PLAYGROUND BOSTON

Check out the brand new official video for “Used to Be” by PGB Favorites Have Nots, filmed by master videographer Mike Gill of Circumvision! The Boston-based ska-punk band has released another excellent video featuring poignant and thought-provoking themes set to a fast-paced, fast-sung aggressive anthem. “Used to Be” is about growing up, getting old, and making changes over the course of your life – I’m sure there’s plenty of people reading this right now at their office job who can relate to things not quite turning out the way they envisioned! The video was shot by Mike Gill, who is responsible for some amazing videos from bands like Televandals, Confront, State Radio, Damone, and Wheat among others. This is the second video shot by Gill off of Have Nots’ debut album Serf City USA, PGB has featured the video for “One In Four” in the past. Watch this video here, and check out the full library over at the Circumvision website.

OH YEAH! You can also download the entire debut album from Have Nots, Serf City USA, for FREE! This is easily one of the best local releases of 2009 of ANY genre, let alone just punk rock – a PGB favorite all the way!

Have Nots will be playing this Saturday, Sepetember 4th, at the Middle East Downstairs as part of the CD Release Party for veteran Boston punks Far From Finished. FFF and Have Nots will be joined by PGB Track of The Week honorees Burning Streets and Lenny Lashley of Darkbuster (2000 WBCN Rumble winners). This is a jam-packed lineup of some of Boston punk rock’s best helping to kick off an unbelievable MONTH of music in the city – get your weekends clear now, because you won’t want to miss this or any of the shows we have coming up in town!

Saturday, September 24th – Middle East Downstairs
18+ / Doors at 8
$10 advance / $12 door

Far From Finished (CD Release)

Have Nots

Burning Streets

Lenny Lashley (Darkbuster)

Circumvision

Oldjack

“Love Me Or?”

Union Glory

© 2009 Self-Released

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Oldjack

I can’t believe this song hasn’t made Track Of The Week before now. This is easily the best song off of one of the best local releases of 2009! Oldjack has a residency at the end of every month at the Rosebud in Davis Square, Somerville. They’ve been inviting some of their favorite bands in town to play with them, and this Saturday night (8/28) is certainly one hell of a lineup! Check out the soulful sounds of Oldjack, the catchy pop rock of Brendan Boogie, and a special reunion set by retro indie rockers The Charms! This is a lot of great music for only $5, mark your calendars now and be sure to get down to Davis this Saturday!

Saturday, August 28th – Rosebud
21+ / $5 / Doors at 9pm

Oldjack

The Charms

Brendan Boogie (acoustic)

The narrative behind an album can often be as compelling as the album itself, whether it’s Justin Vernon of Bon Iver locking himself in a remote Wisconsin cabin for three months to write “For Emma, Forever Ago” or that time when Puffy covered a Sting song in tribute to his boy Biggie. The story behind the music can often be bigger than the music itself. Meet Tennis, the husband and wife duo of Alana Moore and Patrick Riley. Their summery lo-fi beach bound hits have been met with rave reviews and an even bigger sense of mystery.

Moore and Riley began writing music together on an 8-month sailing voyage along the East Coast. The couple spent six years saving up for the trip, which was a childhood dream of Riley’s. Tennis’ song titles reference various ports they docked at on their journey – “Marathon” (Florida) “Baltimore” (like “The Wire”) and “South Carolina” (that one). The sense of discovery and adventure that fueled the trip are also present in the sounds and lyrics of their mysteriously poppy and fuzzed out record.

Tennis’ debut 7″ was released on Underwater Peoples late last month. The duo is touring the East Coast (by van) for their first time ever, and hope to unveil some of the mystery behind themselves. Catch their first east coast appearance on Sunday 8/22 at Great Scott on a great bill that also features Boston’s I Have Ears and Jersey’s Family Portrait.

Sunday, August 29th – Great Scott
18+ / $8 / Doors at 9pm

Tennis

i have ears

Family Portrait

Hunter S. Floortom

It’s that time again! 40 local Boston musicians split randomly into 8 5-piece bands, writing 4 songs (1 cover) over the course of a single day to be performed the very same night. Sound hectic? It is? Sound awesome? IT IS! This is the second annual occurrence of One Night Band, put on by the good folks over at Boston Band Crush for the benefit of East Boston youth music organization Zumix.

This year’s edition features another incredible roster taken from some of Boston’s best bands – Township, MEandJOANCOLLINS, Mellow Bravo, Sidewalk Driver, Mean Creek, Drug Rug, Gozu, Autumn Hollow Band… the list goes on and on. Head on over to the ONB website to check out bios and interviews of all the participants, then get down to the Middle East Saturday night for an unforgettable event! As an added bonus, the first 300 people in the door will get a gift bag filled with all sorts of free goodies! Check out the video below, it’s a documentary about how this amazing night went last year!

