Issue 301/ May 2010

Support Local Music

KAY HANLEY
DeGuerre Records
Weaponize
12-song CD
Eighteen-years and seven-plus studio albums later, Kay Hanley maintains her grasp on gleeful arrogance while surrendering to her trademark youthful voice. The former Letters To Cleo frontwoman has held her own in the solo world without compromising her dedicated fan base. Weaponize, Hanley’s second full-length solo album, is full of pop-rock sing-along gems and is possibly closest in sound to her long-gone Cleo days. “Nicky Passes Marble Arch,” the album’s opener, oozes attitude with strong vocals and guitar power while “Video” is very bass-driven with enough hooks to keep you humming the chorus for hours. “The Wrong Year” is slightly reminiscent of Hanley’s first solo effort Cherry Marmalade, while “Take It Like A Man” captures the polished sound of her Baby Doll EP. “Cellars By Starlight” Captures the simplicity of Hanley’s appreciation for a sunny pop song while playfully name-dropping local music venue T.T. the Bear’s. The feel of “I Guess I Get It” and “Strange Life” truly captures Kay’s new sunny California environment, while album closer “Don’t Drop A Bomb” features a rap chorus by Fan_3. All songs are written by Hanley, with many co-written by her husband and former Cleo guitarist Mike Eisenstein. It’s a perfect rock album that can be enjoyed all the way through. Take comfort, because Kay Hanley can still rock with the best of them. (Rob Watts)

RICK BERLIN
Hi-N-Dry Records
Old Stag
13-song CD
What do you call a record with songs like “John Lennon’s Nose,” “Happy Lesbians in the Snow,” and one about a prostitute roommate who doesn’t eat? Especially when it’s just voice, keys, some occasional strings, and recorded in a living room? I call it a small masterpiece. Berlin’s made all kinds of music here for decades, and never fails to surprise, but rarely does anyone’s material match its delivery with such finesse. It’s impossible not to feel his experience in your gut, as his voice floats from whimsy to heartbreak, from ecstasy to absurdity, from wisdom to mystification, all set to words and music that unspool countless reels of a life lived fully, gladly (I’m pretty sure), and recklessly. In a perfect world, he’d be writing Broadway scores, but of course he’s too smart and speaks a hundred times the truth of that swill. Check these lyrics from “How Can I Hate People I Don’t Know?” “Prejudice is simple/ ya just make up a lie/ judgmental is mental/ it makes ya die inside/ you’re old, you’re ugly, you’re a frisbee freak/ I hate you, why not?/ my face is buried in the ass of sheep.” As JFK once said, “Ich bin ein Berliner!” (Joe Coughlin)

TIM MUNGENAST
Innova
Steam-Powered Mars Lander
12-song CD
Innova records has apparently given Tim Mungenast a free hand to craft a very odd series of improvisations with his fellow bandmates Jon Proudman and Michael Bloom, among others. And our proud boy runs with it, let’s give him that. Now, if you have a ragin’ hankering after some free jazz tinged with loops and truncated psychedelic space jams, you’ll probably lap this right up. It was great driving music, though at any minute I expected to see looming up next to me an enormous Mack Track in the shape of an interstellar mandala. But metaphor strains and splits asunder to describe a track like “Bagpipes of Osmotic God”: Is it the muscle memory of twitch-happy Vivaldi as he wakens from a nitrous oxide stupor? Okay: repeated listens uncover from time to time a lovely melodic line craftily concealed ’neath reams of Cthulhulian ook, as on “Prana.” The solo electric guitar work on “The Scream” is surely harrowing, but also strangely beautiful. And anyone who appreciates PiL will really dig Michael Bloom’s innovative bass work on “Barrage a Trois.” But an awful lot of this wild, sound-mangling rattlebag makes Lightning Bolt seem thoroughly domesticated and Skip Spence’s legendarily addled “Oar” sound like the gaw-damn Eroica by comparison. (Francis DiMenno)

REVOLUTIONARY SNAKE ENSEMBLE
Cuneiform Records
Forked Tongue
12-song CD
After a glance at the band costume shots and a listen to the first track, I figured this’d be an all-Mardi Gras-type thing, and I’m happy to say I couldn’t have been more wrong. While mostly horn-driven instro, it’s hardly what I’d call jazz, as is the case with Either/ Orchestra (but I don’t know much of their stuff either). This is decidedly more upbeat, but just as dense and involving. It’s tempting to call it a feel-good-record-in-spite-of-itself, but if it feels good, fuck what anyone thinks anyway. Most surprising were the covers, including fairly drastic and worthwhile takes on “Que Sera Sera,” “White Wedding” (of all things), and “Down By the Riverside” (the lone vocal track, and a haunting sucker at that). It was no huge surprise to see that the ingenious Ken Field (alto sax and more) apparently runs the show, as the guy’s been steeped in more great things than most of us are exposed to in a lifetime. So while I’m generally opposed to clothing as a selling point, it’s doubly nice when it makes absolutely no difference in the bigger picture, or something like that. (Joe Coughlin)

GRAVEHAVEN
Calico
7-song CD
Nouveau-progressive metal/punk which, at its very best, evokes the now-obscure but still much-lamented Anastasia Screamed: see, for instance, “Lunatic.” In Benjamin Grenville the band has an accomplished vocalist, and we are also treated to expert chops, a hard-edged approach, and a monumental feel that, on this track, at least, feels fully earned rather than merely assumed. On the whole, this is a maturely conceived and well-arranged set of songs that improves with every listen. Nearly every track is at least a minor gem. This is definitely a band to watch. (Francis DiMenno)

ICHABOD
Rootsucker Records
2012
7-song CD
Ichabod’s first disc, Reaching Empyrean, was one of the best heavy-music releases by a Boston band in quite a long while. Expecting more of the same? You might want to open your mind up a little then, because the band isn’t playing the rehash card, but instead have stirred up the, um, pot a bit. There were plenty of psych elements on that first album, and they have become more of a focal point on this new disc. Now, make no mistake—they bring the heavy riffage and head-banging song structures that one would expect—but the album is peppered with heady, smoky songs and passages that place this pretty firmly within the stoner realm. The blistering cover of Pink Floyd’s “The Nile Song” alone is ample proof, but then contrast that with the head-down near-thrash of “Sleeping Giants,” and you get a clear picture of how broad this band’s palette really is. Judicious use of the wah-wah pedal just earns ’em extra points in my book. Fine, fine stuff. (Tim Emswiler)

TWINK
Twink Tones Records
A Very Fine Adventure
12-song CD
The term for this type of music according to the CD cover and previous reviews is “toytronica.” I guess it’s apt for putting a visual image in your head for the sound of the music, but damn if the word does NOT roll off the tongue at all. Twink sounds like music from my original Nintendo Entertainment System (circa 1987) with the addition of toy piano, pot smoke and energy beverage. Twink is one talented guy named Mike Langlie. It’s interesting because this obviously could be background music for video games and cartoons—and it’s very synthy, sequencery and poppy. He’s really pushing it well, based on the website. It makes me hope that some visual media uses this material, though now I’m thinking like a marketer, not reviewer. I can’t imagine a bunch of college kids sitting around getting stoned to this… if they do then I’m genuinely getting older and less hip. Really cool new music for the 21st century. (Mike Loce)

LONESOME JUKEBOX
Plimbro Records
Deep Down Low
15-song CD
When you make your record at Charlie and Anne’s barn using banjos, steel guitar, harmonica, violin and glockenspiel–yes, glockenspiel–among other things, you can just imagine what the end result might sound like. I can taste a delightful Hee Haw sandwich stuffed with slices of Traveling Wilbury’s and plenty of good ole American cheese as I sing along to the pride of Plimbo Records. Delicious! While listening along to songs like “She’s Got A Ring,” I feel the urge to board my rusty Ford pick-up truck and drive on down to the weekend square dance. All the members of Lonesome Jukebox actually sing quite well. This keeps their 15-song chigger of Deep Down Low sounding fresh as I cruise from track to track. Song 10, “Steppin Out,” has actually taken some cues from the likes of Mr. Jerry Lee Lewis. Yes, my thoughts return to having a muuuuuch younger girlfriend. “She Loves Me Not!!” quickly extinguishes the flames in my underwear and shows yet another twist in the long list of song writing skills these cowboys possess. Giddy up! (Lance Woodward)

GLENN WILLIAMS
Lowbudget Records
Breathing Freely
16-song CD
I first noticed Glenn Williams hosting his long-running Boston cable TV show, It’s All About Arts. He’s just a regular guy and an enthusiastic, honest supporter of local arts and music. As a musician he participates with Blown Glass, Boys With Toys, Casey-Williams, and most notably with Random Access Memory, whose several CD releases spouted pop, rock, electronica, and ballads. After a layoff of several years due to health problems [hence the album title], he is back with a debut solo album of laid-back love songs to his coveted family life and snazzy, groovy paeans to many dear friends. Throw in a few choice covers and you’ve got a rockin’ lounge singer a la Martin Mull or that hammy Mr. McCartney, obviously one of his idols still (Glenn’s version of “Ram On” is so right on, and so is his superb bass playing). Sometimes the vocals are a bit strained and a little more grit could have helped these songs growl a bit more, but there’s no denying his brilliant use of gracious collaborators such as Ramona Silver (“Just Us”), Bird Mancini, Andy Hollinger (a perfect slide solo on “It’s True”), Eliud Herrera (magnificent nylon guitar solos), and his longtime partner, Tim Casey. In an era of too many merch fabrics, this is the real deal. Porch rockers unite! (Harry C. Tuniese)

THE SUN LEE SUNBEAM
Look For The Light
9-song CD
There’s two girlees in this band, and one boy-oy-yoy. He plays drums. One of the girlees sings and snarls. She’s Korean. Cool. Another girlee plays bass—she looks tall. Their songs are quick, garagey numbers with pounding floor toms, complaining guitars, and pulsating bass. I wish I could see these guys, like at the Abbey. But I’m not in the zip code anymore. Cheap beer, cheap surroundings, and cheap companions with too loud music to block out the world for a little would be more than fine. Is there a hint of PJ Harvey, Joan Jett, or Hole in this band? Maybe. “We crush the lies that hide the light.” Did I mention great lyrics? Yeah, I know, who gives a fuck about words. But you should listen to mine because this is the best CD I’ve heard this year, maybe in a few years. Who cares? You probably don’t, but if you saw this band live with a refreshment or six you would probably have a pretty great time. But forget I said anything; your Gameboy is calling you. (Slimedog)

DRAGO
Winter St. Records
Bowling With Stalin
19-song CD
From out of Boston’s hardcore scene comes another giant collection of rip-roaring angst driven tunes from seasoned punksters Drago. Bowling With Stalin brings high intensity rock loaded with violent drum riffs, speed changes and enough pissed-off energy to fuel a hybrid until the next ice age. Are you getting the picture? Let me help some more. “My Fist Your Face” is about getting punched in the face and “You Got Fat”—and ruined your tattoo, just might remind a close friend that they could use a little exercise. But wait. This type of music isn’t just about blind rage and brutal hints. Track 12, “Wal-Mart,” sends us all a positive message about the great deals one can find at our beloved department store Wal-Mart. If you need 19 songs to listen to while cleaning your house or to just plain smash the fuck out of anything you come in contact with, Drago’s Bowling With Stalin is your disease! (Lance Woodward)

