy doing “Winter in New England”. It’s the only thing that made us smile in the middle of last week’s bombogenesis.

Get these local acts that got played: Muck and the Mires, Zulus, Willie Loco, Dogmatics, The Chelsea Curve, Spackles, DMZ (two songs from the newly issued 1978 demos), Lyres, Real Kids, Brad Marino, Sapling and The Peppermint Kicks.

NEW MUSIC/CD’s ......

The local duo Slo-Anne released a five song EP Cubs Scout in January. They slip in some alt-country in their rock with some steel guitar here and there. We like their more punk sounding song “Landlord Special”.

Right from the beginning they have a rhythmic chord sequence that sets things in place. The song is carried by the groove of those chords. The lyrics are a little oblique. It seems it’s not about a real ‘landlord’. The lyrics include the line “Drag a paintbrush over my face/Erase me while I sit in place,” that seems to mirror the EP cover (see that above) which has a painting of a person with a white splotch over their face. That makes everything very interesting. We have “Landlord Special” embedded below.

Nat Freedberg has done a chameleon trick on us and transformed into a lost psychedelic band from the sixties. That’s what The Gas Main Explosion looks like. It looks like a Nuggets collection with its title Traces: Lost Tracks of the Psychedelic Era, Vol. 5. Really, all the way throwing that Vol.5 in there.

The music is faithful to the era. Freedberg has all the right phrases and imagery for the psych era. The band is also up for it. With Nat in the band is, Jim Janota, Charles Hanson and John Sheeran.

“Come On Down To The Hippy Jam” sets the scene with the lumbering rhythm (great drums by Janota) and lyrics filled with hippie spirit. “The Old Ball and Chain” the guitar sounds like a sitar. In “Chemical Love” Freedberg uses drug imagery to describe his love ‘high’. There is a gorgeous solo section with intertwining psychedelic guitars.

In “Near But Yet So Far From Me” things go down a notch. The restrained volume, voice, guitar and pace make the song stick out. The song sort of hovers as the vocals sorts out the situation. Here as everywhere Hanson shines on guitar. The next song “Quiet Contemplation” does a similar thing with a contemplative air. Is Nat meditating now? Maybe not - at the end the band revs up. The album even has a song titled “Good Morning Sunshine” – every psych album has a song with that title.

You can imagine Nat having a laugh as he wrote the songs and the band must have loved playing in the sixties fashion. They should know that it was all for the good, this is a gas (explosion).

Black Beach have a second pre-released single from the forth coming Mail Thief album. “Secret Word” is not the guitar centric work that we expect from Black Beach. It has an organ over a noise wash as a base. It is economic and minimalist and that makes the bass line prominent and that has distinct line that pops out and seems to suspend the song is mid air. The vocals surface now and again but we can’t figure too many lyrics.
There is a psych feel to the whole song and a little of the Fall too in that vocal style. All in all a treat for the ears.

Hedge, from Western Mass have their second song off the upcoming EP Freeze Frame High Five. “Ice Rink” is a happy song. Imagine that? An actual happy song about doing what you love, in this case going to skate at the ice rink. That’s it, it’s just a push of positivity. They tag Husker Du and Superchunk as influences. Here we get a big Husker Du vibe. It’s a short burst of punk at 1:44.

The Dahlmanns are from Norway but their new album Life In Reverse is released on a Boston lablel Fabcom. They've been together since 2010. The Dahlmanns are an interesting find because they don’t slot into a genre. They consciously take from a wide range of rock. They love power pop but their sound doesn’t mine that. The band has a midrange punch and tucks in single line guitar hooks that have an edge in them that makes them sting.

There is one song streaming on Bandcamp now. That song does reflect the overall sound of the rest of the album. It’s amazing how the songs have a muscular backdrop and then drop in sixties sweet melodic moments. We have access to the whole album. We sat on “What’s Inside A Mind” for many repeats. The songs are perfect radio fodder. They will catch the ear easily.

The Linda Lindas have a cover of “California Sun” faithfully done up in the Ramones style. Why, we wondered? Turns out it is part of the soundtrack for season four of the Lincoln Lawyer. Also on that soundtrack is “Neat, Neat, Neat” by the Damned, “Roadrunner” by Richman and two by Iggy (“No Fun”, “Lust for Life”).

Proton Packs, from Italy have a new 12 song album is titled Visions From The Void. They mention Ramones and Misfits as influences but we hear a lot of Bad Religion in the singing and song writing.

The lyric subject matter is dark. It’s all about the night, insomnia, dreams, the moon, insanity, and hallucinations. The last song leaves you with the assurance that “nothing works out”. The group has a hard punk sound and the recording and mix make it all get through the speakers. Excellent job.

It is a perfect album to listen through all the way. We like the opening tune “In the Dark”, “Over and Over” and “Anomaly”.

R.U.B. are from Melbourne and say right off that “we’re a deeply political band.” They are also a deeply hard rocking outfit. The five songs on Unaddressed Culture have lyrics that are smartly articulate about social problems but also cathartic and emotional. Not many get the perfect mix like R.U.B.

