Wowzer, our Band of the Week/Month/Year Memphis’ NOTS is heading out on tour from November 8th to December 1st. Alas, they’re not striking Boston on this tour :(, but everyone else catch one of the sickest bands to explode in recent memory. Meanwhile we will sit back and projectile vomit gallons of green envy in your general direction.
Tour Dates:
11/8 – Memphis, TN @ Buccaneer (Album Release Show)
11/11 – St. Louis, MO @ CBGB’s
11/12 – Kansas City, MO @ Minibar
11/13 – Omaha, NE @ Sweatshop w/ Digital Leather, Coaxed
11/14 – Minneapolis, MN @ ShitBiscuit w/ Solid Attitude, Claps
11/15 – Madison, WI @ Turkey Fest w/ The Hussy, Digital Leather
11/16 – Milwaukee, WI @ Circle A w/ Olives
11/17 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle w/ Dream Police
11/18 – Indianapolis, IN @ GPC
11/19 – Detroit, MI @ Painted Lady (Timmy’s Taco Night)
11/20 – Cleveland, OH @ Now That’s Class w/ Obnox, Kill the Hippies
11/21 – Brooklyn, NY @ TBA
11-22 – New Brunswick, NJ @ House Show
11/23 – Jersey City, NJ – WFMU ON THE AIR
11/23 – Brooklyn, NY @ Palisades w/ Degreaser
11/25 – Philadelphia, PA @ Bourbon & Branch w/ Abandos
11/26 – Baltimore, MD @ Windup Space
11/28 – Atlanta, GA @ 529 w/ Zoners, Slugga
11/29 – Oxford, MS @ Cats Purring Dude Ranch
12/1 – Memphis, TN w/ Blind Shake
OHH YA, listen to this ditty “Decadence,” the lead single off their forthcoming debut LP We Are Nots out on Memphis’ pride and joy Goner Records on November 11th.
NO I DONT WANT TO TOUCH. Australia’s Ausmuteants (Goner Records/Aarght Records) came through to 1500 Penn Ave on October 1 as part of their first US tour. They had just hit up Gonerfest 11, making for contemporary rock ‘n roll history, and here they are now in a packed cozy basement playing for interested brass.
Well before the actual playin and stuff, I saw these guys loading in. They gotta grab some Blanchard brews and I introduce myself and go with them. Some were familiar with my playing over “Kicked In The Head By A Horse,” and do I love that song. Yeah I do. Well a couple a hours later there they are up on the non-stage cranking out chart toppers from their first LPs and their most recent Order of Operation CD/tape – though the vinyl is coming girls and guys. I found myself feelin as if I was seeing a favorite band for the second time. That’s a nice feeling. Rest assured it was my first time, but I’m telling you these Aussies play strict pounders. There are some blunt force punk hits, no synths. Like “Kicked” and “Felix Tried To Kill Himself,” so demented so sweet. But Jakes’ synth does definitely stand these guys out a part from a lot of the straight away garagers of today. Part of this group are tunes like “Tinnitus” where they made the money (ya I watched the live Gonerfest stream), “No Motivation,” “Wrong” and set closer, “Boiling Point” from their latest. Like I said, just being here, specially in this choice environment, was incredible. I never got to see Jay, the Lips, and so on, bands of like-minded noisy catchiness in a spot like this. Anyway, nearly all Ausmuteants take turns singing and hollering, they got their own ways of doing things. Particularly ruling things, maybe cause I wasn’t expecting him to start singing, was Shaun. On “Freedom of Information,” the lead-off track from Order of Operation, the delivery of the tune is that DEVO maybe more like Lost Sounds shout and repeat after me post Social Media rampage. It’s positively funky not funk – imagine if these guys were from around here. Be on some serious see ’em every chance possible grind. It’s a pleasurable, at times funny, grind and we wish ’em safe travels and hot jams across the United States, back in Australia, and everywhere else.
10/7 – Minneapolis, MN @ Hexagon w/ Real Numbers
10/10 – Portland, OR @ Dante?s w/ King Khan & BBQ Show
10/11 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile w/ King Khan & BBQ Show
10/15 – San Francisco, CA @ Hemlock Tavern
10/17 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Smell
Bands: Ty Segall, La Luz, Boytoy Date: Friday, September 19, 2014 Venue: Great Scott (Allston, MA)
Boytoy – I’ve never heard nor seen these knickerbockers before, but apparently at least one of the members is originally from Boston or at least was a part of the Boston music scene some time ago. Alright, we’ll give them that. I would have preferred seeing a local band such as one Nice Guys, but it’s all good, Ty Segall is playing tonight!
I get my typical spot right up front and center for Boytoy. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I spend most of the set mildly rocking out, if you will. Swaying a bit to and fro, doing the headbob. Most of the crowd looks like they could use a big buck of water splashed upon them; I guess like myself everyone is just waiting for Ty to hit the stage.
I like Boytoy’s set as a whole. Poppy, easy to get into, but doesn’t cut too deep for me. Reminds me a little of Boston’s Mean Creek and I have similar feelings for them. Not too shabby, but not something I’m in love with either. In any case, check them out here: http://boytoy.bandcamp.com/
La Luz – Alas, I missed most of La Luz’s set and what I did see I was way in the back for. I’ve heard a lot of positive things about this Seattle band from reputable sources i.e. friends and musicians, whose taste in music I respect. Based on what I’m listening to now on their bandcamp, it sounds like they have a soft, surf/dream pop feel to them. Brings to mind Dum Dum Girls and local favorites Littlefoot. Give it a listen: http://laluz.bandcamp.com/
Ty Segall – The full band arrives on stage. The classic line up, y’all know. Emily Rose Epstein on drums, Charlie Moothart on guitar, Mikal Cronin on bass/vocals, and of course the man man himself Ty Segall on vocals/guitar. These aliens/glam rockers, I mean glam rockers are pretty much aliens anyway, are introduced by a gentleman in a white cowboy hat and suit known as Jimmy Longhorn. Jimmy speaks of Boston glam legend Lou Miami (early 80s) to an antsy and puzzled crowd. You mean to tell me you fuckers don’t know LOU MIAMI?!Ahh I probably wouldn’t either if it wasn’t for Papa Georgio. Okay, back to the present.
Ty is the global ambassador for rock ‘n’ roll. Mmmhmm. At the UN, he represents rock ‘n’ roll. He stands proudly, shredding his guitar and bringing peace and unity across all the countries. Maybe not… yet.
For one thing, he has a legion of followers or let’s say dedicated fans. Followers makes it sound like we’re all ass kissing wannabe cult freaks. Needless to say, Ty’s done well for himself and he’s pretty fucking big at least by my standards. He may not be mainstream, but he’s up there and at this juncture in his career I honestly would have never thought I’d see the dude headlining Great Scott, a 24o capacity venue. He could sell out Middle East Downstairs, The Sinclair, Brighton Music Hall, Paradise, hell even *cringes* the Royale no problem. On a Friday night to boot! I saw this guy and his cronies sell out Great Scott on a Monday night last year in his band FUZZ.
At this level, Ty playing Great Scott as a regular tour stop seemed unthinkable. Unfair even. There’s at least a few hundred more fans that missed out on his performance, because Great Scott is a relatively small venue. With that being said, I’m grateful to be seeing the dude and his band in such a comparatively intimate setting. I’ve seen him a few times before including a visit to Brooklyn’s outdoor venue, The Well, and that was a behemoth, a thousand or more fans in attendance. So yeah, you get the picture, being up front here with the small stage, mere inches away from the band is an entirely different experience.
Without digressing, I also want to mention that this is the band’s first time back in Boston since playing the Homegrown Festival four years ago. Welcome back sir! Ty even acknowledges this absence and apologizes for it. I don’t know why, it’s been so long, but who cares you aliens are here now and that’s all that matters.
From beginning to end, the set is a banger. Ty, Mikal, Charlie, and Emily never waste a second, rarely interacting with the audience, instead letting the music speak for itself. The crowd goes nuts as one can expect. A constant barrage of moshing, crowd surfing, stage diving, the whole nine. As a pint size punker (ehh, I’m not really a ‘punker’ I just love alliteration) I find it difficult to maintain my front and center spot, but I manage. A friend even comments on this following the show, asking how I was doing, “you took a few blows,” ahh nothing I can’t handle at this point.
