PLAYGROUND BOSTON

Friday, February 19th @ TT The Bears

Seems like just about every weekend so far in 2010 has been an embarrassment of riches for local music. Every Friday Saturday Sunday you have tons of amazing bands coming together to form jaw-dropping can’t-miss lineups. Only problem is, you need about 4 clones to be able to make it to everything you want to catch! This Friday at TT’s is no exception. PGB Favorites The Luxury and Conservative Man are teaming up with local britpop-meets-american-monotonish-indie act The Honors to rock the hell out of Cambridge. After listening to these guys side by side I’m REALLY surprised they haven’t shared a bill before – they seem like a great match for each other’s sound. They’ll be joined by Philly’s Jealousy Curve, who are set to break into Boston with a little help from their friends on the bill. And yes, I know this is an outdated flyer (CM were a late add to the bill), but it was also the best looking one I could find. So deal with it.

Friday & Saturday Feb 19-20th @ Rosebud Diner

Fresh off a raucous live set at Mad Oak Studios (click here to download the full live audio from that session!), Township will be taking over the Rosebud Diner in Davis Square all weekend to celebrate the release of their latest opus, Vol. 1, a collection of the cream of the crop from the past 4 years worth of EP’s and LP’s. Friday night they’ll be sharing the stage with Brownboot, whereas Saturday they’ll be joined by Ryan Fitzsimmons. Both nights will feature DJ Jordan Valentine spinning between sets. Do NOT let this weekend go by without catching at least one of these shows!

Saturday, February 20th @ O’Briens

Everyone needs a good metal show now and again to roil the blood, blow off some steam, and generally rock the fuck out. This Saturday is a great opportunity to do just that. Local icons Born of Thunder and Cromulent are joined by newcomers onto the scene Bring The Knife, born out of the ashes of the now-defunct Destruct-a-thon. They’ll be joined from She Rides, up from Providence to bring their intense, high-energy onslaught to bear on the unsuspecting masses of Allston. This promises to be an excellent show that brings you back to the days when O’Briens was metal and metal only, and you didn’t go in their unless you had long hair, excessive regrettable tattoos (band names or pentagrams on your neck really aren’t nearly as cool at age 72 as they are at age 27, dude), or were wearing a t-shirt from an obscure Swedish metal band from 1978.

Sunday, February 21st @ Middle East Upstairs

We’re looking at melted faces, cramped hands from clenched fists, and sore necks from banging heads – just a few of the casualties of Sunday Night! This is an excellent lineup, a perfect note to end the weekend on. PGB Favorites Planetoid NEVER disappoint – spacy riffs, sibilant vocals, and thunderous talent abounds with this extraterrestrial power trio. Cocked N’ Loaded bring some good hard rock to the table, complete with all the guitar insanity you could possibly ask for. Mellow Bravo’s got gritty vocals over a bluesy southern sound to help you drown away your sorrows from the weekend, while Hotblack’s aggressiveness and sick riffage will feed your fury and get you thoroughly depressed that you have to go back to work the next day when you could be rocking this hard all the time. Come have a beer with some PGB Staffers and check out some of Boston’s best straight-up rock!

Some of the best local rock bands Boston has to offer were joined at the Middle East by the Philadelphia synth-pop trio Conservative Man. The bill was a celebration of the release of CM’s brand new self-titled EP, subject of some serious buzz over the last few weeks from various media outlets.

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This Blue Heaven

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Organ Beats

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Conservative Man

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The Luxury

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All Photos by Seth C. Drury

Dave Crespo and the Afterparty know how to have a good time. They’ve been playing their catchy Boston-oriented pop rock all over the city in support of their newly released album, culminating in an opening slot for Marcy Playground’s recent tour back in August and a spot on the Main Stage at the P-Town Fest in July. Crespo’s been a staple in the Boston scene for years, booking shows, organizing open mic nights, and playing and promoting tirelessly. In 2007 he teamed up with vocalist Cary Wells to form The Afterparty, featuring a soulful male-female duet laid over honest alternative pop rock about love, life, and the city of Boston. Now they’ll be headlining the Middle East this Saturday – and they’re giving away tons of tickets to fans both current and new! They’ll be sharing a bill with Sour D, Someday Rome, and The Flo – should be a good show! Here’s how to win:

Go to the show’s Facebook event and RSVP that you are attending – two people will be selected at random to win a pair of tickets each

Follow DCAP on Twitter to figure out the answer to the question “WHO IS JC?” Once you have your answer, send the band a direct message for your chance to win a pair of tickets

Send an e-mail to DCAPRules@myspace.com – 4 pairs of tickets will be given out to lucky winners just for e-mailing!

