The BGN News Archive

Birthday Boy Kenne with Still Sedated in the Jungle

REMINDER: . Life on the Other Planet will be shown at The Cut in Gloucester on April 26 at 5PM. The Nervous Eaters will perform a live set and there will be a Q&A with the Director Vincent Straggas, as well as Willie Alexander, and Steve Cataldo & Brad Halen. Get your tix now!!

We went to the Jungle on Thursday 4/2 to see Still Sedated with a guest appearance from Kenne Highland on the occasion of his 70th Birthday. The Jungle was sold out for the night. Also on the bill were Cherry Crisis, The Leftovers and RemoW.

Still Sedated are an early punk tribute band. You'd recognize all the songs they play which makes you feel appreciative again about how many great punk songs there are and what a time it was. When they hit "Ever Fallen In Love" by the Buzzcocks we were misty eyed. They started with "Blitzkreg Bop", Clash's " I Fought the Law", "Pretty Vacant" and "I Wanna Be Sedated" of course. One twist we liked was playing "Maybelline" by Chuck Berry, straight up, which showed how close to punk spirit that is. That point was made a few weeks ago when Sourpunch released "Rebound 'n Down" which started with punk and added Chuck Berry's fast lyric style.

As a guest up there, Kenne was in all his glory as he ascended to the stage. Here was a first generation punker to lead the way. They started with Iggy's "I Wanna Be Your Dog" which Kenne sung in German! Why? Well, Kenne did explain but it was in Cryptic English. Kenne's mouth is Five Years Ahead of his Mind, so us normals didn't get the message. Then it was another Iggy song with "Search and Destroy. Kenne sang his song "My Best Bette" but in the version done by Niagara (of Destroy All Monsters) in her later group Dark Carnival that she changed to "My Best Friend". See it on YouTube. See, with Kenne it all gets cryptic.

Still Sedated closed it up with Sabbath's "Paranoid" and Motorhead's "Ace of Spades".

The Cavedogs have posted a Live on WFNX acoustic session on the Internet Archive page. That's a smart and accessible place to park something like this. Here's the Internet Archive page. The session is 28 minutes long. It happened just as the album Joyrides for Shut-ins was released in 1990. It includes an interview and an ad for a candy bar named Kick In The Nuts which was done by the band.

They start with the insanely memorable "Tayter Country". Later it was "Proud Land which is another song that has not lost its melodic magic. They sang a cover a Michael Nesmith's "Joanne".
"Tayter Country" was The Cavedogs ticket to MTV. You can see the video on YouTube.

Portland's finest Tiger Bomb have a new album coming out on Get Hip titled 15 Super Hits. It sounds like an album of chart hits but they are playing their own material. This is 15 songs written by Mandolyn and Horne that are so good they are Super Hits. We don't think they are wrong. You can see this on the Bandcamp page now where you can preorder the album.

There is an interview with Pat McGrath in the Record Lung Substack. Pat is neck high in albums at his Looney Tunes store on Harvard Ave in Allston. He's never short of amazing stories about his time in Boston, the music scene and the record business. It ends with McGrath's suggestion of 10 albums to listen to. They're very different.

Mach Bell has had a long productive career from Thundertrain, Joe Perry to author. All that and more is discussed in his interview in Classic Rock Magazine. I think we may see Classic Rock Mag up for a Cowboy award next year!!

VIDEOS......

Peppermint Kicks has a new song/video; "Shaking Underground". It's centered on phones. It's either imagery of phones or imagery seen on phones. The song has a strong warning tone to it. We're with them on that. We're deep into media and don't feel good about it. They talk about "staring at satellites" but also having something "shaking underground" that is represented by a monster.

The Peppermint Kicks being the Peppermint Kicks still manage to make the song a pop gem that sweeps you along. Dan Kopko and Sal Baglio have a hell of a collaboration going on. They come up with the tunes and then they have their low key recording, with the addition of Chuck Ferreira on drums. Those recording are filled with texture, momentum and pop hallmarks that never fail to click.

