Tag: Sprained Ankles
PGB Weekend Picks: Feb 5-6
by Bryan on Feb.05, 2010, under Live Shows, News, Previews
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!
Show Review: The Marvels with Razors in the Night, Sprained Ankles @ The Baseball Tavern 9/19
by Bryan on Oct.01, 2009, under Live Shows, News, Reviews
Live music is back at the Basement of the Baseball Tavern! Its been about two years since management shut down their rock club downstairs, but now it looks like they’re ready to get things started again! The Basement ran shows regularly back in 2007, but only a few in 2008 and thus far in 2009. However, with this show, and then a great Oi lineup the following weekend, it would appear that they’re starting things up again! This has always been a fun place to see live music – its a decent size, not huge, the beer is cheap, and the sound system is actually pretty decent for the room. Cool layout too – the stage area is a few steps down from the rest of the club, leaving room for a pit to form and allowing for everyone to have a decent view of the band. Unfortunately, after looking around the internet I can’t seem to find anywhere that has a complete set of listings for the club – the website isn’t exactly all too helpful. If anyone reading this post knows where they list their shows, let me know and I’ll be sure to include it in here and on our links page!
Sprained Ankles got the night started down at the Basement. These guys might have the most original sound in the Boston scene – I’ve yet to hear any local band that incorporates such a wide array of genres into their style. One part horror punk, one part 50’s doo-wop pop, one part straight garage-rock, and throw in some oi and rockabilly elements (in a few of their songs anyway), just to round things out. It almost feels as if the band got together to write rock songs after listening to “The Monster Mash” on repeat for 5 days straight. You get that haunted, spooky feel from a combination of the droning lead vocals of Drew Kazoo, the ominous organ lines of Achilles Heel, and the ethereal harmonies of backup vocalists The Brides of Tankenstein. You get that awesome cheese factor from the Brides providing all the whoa-oh’s and wah-oooh’s you could possibly ask for, and accompanying each one with a little bit of interpretive dancing. It makes for a hell of a show – especially considering one of the brides was 9 months pregnant and still rocking out!
The Sprained Ankles were a blast to catch live – between the backup singers dancing, Drew Kazoo running back and forth from the bathroom mid-song, a song with a name like “Randy the Rock & Roll Pizza Wolf” just happening to incorporate a blazing guitar solo, and a raucous singalong with the crowd on “Death from Above” – the crowd was thoroughly entertained from start to finish. I’d definitely recommend checking them out as soon as you can – their next show is up at O’Briens on October 6th.
Razors in the Night took the stage next with punishing authority. Standing in stark contrast to the Sprained Ankles’ tongue-in-cheek 50’s style, RITN’s brand of hardcore oi was fast, angry, and so fucking hard it made eyeballs bleed throughout the bar. As he often does at his shows, lead singer Troy Schoeller ran through the pit like a whirlwind,
inciting the crowd to throw fists in the air, elbows in ribs, and scream along to every word he sang. Most of RITN’s set was from their debut EP CARRY ON (italics), however they mixed in a few unreleased tracks as well (unreleased in the US, anyway). They had a machine-gun set – no letup between songs, the band would immediately kick in to the next song’s intro with Schoeller only pausing long enough to say the name of the song before launching right into his guttural screaming. RITN blasted the crowd with raw energy from start to finish – and beyond! At the conclusion of their set the crowd roared for an encore, and the band responded by playing a crushing version of their namesake, a cover of “Razors in the Night,” originally by Blitz. Razors in the Night is easily one of the best live bands I’ve seen in Boston all year. If you haven’t managed to get to one of their shows yet, you need to get down to Vagiant’s CD Release Party at Great Scott on October 22nd, where they’ll be playing with Planetoid and Tenefly Vipers. For more PGB coverage of RITN, CLICK HERE (link to previous review)
The Marvels closed out the night, only their second show in Boston since their 4-year hiatus (See the PGB interview with The Marvels here). I ended up having to miss their reunion show at the Middle East last month, so I was really looking forward to catching this set. They absolutely did not disappoint. I walked out of the bar after their set with my ears ringing, my throat hoarse from screaming along, and my clothes absolutely soaked from the beer getting thrown and spit back and forth between lead singer Staffy and the crowd. Doesn’t get much better than that.
The Marvels are abrasive as fuck. Staffy’s harsh vocals grind against trashy distorted guitars and Michelle Paulhaus’ gritty, driving basslines. As always, Jesse von Kenmore was a beast on the drums, the nonstop maniacal destruction of his set amplified by the low ceilings and narrowness of the venue. The brutal drum attack further intensified the caustic nature of their set. This is middle-finger-up, sneer on your face, scream-along punk rock at its finest. They manage to pull this off without appearing generic though, which can be a difficult task considering how many bands are out there playing a similar style of music. The songwriting is pretty impressive for a punk rock band, although most songs are centered around self-deprecating themes. Paulhaus chipping in for the gang vocals thrown in throughout every song made for a good contrast from most other bands that do gang vox – its not like she had Aretha Franklin pipes or anything, but you could definitely hear the female voice among the crowd of guys, which made for a rounder, fuller sound in those singalongs. Their ability to put on a hell of a show certainly separates them from the pack as well. Beer flying everywhere, the band knocking their heads as they launch into raunchy riffs, the utterly deranged look in Staffy’s eyes as he rants into the microphone – all of these serve to drive the crowd insane and make for an incredible set. Hey, if they rock so hard they cause a blackout in the club, you know they’re doing something right. The Marvels don’t have any shows scheduled at the moment, but keep checking their website, you don’t want to miss them the next time they come to town!
Sprained Ankles
Razors in the Night
The Marvels
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Live music is back at the Basement of the Baseball Tavern! Its been about two years since management shut down their rock club downstairs, but now it looks like they’re ready to get things started again! The Basement ran shows regularly back in 2007, but only a few in 2008 and thus far in 2009. However, with this show, and then a great oi lineup the following weekend, it would appear that they’re starting things up again! This has always been a fun place to see live music – its a decent size, not huge, the beer is cheap, and the sound system is actually pretty decent for the room. Cool layout too – the stage area is a few steps down from the rest of the club, leaving room for a pit to form and allowing for everyone to have a decent view of the band. Unfortunately, after looking around the internet I can’t seem to find anywhere that has a complete set of listings for the club – the website isn’t exactly all too helpful. If anyone reading this post knows where they list their shows, let me know and I’ll be sure to include it in here and on our links page!
PGB Track of the Week #17: The Sprained Ankles – “Death From Above”
by Bryan on Sep.22, 2009, under Audio, Media, News, Track of the Week
The Sprained Ankles
“Death From Above”
You Love the Sprained Ankles
© 2007 Teenage Heart Records
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