I’ve found that Ty typically plays newer material at his shows and that’s perfectly fine with me. While Melted (2010) will probably always be my favorite Ty record, I’m more than excited to hear the freshest dish of raw, guitar grit he has to offer from his latest LP Manipulator. Indeed, the bulk of the set is music from the latter album and one of my favorite moments is when he plays the song “Feel,” ohh we feel it Ty.
Naturally, I go berserk (in the best possible way) when he whips out some of the vintage cuts such as “Standing At The Station,” “Skin,” “Girlfriend,” “Imaginary Person,” “You’re The Doctor,” “Thank God For The Sinners,” and an unexpected highlight in “The Drag,” a personal favorite.
Anyway you can take it, Ty is king. At the same time, he’s just another dude like you and me. Err, I mean kid like you and me ;). Ok, ok, I”ll wrap this up real quick. Point being, he’s not too cool to stop and chat with hundreds of fans including one Gangbang Gordon haha.
Until we meet again, thanks for one of the best shows all year and simply ever…
If you weren’t here, then you missed out! At least you can check out this video from youtube user FrontRow Poster:
Hey there! Get yo’ ass down to Deep Thoughts in Jamaica Plain: The freakiest and friendliest record store (not to mention a personal favorite of yours truly) in all of Boston and perhaps the world over, perhaps. And guess what??? It just got a little kinkier, because we got some new KLYAM Records tapes up in that beattch! KLYAM-003: Back Pages – Singles 13′ & KLYAM-004: Electric Street Queens – Live From Your Dreams, We’re The…
Tomorrow – or today – or yesterday – depending on when you are looking at this. Hopefully, sometime before 7 PM on Wednesday, October 1. ‘Cuz that’s when Australia’s Ausmuteants are playing at Barack’s Barracks in Boston, Massachusetts!! Courtesy of our show-throwing pals B.O.W. SHOWS and with Phantom Rides and Longings.
I feel like I’ve seen Ausmuteants and I did, of course, virtually at GONER FEST where they absolutely ran through a nutty set. I was really feelin’ it, this is gonna cap off an insane couple a weeks for us KLYAMers – Ty, Black Lips, King Khan and BBQ, and now Ausmuteants. The Aussies are newer to the game, but they got the hard-hitting synth/guitar punk jams – one of the best bands in the world per the trustworthy Bobby Hussy designation and I agree there.
“You’d like us if you were in Junior High.” These words appear on Robot Death Kites’ bandcamp page. I’m thinking… yeah, I would totally dig these dudes if I heard them in Junior High. Their music is extremely angst fueled and like so many of my peers I was pissed off all the time. Bullies, asshole teachers, gym class, math I dunno you get my point. Times sucked and I used music as an outlet to get through all that hideous shit. Robot Death Kites sing about bigger bullies and assholes. Evil corporations, sycophant yuppies, and Starbucks fiends. Depraved souls.
These fellers hail from Brooklyn, New York and I first heard of em’ two years ago when I too was roaming the street of Brooklyn, hungry. Seriously though, that wasn’t just a cute metaphorical phrasing. I actually was hungry, I hadn’t eaten in hours and it was around dinnertime; I was in town for a Nobunny show.
So waltzing down some lonely street in Brooklyn I bumped into a man in a chicken suit wearing boxing gloves. He led me to an odd, little restaurant known as Mama Joy’s. Long story short, the chicken turned out to be Dylan aka Snuggles. We bonded over tales of Gay Gardens shows and mutual tastes in music. He revealed himself as the bassist for this here band Rainbow Dream Kittens better known as the mighty ROBOT DEATH KITES.
Now, that brings us to the present day. Robot Death Kites are back in Boston and they’ve brought a tape with them – Yuppie Nightmare – their latest and greatest effort. The recordings are crisp and cool. You may catch yourself dancing along to the music at home alone, giving your junk the old plunk, the old one, two tug. Smash a few holes in the wall, empty another case of PBR. But, that’s not as fun as seeing these ruffians in the flesh dangling in front of you and more than likely resting their sweaty skin on top of your wee body.
Before the set begins vocals guy Otis aka Sunshine runs outside to rally the troops and round up as many men, women, and children as he can. About twenty or less bodies are present before Otis, Jon aka Artichoke (guitar), and Vinny aka Booboo (drums) rip through their set.