“Did I Ask” is put down of mansplaining. They say what so many would like to say, “Have you ever thought that I don’t want your opinion?/ Have you ever thought to just shut the fuck up”. That’s done in screamo mode and so satisfying.
All the songs zero in on the suffering individuals bare because of systematic problems in the culture. The band’s heavy punk guitar sound is appealing and the singing if effective throughout.

The SLIP~ons from Vancouver have a new seven song EP titled Overtime. We spotlighted them a few years ago with the song/video “Greystone” a neat song about a favorite Detroit club. That song, remastered, is on this EP also.

The lyrics deal with some real life problems and the band points out that there are no relationship songs till the last two cuts. The overall sound of the group can be related to 90s rock a la Sugar.
The first song “Overtime” is about how pressure bears down on situations. The overtime referred to is a hockey overtime. The song is not overtly political but the group makes it so with their video. The song has a wonderful overall feeling to it.

“Waiting for Johnny Marr” pumps up Marr’s credentials. “Need a superhero,” they ask, “Here Comes Johnny Marr.” We will go along with that. The whole EP keeps up its level of quality with the appealing thick guitar work and vocals that keep your attention.

The Toys That Kill from San Pedro, CA keep it short and a big lo-fi which goes a long way with us. They are also punky and scruffy. The new album is Triple Sabotage.

The opening “My Kinda Rockstar” track is a good one. We can’t get all of the lyrics but we think we hear “not reading the label” and “drano”. “We Didn’t See Nothin’” gets noisy and has even more attitude. We don’t know what “Backwash Me The Antidote” is about but that had urgency. Skybar played “Hero’s Ashtray” on his Rising show 2/24 and it stuck out as a hit of punk. This is an album that grows on you the more you listen…so go listen.

The Descendents are getting reissues of all their albums. The third one will be Enjoy! out on April 24. You can preorder it. The cover is a joke if you get it. It’s done in the style of the classic Blue Note jazz label covers of decades ago.

It was originally released in 1986. Their version of the Beach Boys “Wendy” is on this album. All the formats and the special vinyl versions can be found on the Descendents site.

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

March 2, 2026 (Monday) Moon Machine, The Forest Forgets at The Silhouette

March 3, 2026 (Tuesday) Motherhood, Holiday Music, Darling Effigy at O'Briens

March 3, 2026 (Tuesday) Bad Verb, Permanent Blue, House of Lights, Identical Palms at The Silhouette

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

March 7, 2026 (Saturday) The Dopameanies, Time and Place, My Druthers, Tj Welch & The Wasted at The Midway

March 7, 2026 (Saturday) The Obsessed, Casket Rats, Eclectic Electric at Alchemy, Providence, RI

March 13, 2026 (Friday) Lover of Eve, Carissa Johnson & The Cure-Alls, blindspot, Joshua Sweet at The Middle East Up

March 13, 2026 (Friday) Sky Tigers, Miracle Blood, Sexless Marriage, Track Rabbits at  Moon Base One, Salem, MA

March 13, 2026 (Friday) Astral Bitch, Shazbot, The Entire Earth at The Heavy Culture Coop North Hampton MA - FB page

March 14, 2026 (Saturday) Plymouth Punk Rock Mini Pop Up Market at Barrel House Z ! . FB page CANCELLED

March 14, 2026 (Saturday) The Cretins, The Instamatics, Shepards, Charmed and Strange at The Midway

March 14, 2026 (Saturday) Miracle Blood, Sexless Marriage, Woundlicker at The Heavy Culture Coop North Hampton MA FB page

March 15, 2026 (Sunday) M.O.T.O, Vices INC , at The Midway - matinee show at 3PM

March 15, 2026 (Sunday) Ashy Finn, Watson Park, The Orrs at The Silhouette

March 19, 2026 (Thursday) Celebrity Sighting, Nice Guy, Whyte Lipstick, Merry Merry at O'Brien's

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 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 20, 2026 (Friday) Consumer Culture, Fat Randy, Bedtimemagic, Deprogrammer Cult at O'Briens

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

March 25, 2026 (Wednesday)  Neighborhood Shit, Darcy, Care Fore, Monument Grill at The Silhouette

March 28, 2026 (Saturday) Lyres, Dogmatics, The Downhauls at Deep Cuts, Medford, CANCELLED

March 28, 2026 (Saturday) Electric Street Queens, Humanoids, Orange Whip, Sherman at The Midway

April 3, 2026 (Friday) Osis, Tension Scale, Static Friction at Moon Base1 in Salem, MA, 24 New Derby St.  https://www.moon-ns.org/. 

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

April 11, 2026 (Saturday) Spackles, Jay Allen and the Archcriminals, The Mesos at The Square Root

April 17, 2026 (Friday) Slamdinistas One night only at the Square Root with  Sado Domestics- FB page

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

May 9, 2026 (Saturday) Whyte Lipstick, Puke Pisstols, The Lithophones (ex-spits ex-Tampoffs) at The Square Root.

May 10, 2026 (Sunday) Blowing Smoke with Twisted Rico 7th Anniversary with Black Helicopter, The Long Wait, Hammered Saint, The Black Souls at Sonia TIX.

May 14, 2026 (Thursday) TRAITRS, Pilgrims at The Middle East Up

May 21, 2026 (Thursday) Kerosene Heights, Dear Maryanne, Ogbert The Nerd, Blame it on Whitman at The Middle East Up

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