Casket Rats played a tight 27 minute set at the David Bieber Archives on Saturday April 4. This was a good chance to see how they concentrate on songs. They never milk them with long solos. Everything seems in balance with this crew. It's metal with good taste.

Condition Baker posted four songs from their Silhouette Lounge show from April 6 on You Tube. The songs are: Dethroned/ I've Had Enough / How It Goes / Sweet Nothings.

They are indefatigable - Muck and the Mires have a new four song EP The Ghost of Roky Erickson. The group is now touring Spain and this release is on Ghost Highway Records in Spain.

The title song is a salute to Roky Erickson who has remained an alluring figure even after passing away in 2019. The video above that comes with this has a Roky lookalike in it and that look alike is no other than birthday boy Kenne Highland.

Also on the EP is "Hey Sunshine" that has been formally released. "There's a cover of "It's Gonna Be Alright" by Gerry & the Pacemakers and a hard rocking original "Dead to Me". We have the EP embedded below.

We get all the Irish influenced music we need via the Dropkick Murphys in March. But hold off a little bit for "I Wanna Eat Sardines (With Your Mother)" from the Real McKenzies. It's more poppy, catchy, light and fun than the usual jig beat ditty. The McKenzies are from Vancouver.

RADIO......

On his 3/31 Rising show Skybar announced that his show would also be simulcast on Bumble Bee Radio.That's a new twist we didn't see coming. Bumble Bee Radio plays 24/7. Kristen Eck has worked and has been successful in raising awareness of the station.

PODCASTS......

The Sonic Overload show for 3/30 was the Easter show, in the hardcore fashion. There was a song called "Crucifix" (by Broken Bones), a group called Crucifucks and Jerry's Kids doing "Crucify Me". A little milder was Scratch Acid covering "Damned For All Time" from Jesus Christ Superstar.

Al played an interesting newer punk tune from Austin, Texas. "Steady on It" was by Gus Baldwin and the Sketches. They cover GG Allin's "Don't Talk To Me" on the same Sketches album. You can hear it here on Bandcamp, We have "Steady On It" below.

Al also had remembrances of those that have died: Ross the Boss from The Dictators and Chip Taylor who wrote "Wild Thing".
There was a fun punk set with Jilted John playing "Jilted John" (1978) and John Otway doing "Headbutts" (1981). We loved those wacky songs by English eccentrics.

We also like getting the heads up on local Boston hardcore. This show we noted "Replica" by Exit Order. The song is from 2015. We have it embedded below.

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

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

There were plenty of bands on the Boston scene before La Peste, but La Peste was the first fully punk band. Musically, they were down to the bare essentials. Lyrically, they were edgy and dark. They had a devoted fan base. They had one single and then it seemed it was over. The legend remained. People have been pining for this band for almost 50 years. A few compilations of recorded material have been out there. You can that on Discogs.

Now we have the first official release of the studio recordings of the band. Wharf Cat Records now has I Don't Know Right From Wrong: Lost Le Peste Vol. 1976-1979. I comes with a booklet with some posters and photos. There's a piece by Andy Cush that illuminates a few points. One is that Peter Dayton does confirm that seeing the Ramones in NYC/CBGBs was a life changing moment and birthed the idea of La Peste. Second the idea of the frenzied audience on the brink of spinning out of control might have scared Dayton from pushing the band on. The booklet has comments from locals like: Willie Alexander, Clint Conley, Greg Hawkes, Roger Miller, Richie Parsons, Malcolm Travis (HSR), Mr Curt and more.

There's really nothing to say when you hear the raspy drill of Dayton's guitar, it all comes rushing back - if you were there back in the day. There were a lot of people who still were turned off by punk at this time. The Ramones were a big influence but there are differences. The bass work by Mark Carl is one. The bass lines are not repeated root notes done with down strokes. They are surprisingly melodic and even buoyant. The drums by Roger Trip are lively and emphatic.