THE COMPLAINTS
CompRecords
Sunday Morning Radio
13-song CD
For many readers, the phrase “modern rock” will conjure up horrid memories of late ’90s radio, with Matchbox 20 and Creed ruling the charts. With Daughtry riding high now though, the sensitive-rocker-guy genre may be coming back. In which case Rhode Island’s the Complaints are in business. On Sunday Morning Radio acoustic rock verses lead into big guitar choruses written for the arena stage while Dean Petrella’s gruff baritone belts out tunes aggressive enough for alt-rock pre-teens to enjoy, but family-friendly enough to play for Mom. With a different direction these tunes could really explode, but tracks like “Man Downtown” have been scrubbed so squeaky-clean their kick is lost. Though too sterile to be disagreeable, most of the songs are forgotten the moment they end. Occasional glimpses of promise point at a more interesting direction the band could take however. The slow funk of “Wrapped in Silk” gets my head bobbing as a wiry guitar line oozes the sexuality missing elsewhere. It’s hard not to wish the group pursued this direction instead of just making generic bids for radio play. (Ray Padgett)

LOS HIJOS UNICOS
Dead Earth Records
…And the Lights Go Out
17-song CD
The first track from this up-and-coming western Massachusetts ensemble follows the post-modern playbook: Your opening salvo must be problematic and difficult, so that, by sticking it out, your audience will therefore feel as though they’ve truly earned any rewards that follow. And, indeed, there are some very bright, if somewhat overstatedly ironic touches here. The over-the-top hillbilly spoofery of “Blue Highway.” The loping populist pronuncimento “Running Out of Time.” The somewhat goofy Western-tinged graveyard plaint “Nothing to Lose.” The persnickety guitar riff on the waltz-rhythm “Ring of Fire” tribute “County Line.” The loony slide-guitar infested blues-oid manifesto “Burning Black.” There’s even a catchy zombie tune straight out of the playbook of Jeffrey Lee Pierce: “The Dead.” Now, camping it up is all well and good, but lots of bands can do that. Yet there are also two songs here that I like enormously. On “Signs and Calls,” the swirly organ brings to mind an up-to-date version of the crafty old nouveau-Americana that the folks in the Band were so adept at. Even better is the closing track, “Nebraska,” which features a narrator whose tale of lost love hints that his every future attempt at fulfillment will fail. Both songs on this debut effort are genuinely touching hard-luck tales that stick, and simply won’t let go. (Francis DiMenno)

ACTION CAMP
Incubator Records
Dead Like Tan
11-song CD
Imagine a whole album steeped in the ethos that makes the song “Creep” by Radiohead work so well. A sludgy reliance on proportioned slowness, and melodic sense with plenty of basic chord progressions. Female vocals waft like ground fog above an ancient forest floor. A bizarre sense of darker monster surf music slithers in the eardrums as well. Some really nasty, groovy country fuzz tone songs hit you hard. Folk pop sensibility alters the course here and there. This is a very listenable album, and as I go for the overall impression of the music these days instead of poring over the lyrics for deeper meanings, I assume the title is apropos in many respects. Action Camp sort of rocks in the way one doesn’t expect, you can tell they’ve listened a lot to some of the best, and distilled it in their own unique style. A good listen. (Mike Loce)

THE HUSH NOW
The Hush Now
11-song CD
Despite the name, these guys aren’t all that quiet, playing a pleasant brand of dreamy indie pop. The album as a whole is quite cohesive and just as you hit the mid-point and fear a bit of sameness setting in, the band wisely shifts things up a bit with the slower “Pining” and the Cure-tinged “Ashes.” The overall production is excellent. The guitars shimmer brightly throughout, and Noel Kelly’s thin voice is wisely mixed somewhat deep into the sound, allowing it to blend in rather than storm to the front, where its weaknesses would be more apparent. There are a few instances when things start to meander off into background music territory, but not enough to distract from what is a pretty strong effort. (Kevin Finn)

DESTROY BABYLON
ADD
The Shadow Army
7-song CD
This will please fans of nominal reggae and dub. All the familiar conventions are scrupulously observed–heavy reverb, bass high in the mix, swaying rhythmic impetus, scrupulous drumming, politically charged lyrics. But nothing here leaps out and attracts the uninitiated. How do I put this? It’s not top of the line; it’s not state of the art, and it certainly isn’t cutting edge. It’s just another sharp reggae band. Now, there’s nothing wrong with competence—but in this genre, I think, even clever isn’t quite enough. I’d like to hear something beyond the ordinary—something transcendent, or even truly innovative, and it just isn’t happening for me on this go-round. (Francis DiMenno)

MINDSET X
Thread
11-song CD
There is little to complain about here. Thread is a nice slab of mostly metal, albeit slicker than I like my metal. The vocals are immaculate, high notes are hit effortlessly, with some sweet harmonies to boot. The lead guitar work is likewise essentially flawless, and the songs are catchy enough that they’ll start sticking in your head after two or three listens. Production values are supremely high, so it all sounds even better when played really loud. Why, then, will I probably never listen to this again after I review it? Because it sounds like it came straight out of a time capsule that was buried during my high school days, and those days were a long, long time ago. My younger brother, who used to sport a hand-painted Bon Jovi denim jacket and drove a Camaro, would devour this. Maybe Bang Camaro would devour this, or maybe they should play together. Perfect for those who foolishly parted with their cassette collections when DVDs came along, and just need a taste of that anthemic, melodic, and perhaps slightly hairy metal. (Tim Emswiler)

JO HENLEY
Sad Songs and Alcohol
12-song CD
Jo Henley is a band name, not a person, so if the name reminds of you of the Eagles’ Don Henley that may be more than coincidence. By aligning themselves with the bland country rock quartet, however, Jo Henley sells itself short. The Byrds would be better avian cousins—these bluegrass inflections are more “Eight Miles High” than “Tequila Sunrise.” Because on Sad Songs and Alcohol Jo Henley keeps their country stylings poppy enough for the indie kids, but authentic enough for the local barn dance. The gospel flavor that inflects tracks like “Take Me Back” adds some extra punch to the proceedings. The style suits Andy Campolieto’s strong tenor as he unselfconsciously belts out the words while legato violin lines dance over bouncy banjo plucking.
The words, however, are the record’s weak point. Including a lyrics booklet with the CD the band does themselves a disservice, revealing how impotent the songwriting looks next to the performance. Pseudo-profound reflections on life and love try hard, but say little. It’s no coincidence the album’s highlight is a Hank Williams cover, but even with awkward lyrics it’s hard to not get caught up in all the country fun. (Ray Padgett)

MUY CANSADO
Precious Gems
Stars and Garters
12-song CD
This is the most remarkable album I’ve heard. Since about 1991. When the Pixies were doing the exact same thing. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean that these folks merely sound a little bit like the Pixies. Or even that they are clearly influenced by the Pixies. I mean that, in song after song, they sedulously ape the Pixies. Sometimes quite well. See, for instance, “The Killing.” Still, nearly every single trope made famous by that band some 20 years ago is lovingly recapitulated here. The slow-fast stop-start dynamic. Anthemic choruses. Chundering guitars. Vaguely louche lyrical subject matter. It was great on the first go-round. But to hear it all again is kind of unsettling. I wonder if these enterprising folks have ever heard of the fate of the short-lived comedy team of Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo? Probably not. Nowadays, virtually nobody remembers them. (And that’s kind of the reason that I brought them up.) (Francis DiMenno)

UNIVERSE NARROWS
Cossack
The Little Machine
11-song CD
Ah, yes, Mrs. Slimedog here—unequivocally the foremost authorita-rian of all things musical, displaying her expertise (and shiny new nails!) once again in these pulchritude pages of the Noise. Let me first alert you that this is a father/son duo that brings forward the question why hasn’t this been done before? On hand I can think of several good ones—James Brown with his son, Bobby; Country Joe MacDonald with his son Michael; and of course, Brian Wilson with his son Ricky Wilson from the B-52’s. Hopefully, some of these duos can still happen.
But now up to business. This CD has a laid back, strummy, folksy, ’60s hippie-ish feel to it but strangely Slimedog doesn’t hate it. He says there are Kinks-like harmonies going on that recall that band in their folky mode and he likes that. Where he gets these obscure bands, I’ll never know. I like it too, it’s pleasant and catchy. Any CD that doesn’t sound like the devil vomiting guacamole over a car crash is a-okay by me. Okay, dogs? (Mrs. Slimedog)

DANIEL BON & THE FUTURE GHOSTS
Lazing in the Alcove
Peeling Away the Beauty
12-song CD
It’s probably never a good sign when the album cover proves much more memorable than the album itself. Then again, is a topless, tattooed woman all that memorable these days? Okay, so maybe nothing here is all that memorable. Daniel Bon has made an album of almosts. It almost rocks, and it’s almost very catchy. In fact, it’s almost quite good, but it isn’t, largely because Bon never really wants to get his hands dirty, seemingly too content to be a watered-down version of ’80s or ’90s hard rock. At times, he sounds like a lesser Corey Glover (not necessarily an insult) fronting a lesser Rage Against the Machine or Red Hot Chili Peppers (absolutely an insult). By the time we reach the all-sensitive-and-shit falsetto and acoustic-driven number actually called “Karma,” I’m clearly ready to move on. (Kevin Finn)

MARK NOMAD
Blue Star
Acoustic Land
14-song compliation CD
Electric Church
9-song CD
Mark Nomad, hailing from western Massachusetts, has a real knack for blues-based material, and this is particularly evidenced by his wrenching and superlative cover versions of songs by genre giants such as Mississippi Fred McDowell, John Lee Hooker, and Blind Willie Johnson. Spanning a period from 1993 to 2004, his compilation CD Acoustic Land kicks off with a masterful original from 1997, the eerie and languorous blues-based instrumental “The Journey.” Another original, 2004’s “Coming Home,” reveals an artist who has thoroughly matured in his approach to the deceptively simple but notoriously tricky form of the blues ballad. Even on earlier originals that feel largely like genre exercises, such as 1993’s “Baby Please,” “Angel Boy,” and “Hannah Lee,” his slide playing is spectacular. And the closing track, 1993’s “Heavenly Bound,” meticulously channels an almost primeval blues spirit without sounding forced or strident. Nomad’s original compositions on 2007’s Electric Church are, if anything, even more striking in their mastery of technique. “Suite Freedom” shows us a more introspective and jazzy aspect of his sonic palette. Furthermore, the 2007 version of “Angel Boy” seems far more assured, and the updated version of the heartfelt “Hannah Lee” is electrifying. He also manages to breathe new life into the John Lee Hooker warhorse “Come Back Baby.” And the primitivistic coloration of his cover of Fred McDowell’s “Heard Somebody Call” is so well-wrought that it sends a chill running right up my spine. (Francis DiMenno)

THE MYSTERY TRAMPS
Queue Records
6-song CD
We are the Mystery Tramps
A little while back these guys put out an impressive EP with none other than Greg Hawkes of the Cars producing. I remember being impressed with such a sophisticated sound coming from such young musicians. This release was produced by the band themselves and rocks like nobody’s business. This record has everything a pop record should have: great songs, tight harmonies, catchy hooks, and choruses you can sing along to. This album is as irresistibly catchy as that case of mono you kept passing back and forth between you and your first sweetie. The Mystery Tramps defy labels by making a sound that is uniquely their own. I can’t think of a single band that these guys sound like. That’s the highest praise I can give to any band. Brilliant. Simply Brilliant! (Joel Simches)

