Allow us to bring our Summer festivities indoors for an enviable show at the unrivaled Charlie’s Kitchen in Harvard Square where Mondays never have to suck.
The date is June 27th (yeah, next Monday night) and we’ve got one for you: two wild oldies cover bands and the wildest punk band in New England. Read on.
The debut of Pledge Pins – slop frat rockers cutting all the slack of garage classics. One to two minute blasts and on to the next.
Johnnie and the Foodmastersare cut from a similar cloth as PP; while the Pins are minimal, the 6 piece Elvis worshippers may be a described as a little bit much!
And what about RONG? Oh just the best punk band in Boston. Will give you the jitters like all the Boston underground noize greats and provoke inexplicable dancing and grooving.
We painted the town red last Wednesday at State Park! The tech bros were offended by the noise, but most people seemed to enjoy themselves. As always the staff was wonderful. Here’s what we played:
Chris’s Set: Nice Guys – Jamaican Vacation/Medical Envy, Sector Zero – Guitar Attack, Spodee Boy – Big Spud/III/Sterile World, Uranium Club – Sun Belt
Glen’s Set: Children of the Flaming Wheel – Waves, Staches – Great Depression, Gremlins UK – You Lie in a Park, Nots – Floating Hand, Fagettes – My Girl Looks Like Johnny Thunders
Chris: The Spits – Tonight, Los Saicos – Demolicion, The Outsiders – Summertime Blues, The Banshees – They Prefer Blondes, The Crystals – He’s a Rebel
Glen: Giorgio Murderer – Theme From Star Trek, The Ar-Kaics – Make You Mine, Curtis Mayfield – Nothing Can Stop Me, Patty & the Emblems – Please Don’t Ever Leave Me Baby, John Fred & His Playboy Band – Judy in Disguise
Chris: The Dreamers – Because of You, Colleen Green – Y Do You Call Me?, Saba Lou – Until the End, Coloured Balls – Heavy Metal Kid, Vomit Squad – Amon Ra Bless America/Burning With Beelzebub
Glen: Fats Domino – When My Dreamboat Comes Home, Elvis Presley – Patch It Up, Ray Coniff & His Singers – Somewhere My Love, Jim Croce – Bad Bad Leroy Brown, Pastiche – Austin Lunch ???
Chris: A Clockwork Orange OST Side 1: Wendy Carlos – Title Music from A Clockwork Orange (From Henry Purcell’s Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary)/A Deutsche Grammophon Recording (Rome Opera House Orchestra conducted by Tullio Serafin, Wendy Carlos – The Thieving Magpie (Abridged) (Gioachino Rochini)/Wendy Carlos – Theme From A Clockwork Orange (Beethoviana)/Wendy Carlos, A Deutsche Grammophon Recording (Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Ferenc Fricsay/Wendy Carlos – March from A Clockwork Orange (Ninth Symphony, Fourth Movement Abridged) (Beethoven)/Wendy Carlos – William Tell Overture (Abridged) (Rossini)
Angry Angles – Stab You Dead, You Call it Love, Ausmuteants – Fed Through a Tube, Young Identifiers – Threats, Public Execution – SS Brigade, The Press – Alcoholic
Glen: Paris Hilton – Stars Are Blind, Johnny Cash – Get Rhythm, Capes of Good Hope – Shades, Neil Diamond – Sweet Caroline, Exposé – December
Chris: Madonna – Material Girl, Mudhoney – Touch Me I’m Sick, