Monty Buckles also educates us on the rough day to day early Black Lips tour life: “I asked to him how much money he brought, keeping in mind it was going to be a week of shooting the video, and two weeks after that touring, followed by a couple extra days thereafter. He says to me, “Well huh I brought $40.00.” I was like, $40.00 for three weeks? What do you plan to spend on food? And he goes well a buck or two a day. So I said what happens if you run out of money? Oh we’ll eat out of dumpsters or beg for food. “- Monty Buckles, “Monty Buckles Talks About Directing Black Lips “FAD” ” (June 9, 2004). Music Video Wire- MVWire.com
Dirty Virgins– Sick band from “Allston Rock City” as they put it on their facebook page; they got the psych-garage punk slime deal down pat, definitely nice music to get busy to. I saw them at the Dirty Douglas a couple of weeks ago and it was a stellar set for sure. Oh and of course, one of the best band names of all time!
Here’s a link to their Band Camp page: http://dirtyvirgins.bandcamp.com/
and
Love Handles– West Palm Beach, Florida’s Love Handles follow in a similar vein with their own raw brand of psych punk, but they delve into the more demented side of the style. There’s certainly a stronger psychedelic feel and I hear elements of Syd Barrett era Floyd, The Mabuses, and even a little bit of Deerhunter. Here’s a link to their Sound Cloud Page: http://soundcloud.com/westpalmbeotch/love-handles-phony-folk-singer and http://soundcloud.com/westpalmbeotch/love-handles-gold-chain both can be found on the “HANDLED” 7″ released by West Palm Beotch.
Yessir, our Band of the Week is none other than, New Highway Hymnal, a kickass band from both Haverhill and Lowell, MA. NHH has just recently released a 7-inch, entitled “Blackened Hands” on Vanya Records (a local, Allston based label) and will be playing Austin, TX’s annual South By South West (SXSW)Festival in the next couple of weeks. Congrats guys!
A review of their Lowell “7 release show will up soon. Stay tuned, turn on, and take over.
Below is the music video for “Blackened Hands” for your viewing pleasure.
While searching for pictures for my upcoming New Highway Hymnal show review I came across this cool blog, Oblivious Burbling run by Anne Cook. The blog features many entertaining photos and documents various shows and other events around the Greater Boston area including some kickass KLYAM endorsed bands such as New Highway Hymnal, The Sinbusters, and the heavenly Hurricanes of Love. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been anything posted since last June, but it is a neat look at some interesting happenings around Boston in 2010 and 2011. Anne describes it best hereself, “A chronicle of my travels through music, art and events. Photos and blurbs about music performances, art exhibits, happenings by and with my friends.”- Oblivious Burbling
Artists: Empty Phrases, Twin Cyclist, Josh Tracy (of Big Mess) Date: 2/9/12 Location: UMass Lowell Fox Common Room, Lowell, MA
Comments: Act I: Josh Tracy – Unfortunately, Big Mess can not make it as planned :( , but no need to worry, 1/3 of the band is here, ready to kick off the show. Josh sings and strums away on an acoustic guitar, singing songs about great friends (made at UMass Lowell), relationships, and overweight girls on campus. It is not my cup of tea and in fact it is a style of music I personally dread, but the kid sure can belt out these tunes and honestly I’ve never seen so many enthusiastic fans, passionately singing along; for a second I think these are covers, since these kids know all of the words, but they are in fact originals. Tastebuds aside, good job dude!
Act II: Twin Cyclist- Once again Mr. Tracy graces us with his prescence, now in the noisey rock group, Twin Cyclist. Twin Cyclist is pretty loud (or the PA at Fox Common is, I think a little bit of both), and they have a lot of energy in their performance. They are fun to watch, but I am still trying to get into their songs. I said this in an earlier review, but I hear a little bit of No Age, like No Age, but a bit more hardcore. I know I compare bands to No Age WAYYY too much, but for whatever reason, I see elements of them in many bands. Rest assured that is not a bad thing.
Act III: Empty Phrases– Empty Phrases cap off the evening and in my opinion are the best band on the bill. After seeing them a couple of months back in an impressive performance, I have been anticipating my second experience for a while now. Needless to say, I am excited and the group definitely satisfies my expectations. This time around they sound heavier and better; I do not know if it is me, but sonically this performance is superior and the vocals hit me harder. I am able to rock out more to them more than before. Also, for my money, they are better live than in the studio. I am not exactly sure why I feel this way, but I plan on attending as many EP shows as I can.
Artists: SKIMASK, Double Nines, Subclinix Venue: Western Front, Cambridge, MA Date: 1/13/12 Comments: Act I: Subclinix- – A nice journey back to 1979 LA. Though I was never there in the first place! Subclinix definitely had some strong punk, early hardcore elements in their sound with a tinge of Gentlemen Jesse and His Men and The Carbonas, espcially The Carbonas. I swear Jesse was haunting Boston on this evening. He possessed all the musicians at the Western Front and his aura seaped into the audience. Some nice moshing ensued, also helping me get a good old punk feel. I fell on the floor twice, always a good sign that the crowd is moving and shaking, and not stiff. Save that shit for later.
Act II: Double Nines– Not as frisky and relentless as Subclinix, but in many ways they followed a similar trend as Subclinix; they had a fairly loud, rocking approach, more Gentlemen Jesse than Carbonas. So yeah, by now I have bestowed Atlanta great Gentlemen Jesse as my comparsion for the night. And in this case, Double Nines are more akin to Gentlemen Jesse and His Men, whereas Subclinix were more reminiscent of Carbonas and early hardcore. Safe to say? I sure hope so. Double Nines definitely had more of a power pop feel, though they did perform an impressive cover of the Bad Brains’s “Banned in D.C.” Right now, I’m wearing a Bad Brains shirt and I’m thinking more local bands should cover Bad Brains songs. Maybe, maybe not, BUT if you’re going to toss in some cover tunes, go out on a blast and start at the top.
Act III: SKIMASK– We the KLYAM, the proud, the few, rarely venture out to local shows for no reason. It’s not like we sit around with our thumbs up our asses, looking aroud for something cool to do for the weekend. Nah, we don’t have time and money for that. So, it takes a special band to make us journey from the vanilla suburbs of Wakefield out to the city to see some kick ass local music and that is exactly what we experienced. Enter SKIMASK. SKIMASK is the band we came for indeed. A band we have been waiting to see for quite some time now. Just moments before the band is to begin to play, I hit up the bar to grab a tasty budweiser and some decenT looking femme smoothly articulates her distaste for my drink of choice. “Budweiser sucks! Wanna fight over it?” “Alright,” I respond, “but, I’m not a fighter,” so I place my hands behind my head, expecting her to wail away. She then states that she is in fact a boxer, so I invite her once again to slam me between the eyes. She starts fake throwing hits and then in my intoxicated state of mind, I realize this is all a joke. SKIMASK starts to play and now my mind is focused on the music, but the gal winds up again and hits me square on the forehead. “OHH my god!” she cries, kissing me on the head to assure me this wasn’t her intentions. I just laugh and ask her to hit me again and then kiss me AGAIN. Ehh, didn’t work. But, now when I sit here listening to SKIMASK, all I can think of is that incident. Anyway, when I finally left the bar area, I got a spot up close to the band. These three dudes can really fucking kill it. It’s kind of a noisy presentation, but honestly it’s more rock and roll than most bands I come across. For me, it’s really easy to get into and the groove is pretty tight, easy to dance to. Overall, SKIMASK is a fascinating, unique outfit, I want to see again as soon as possible.
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 