GUNS OF NAVARONE
Guns of Navarone
6-song CD
Never listen to old school ska when you’re hung over, pissed off, strung out on allergy medication, or having trouble sleeping and are wide awake at 5:00 am. In my case I’m listening to this on all of the above and it bothers me because this CD’s so fucking happy and cheerful and full of fun. I want to dance, but I also want to punch my wall. Why don’t these people understand my unrelenting angst and aggravation?? Why do they torture me with such tunefully peppy stuff?? They do such faithful renditions of “Monkey Man” and “A Message to You Rudy” that I want to smile, but it hurts my jaw from all the teeth grinding I’m doing. Now I have a headache from all this fun. Fuck you guys. I’m going to find a skinny tie and hang myself in the closet. My corpse will dangle rhythmically to your wonderfully playful music. Assholes. (Joel Simches)

TERRITORIES
Dead Wings
4-song CD
Just pop the CD in and Territories sound like your typical everyday guitar-driven indie rock band, with the introspective voice and the shoegazing, heavy guitar, but then there is a secret weapon: The Keyboards!! The dimension added to having a piano on these songs is the difference between a picture on the wall and a hologram. It is refreshing to hear keyboard in front this style of music without calling attention to itself in a kitschy/retro sort of way, like Weezer. The piano really opens up the organic possibilities of this band without turning it into Muse or Coldplay. Territories is a band that should be heard. (Joel Simches)

MINDWALK BLVD.
Paint the Seconds
6-song CD
This collection of slick prog/metal pop has been described as “Hanson on steroids.” With each listen, there is a polish, flash and technique made even more impressive, considering that each band member has started his professional musical career in grade school. While this has brought them more notoriety than the average Boston band, don’t mistake the band’s flashy presentation for lack of substance. There are thoughtful lyrics, gifted playing and compelling songs. The tight harmonies do drip with Splenda, but there is enough grit and punch to keep those goat horns in the air. As long as the band can write compelling songs, there are plenty of people who will want to listen. (Joel Simches)

BILLY SHAKE BAND
Shake Therapy
5-song CD
Right from the start, Billy Shake and the boys rock like a bar band on a Saturday night, influenced by the songs on the jukebox: some CCR, BTO, ZZ Top, and any other ’70s rock band that can be abbreviated with letters from the alphabet. Shake’s voice drones tunelessly though each track like Dylan trying to rock out, or Lou Reed trying to be glam. The band has no dynamic range. They’re either all on or all off. Like most bands of this ilk, the band likely plays on the stage next to the big screen TV, thinking the cheers are for them, when it’s really for the ballgame that’s on. (Joel Simches)

GHOSTHUNTER
Viking Daze
6-song CD
You know how some people complain that they can’t hear the lyrics when band plays? This CD will have you complaining that you can hear the lyrics. The words to most of these songs are laughably bad; so much so that I thought this band is a spoof, a la Trey Parker/South Park. Then I realized that Ghosthunter is from Maine and it all started to make sense. If you like your metal/bar band silly, mindless and rockin’, grab a 40 and go for it. I couldn’t stop laughing long enough to hit the stop button. No really, I need to eject this before I sprain something. (Joel Simches)

 

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November 2011

 

ALOUD,
SARAH
RABDAU & THE SELF-EMPLOYED ASSASINS

Great Scott, Allston,
MA
9/13/11

I’m at Great Scott
on a Tuesday, but the crowd is, surprisingly, a decent size. I’m a
little bit distracted by all the burlesque madness that’s going on
in between bands. The guy I’m talking to actually says, “It’s
been great talking to you, but… boobs,” a quote which aptly sums
up the first hour of this show. Sarah RabDAU is the first band to take
the stage, and they sound pretty good, and Sarah’s style meshes well
with the burlesque theme. Maybe it’s the two strongbows and the kamikaze
shot that I felt it would be prudent to drink, but I don’t remember
much of Sarah’s set—she sounds great but I couldn’t tell you which
songs she plays.

SIDEWALK DRIVER,
THE ORGAN BEATS

Radio, Somerville,
MA
10/7/11

So I’m at the grand
opening night of Radio! It’s a cold October evening, but damn, is
it hot inside. No, literally. I guess there’s no AC or ventilation
in the place yet, and it’s like, one hundred goddamn degrees inside,
and the place is at capacity. I immediately don’t like that you have
to walk by the stage with the audience facing you to get inside. However,
I’d say this show has “Noiseboard reunion” status—I just saw
T-Rav, the other dave, What’s Undead Lobster Tamale?, and I heard
Jody the Pig was outside. Other good things about this place include:
a quiet downstairs/bathroom area where you can escape the madness for
a while, a $5 cover, cheap PBRs, and fairly easy parking. Anyway, oh
yeah, the music. The sound is pretty good, though I heard the PA system
is a rental. The Organ Beats were already playing when I arrived, and
they sound pretty amazing. The last time I saw them was at the Scamper/Aloud
mustache show at Hennessey’s in 2007, and they were underwhelming
at the time, but I suppose they’ve had just a little time to improve
since then. And improve they have, seeing as tonight they sound like
a mixture of Christmas morning, rainbows, and Damone. They finish up
their set, and as it turns out I still have a massive girl-crush on
Noelle. I hear some ex-boyfriends’ bands’ songs play over the PA
between sets, which is always fun! Then Sidewalk Driver takes the stage,
and for some reason, the fact that I saw them less than a week ago makes
their set seem extra fun. Despite the fact that it’s like, a million
goddamn degrees in here, people are dancing like crazy to “She Goes
Out Dancing” and “Jenny.” At this point I realize that I have
sweat dripping down my back though, and that’s kinda gross, so I head
towards the door. I stop for a smoke outside and realize that half the
crowd inside seems to have the same sentiment, which sure sucks for
the headlining band, but I’d say the opening night is a success, and
I look forward to seeing more shows here. (As of press time, I have
attended another show at Radio where it was not 100 goddamn degrees.
Huzzah!). (Emily Diggins)

SKELETON BEATS,
THE EVIL STREAKS

Rosebud Bar, Cambridge, MA
10/1/11

The summer doldrums
are still with us—all the bands are either waiting for the right gig,
on vacation, having babies, or off to the UK yet again. We’re gonna
lose all the newly arrived students to club DJ nights!

Thank god the Rosebud says, “Oh, hell no!” They’ve had to
import some acts from the Deep South (Worcester area), but we have our
rock ’n’ roll! When I spot Myra Ghoul and Amy Von Eerie hanging
around, I’m expecting a Ghouls Night Out reunion but I soon give up
on that idea. The Evil Streaks open the show with a fine blend of surf,
hotrod, and punk. I keep forgetting how great they look with Myra in
evening dress and the guys in suits—not quite the Ghost of Dragstrip
Hollow fashions you’d expect. The detailed surf guitar sound is a
gasser on brand new material like “Pumpkin Carving Party” and “Zombie
Love Doll” as well as Myra’s GNO back catalogue (“Bully,” “Stitch
You Up”…).

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Lisa Gourley’s Punk Rock Show

Firehouse 13, Providence,
RI
10/8/11 and 10/9/11

It would take way too
much space to write about every band that came out to support Lisa.
So in the interest of time and space, I’m going to give an overview
of the event itself. Lisa Gourley has been documenting the Providence
music scene for the last 15 years. It’s not uncommon to see her standing
in the front row, several cameras hanging around her neck, in one hand
a video camera filming the performance, in the other hand a digital
camera snaps away. This weekend the Firehouse 13 is dedicated to Lisa
and her photos. As you walk into the room the walls are covered from
floor to ceiling in snapshots showcasing the fans, the performers, and
the clubs of Providence throughout the years. Almost thirty bands signed
up to play, making a solid twenty hours of music this weekend. It always
amazes me how tight-knit a music scene can be. The show was meant to
help Lisa out by selling her artwork. Some of the bands took it even
further by donating their profits from merchandise. I’m proud of all
the people that gave back to someone that would never ask for it. Lisa
does what she does because she loves the music, and people of Providence.
(Melvin O)

SWAGGERING
GROWLERS,
JEFF ROWE,
PITY WHORES,
THE OLD EDISON,
THE SNIPES

Middle East Upstairs Cambridge, MA
10/01/11

I think it is a cosmic
joke that no matter how hard I try, I always miss the majority of the
Snipe’s set. Today is no exception. I walk in on their last song.
The energy is great, the people in front of the stage are dancing around.

OF THE
SUN

All Asia, Cambridge,
MA
10/16/11

For a three-piece ensemble,
Of The Sun has a massive sound. The creators of aural tableaus are Adam
Blake on bass and vocals, Tom Fahey on percussion and vocals, and C.J.
Carr on lead vocals and percussion. They describe their sound as “ritual
music from future shamen.” Moreover their sound has elements of electronica,
psychedelia, and drone. Fahey primarily plays an African drum called
a djimbe, but Carr occasionally joins in on djimbe as well. The band
creates sonic landscapes that take you out of this place and time to
an ancient world far away. To enhance this sensory experience, Of The
Sun adds visuals of kaleidoscopic patterns that are usually projected
directly upon them for a trippy effect. Tonight they are having some
projector difficulties and the visuals are projected onto a screen to
their left. The highlight of their set is the transporting “Light.”
The band has been writing new material and experimenting with distorting
time perception by creating rhythms within rhythms. Intriquing!
(Nancy Neon)

JENEE HALSTEAD

Old Sloop Coffeehouse, Rockport, MA
10/14/11

Old Sloop Coffeehouse
sits within the First Congregational Church of Rockport and seats a
maximum of 150. Geoff Lyons makes the naturally dead-sounding room come
to life with his audio skills. And it does sound good. On
stage, Somerville-based Jenee Halstead is a sweet looking gal who must
be older than her early 20s appearance with her high level of confidence.
She slips out a cocky comment: “Livingston Taylor is playing in town
tonight—too bad for him. This is where it’s happening.” And the
audience loves it. Her hair is pulled back into a bun with medium bangs.
Colorful dream-catcher-like earrings dangle while her white lacy blouse
hangs off one shoulder. Her acoustic guitar is nice and chunky sounding
with smooth bottom round tones. She plays a murder ballad and uses a
cool technique of singing part of it away from the mic to create a greater
sense of distance. Her pleasing alto voice can slide up high when she
wants. She picks up a ukulele and mentions how she’s raised $7500
from her fans for her upcoming CD. She ends with “Rodeo Sadness”
that includes a vocal trumpet section. She’s a talented performer.
(T Max)

THE BRIDGEBUILDERS,
JEFF MICHAELS
BAND,
JASON LABBE,

Plectrum Entertainment Singer
Songwriter Showcase

Johnny D’s, Somerville, MA
10/4/11

The night starts with
the trademark of the Singer Songwriter Showcase, a trio of solo artists
playing together on stage, each performing their own music, sort of
a musical roundtable. Jason Labbe’s a young performer, but he’s
got the chops of a pro, with a great voice that carries through the
din of the crowded Somerville nightspot. With songs like “Angel’s
Wings” and “Don’t Go,” he demonstrates precise vocal and guitar
control. He’s also got good between song banter, keeping the crowd
hooked with jokes and stories about his music.