One Night Band

Boston Band Crush

Zumix

“This is the end of hardcore. We started it, and we’re ending it here today.” When Springa of SS Decontrol uttered those famous words at a Jerry’s Kids show in 1984, he actually had a pretty good point. The once-thriving Boston Hardcore scene was dwindling into nothing – bands were breaking up left and right, or straying away from their roots by developing more of a metal style. The scene that produced the seminal hardcore compilation This is Boston, Not L.A. was finished. Gone was the furious energy, the rawness, the rage, the relentless Boston pride. Sure, some of the bands were still around. Sure, new bands like Slapshot, Sam Black Church, and Blood for Blood would carry on the Boston Hardcore tradition over the next few decades, but it just wasn’t the same, it wasn’t that Boston Hardcore sound that put this city on the map. The era had come to a close… until today.

Now we’ve got a SERIOUS reunion show on our hands. Gallery East, home of some of the most infamous of these hardcore shows back in the day, is producing a documentary about the early 80’s scene, titled xxx ALL AGES xxx. The documentary aims to enlighten the general public about the history of Boston Hardcore, and the impact Boston’s scene had on hardcore culture across the globe. To bring things full-circle, the filmmakers have convinced several of the biggest names of the era to reform for one night only, to play a show that will bring the city to its knees and the hardcore music spotlight back to Boston.  They’ve also invited some of the Northeast’s best up-and-coming hardcore bands to share the stage with the old-school legends. (Check out the full listing of bands, with links, at the end of this article.) The show has been put together by xxx All Ages xxx Executive Producer Duane Lucia, Director Drew Stone, Producer Katie Goldman in conjunction with Shawn Refuse and Young & Strong Promotions. Footage from the show will be included in the finale of the documentary.

“Of all the reunion offers we’ve received over the years, the chance to do it in our home city, in support of old friends, and have it all filmed as a climax to the Boston Hardcore movie was the one we had to say yes to,” said Jonathan Anastas, DYS co-founder and bass player. Added DYS co-founder and singer Dave Smalley, “Duane [Lucia, founder of Gallery East] and Gallery East were very important to our growth as a band. We look forward to bringing it back to Boston.”

Tickets are still available for purchase at Horror Business and Regeneration Tattoo, both on Harvard Ave in Allston. They’ll only be available there until Saturday afternoon though, so if you want to avoid Ticketmaster fees you better get moving on down to Rock City! You can also purchase tix online at Ticketmaster up until the day of the show. BUT WAIT! PGB’s got a pair of tickets to give away as well! To enter to win, just send a picture of the best old-school Boston Hardcore flyer you can find to bryan@playgroundboston.com with the subject “GALLERY EAST.” The best flyer wins a pair of tickets! (Don’t worry, we don’t spam, we’ll only use your e-mail address to notify you if you’ve won.) We’re going to announce our winner on Thursday of next week, so if you don’t end up winning you’ll still have a chance to pick up tickets online or at the Club Lido box office. You DO NOT want to miss this show!

BONUS: In case you missed it, a few months ago we put up all the Gang Green songs from This Is Boston Not LA up for streaming audio. Check them out here.

Sunday, August 29th – Club Lido / Wonderland Ballroom
ALL AGES / Doors at 2pm / $15

DYS

Jerry’s Kids

The FU’s

Gang Green

Antidote

Refuse Resist

Soul Control

Revilers

Gotta love shows at Charlie’s. Trashy distortion, tons of energy, a packed hallway of a room, watching the band through the mirrors since there’s 100 people between you and the ’stage’ – almost has the feel of a basement show, except a) it’s on the 2nd floor and b) you can get cheap-ass burgers and WAFFLE FRIES to go along with your cheap-ass beer. Charlie’s does live music every Monday, and they’ve got a great lineup tonight of some of the best psych-garage-rockers in town. Former PGB Track Of The Week honorees Thick Shakes will be joined by local garage legends Triple Thick, seriously spaced out space cadets Sister Spaceman, and psychedelic relics MMOSS (fresh off an appearance at last weekend’s wildly successful Deep Heaven Now festival out in Union Square). All lo-fi, all psychedelic, and all the reverb and distortion you could possibly ask for – what better way to cap off the weekend and ease back into the week?

Thick Shakes – “Baby, You’re A Starfish” – Ooh Mommy
(Full album available for free download here!)

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Thick Shakes

Triple Thick

MMOSS

Sister Spaceman

Charlie’s Kitchen

Saturday night at Harper’s Ferry presents a great lineup of local bands coming together for an excellent cause. Former Roman Traffic / Gravehaven lead singer Ben Garceau was recently the victim of a terrible accident that left him severely injured at the hospital. Unfortunately, Ben has no health insurance, and as a result has accumulated thousands of dollars in hospital bills. The Boston music community has banded together to try to help Ben, culminating in this benefit show in his support. The Luxury, Dead Cats Dead Rats, and Gene Dante, all of whom competed against Gravehaven in the 2009 WBCN Rumble, will be joined by Streight Angular to create a strong lineup anxious to raise as much money as possible in an effort to help ease Ben’s financial burden and let him focus solely on getting healthy.