Robot Death Kite is pure spectacle. Otis is dressed in his mum’s Sunday best, a real top notch black number (he eventually slimes down to his skivvies), holding a red telephone as his microphone. Dylan’s face is covered in a set of fine pantyhose. Scrumptious. Don’t be misconstrued now. These guys have the guns to back up the glamour and they fire off a string of skull cracking tunes that gets the small, but enthusiastic crowd all riled up and ready to blow off some steam.
These miscreants really do put on a fun show. Their songs are angry and angst ridden, but the performance is anything but; if anything it’s an excuse to go ballistic, like you needed one, right? It’s Atlantic Thrills meets Guerilla Toss meets Rage Against The Machine if they were a basement band. Speaking of which, a basement is the perfect place to see Robot Death Kites, I can’t imagine it any other way. There’s just something about knocking back two PBRs and clutching your third in the midst of a mosh pit, whilst a convulsing Dylan Death Kite leans back and shreds his guitar in the middle of the pit on the cold basement floor.
Definitely a must see. We’ll have to get these fine, upstanding gentlemen back in Boston again sometime soon. It’s a pleasure to finally meet some of you dudes and bring home a few bruises in the process. Fuck it, you don’t want to leave this world without any scars.
Does anyone have any videos from this enchanted evening? I’d love to see them. Give the dumbasses that didn’t attend a chance to see what they missed out on. Ahh well, here’s a vid from Boston Hassle of the band’s set at Gay Gardens (RIP) the last time they were here. Enjoy.
Our man Back Pages is back with you rightly guessed it – another new EP! The Orlando lone teen shredder’s Various is a mix of three acoustic recordings and one with the full band. In fact, these guys opened for NOTS last month and check on that video footage if you haven’t.
And there are Back Pages compilation tapes – Singles 13 – available on our do-worthy label KLYAM Records. That’s a lotta Back Pages, just how we like it.
Yo! Check out the new music video for Cretin Stompers’ “Adult Child” off their full-length LP Looking Forward To Being Attacked. The video is directed by Joslyn Crocco and it’s pretty nuts, may cause seizures. You’ve been warned. They weren’t foolin’ when they said they were stomping and attacking.
Listen to the whole album here: http://cretinstompers.bandcamp.com/album/looking-forward-to-being-attacked
This was my 3rd time seeing The Growlers in the last 2 years. The opener, The Garden, I’d heard of but wasn’t familiar with their music. They are a duo that consists of two twin brothers from So Cal. They started with a few short punchy punk songs. Then about midway through their set I saw the singer/guitarist put down his guitar and the drummer got up from his throne. I was thinking “They couldn’t be done so soon. They were only on for about 10 minutes.” Then I saw one of the guys press some buttons and a drum machine turned on. They both started rapping and it turned into a hip-hop show. I was not expecting to see 2 skinny guys rapping at a Growlers show. After a few minutes of that they got back to their regular instruments and the short punchy punk tunes continued. Their punk songs almost reminded me of a less aggressive version of The Hussy (who are also a duo).
Right before The Growlers took the stage a drag queen dressed in stereotypical Asian dress came out and started singing and dancing to the crowd. Some of the songs that played when she was out there were “Jet Boy Jet Girl” by The New York Dolls and “Homosapien” by Pete Shelley. At first it made me wonder if Brooks Nielsen had a new career, but once she started singing I knew it wasn’t him. After about a 10 minute performance the drag queen introduced The Growlers. The stage was decked in Chinese style fans and dragon heads in honor of their new album Chinese Fountain. The best part about seeing The Growlers live besides their music is watching Brooks do his funny little dancing. For some songs he was dancing with the drag queen and then he pushed her in to the crowd so she could crowdsurf. I didn’t recognize Brooks right away without a mustache. I personally think that mustaches should be mandatory for any members of The Growlers. Their set lasted a little over 90 minutes. Sorry but I don’t remember the actual setlist because I didn’t write it down but I know they did a bunch of new songs. The crowd seemed to get most excited towards the end when they did One Million Lovers and Someday. After the show when the bandmembers went off stage I could see one of The Growlers (I think it was Anthony) moon the crowd. They have been great everytime I have seen them and I am hoping for their thereafter walkabout.
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 