There are 23 songs. Four ("I Don't Know Right From Wrong", "Acid Test", "I Don't Want To Die in My Sleep Tonight" and "Let Me Sleep") were from the famous session with Ric Ocasek. Four are recorded by Mr. Curt. Two in his Euphoria Studios in Revere. Many of the others were recorded Daffodil/Cola in the La Peste loft on Chauncy Street and they have a solid recording quality.

Some of these songs we have heard for decades. The ones you haven't all have that La Peste imprint and sound as fine as the familiar tunes. "Skintight" recorded here in 1977 was later used on the Ocasek recorded Peter Dayton solo album in 1981.
Nice to have "Computer Love" on this. That was one side of a single by Lord Manuel (RIP) who played keyboards. The other side of the single on Varulven Records had backing by the Neighborhoods. It's sitting on Ebay now for $100.00. The later Ian Stevens led La Peste backed artist James for the song "Four Point Restraints". Let's see if that crops up in Vol. 2. Al Quint played that in his 4/2 Sonic Overload show.

You can order the album on different formats on Bandcamp. It looks like you can still get the La Peste DVD from Kinodv.net that was shot by Jan Crocker.

The Grimly Pleased are punk and are having fun with it. They play Midway a lot. They have a new EP titled Do Nice Things. If everything in society seems to be souring, it doesn't affect the sunny outlook of The Grimly Pleased. They say, "We do nice things", "We say no to Hate", We feel fuckin' great", "I love giving good news" and "I don't have jury duty". Those are lyrics from "We Do Nice Things" and "Yayus". Yayus is an exaggerated way of saying Yes, just for fun.

It's not all roses though. In "Especially Everything" he's kicking someone out of his ambulance and in "Right Turn, Wrong Way" there is too much drinking going on. The fun lyrics are coupled with some refreshing loose punk playing. That spirit moved us and reminded us of punk's beginnings and the continuity up to the present, now with Grimly Pleased. Seems like a miracle.

Little Billy Lost or the 'veteran foursome' as the press release nails it, have a new song "Under the Gun". Their last song "Tonight" got them a lot of airplay. You could imagine that song ringing out in a large arena and it's the same with "Under the Gun". These guys just have the chops. The song adds another voice to the frustration over gun violence in the country.

Issues like this are more and more the subjects of songs. The song frames the situation and emotions with drama. You feel like fist pumping your agreement even listening at home.

Curt Florczak has been in a few bands around town. His latest is Badterms. They have the album Nest of Vipers out on April 21. The title track is streaming now and it has a sharp a bite as the titular snake. We assume that's Curt playing the stinging guitar at the one minute mark. You can see the Zakim Bridge illustrated on the cover, above.

Not Birdsongs of the Mesozoic but b.mez an offshoot of the Birdsongs of the Mesozoic. That's the group behind the album Under Circuitous Skies on Cuneiform Records. The personal are Roger Miller, Ken Field, Michael Bierylo and Rick Scott. The idea of the group was to explore spontaneous composition. They commonly played at Outpost 186. The album itself was recorded in 2019.

The streaming pieces are spacy without giving an ambient feeling. The album notes on Bandcamp say that some pieces are aggressive but you don't hear that on the four released compositions. We found it very listenable and tasteful.

We have previewed Jaquero from Italy with a single and video from their new album. That new album Make Me Feel Alive Again is now here. It's full of quality hardcore emo. The group sound pounds away like a construction site, yet the vocals can be clear and full. It's a good combo.

There are many memorable lines in the emo lyrics that resonate if you pay attention. The lyrics are all on the Bandcamp page. One of the band members said that one thing that drives the lyrics is "We often feel out of place". We relate to that. That original single "Cheer Me Up" is a standout track but we have two other favorites that are equal: "Solid Ground" and "RN RN". "TwentyFour7" is another to take in, we suggest looking at the video. We embed the whole album below. You can buy it Bandcamp and choose your own price.