THE RATIONALES

Topsfield Fair – Trianon Stage, Topsfield,
MA
10/4/11

It’s a Monday night
at the wonderful Topsfield Fair and the regular weekend mob is not in
attendance. The Rationales have played the fair the past two years and
both times it rained. The usual five-piece band is a six tonight as
they’ve added Davina Yanetty on ukulele to strum along with their
well-written power pop tunes. Leader Dave Mirabella on guitar and vocals
is a song designer, most evident in “Drunk,” which brings craftsman
Jules Shear to mind. The tune “Braedon” has a They Might Be Giants
feel with some strange catchy lyrics about a bee dressed in an army
suit stealing popcorn. Then “Tongue Tied” blends the Grateful Dead
and Tom Petty, with a Neil Young-style guitar solo supplied by Pete
Zeigler, thrown in to solidify the band’s good taste. The meshing
of the many influences creates the band’s own gritty rock sound. Halfway
through their set the rain gods baptize us to extend the band’s consistency
of weather to a third year. By the end of the set bubbles are floating
around me—the gods must be happy. (T Max)

STEVE CARAWAY’s Open Mic

Dog Bar, Gloucester,
MA
10/11/11

Every Tuesday night
at nine the patrons of Dog Bar in Gloucester are treated to the delightful
sound of Steve Caraway… followed by the ear piercing sound of the
weekly open mic crowd (just kidding!). Steve has been playing for a
long time, not to give away his age or anything, but he certainly knows
how to host a show. Along with one of the best hosts around, you have
the recently remodeled décor of the Dog Bar adding to the ambiance
of the experience.

THICK SHAKES,
FAT HISTORY
MONTH

Dirty Douglas, Lowell,
MA
10/1/11

Thick Shakes ignite
their performance with that great garage inspired punk rock they have
become known for. On the other hand, I hate to pigeonhole their
music to one genre; there are definitely noise vibes, the sheer volume
of their performance is a top indicator of this. I have seen Thick
Shakes before and once again they are fairly loud and certainly this
sonic cacophony complements their dirty, straight-to-the-point, punk
songwriting. It is hard to decipher the vocals, but honestly I
cannot say that affects their performance. Thick Shakes do not
appear to be a band you sing along to; instead it is more of a cathartic,
bestial experience. Admittedly, I am not too familiar with their
material, but I do see quite a bit of Thee Oh Sees in their performance
and perhaps aesthetic, so for fans of that band, I will highly recommend
Thick Shakes.

FBI: FARREN
BUTCHER INC.

The Freedom
Rally
Boston Common, Boston, MA
9/17/11

THE APPRECIATION
POST,
THE FATAL FLAW,
AMERICAN WATER

T.T. the Bear’s Cambridge,
MA
9/30/11

Even though I actually
show up in time for a band with an earlier set time for once in my goddamn
life, I’m going to fast-forward through about 150 words of talking
about American Water’s set. [*fast
forwards*]Okay, sweet, that was informative and well-written,
right?

TRIPLE THICK,
TAMPOFFS,
THE CURSES,
LUCKY DRAGON

Radio, Somerville,
MA
10/13/11

New rock club Radio
has only been open a week now and they’re already the best venue in
town. Okay, that’s an unfair overstatement but it’s really obvious
they mean business and want to be the rock ’n’ roll hot spot (previous
owners of that title: Elvis Room and Abbey Lounge). Tonight’s line-up
is sure proof.

SILHOUETTE
RISING,
GENTLEMEN OUTFIT

Renaissance Hotel,
Boston, MA
10/7/11

The Gentlemen
Outfit kicks things off with their soothing acoustic music. Jesse
McCullagh strums away on the guitar while the other half of Gentlemen
Outfit, Jim LeSuer, takes care of percussion; both simultaneously share
vocal duties, creating a noteworthy harmony section. Throughout
their performance, the duo integrates both original compositions as
well as covers into the set. For my money, their rendition of
Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” stands out the most. The
Gentlemen are able to capture the song’s sunny lyrics and upbeat attitude
in a seemingly effortless manner. The term “gentlemen” should
be taken quite literally, Jesse and Jim interact with the audience with
a kind, welcoming spirit that is sure to make even the worst curmudgeon
smile and sing along. This is my second time seeing the Gentlemen
Outfit and this performance builds on what they started before: creating
a fun, engaging aura for everyone in the room to enjoy.

ELIAS CARLSTON

Precinct Bar, Somerville,
MA
9/14/11

While the current variation
of Triple Thick is a total thumbs-up, it’s still a pity that it no
longer includes Elias Carlston. Elias is a fine musician with a fine
rock ’n’ roll voice (both on display in Triple Thick as well as
Starry Crown Nightstick and 66 Breakout). Tonight he’s solo, though
supported on drums by T-Thick’s Jim Seary (plus the rest of the band
in the audience). Genre-wise, he’s sticking with traditional American
country blues—mostly covers of John Lee Hooker, Blind Willie Johnson,
Lightnin Hopkins, etc. I’m dubious of the Morphine number (“Buena”)
but he makes it work. The one original (“Persephone”) is tasty enough
to make you wish for more. Honestly, I don’t really see Elias as a
grizzled old blues man—my imagination has him doing a mean Gene Vincent—but
his love for the style is honest and clear as crystal. Ditto the fact
that he’s a talented guy.
(Frank Strom)

EMERGENCY
MUSIC,
SOCCER MOM,
MARCONI,
AUTOCHROME

T.T. the Bear’s,
Cambridge, MA
9/23/11

You know, I miss
T.T.’s. It’s probably my favorite venue, as well as the first cool
stage I ever played on. It just seems like nobody I know or like plays
there these days, so when I saw that cool band Soccer Mom was having
a record release party there, I was psyched! So here I am, it’s pissing
down rain, and Autochrome has already started. Other than Soccer Mom,
this was the band I really wanted to see—I raved about them already
when I reviewed their previous show at Great Scott. They’re a talented
post-punk quartet who have only played out a handful of times, but they’re
already a favorite of mine. If you like the Chameleons, the Bunnymen,
and early New Order, these guys and girl are your cup of Earl Grey.
The thing is, they haven’t released anything yet. When is your 10-inch
release party, huh Autochrome?

ONE NIGHT BAND

The Middle East Downstairs, Cambridge,
MA
9/24/11

Someone told me about
this whole One Night Band thing and I decided to attend, purely based
on the event’s sweet guitar-pick-condom logo. I arrive in Central
Square on a sultry September Saturday night to find a hot, sweaty, crowded
Middle Down. I know I say this about like, every show, but really, it
is like a Noise Board reunion in here, which is always fun. Plus, eight
one-night-bands are performing and I don’t remember a single one sucking
too badly! My favorite bands of the night include Motorboat (Wayne Whittaker,
Dave Jarvis, Leesa Coyne, Meff, Rodrigo van Stoli) and Wagon Battle
(Mary Flatley, TJ Horn, Chrissy Vaccaro, John Brookhouse, and Daniel
McNair), who are not only a one-night-band, but also the inventors of
a one-night-genre: “pioneercore.” After all eight of the one-night-bands
have performed their three one-night-songs and one cover each, all of
the participants get onstage to perform a cover of “Cum on Feel the
Noize,” which is so bad that it’s good. All in all, the whole night
is really fun, and it is absolutely a testament to all the impressive
talent we have in Boston. I heard someone describe One Night Band as
a “scene-building event,” and I’d say that is pretty accurate.
I hope Boston Band Crush continues to put on this event, because it
was a really great time and even raised some money for a good cause. (Emily
Diggins)

TOWNSHIP,
SIDEWALK
DRIVER

Brighton Music Hall, Allston,
MA
10/1/11

Soooo, I’m at Brighton
Music Hall and the place is the most packed I’ve ever seen it. I mean,
realistically, I’ve only ever seen the place like five times, but
it’s the most packed out of those five times, so that’s saying something,
right? Anyway, I come in during Andrea Gillis’s set, but I don’t
feel like I saw enough of it to make career-making-or-breaking judgments
in the Noise, so I’ll skip right to Sidewalk Driver.
I reviewed these dudes’ album back in like, 2009, which basically
means I’m an expert on their music. I even know some of the words
to their songs! These guys seem to have a pretty impressive following,
because I see lots of hot chicks dancing around to “She Goes Out Dancing.”
So thanks to Sidewalk Driver for getting some babes to come out to a
metal show, for real. They sound pretty good and I even find myself
dancing with my friends a little bit, like the song says. Anyway these
dudes are putting on an awesome energetic show and my favorite is when
Tad takes off his little top hat. That’s when shit starts to get crazy.

FUGUE,
ATLAS THE
ATOM SMASHER,
BIG MESS,
TWIN CYCLIST

UMass Lowell Fox Hall
Common, Lowell, MA
9/22/11

Twin Cyclist is a local
duo consisting of two vocalists, one taking care of guitar duties and
the other commanding the drums. Standing next to the PA, I can
safely say Twin Cyclist is a loud band, but not too diabolical to the degree
that it pushes audience members away. The vocals mainly consist
of shouting and screaming, reminding me of early Hüsker Dü; in fact
I will go out on a limb to suggest these boys have studied Michael Azzerad’s
’80s, “indie rock” bible, Our
Band Could Be Your Life at
some point in their past. To make a more current comparison, I
would say the band is a nice middle ground between the noise bands No
Age, and Lightning Bolt. Not as poppy as the former and not as
menacing as the latter. Whether you call it punk, noise, or anything
else, Twin Cyclist definitely sets the bar for the rest of the concert.

We get a lot of
calls and emails from bands requesting coverage of their live shows.
Please be advised that shows are never assigned for review. Noise writers
cover what they choose to attend. It’s logistically impossible for
us to honor or acknowledge these requests. The Noise has always had
its ears close to the ground in Greater Boston. If you’re doing something
even remotely exceptional, we’ll be the first to tell the world. If
you’re horrible, same thing.

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Melissa Ferrick

MELISSA FERRICK

FINALLY HOME 

AND FEELING HAPPY

by Julia R. DeStefano

 

“Songs are snapshots of what you’re going through, and mine involve questioning, searching for completion, joy, and truth, and desperation for relief.  I’m satisfied with my progress as a writer and a human being, and I know I’m going to get better at both.  There will be times when I’ll feel like I’m not improving, and I’ll get through that.” ~Melissa Ferrick

 

Melissa Ferrick is a woman of many facets; an individual who has shared the stage with Bob Dylan, Paul Westerberg, Weezer, Ani DiFranco, and Morrissey, and who plays over 150 shows a year.  A six-time Boston Music Award winner and Gay & Lesbian American Music Awards (GLAMA) winner, Ferrick is renowned for her accessibility and touching honesty, refreshing qualities that put her in the league of alternative rock compatriots Liz Phair, Paula Cole, and even Carina Round.  Over the course of a career spanning twenty years, Ferrick has released an impressive discography and, among other things, penned some of the most “guaranteed-to-make-you-blush” songs in our recent music history, and we continually love her for being that open book—for being unafraid to speak of the things that we cannot quite muster up the courage to say but wish to.  She is, in fact, so approachable that she is undoubtedly the non-judgmental friend you’d love to divulge your innermost thoughts to over a glass of fine wine.

Widely hailed as a “bold new direction,” Ferrick’s highly anticipated upcoming record, The Truth Is, is a testament to her continual evolution as both a human being and an artist.  Although rooted in the enormous amount of pain one experiences after a horrific breakup and the subsequent effort one must make to carry on, its overarching message of hope is powerful and comforting.  The album itself is chronological, was recorded with a live band, and is presented in a cinematic, legato manner.  To quote Ferrick: “That is what the songs wanted from a production standpoint.”

