PLAYGROUND BOSTON

Photo by Nicole Tammaro - www.nicoletammaro.com

What an incredible weekend of local rock! Hope you rested up this weekend, because tonight and tomorrow are gonna keep you up all night long with some incredible music by some of Boston’s best bands! We’ve already showcased a few things going on this weekend, but we wanted to be sure to let you know what else you’ll want to check out if you have the chance!

Friday, May 21st – Church

PGB Favorites all over this bill! Both The Marvels and Burning Streets have received plenty of coverage on these pages, including Track Of The Week honors. The Marvels feature a crass trashrockpunkrock sound – a loud, angry, spit in your face and throw beer on your girlfriend good time. Burning Streets have a much cleaner punk rock sound, a la Bouncing Souls with youthful exuberance. These bands fucking rock. They’ll be joined by the sweet ska stylings of The Allstonians and crunchy garage punks Paul & The Strings (ex-Six String Bullets). There will definitely be some PGB staffers on hand at this one, come have a beer or four with us!

Friday, May 21st – TT The Bear’s Place

Solid lineup here. Reverse have absolutely melted our faces in the past, without sounding too cheesy they definitely put the POWER in power trio (OK, that was really cheesy. I have no excuse. Deal with it.) Reverse will be celebrating a birthday tonight and are bound to have some tricks up their collective sleeves (or ‘Gansett tall boys). Thick As Thieves have a catchy pop rock style with the occasional noise injection, and are more than capable of turning it up to 11 at a moment’s notice. The Fatal Flaw blend melodic indie pop with snarky sarcasm – makes for an interesting show. Brooklyn ambient rockers Hurricane Bells, headlining the bill, are just wrapping up a US Tour in support of their debut release, Tonight Is The Ghost. They’re signed to Vagrant too – usually a good sign, Vagrant’s had some excellent bands on their roster over the years (OK sure, they’ve had some bad ones too, maybe I’m just nostalgic for those old Five Years On The Streets comps)

Friday, May 21st – Oliver’s

This is an interesting one. Poor Historians consist solely of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center residents – Doctors who rock! They’ll be doing 4 original songs and some covers, all in an attempt to raise some money for Haitian relief efforts (just because the earthquake happened months ago doesn’t mean they’re not still in dire need of aid!) Click the link to their myspace and check out the song “The Thrill Is Gone” – a nasty 9 minute blues epic. If you like what you hear, go rock out for a cause with them at Olivers – when else are you gonna get to see doctors jamming out like this?

Friday, May 21st – Great Scott

Conservative Man @ The Pill – check out the full writeup (with free download!) here.

Saturday, May 22nd – The Rosebud

Great bands, and possibly the greatest flyer I’ve ever seen. Not gonna lie, that counts for something. Tom Baker of the Dirty Truckers brings the best head of hair in Boston Rock up to Davis Square to rip it up on Saturday (with apologies to Rishava Green of The Lights Out.) They’ll be joined by the awesome garage madness of *AM Stereo, playing self-proclaimed ‘Disaster Rock’ all night long. The Rosebud is the hottest new venue in Boston, located behind the historic Rosebud Diner right in the heart of Davis Square. This is a great opportunity to check it out!

Saturday, May 22nd – Precinct

Maybe the best part about this insane weekend of rock is that each and every show is at a different venue – there are so many good clubs featuring so much local good music! It’s refreshing to see that, rather than every good show being at The Middle East or The Paradise, etc etc etc. Nothing against those venues, but I like to see other bars getting in on the act! Which brings us to Precinct up in Union Square Somerville. Stereogrove is celebrating the release of their latest album, recorded live at The Bridge Studio in North Cambridge. They’ll be rocking out, jamming out, and grooving out, and they want you to be a part of it! As an added bonus everyone at the show will receive a free download of an 11-song comp of all the bands on the bill!

Saturday, May 22nd – O’Briens

This event speaks for itself. This will be an all day long BBQ with food and live music, all serving as a baby shower for Bridget of Tired Old Bones. This is a LOT of rock crammed into one small venue – Never Got Caught, Full Body Anchor, Gozu, Black Thai, Tired Old Bones, Cropduster, Lovers Muggers and Thieves, and Birds Make Birds will all be playing sets. This will also be Tired Old Bones’ last show until the Fall because, you know, there’s a baby on the way. Come check it out and get all the meat, beer, and rock you can handle! The event kicks off at 1pm, cover is $10.

Saturday, May 22nd – Club Lido

Agnostic Front, Outbreak, Refuse Resist, Ashers, Milo’s Syndicate – check out the full writeup here!

This Saturday at Precinct in Union Square NTP Productions has put together a strong lineup of bands to celebrate the release of the Young Tremors new album on Teenage Heart Records, a local indie label well established in punk and garage rock circles. The collection of bands on the bill are perfect compliments to each other, and are extremely fun to catch live. The Young Tremors describe their sound as “The Kinks caught huffing the fumes of Motown in Elvis Costello’s garage.” Tad Overbaugh is opening the night up, the former frontman for The Kickbacks debuting his solo project, The Late Arrivals. Memphis 59 are bringing their rootsy twang up from Virginia to add a little southern flavor to the bill – and hey, look! Is that Rich Lewis from Sam Black Church on bass? You damn right it is! PGB Favorites Watts will be providing rock ‘n roll hooks, sneers, and struts for the masses. Dirty Truckers, who have also received plenty of coverage on PGB, will be closing out the night with their 90’s style rock that’ll stay stuck in your head the entire ride home after the show.