We featured NYC band Loosey Family Band in their video for "There You Were". Now their whole album A Retrospective: 2023-2025 is out. The band has a main stream rock sound rather than a punky one. That's what we liked about "We See We" that almost has a jangle in the guitars. There's a live feel to the recording too. We got hooked on it.

The Lambrini Girls from the UK have another song criticizing the powerful. "Cult of Celebrity" is about the evil doings of the super-rich which they posit are even worse than you ever thought. They don't sing much but keep things in elevated talk mode to get in all the incriminating facts. The music bed is pounding away during all this.

With 13 songs in under 14 minutes Copulaters (from Melbourne) have to keep things snappy on their album Headless Surfer. We like "Ravens Cry" for just crunching on one riff for most of the one minute run of the song. We have that embedded below. To hear the rest of the album go to their Bandcamp page.

We are paying attention to Montreal's General Chaos as their new album will be released on May 9. Their song/video for "Busted" was what got our attention. The band is young and really pounds out the punk.

That's the case with their second single from the album The Idiots Have Taken Over. The trio makes a lot of noise. A busy bass line makes it work. The video for the song shows an energetic club show.

Now, for something completely different - a mandolin arrangement of Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf" by Thee Holy Brothers a duo from Los Angeles.

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

April 15, 2026 (Wednesday) First President of Japan, Bedtimemagic, Linnea's Garden, Diane Young at The  Silhouette

April 17, 2026 (Friday) KCUF, Leisure Boys, Even Defeat, Time & Place at  O'Briens

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

April 17, 2026 (Friday) Scumbari. Waste Buds, Stress Balls, Mass Spy at The Cantab Underground 10:30PM

April 18, 2026 (Saturday) Lonely Leesa & The Lost Cowboys, Mad Painter, Poster Colors at The Jungle - 4 pm to 7 pm MATINEE

April 18, 2026 (Saturday) Hotel Saturn, Cold Expectations, Tiger Bomb at Underbones

April 18, 2026 (Saturday) The Regular Casanovas, The Daylilies, Devil Love (Release Show!), Tad Overbaugh and The Late Arrivals at The Midway 8PM

April 18, 2026 (Saturday) Jugg, Hell Dog, Burn Channel, Caev, Hard 2 Kill at O'Brien's

April 22, 2026 (Wednesday) Bill, Crow Follow, I Want a Cat at O'Briens

April 22, 2026 (Wednesday) Secaydia, Makeout Palace, Boltzmann, Subcutaneous Noise at The Silhouette

April 23, 2026 (Thursday) The Convenience, Perfectly Lethal, The Collect Pond at O'Brien's

April 25, 2026 (Saturday) Torch Red, The Instamatics, Glowbox, The Grimly Pleased at The Midway for a 3PM matinee

April 25, 2026 (Saturday) Cock Sparrer, Haywire, Lower Class Brats, Yellow Stiches at  Roadrunner

April 25, 2026 (Saturday) David Harrison Acoustic, BickerSins, Classic Ruins at Underbones

April 26, 2026 (Sunday) Screening of "Life on the Other Planert", and Nervous Eaters - there will also be a Q&A with Vincent Straggas, Steve Cataldo, Brad Halen and Willie Alexander at this show. at The Cut, Gloucester, MA  5PM TIX!!