It would be fitting to classify the zealous Ferrick’s lust for life as infectious.  She wears her creative passion unabashedly on her sleeve, a refreshing character attribute that becomes apparent as she fervently speaks of her childhood and adolescent years—essentially, a time when she became aware of her musical prowess through a remarkable catalyst: “I was really young when I first started to talk about music, like four.  Though I don’t remember doing this, I’ve been told by my parents that I went to them and spoke of wanting to play the violin since before I was born.  My dad was a schoolteacher and my mom was working at the mall, so they don’t come from a lot.  There’s not a lot of money; there’s a lot of love.  They found a way to get me a violin for Christmas of 1975 and lessons, and that was the beginning of it. I did 12 years of classical violin training before moving onto trumpet.  At this time, I also began playing bass guitar and taking lessons at Berklee with Rich Appleman, who recently retired as the chair of the department.  I became involved with jazz and studied classical trumpet in the Conservatory for two years as a member of their extension division.”

It is with a sense of nostalgia that Ferrick begins to chronologically discuss her high school years and her vast body of influences: “The songwriting part of it didn’t start to come until I was 16, when I began writing on a guitar that my aunt gave me.  At the time, there was a record that came out by Edie Brickell calledShooting Rubber Bands at the Stars.  It was her first album and, up until that point, I hadn’t ever heard a woman singing about how she felt—a woman making music in my generation, as I was a teenager and she was probably in her twenties. The Eurythmics was also incredibly famous, so I had Annie Lennox and before her, Grace Slick, and the Jefferson Airplane revival.  There was Patti Smith, and though I wasn’t into punk yet, I knew she was powerful.  But it was Edie Brickell who rocked my world because I felt like “Little Miss S” in a mini dress.  That’s who I was, and that was the song that really struck me.  The next year brought Suzanne Vega’s record with “Small Blue Thing” and “Marlene on the Wall.”  Tracy Chapman followed with “Fast Car,” as did Shawn Colvin.  Every year, a new female singer-songwriter emerged, making me believe that there was a space for this and it helped me realize how music, at least I hoped, would finally express itself in a way that felt like it completed me. I later fell back on what my parents had been playing me all along, which was Joan Armatrading, Joni Mitchell, and Rickie Lee Jones, but since that had been their music, I couldn’t attach myself to it.  Finally, I was like: ‘Man, that’s a good album!’ and Zeppelin, realizing that 80 percent of the instruments were acoustic: ‘What a concept!  There’s a freakin’ mandolin on that record!”

Once something is made the main focus, it then has the chance to blossom in a way that it couldn’t fully before.  “You can be good at a lot of things or be great at one,” an invaluable piece of advice that Ferrick was fortunate to receive from Appleman.  For her, it is purely talent, a word that she considers interesting.  “If you’re born with this vessel, how many things do you want to try to carry in it?” a rhetorical question that ends in heartwarming laughter and only serves to make Ferrick more endearing.

For a woman who has been shaped by her vast experiences and profoundly impacted by her influences, one would be correct in imagining that Ferrick’s songwriting process is equally as significant and that it involves an immense amount of diary writing.  “The best songs come really quickly and all at once, and they’re complete gifts.  I am a firm believer that I am the vessel, as it comes out of nowhere, and that it is my job to make it as good as I can make it.  That’s where the work comes in, and being able to be enough outside of myself to know when I’m giving up on a line, not willing to do the work on a bridge, or not paying attention to whether or not my melody is strong enough, and being willing to change it.  This is something that I just started to get better at on Still Right Here.  Up until then, I was a stream-of-conscious writer and would have told you that structure, melody, and rhyme scheme just came naturally.  Now I probably work on the songs for at least six months before I feel like they’re good enough to be recorded.”

There is no doubt in Ferrick’s mind that her songwriting has progressed, stylistically and lyrically, over the course of her career.  Such an evolution is especially evident throughout her upcoming record, The Truth Is, mixed by Grammy Award-winning Trina Shoemaker (Brandi Carlisle, Sheryl Crow) and engineered by Rafi Sofer (James Taylor, Juliana Hatfield).  “I didn’t write from a place of anger, which was really huge for me.  Actually, I didn’t write anything for five months, and I took seven months before coming out of a cocoon of self-care.  The record opens with ‘Wreck Me,’ which is about an affair that I had before this whole thing blew up.  What follows is ‘Everything You Were,’ which is the first song I wrote from this experience and one that is about sadness and letting go.  There is a line in it: ‘I can give you to God, but I’m going to need you to stay out of my way,’ and that is what I was constantly doing for five months.  Another line: ‘…out here walking these streets, practicing forgiving you’ is literally what I was doing in that moment.  Already, the song means something very different to me.  The anger comes in a little bit with ‘Pity Song’ and definitely with ‘Overboard,’ which I wrote third.  Then there was this whole new light, a ‘waking up’ in my life where all of my friends, old and new, started pouring in and brought me lots of joy and love, which was exactly what I needed.  I wrote the remainder of the record around that, and around them, though I didn’t realize I was in the middle of writing an album.  The title track, ‘The Truth Is,’ is about having a particular person, someone who was in my life for years and years, who I was madly in love with but didn’t speak to for three years, come back into my life.  That is unbelievable and such a huge gift.  At the time, it was like: ‘Are you kidding me?  I’m going to get you back?  Get out of here!  There’s no way.  I never thought you’d ever talk to me again.’  Getting a friendship back like that is something that you want to be really careful with because you get the opportunity to do it again, and you have to show up as a person who has learned and not just making the same mistakes over and over.  There has to be forward motion.”

“Even though The Truth Is isn’t even out yet, there are already things that I would change, but I thank God for that because it means I’ll make another record.  I can’t negate the fact that analyzing my own work started when I began teaching and saw how hard my artists work at their craft, and in the curriculum that’s set in place around concepts of songs, songwriting, lyric structure, and rhyme scheme.  When I’m done thinking I can get better, I’m screwed!  Even so, I live a life of believing that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.  I’m satisfied with my progress as a writer and a human being, and I know I’m going to get better at both.  There will be times when I’ll feel like I’m not improving, and I’ll get through that.  It’s about the process.”

Ferrick’s record release party for The Truth Is will be held on May 15th at the Sinclair in Cambridge, MA.

www.melissaferrick.com

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Comments

Hi Andrea,

Thank you so much for taking the time to write here, and for your compliments! Your thoughtfulness is appreciated.

All the best,
Julia R. DeStefano

This is an honest, beautifully written interview, about an amazing,intelligent woman, my daughter. Thank you.

 

 

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CD Reviews

Page Contents

THE REAL KIDS  
Ace of Hearts
Shake… Outta Control
12 tracks

On the Boston scene as early as 1972, John Felice and The Real Kids need no introduction for long-time local music aficionados;  their proto-punk approach was quite possibly the template for the late ’70s garage punk which seemed to predominate hereabouts, a strain which also helped define bands such as, for example, Lyres and, later, the Turbines. The opening track, “Can’t Shake That Girl,” is a comparatively subdued declamatory, the second song, the super-tuff aggro garage punk of “She Don’t Take It,” sets the tone for much of what is to follow: meat and potatoes garage punk in the mode of the early Kinks and Rolling Stones.  In other words, blues-based rave-ups with endlessly snotty attitude—tracks that wouldn’t be out of place on a Pebbles or Boulders compilation. Not one of ’em is a piece of hack-work; only one—the best track–ends on a fade-out. If (hyperbole alert) you don’t find yourself moving and shaking along and feeling this in your soul, then you’re probably reading the wrong ’zine. Felice’s cover of his long-time pal Jonathan Richman’s song “Fly Into the Mystery” is a welcome change of pace, interpolating a Stonesy “No Expectations” vibe into the proceedings. “Got it Made” explores a poppier, Searchers territory; it also sounds to me like a letter-perfect Kinks song such as “So Mystifyin’” or “Where Have All the Good Times Gone.” The Real Kids’ version of The Kinks’ “She’s Got Everything” is worthy to stand beside the original; the juddering bass and drumming are masterful; the solo guitar break (following the first exclamatory “Right!”) is priceless. The only thing missing is Nicky Hopkins’ piano. A new number, “That Girl Ain’t Right,” does credit to the other classic tunes; “All Night Boppin’” is straightforward barrel-house rock, a welcome descent into levity. John Felice saves the very best for last; “Who Needs You” is raga-rock and baroque rock wrapped up into one and induces the same chill as a song such as “Lady Jane” or “Paint It, Black.”  I suppose you could throw out the rest of this record and just listen to this slow burner about forty dozen times, but don’t—you won’t want to miss one drop of the goodness. Still, that middle eight guitar solo is one of the crowning moments of local rock ’n’ roll and I’m glad I was able to hear something that good, howsoever long it took to be unearthed. This is not the Great Lost second Real Kids album, but something pretty close and quite possibly a good deal better. Highly recommended.     (Francis DiMenno)

•  •  •
•  •  •

WILLIE LOCO ALEXANDER & THE RAZTONES
Fisheye Records
Raztonia Volume One  
10 tracks

Raztonia breaks out with “Shuffle For the Preacher”—a ’50s-style boogie woogie ala Jerry Lee Lewis. Willie Loco Alexander keeps the 88s rolling as Alek and Rikki Razdan, the dynamic son and father sax duo, blow the roof off this bow to Preacher Jack. Track two, “Me and Stravinsky Now,” doesn’t let up on the sheer power of the saxes, and David Doc Vincent pounds out a beat that would please a Zeppelin lover. “Looking For My Latitude (Gloucester Double Crossing)” twists a hambone jive rhythm into a strangely pleasing chord descent of a chorus: “Gloucester Massachusetts/ Holding on to my soul/ Like the red flag at the end of the greasy pole.” “Ouija Board” is a mess of a song that shows how loose Willie can orchestrate a tune and still have it stick. WA closes his eyes to find the chord—no matter what it is, the song comes together. That’s how a Ouija board is played. Willie revisits his Vincent Ferrini period by including “The Gold” and “Life is the Poem,” two of my VF favorites that frequent Willie’s live show. His admiration of poet Vincent Ferrini continues in “Incredible Dancer.” WA wraps it up by going back to his Boom Boom daze in 1978—he yanks “Radio Heart” off the shelf, dusts it off, and pow!—the Razdans have their way with it. Willie Alexander proves once again that he’s an artist unafraid of going in any direction his inspired mind points. Every Willie Alexander fan, young and old, will want a piece of Rastonia.    (T Max)

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ELLIS PAUL      
Black Wolf Records
Chasing Beauty 
14 tracks

These are great songs with nice melodies and harmonies. And all the tunes have a story and a message. Ellis is a modern day Woody Guthrie who has been on the road touring for more than 20 years, doing 200 shows a year; these compositions are his memories and recollections of a long life of music. There is a bit of Cat Stevens here. There is also a bit of Willie Nelson here. And his passionate performances stamp every note with his own brand. “You’ve been living like a rose in a cage,” “This is how trouble begins..one touch could kill… one kiss could do me in” and “Every dream that could cross our lips lies just beyond our fingertips” showcase his great writing skills. Throw in his acoustic guitar, mandolin, banjo, electric guitar, strings, keyboards, horns and lap steel and you have a great sounding CD. Ellis even uses a marxsophone on the title track! My favorites are: “Never Want To Lose You,” “Drive-in Movie,” and the title track, “Chasing Beauty”; all are lush folk ballads that are easy listening with a great sound and feel. Produced by Kristian Bush of Sugarland and Brandon Bush of Train, this music gets you into the right mood, right away.                (A.J. Wachtel)

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CONTINENTAL
East Grand Record Co.
Millionaires   
11 tracks

Continental is the type of band that appeals to rebellious folk who have seen their share of hardships, yet retain a sense of optimism.  Led by the singular Rick Barton (known mostly for being an original member of Dropkick Murphys as well as Boston’s classic punks The Outlets) and his son Stephen, Continental mixes parts of rock, country, punk, and folk into a cohesive whole that comes across as modern day troubadour music.  The music has the perspective of a grown up, but without losing that youthful fire.  In that way, it reminds me of John Doe’s post-X work, or to put a local spin on it, Death & Taxes.  While the media and fan focus tends to narrow itself to the Bartons, lead guitarist Dave DePrest deserves a lot of credit for how great these songs sound.  He’s that rare cat who has the talent to show off, but the taste to tailor his playing to the song.                       (Kevin Finn)

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FIESTA MELON
Frenetics 
8 tracks

Fiesta Melon is Lowell’s hidden treasure. It’s not often that a CD grabs you from the first track and holds your attention until the last as Frenetics does. Best described as quirky, engaging, and melodic, the honest and personal lyrics are seasoned with well thought out harmonies, inventive arrangements, and succinct, tasty, powerful, and thoroughly appropriate guitar solos that display a craftsmanship rarely seen. 