Watts - Photo by Johnny Arguedas

Good music and good people not enough for you? OK, well how about a ‘Gansett sponsorship? Still not enough? How about FREE FOOD?! The $10 price of admission gets you all the appetizers you can eat all night long, courtesy of Nicole Tammaro. Stuff your face and rock the fuck out tomorrow night at Precinct, 70 Union Square in Somerville.

Tad Overbaugh and the Late Arrivals – 8:30pm

Memphis 59 – 9:15pm

Young Tremors – 10:05pm

Watts – 10:55pm

Dirty Truckers – 11:45pm

Friday, February 5th @ Church

Former PGB Track of the Week honorees Sprained Ankles highlight a bill chock full of irreverant punk rock down at Church. Check out the Ankles’ original brand of doo-wop garage rock, complete with female backup singers doing interpretive dances to songs like “Randy the Rock and Roll Pizza Wolf” and the legendary “Axe Gnome.” Nope, couldn’t make that up if I tried. Also worth checking out is Wasted Talent, featuring solo artist Nabo Rawk and DJ Paul Foley. Should certainly be interesting, click here to check out their video “Khed.”

Friday, February 5th @ O’Briens

I’m happy to report that rumors of the demise of Buried in Leather have been greatly overexaggerated. While they may only play a show every 6 months or so, they are still definitely alive and breathing. Sneering, guttural vocals laced over shredding guitar riffs, this band gets you pissed off and fired up like no other. You never know if or when you’ll have another chance to catch them, so make sure you don’t miss this one. Also appearing on this bill are Anarchunts, an all-girl gutter punk quartet having recently burst onto the Boston scene; Doggfight US, fist-in-the-air anthemic punk rock from up north; and local legends The Acro-brats. This is an unbelievable lineup, sure to pack the house at O’Briens and threaten to tear the roof down.

Saturday, February 6th @ Great Scott

A killer lineup is hitting Great Scott on Saturday night. Local rock giants Reverse might be the most influential band playing out in Boston today – almost every last musician in town counts these guys as one of their favorite acts to see. Full Body Anchor is a brand new outfit consisting of former members of some of the best punk and garage bands in the city – Blue Bloods, Darkbuster, The Dents, and more. Lead singer Eric Edmonston jumps back and forth seamlessly between a heartfelt croon and an eardrum shattering scream, accenting the crunchiness of the heavy noise-rock instrumentation. Sun Lee Sunbeam and Dirt Mall also take the stage for this show, assuring a nice mix of styles across the bill for your listening pleasure.

Saturday, February 6th @ Church

Church is doing themselves proud this weekend with the great rock shows. Look at the bands on this bill! Dirty Truckers, fresh off a win at the Xconomy Battle of the Tech Bands. Watts, featuring the incomparable John Blount on guitar and John Lynch on drums. (Lynch is easily one of the best drummers in the entire damn city, and is pulling double duty on this show as he also plays for the ‘Truckers). Garage powerhouses Muck and the Mires will also be making an appearance, the only band in town and probably one of the few in the entire country who have shared a stage with both MC5 AND the New York Dolls – if that’s not some serious credibility right there I don’t know what is. Rounding out the bill are The Cretins, back after an almost 10 year long vacation. Local hero Malibu Lou will be opening the night in celebration of his 40th birthday – go check out him and The Italians rock out up on stage, then buy him a PBR or two – happy birthday Lou!

Dirty Truckers - All Photos by Nicole Tammaro

[View with PicLens]

Thanks as always to Nicole Tammaro for the photos! See more of her work at www.nicoletammaro.com!

All photos by Nicole Tammaro – www.nicoletammaro.com

[View with PicLens]

12►

The Marvels

Dirty Truckers

VAGIANT

Pulp 45

After a 4 year hiatus, The Marvels have reunited and are ready to wreak havoc upon the Middle East Upstairs on Friday, August 21st. Ask around town, ask anyone who’s been in the Boston scene for a while and you’re bound to hear some crazy stories about their experiences at Marvels shows in the past. Now they’re getting ready to start the band up again and rock Boston’s face off. They’ve put together a great lineup for this show, teaming up with the Dirty Truckers, VAGIANT, and Pulp 45 to bring you a great night of rock madness. With a bill like this the show’s VERY likely to sell out, so we’d recommend picking up tix in advance at the Middle East’s box office or online through Ticketmaster. PGB caught up with The Marvels before the big night to welcome them back, talk about the reunion, and find out what’s in store for the future. Here’s what they had to say…

Oh, and while you’re reading, check out the song “Hate Myself” off of their most recent CD, Cheat to Win. It was actually licensed by FX and appeared on Season 4 of their hit television show “The Shield.”

The Marvels – “Hate Myself” – Cheat to Win

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

(continue reading…)