That’s a lot of ways to win! Here’s some footage of DCAP playing at the Regent Theater in Somerville earlier this year. Good Luck!

Dave Crespo & The Afterparty

Sour D

Someday Rome

The Flo

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All Photos by Nicole Tammaro - www.nicoletammaro.com

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Thanks to Nicole Tammaro for the photos – www.nicoletammaro.com

This Friday Dead Friends has put together an incredible lineup of local Boston punk rock to help celebrate the release of their debut CD, The Afterlife. Dead Friends is a Boston punk and hardcore all-star team, consisting of ex-members of bands such as Nowhere USA, Strawhorse, and Splint, coming together to sing furious anthems about the city they grew up in and the people they grew up with. They put on an extremely high-energy show, highlighted by frontman Mark Doherty’s chaotic jumping all over the stage. The recording process for this CD began back in June, and both the release and the release party are among the most anticipated in the local scene. The first 100 CDs sold will be Limited Edition releases, only available at the show, so make sure to get there early and pick up a copy! The album features artwork and photography from local heroes Dave Tree (Tree, Superpower), Nicole Tammaro (Nicole Tammaro Photography), and Scruffy Wallace (Dropkick Murphys), so you know it’s going to look as badass as it sounds!

The bill put together for this show is unbelievable. The Welch Boys are on board, they haven’t played a show in quite some time but are coming out Friday to support Dead Friends’ new album. They feature a fast, aggressive style with powerfully angry vocals. Chris Skel & The Original Sins are coming up from New Jersey for this show as well. After the Skels went on hiatus, Chris recruited friends from bands such as Darkbuster and Hudson Falcons to help him put out his own CD. Check out his music – it ranges from mellow ballads to surf rock to Irish-style punk fucking rock! Gozu’s been terrorizing the Boston scene with their brand of hard stoner rock, look for them to tear the roof down Friday night. Gozu’s sound is best described on their website by Hackman’s Daryl Shepard, who says Gozu’s frontman Marc Gaffney “has the pipes Chris Cornell used to possess before he started modeling men’s cologne.” Rounding out the bill is recent PGB Track of the Week pick Burning Streets, ready to bring their triumphant punk rock style back to the Middle East. Their debut CD, released this fall, hit as high as #70 on the Interpunk charts – very impressive considering the stiff competition on that list from national headliners, large indie-label signees, and big major-label corporate darlings.

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All photos by Nicole Tammaro – www.nicoletammaro.com

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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

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So I guess I’m the only one who had never heard of Scott H. Biram? Just about everyone I talked to at the Middle East last night seemed surprised when I said I didn’t know who he was. Apparently he’s got this enormous national and international fan base thanks to years and years of endless touring, but then again, I can be an oblivious bastard so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I had gone down to catch Wicked Whiskey and the Ten Foot Polecats, both of which I had seen a few months back (WW only for a song or two) and was eager to catch again. Long story short, I lucked out, because I got introduced to some great music I had never heard before, and caught an insanely good show in the process.

The Ten Foot Polecats may very well be one of the best kept secrets in the Boston music scene. This is the second time I’ve seen a Polecats set, and I was amazed to see the EXACT same thing happen during both shows. As the 3-piece outfit takes the stage, you hear the same whispers – “Who are these guys?” “What do they sound like?” “Is the guitarist just going to sit down on that chair throughout the entire set?” “They don’t have a bassist?” Inevitably, as per usual in Boston when the crowd doesn’t know the band, everyone heads to the bar to grab a beer, or otherwise occupies themselves away from the stage. Then the music starts, and by the time the first song is halfway through everyone in the club has meandered back up to the stage to check out the sweet sounds coming out the PA. By about midway through TFPC’s set people start filing in from outside based on what they can hear through the walls (in this case they were swarming in from the Middle East Upstairs’ restaurant), and by the time the set is over they have a raucous crowd screaming their applause after every song! This is blues that people of all ages, all musical preferences, and all walks of life can get into. Their recorded tracks on their website are great, but even though they’re all done in a single take with no mastering they really don’t do justice to the energy they bring to bear for their live sets.

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