To describe the band’s sound would almost be a disservice, however, the listener will find Talking Heads/Pixies inventiveness, Panic! At the Disco melodicism, dashes of Motörhead style ’70s hard rock/punk, and nods to classic ’80s garage bands (“Upper Lip Bite Test”) that will please Bostonians who were active during that era.

Fiesta Melon is a refreshing treat that will leave you wanting more. Hopefully, they will keep bearing such succulent fruit.   (Marc Friedman)

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SHIFTY EYE  
75 Or Less Records
Shifty Eye   
4 tracks

“In the Light” begins and continues with a brontosaurus sized riff—it’s heavy sludge metal which seems minimally produced—along the lines of a four-track demo. This lends to it a lo-fi charm which a more polished production might otherwise lack. “YDHTG” is a minimalistic “You Don’t Have to Go” lament; “Hot and Sour” has a mildly Hendrix-like feel;  the best of show, the Sabbath-like “Echo,” gives us a drum-driven dirge underlined by, yes, echo, and a buzzing guitar line. This is bare-bones heavy metal; most of it sounds like vintage early 1970s. Students of HM from Blue Cheer on forward might want to give this a listen.             (Francis DiMenno)

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THE HOWLIN’ BROTHERS
Trouble   
13 tracks

The Howlin’ Brothers, at first, sound exactly like you’d expect them to based on their name—they play wholesome, twangy, gritty, lo-fi Americana. There’s a whole lot going on here, so when it comes to actually being able to write a review, there is a lot to digest. Banjos, mandolins, piano, fiddles, and harmonicas can all be heard in addition to guitar, bass, and drums. The fiddle solos in particular really remind me of Old Crow Medicine Show, but The Howlin’ Brothers have a more emphatic sound and more assertive vocals. Also, there is a lot of variation from song to song; classic rock elements are prevalent in some songs while others proffer a distinct country sound. It’s the type of music I can picture myself swaying to at a bar with a whiskey on the rocks. It’s not my usual cup of tea, but I think it’s worth giving this album a shot especially if you like Americana or alt-country.                 (Emily Diggins)

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JOHN SURETTE
Tomorrow the World
12 tracks

Punk rock operas seem to be all the rage these days, and while the notion of them is definitely anathema to many folks, the idea makes sense.  Punk has always had a story-telling aspect to it.  In this case, the story takes Surette’s real-life punk rock youth and turns it into a superhero fable.  Surette, with help from local luminaries such as Johnny Blazes, Valerie Forgione, and Marnie Hall, does a nice job of getting into the teenage boy mindset of girls, comic books, depression, and rock ’n’ roll.  For mostly better and sometimes worse, this is a very adolescent undertaking, and true to the teenagers I know, it does have a flair for the melodramatic.  I like the album best when it gets the weirdest, most notably on “If You Can’t Trust Me,” which sounds like circus music played by a second wave British ska band.   It doesn’t always work, but it’s an interesting undertaking.            (Kevin Finn)

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STEVE GILLIGAN 
Actuality Records
Winter Rain 
13 tracks

The opening track is this Dead Can Dance kind of ominous showiness, replete with pennywhistles no less; the remainder is, at its best, a kind of merry boot-knocking Irish folk. Now, I’m not the kind of snob who says “Clancy Brothers or GTFO”; nor am I the sort of vulgarian who froths at the mouth upon hearing the brand of Drunk-Irishman Hard Rock Minstrelsy which is all too popular hereabouts. But what we seem to have here, though earnest and musicianly, seems all too insubstantial on many levels. “All That You Are” is a gladsome folk tune, and pleasant enough; “The Dawn of Bitter Moons,” for all its melodic loveliness, seems both pretentious and slight; a song like “Visions of Time” comes across as a standard-issue chantey; a tune such as “She’s Alright” put me in mind of a Celtic Harry Chapin; “Change” is reverential but still lands with a dreary thud. I don’t fault the musicianship; rather, the lack of compelling material seems to be the problem. The lively “Take Down the Ribbons” provides a welcome change of pace; the piano-driven “The Most Important Rule” ends the CD on an introspective high note. But the album as a whole is a decided mixed bag.     (Francis DiMenno)

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PROTEAN COLLECTIVE
The Red and the Grey 
11 tracks

Maintaining the same high quality, but clearly not afraid to try something new, Protean Collective’s new album is an intense, technically sound, and elegant collection of musical styles that come together like the Voltron of the progressive metal genre. Speaking of metal, this album has a bigger dose this time around, but you’ll hear no complaints from me. It’s a welcome addition; it shows that the band won’t just rely on one style to carry them. They evolve and change, as any good artist should.

From the machine-gun percussion opening of “Emerge,” (courtesy of accomplished drummer Matt Zappa) this album launches itself into your ears and latches on tight. The vocal skills of Graham Bacher (vocals, guitar) have always struck me each time I heard a Protean tune. His voice flows among the varied sounds of the other band members and easily finds its place in the album. This is in no way meant to downplay his guitar abilities—they’re tight and polished after years on stage and in the studio. Steph Goyer (guitar/vocals) and Dan Ehramjian (bass) complete the sound.The skillful string work heard in songs like “Exposed” is a delight to my ears.

Protean’s has always struck me as consummate professionals. This album is a perfect example of the hard work that goes into their studio sessions. It also speaks to the symmetry that they’ve developed, a quality which has certainly served them well.     (Max Bowen)

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SUGAR RAY & THE BLUETONES
Severn Records
Living Tear To Tear
12 tracks

First the band—then the music. Sugar Ray Norcia, who fronted Roomful of Blues for most of the ’90s, and his band The Bluetones, are celebrating their 35th anniversary with this release; their sixth for Severn Records. Over the years they have backed Otis Rush, Jimmy Rogers, Joe Turner, Roosevelt Sykes, Big Walter Horton, Big Mama Thornton, and J.B. Hutto. They are a hard-swinging band led by Ray’s elegant and expressive voice. The members of this storied blues ensemble include Sugar Ray on vocals and harmonica extraordinaire, Monster Mike Welch on guitar, Anthony Geraci on piano and Hammond organ, Mudcat Ward on the low end, and Neil Gouvin on drums. These cats are all veterans of playing with everyone from James Cotton, Johnny Copeland, Duke Robillard, Ronnie Earl, and Buddy Guy—this is a major-league band. Now the music: I really dig the hard driving-roadhouse “Rat Trap,” the Chicago South Side-sounding “Things Could Be Worse,” the slow Chicago Blues “Misery,” “Short Ribs” which is more Memphis, the Louisiana swamp pop of “Our Story” and the cool cover of Sonny Boy Williamson II’s “Ninety Nine.” The other cover “Nothing But The Devil,” originally done by Memphis Slim and then by Rory Gallagher is red hot and blue also. Fasten your seat belts folks—this is the real deal.     (A.J. Wachtel)

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MILE MARKER ZERO
Young Rust  
6 tracks

A tasty homage to the likes of grunge idols Tool, Alice in Chains, with nods to Pantera and other metal greats. Like most tasty foods, this release provides virtually no nutritional value. Young Rust is a well-produced and arranged serving of familiar ingredients seasoned with common spices (and a nice dash of keyboards with a pinch of interesting time changes). The presentation is flawless and the meal is cooked to perfection, however the dish is not unique enough to warrant a second visit. I would tip 20 percent for service.            (Marc Friedman)

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DAN LAWSON BAND
Soldiers of Fortune 
7 tracks

This Methuen based trio really rocks! All the songs are self-composed and showcase great guitar and a rock solid rhythm section—bluesy R&B with a bit of Jimi and ZZ Top thrown in for good measure. “Lied To Me,” “Miss Me,” “Roadkill,” “Gimme No Reason,” “Goodtime,” and “Soldiers of Fortune” are their most radio-friendly tunes—bar-band rock ’n’ roll at its finest. He’s produced by music scene veteran Rick Larrimore and Dan at Dreamland Studios in Chelmsford; play this music LOUD.                     (A.J. Wachtel)