To further promote this benefit, Boston Emissions hostess and former Rumble coordinator Anngelle Wood has dubbed Saturday night her “Boston Emissions Re-Birthday Party,” celebrating a year since her excellent local music program survived the dissolution of WBCN by moving to WZLX. Anngelle will be hosting the entire event, as well as spinning DJ sets in between bands. In addition, there are plans for baked goods sales and raffles to help raise additional funds for Ben. Among the raffle prizes are a Sonicbids membership, Narragansett prize packs, CDs, and more! 100% of all the proceeds are going to this great cause, so head on out to Harper’s Ferry this Saturday and catch some great music and a surprise or two while helping someone who is truly in need of your support.

Steve Foster of The Luxury cheering on Ben Garceau at last year's WBCN Rumble - Photo Credit: Matt Wilson

Saturday, August 14th
Harper’s Ferry
18+ / $12 / Doors at 8pm

9pm – Gene Dante (solo)

10pm – Dead Cats Dead Rats

11pm – Streight Angular

12pm – The Luxury
(with special guests)

To donate prizes to the raffle, e-mail Anngelle Wood.

To donate directly to Ben’s fund, click here.

The Sheila Divine

“Like A Criminal”

Live – Reunion Show 12/28/07
Originally appeared on New Parade

© 1999 Roadrunner Records

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The Sheila Divine

So yeah, we know we usually pick a brand new song for the Track Of The Week, not one that’s been out for 10 years, but we couldn’t resist in light of today’s news. Boston rock veterans will remember the huge success experienced by The Sheila Divine on both a national and international level around the turn of the century, including a victory at the 1999 WBCN Rumble, radio hits, a record deal with Roadrunner, and nonstop touring around the world. The band broke up in April of 2003, lead singer Aaron Perrino going on to form the popular indie rock band Dear Leader. This track was originally recorded in 1999, however this particular version is taken from their sold out 2-day Reunion at The Paradise back in 2007. It’s probably the most recent recording of these guys available… until now!

Oh yeah, and if you’re interested in downloading this and other Sheila Divine live sets, they have tons of good-quality bootlegs available for FREE download at The Sheila Divine Archive, we highly recommend you check it out!

The Sheila Divine are back! Well, at least temporarily. They have a Boston reunion show planned for this fall (date TBA – we’ll let you know!), and they’re also in the process of recording their first album since 2002. UPDATE: The reunion show has been set for September 30th at Landsdowne Pub, presented by WFNX! They can’t do it alone though, and to that effect they’ve launched a campaign on the popular band-funding website Kickstarter to give their fans an opportunity to help them finance the new album! Basically what you do is pre-order the album, which gives them the money to record it, and then when it comes out you get your copy sent right over to you! There’s also the opportunity to get band swag, custom songs, meet-and-greet opportunities, and more – depending on how much you’re willing to donate to the cause!

From Aaron Perrino, lead singer of The Sheila Divine:

“The goal of this Kickstarter project is to write and record an album streamed live to the internet with users having the ability to comment or participate in the piece of work.

I have been thinking about what kind of project I wanted to do next. Dear Leader has released a bunch of records and I was feeling like I just wanted to try something else for the next album.

We were asked to play The Crammerock Festival in Belgium and that sort of spurred us to actually make some new music. Seems like a good time to do it, and we are having fun playing the old stuff.”

Head on over to The Sheila Divine Kickstarter Page to see the list of Pledge Rewards and to learn more about the entire project, and to kick in some cash! The nature of the site is that the band only has 2 months to raise the funds they need, or they get nothing, and all donated money is returned to the donors. So if they can’t get the cash together within 2 months, we get no new album! Can’t have that! Follow this here link to Kickstarter and do it for the cause!

Friday the 13th is upon us again, and with it, the birthday of fast-on-the-rise local promoter Agent Bishop! To celebrate, Bishop has put together an excellently eclectic bill down at Church this Friday. You’ve probably heard us preach on and on about PGB Favorites Planetoid and Sidewalk Driver, and if not we’ll just let the music do the talking – check out these tunes here:

Planetoid – “Russian Space Solution” – Shadow Of The Planetoid

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Sidewalk Driver – “Tornado” – For All The Boys And Girls

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Sidewalk Driver at last year's Provincetown Rocks Festival - Photo Credit: Seth Drury

So OK, now you know all about the evil retro stoner-metal of Planetoid and the awesome glam-itude of Sidewalk Driver. Good, glad we got that out of the way. Those bands together on any bill would make for a pretty incredible night. But no, that’s not enough for Mr. Bishop – he had to add the consummate showman Gene Dante and his merry rockin’ band of Future Starlets, as well as Liptease, the living embodiment of a disco dance party, to start off the night. Now that’s a lineup!

Sounds good right? Now what if you could get into this show for free? PGB’s got you covered once again! Just send an e-mail to bryan@playgroundboston.com with the subject “LUCKY 13″ and you’ll be automatically entered to win a pair of tickets to the show! (We promise, we have better things to do than spam you. Seriously.) Winner will be selected at random on Friday afternoon – enter now!

Planetoid lead singer Locrius at Harper's Ferry - Photo Credit: JustBill

Friday, August 13th – Church of Boston
21+ / Doors at 8pm
$10 advance / $13 doors

9pm – Liptease

10pm – Gene Dante & The Future Starlets

11pm – Sidewalk Driver

12pm – Planetoid

Agent Bishop Productions