April 30, 2026 (Thursday) Last Second Dropout, Island of Alaska, In Use, Botch Job at O'Brien's

May 1, 2026 (Friday) Sevalynn, Actor Observer, Sir Echo, This City Hates You at Deep Cuts, Medford

May 2, 2026 (Saturday) Eric Knopf's 50th Birthday with The Manglers, Larseny, Box of Records at The Midway for a 3PM Matinee

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 9, 2026 (Saturday) Restless Collective, Dayes, blindspot, Moonshot at The Jungle

May 9, 2026 (Saturday) The Long Wait, WORM, Catching Hell, The Ungraded, A.P.E. Mark Martin (Marko Bruiser Acoustic Set) at Ralph's Rock Diner Worcester

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 11, 2026 (Monday) Twisted Teens, Tyler and the Names, Puke Pistols at O'Brien's

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

May 14, 2026 (Thursday) Tired Radio,, Five Hundred Bucks, Little Low, Oh the Humanity! at O'Brien's

May 16, 2026 (Saturday) Bentanzaganza (Benefit for Ben Tan) ft. Johnnie & The Foodmasters, Delons, Noah Britton, Sound Dream Machine at The Midway for a 3PM matinee

May 16, 2026 (Saturday) Endation, Miracle Blood, Chainlacing, Gloomlurker at O'Brien's

May 16, 2026 (Saturday) Satch Keran Band, Aluminum Brain, Stigmatics at Underbones

May 16, 2026 (Saturday) SkyTigers, Farewell Drugs, Ruffian Dick at FACES Malden

May 16, 2026 (Saturday) The Dogmatics and The Gypsy Moths at Boston Harbor Distillery, Boston, MA, 8:30p

May 17, 2026 (Sunday)Blind Adam and the Federal League, Resurrectionists, Indoor Friends, Bad Idea USA at O'Brien's

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

May 21, 2026 (Thursday) Couch Crash, Superchild, Glowbox, JB & The Weather Machine at The Jungle

May 24, 2026 (Saturday) Crow Follow, Connor Storms & His Bouquet (release show!), Coffin Salesman, Lou Mace at The Midway for a 3PM MATINEE!

May 29, 2026 (Friday) Beantown Boozehounds, Gossip Collar, SpikyTops, Worm, Give Up Hope at The C Note, Hull. FB page

May 30, 2026 (Saturday) Is Malden Porchfest! Huck 2 will be on the City Hall stage at 2:45! We recommend everyone spend the day in Malden checking out all the great bands! Lots of friends will be playing that day. Gretchen & The Banshees, Crow Follow, Warthog, Hey Blondie, Captain Easychord and many others!

May 30, 2026 (Saturday) Homemade Speed, Yankee Bastard, Wanted, Zipper at O'Brien's

May 31, 2026 (Sunday) Wrought Iron Hex, Spectacle, Osis (their final gig!!), Bastard Leg at The Middle East Up TIX!

June 11, 2026 (Thursday) Echo & The Bunnymen at Roadrunner TIX

June 11, 2026 (Thursday) The Gruesomes with Muck and The Mires at The Burren, Somerville, MA, 6pm

June 13, 2026 (Saturday) OH THE HUMANITY!, Dead Cats Dead Rats, A Minor Revolution, The Digs, The Hideout at Faces Malden

June 14, 2026 (Sunday) Wreckless Wreck Chords Presents: The Long Wait, Incendiary Device, Scumbari, WORM, Pledge Of Allegiance- this is a 3PM MATINEE at The Midway

June 20, 2026 (Saturday) Stop Calling Me Frank, Girl With A Hawk (release show!), Tad Overbaugh & The Late Arrivals at The Midway 8PM

June 27, 2026 (Saturday) Silver Screams, Still Sedated, Past Life Crisis at The Jungle - this is a 4PM MATINEE

June 27, 2026 (Saturday) American Ocelot, Emily Grogan and Bearmonster, Sean Wolf Wortis at Underbones

July 31, 2026 (Friday) Jonee Earthquake, In Shreds, BAABES, Typhoid Mary at Koto Salem

September 25, 2026 (Friday) Muck and the Mires, The Sharp Class (UK), The Chelsea Curve and Dj Sherman at Deep Cuts

September 28, 2026 (Monday) The "Sex Pistols" at The Royale

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

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