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Keith Lockhart

KEITH LOCKHART:
CONDUCTOR OF NOTE
by A.J. Wachtel

One of the first things artists across the world connect with Boston, is the magnificently extravagant July 4 festival that draws more than a half million people to the shores of the Charles River. Once, while experiencing Independence Day in Arizona with maybe only 30 other people watching Scottsdale’s fireworks, I looked around and realized how great it is to share this special event with Keith and the Boston Pops at the Hatch Shell each year. Read on and hear what the man with the wand has to say:
Noise: You joined the Pops as the 20th conductor in 1995. When you first met your predecessor John Williams, were you intimidated or was he sort of a normal guy? Do you think people get intimidated when they meet YOU now?
Keith: I first met John for dinner, the night before the press conference announcing my appointment.  I was intimidated by just about everything that was happening to and around me, but he is a very humble and reassuring presence.  I remember one piece of advice he gave me: he told me not to try too hard to make it “my” Boston Pops; that the institution had been around for over a century. and that if I worked hard to keep its traditions alive and flourishing, that it would eventually reflect who I was.  Good advice.  I think that people are sometimes intimidated meeting me, but it has much more to do with the legacy of the Boston Pops than with me personally.  At least, I hope it does!
Noise: Who decides which artists play with the Pops in your Jazz Fest and Edge Fest Series and on July 4th?
Keith: My staff (Dennis Alves and Margo Saulnier) and I work hard to pick a mix of artists who will reflect well on the Pops, as well as draw audience to us.  For the Fourth of July, there are many cooks in the kitchen including, of course, our national TV partners at CBS.
Noise:  How early do you start planning for next year’s Independence Day festivities?
Keith: July 5th!
Noise: What artists do you think played exceptionally well during their performances with you over the years?
Keith: So many great moments that it’s hard to choose.  People and collaborations I particularly remember include Don MacLean (singing “American Pie”) Steve Tyler, and Cindy Lauper.  Buckwheat Zydeco was pretty cool, too.
Noise: What are some of the difficulties involved in planning such a huge annual event? Any stories of sudden problems that have arisen and how you averted a catastrophe?
Keith: There are always a lot of variables in live, outdoor performance.  Weather has (mostly) been kind to us, but there was one occasion a few years ago when the entire Esplanade audience was herded into the Storrow Drive tunnels because of severe weather alerts, and the 1996 performance started nearly an hour late due to pouring rain.  All of those things are a challenge to our entire production team, and each time they have met the challenge.
Noise: You are intensely involved in each piece, note for note? Can you separate yourself personally from the high emotion your performances produce?
Keith: Sometimes it’s difficult, but it’s the job of a performer to feel the things he or she wants the audience to feel, without being overcome with the strong emotions music invokes.
Noise: Do the Pops ever have bad nights, and what constitutes the orchestra not performing up to their abilities and your expectations?
Keith: Every team (the Red Sox, and even the Pops) has off nights.  Individuals certainly can have great performances or suffer from external factors that affect their work.  Sometimes one player having a bad day can affect everyone… intonation, ensemble, and just general energy.  The conductor has the ability to affect the entire performance, for better or for worse.  At the end of the day, being a professional means there is a level that you never let yourself slip below, no matter how you feel or what’s going on in your life off-stage.
Noise: Over the years, do you get any chances to catch any unsigned local acts on the scene, and do you have any favorites?
Keith: I don’t get out much, at least to concerts.  When you’re conducting 140 or so concerts a year, you need a break for your ears (and your mind).  The PopSearch contest we had over the course of a few years was revelatory, in that it showed me what greatly talented people are around here, “undiscovered.”  Our first winner, who was a superb vocalist, was a bus driver in Taunton.  We also work a lot with Berklee, and I’m amazed at how many really talented and polished groups and individuals are there.
Noise: What was it like leading the BBC Concert Orchestra on the Diamond Jubilee Concert for Queen Elizabeth II? Did you meet the Queen or any of the royal family?
Keith: It was amazing… I’ve been involved in a lot of big events in my life, but never a concert of this magnitude (and the American TV audience only saw about half the concert).  It was a thrill, and an honor to be centrally involved in something which meant so much to the British.  I had the honor of being introduced to the Queen and Prince Charles after the concert, and my wife and I were guests of the younger royal generation at a Buckingham Palace party after the show.  We spent time chatting with Princes William and Harry, who were charming and elegant hosts.  And Kate looked wonderful!
Noise: Any advice to young musicians trying to get their music heard in these tough times?
Keith: Be that very difficult combination of both very good at what you do and extremely versatile.  And develop the courage to go to the audience; don’t wait for it to come to you.  We have to be missionaries for our art form… that’s what you signed on for when you decided to become a musician!
bostonpops.org

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Bobby Keyes

BOBBY KEYES: A MASTER OF HIS CRAFT
by Julie Dougherty; photo by Dawn Kingston

It’s hard not to know who Bobby Keyes is, unless you’ve lived under a musical rock for the past thirty-plus years. He is a master guitar-player.  He is also a prolific songwriter, producer, and recording engineer.  Probably his most cherished role though is that of dad to his eight-year old son, Django, a role that came a bit later in life (he was fifty when Django was born).  Being a father has changed his whole focus.  He once heard that being without children is like being a ship on the ocean and having many great adventures, then once you’re a parent, you become the harbor… “and they’re both good.”  Bobby’s an inspiration to those traveling the path of working musician, although it’s not a career he would advise.  “It’s hard. You have to really love it and be passionate about it.” As tough as this business is, Bobby obviously is passionate about his music. Going to hear him play with his trio is proof enough that he made the right decision about his career choice.
I first saw Bobby play at a bar in Salem called Dodge Street. It was the late ’90s and it was a week night.  The place was packed (all there to see him), standing room only.  It was electrifying. You knew you were in the presence of greatness.   I saw him many more times and along with countless others, was in awe of his talent.  But he also had an aura of detachment, a bit of distance around himself that he created, but it was really his way of focusing on what’s ultimately important for him:  his playing.   He’s a perfectionist, a self-imposed task-master of his craft.  He is obsessed with playing the song in the way it deserves and ought to be played and that’s what makes him SO good at what he does… and SO unique.    You won’t find another guitarist who sounds quite like him.
As a session guitarist for years (70′s/80′s) he made a name for himself, recording everything from movie soundtracks to jingles to backing artists on their recordings.  He worked for the major studios in Boston at the time:  Studio B, Angus, Downtown, Longview, Soundtrack, Dimension, and actually recorded his first album (never released) at Music Designers with Jeff Gilman producing.   His life became a whirlwind of sessions in New York, Muscle Shoals, and L. A., where he wound up living for 10 years.   He still maintains his writing and playing ties to L. A. and also runs his own recording studio here in the Boston area.   He plays in a band called the Mystix and also plays with his own Bobby Keyes Trio…  but I’m getting ahead of myself.   There is so much to tell about this man.  I’m going to let him speak about his music in his own words, where he’s been and where he’s going…
Noise: How old were you when you first picked up a guitar?
Bobby: Six.  My dad took me to a club on Rt.1 in Saugus called the Wig Wam.   A trio was playing and I fell in love with the guitar:  an orange-sparkled Gretsch played by Bob Rowe.   I wound up taking lessons from him for a few years.   When I got to be eight, I’d sit in with bands up and down Rt.1 from Lynn to Salisbury…  gin mills, honky tonks.   My first gig:  when I was ten, Bob got sick one night and my dad drove me up to the Rainbow Lounge on Rt.1 in Ipswich to finish the night with the band.   When I was eleven, I played in the house band at the White Star in Rowley on weekend nights with a country band for $15 a night.  I did this for a couple years.
Noise: When did you have your first band?
Bobby: I had a trio when I was thirteen (guitar, organ, drums). We called ourselves the Wols—named after the slow sign on the highway looking through the rear-view mirror.   We played songs that were on the radio, like “Secret Agent Man” and “Little Red Riding Hood,” mostly at school dances.
Noise: Who are you strongest musical influences?
Bobby: Bob Rowe was the biggest influence on my playing.   He listened to Les Paul and Eddie Lang.   I got interested in the recording process when I was  15 after working with a folk-singer from Newburyport named Fred Click.   We recorded at Natural Sounds in Maynard (Massachusetts) as well as No Soap Music (NYC) and played at Max’s Kansas City in NYC.   In the ’70s, I played in Helen Schneider’s band in NYC.  We played at the Bottom Line and Trudy Heller’s. Helen was a real cabaret-style singer (like a young Judy Garland).  After that I played with Jeannie French.  She was on Columbia Records and we did her record at Fame Studios (Muscle Shoals with Rick Hall producing).  After that, I toured with Roy Buchanon’s band and then in the early ’90s, while recording an album with Jerry Lee Lewis, I got a call to play on a record for New Kids On The Block with Michael Johnson producing.  I remember thinking how could the two sessions be any more different.
Noise: When did you open your recording studio?
Bobby:  In the early ’90s I started with an eight-track one-inch tape machine and built it up over the years.   After New Kids broke up, I got a call to play on (lead-singer) Jordan Knight’s solo album with a young producer Robin Thicke.  Robin was seventeen.  Jordan liked my ideas and made me a co-writer on a few of his songs and I’ll always be grateful to him for the opportunity he gave me.  He is one of the really great people in the music business… Robin and I connected musically too and I ended up moving to L.A.   Robin’s talent as a singer/songwriter/producer was off the charts so I spent the next ten years working with him on his albums.   Along the way, I got some co-writing credits on Mya’s (Harrison) record, also Little Wayne and Mary J. Blige.   When Django was born, I moved back home.
A young bass-player that I wound up doing a bunch of gigs with, Sean Hurley, re-lit my desire to have my own trio again, so in ’99 I formed Lucky Stereo with Sean and Craig MacIntyre on drums. We recorded a CD in my studio (Lucky Stereo).   I brought Sean out to L. A. to record with Robin and we both wound up staying there and playing for John Mayer and now Sean is his musical director.
After that, I did a recording with Jim Gwin (drums) and Marty Ballou (bass), with Mark Hickox on bass for a couple tunes and Ricardo Monzon on percussion for a couple tunes.  I seem to do an album every seven years, so I’m in the studio now trying to finish up this latest recording with Marty Ballou and Jesse Williams on bass, and Jim Gwin, Bob Tamagni and Marty Richards on drums.  Sean flew out for one song for old time’s sake.
Noise: Where does your trio plays regularly?
Bobby: Beehive (Boston), Dolphin Striker (Portsmouth), Wild Horse Cafe (Beverly, final Tuesday of each month), Ellacoya (Lake Winnipesaukee).
Noise: Who’s been in your recording studio lately?
Bobby: The Mystix, Liz Frame & the Kickers, Julie Dougherty, the Brew, and my own trio. The best thing lately is a talented young engineer Tim Phillips, who is making clients very happy at the studio and has allowed me to get back to playing guitar and spending my time wisely, with my son Django.
Noise:  What equipment do you like to use at gigs?
Bobby: I like my ’59 Gibson 330.   The 330s, as opposed to the 335s have less bracing and a more open sound and if you sit close to the amp you can get a really nice harmonic feedback. I use a ’64 Fender Vibrolux amp.
Noise:  Any final thoughts you want to share?
Bobby: In the ’70s/’80s, there were a lot of great session guitar-players (Dave Brown, Michael Thompson, Jeff Gollub).  We’d do a couple sessions a day at a couple different studios.   The young kids we heard of who were coming up  are now the cream of the crop session players in town—Duke Levine and Kevin Barry, etc.  Next, there will be a new generation of players—it’s just the natural progression of things.   Lastly, I want to thank all of the musicians who play with me, the folks who come out to support the music, you Julie, and the Noise magazine.
www.bobbykeyes.net
www.keyesrecording.com

 

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The Brett Rosenberg Problem
Get Yer Ya Ya’s Out
by Mike Baldino

If you’re gonna call your second album Destroyer, you better damn well mean it. There’s nothing the world needs less than a pussyfooting pretender who rolls when he should’ve rocked, but one young man who I read about and envied long before I moved to this fair city has the abundance of heart, chops, and skill to make him a prime candidate to win next year’s Royal Rumble. Sometimes the hype is justified; dividing his time between playing guitar in The Rudds, bass in Army of Jasons, fronting his own band, and churning out high quality songs with each at an alarming rate, Brett Rosenberg is the Marc Schleicher of mod pop. The Brett Rosenberg Problem’s new album showcases the prodigiously talented 23-year-old’s direct, well-written song lyrics, fiery classic rock-inspired guitar solos, and keen ear for immediately catchy and well-structured hooks.

Rosenberg (guitar, vocals), Geoff Van Duyne (bass, backing vocals), and Jason Sloan (drums) kicked off their record release party at the Middle East last month with an honest-to-goodness power ballad before blasting through a faultless, well-paced set of supercharged pop. Sloan’s hard-hitting no-nonsense drumming lends an impressive weight both live and on record. “I’ve played with a lot of drummers, but Sloan is just perfect,” says Rosenberg. “The first thing he does is always the last thing that everyone else ends up doing. The first thing he plays when you give him a song is [imitating a four-on-the-floor drum beat] boom-bap, boom boom bap. He’s sort of like a cross between Phil Rudd, Keith Moon, and Charlie Watts. He’s a very simple drummer and very into the song, and the first time you introduce something to him, he usually has right off the bat what he’s gonna play.” Rosenberg’s commanding stage presence belies his small stature; a student of The Figgs’ Mike Gent, Pete Townshend, Elvis Costello, and The Rolling Stones, onstage he’s a flurry of windmills and scissor kicks and time-honored rock ‘n’ roll moves.

Destroyer is a marked improvement over last year’s Pop Riot. The band’s focus and arrangements have tightened, and their sound has matured and become somewhat more original. The lyrics are clever and at times painfully confessional, particularly on songs like “Kelly Haas All Over Again,” “Another Kelly,” “Obsessed,” “Always Hanging Around,” and “I Don’t Really Wanna Fuck Things Up” (notice a theme?). “My Girlfriend’s Daughter” is a creepy standout written from the perspective of a 39-year-old man smitten with a 16-year-old: “My girlfriend says she’s getting bored with me/ But I’d rather go help Clara on her history/ ‘Cause I know she won’t forget the things I taught her/ She’s my girlfriend’s daughter.” I thought the progression led to their signing with Hi-Fi Records, but as Rosenberg explains, “The Hi-Fi thing doesn’t really mean anything. Hi-Fi is a record store over in JP run by Deb Klein. It’s something to be on our record that looks good for our press kits. It’s all about smoke and mirrors! [laughs]”

Rosenberg dropped out of college and moved to Boston not long ago. “It’s like the Midwest there,” he says of his upstate New York upbringing. “I wasn’t terribly unhappy. I’d been unhappy for a little while in school, but a little bit of contentment made me realize that I didn’t need to be there. I wanted to move to a city. So I withdrew from school. It was kind of a freakout. I think [moving to Boston] was good ’cause it taught me how to be independent. I was in a state school in kind of an easy program where everything was pretty much done for me, and for a workaholic that’s a very bad situation to be in if you actually want to accomplish anything.

“I was a folk singer. I’d go to open mics all around Saratoga and whatnot and pass myself off as a folk act, but the songs I was writing were rock songs; they were just given this inappropriate folk-y thing.” Elliott Smith was a big influence at the time: “Certainly when I left school, I was playing that album XO constantly. I can’t play it now. I still associate that time [in my life] with it. You know how you listen to an album a lot and you get a feeling that’s between a taste and a smell when you come back to it? I didn’t have the album when I came to Boston; I just kept hearing the songs in my head. I didn’t really know anyone very well when I came to Boston or where to live or what to do, and it was great. It was this wonderful feeling of… you know when you move to a place for the first time it feels bigger? Like you can do anything. I found Geoff pretty quickly – within three days I located his apartment. We didn’t know each other that well before, but we bonded fast and had been writing letters back and forth ’cause we’re both songwriters who wanted to start a band. And we did start a band together, with both of us playing guitar and writing. It was called Forget That Girl, which became Army of Jasons the minute I left. It was both of us pulling out our best songs and trying to make the best pop that we possibly could. I think if it had worked it would’ve been kinda like The Pills, but it was just this lame-ass attitude I had about playing parts and being very focused on being… really way too much of a purist back then. But I need a band. Someone said to me, ‘Well, Sloan wants to play your songs, and Geoff seems to like your songs…’ and for some reason that works, but the other doesn’t [laughs]. And it’s cool. [If Army of Jasons was led by both Brett and Geoff] it’d just be this lame-ass Boston group. We appeared way too late in each other’s lives for us to work together like that. Army of Jasons is an interesting thing alone and my trip is an interesting thing alone, and to throw it together we’d just sound kind of generic. We have too many songs-as it is, we put out one-and-a-half albums a year-it’d be like putting out The White Album every year. With The Rudds I play lead guitar and contribute parts. I think John is kind of unstructured; he’s a noise player, and I’m more traditional.”

Rosenberg would like to tackle the all-ages scene to expand his audience. “I think kids would like it. I think kids have a lot of different shit in their collections. The kids who go to Piebald, they probably have some Metallica, they probably have some Bob Marley. They’re not stupid. No one listens to just emo, no matter what your T-shirt says. I think we give audiences a little more credit. People like to know there’s a pulse, that there’s like a thing going on in the band that’s onstage, ’cause if you do all one thing, it rocks, you know, and it’s kind of like you blew the other bands off the stage. But at the same time, the audience is like, “Eh, it’s a band. I just saw another punk rock band.” But if you do a couple of different things, their friends will ask, “What was that band like the other night?” And they’ll be like, “Well, they did a couple of different things-they did these songs that rock but they had this power ballad, too…” There’s more depth. I don’t think bands give their audiences enough credit. I don’t know if indie is to blame for that… there’s something that came out in punk rock like [the exclusionary concept of] “our people” is enslaving bands to the market and is turning them into moneymaking machines, ’cause everyone has to break even. Like when I came here I was kind of sad and felt this pressure to do something, and to think about why you’re doing it before you go out and do it…good bands work for a year trying to make a record for a small label that will never do anything for them.”

Eerily focused in speech and performance, prodigiously talented as both a guitarist and lyricist, and with more drive, experience and wisdom than most folks twice his age, Brett Rosenberg is one of the brightest-burning highlights in the Boston music scene. Be sure to catch the band July 28 at the Kendall Café.

www.brettrosenberg.com

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Top 10 for 2008

 

SHADY – Top Ten Reasons Boston Rock is Alive and Well

1. There are more good places to play than anytime in the past 10 years.
2. More mutual respect and camaraderie among local bands.
3. A higher level of local music everywhere that you look.
4. People are still going out despite the horrific economy.
5. If the smoking ban didn’t kill it, nothing will.
6. Alcohol—who doesn’t like alcohol?
7. 18-plus shows are increasing.
8. More cheap places to record.
9. Facebook, Myspace, and other social networking sites.
10. Internet radio stations and shows geared toward Boston rock.

FRANCIS DIMENNO – Eclectia: 2008 Top Ten Releases (plus 5 compilations)

1. The Vital Might: Red Planet
2. The Doom Buggies: The Doom Buggies
3. Dave Aaronoff & the Protagonists: Dead Bird for Dinner
4. Pariah Beat:  Presents…  Pariah Beat Radio
5. Uke of Spaces Corner County: So Far on the Way
6. Sarah Rabdau & Self Employed  Assassins: Sarah Rabdau & Self-Employed Assassins
7. Grey Milk: City Parks After Dark
8. Emergency Music: You’ll Be the Death of Us All, Honey
9. Andy Santospago: Tiny Problems
10. The Ressurrectionists: Here Hope Flows Like Blood From the Nose
THE COMPILATIONS:
1. Birdsongs of the Mesozoic: Dawn of the Cycads
2. Big Dipper: Supercluster
3. The Atlantics: Big City Rock
4. Preacher Jack: Pictures From Life’s Other Side
5. Ball & Pivot: Heart in the Sky

KIER BYRNES – Top Ten Places I Spend My Time When I’m Not On the Road
1. Atwoods (the best BLT I’ve ever had)
2. Toad/Christophers (the yuppie nachos rock as good as the music there)
3. Precinct (though its hard to replace the Nog)
4. Plough & Stars (because their Cuban sandwiches rule)
5. Joe’s Sent Me (Good food, hot waitresses, awesome people)
6. Redbones (yummmmmm)
7. Matt Murphys (so good)
8. Jam Spot (where I can make all the noise I want)
9. The Publick House/The Monk’s Cell (closest thing New England has to a Belgian Brewpub)
10 Cisco Brewery on Nantucket (great beer if you can get it)
Honorable Mention:
The Farragut House in Southie

FRANK STROM – Top Ten Reasons for Suicide/Life in 2008
10. World’s Greatest Sinners disband (Suicide)
9. Muck, Triple Thick, The Curses, Corolla DeVille, and the Allrighters don’t (Life)
8.  Too many DJ nights (Suicide)
7. Sprained Ankles and Ghouls Night Out promise new albums (Life)
6. Coffin Lids didn’t play every week (Suicide)
5. Black Mosettes resurface (Life)
4. Nancy Neon goes low profile (Suicide)
3. Downbeat 5 play on my birthday (Life)
2. Abbey Lounge closes… (Suicide)
1. …but Andrea Gillis’s striped halter may return any day now (LIFE!!!)

SLIMEDOG -Top Ten Things I Miss About Boston

1. Abbey Lounge (guess everyone can miss that now.)
2. Midway Café (and their booking has greatly improved.)
3. College stations (WMBR, WZBC etc.—really great local radio.)
4. The punk scene (nicest group of music people I’ve known.)
5. Central Square (from the Cantab to the many clubs—what Kenmore Square was decades ago.)
6. The Spoiler Girls (Chrissy and Cindy—good music from great dames.)
7. Kara Jeanne (the queen of the rock ’n’ roll scene.)
8. T Max (he said if I didn’t pick him he wouldn’t print this.)
9. Coughlin, DiMenno, Frank Strom (writers who help me make me look a little less eccentric.)
10. The whole music scene of Boston (one of the best in America for decades, never forget that.)

JOEL SIMCHES – Top Ten Bands to Eat Rodent By

10. The Sneaks (chipmunk, smothered in grilled mushrooms, served with an
Australian Merlot)
9. The Death of the Cool (Cardassian voles with Yammok Sauce and a glass of Kanar)
8. Eski Esko (chinchilla with a garlic/white wine sauce with a chilled pinot)
7. Girls, Guns and Glory (beaver drowned in A-1—because it’s THAT important)
6. Doom Buggies (fancy Hairless Rat served with Strawberry Tart—because it’s got some rat in it—well a lot, really)
5.  Bang Camaro (any kind of rodential roadkill as long as it’s washed down by PBR)
4. The Lights Out (squirrel, served with any good microbrew)
3.  Clawjob (guinea Pig with Saffron Rice and a glass of fine Chardonnay)
2.  Three Day Threshold (white tailed prairie dog with a shot of Jack)
1. The Fatal Flaw (carpincho, served with sangria)

KEVIN FINN – Top Ten Bands I Enjoyed Seeing Play Live in 2008
1. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
2. The New Alibis
3. The Have Nots
4. Darkbuster
5. Jason Bennett & the Resistance
6. The Downbeat 5
7. Jenny Dee & the Deelinquents
8. The Ducky Boys
9. Amanda Palmer
10. Letters to Cleo

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LOOKING FOR THE NOISE?

Try: Looney Tunes, The Middle East, Oona’s, CD Spins, Tape Complex,
The Kirkland, The Sound Museum, Q Division, Woolly Mammoth, Newbury
Comics, Abbey Lounge, O’Brien’s, Ritual Arts, Nuggets, The Milky Way,
The Midway, The Paradise, PA’s, Skybar, TT’s, The Attic, All Asia,
Toad, Great Scott, Dodge Street Grill, Planet Records, Cambridge Music,
JamSpot, Herrells, JP Licks, Mr. Music, In Your Ear, Guitar Center,
Guitar Rock City, Hubba Hubba, WBCN, The Garment District, Eastern
Trading Co.,Twisted Village, Jack’s Drum Shop, Rounder Records, Camp
Street, The New England Institute of Art, Boston College, The Museum
School, Mass College of Art, Berklee School of Music, Rockin’ Bob’s
Guitars, Degeneration Records, Prolitariate, Daddy’s Junky Music,
Aboveground Records, Amazing Express, Stingray Body Art, Buckeroo’s
Mercantile, After Midnight Productions, B-Sides, Bukowski’s,
Ralphs, Lucky Dog Music Hall, Rolling Thunder Skateboards, Jellys CDs,
The Center for Arts in Natick, Natick Guitar Center, Tammany Haland,
Java Joe’s.

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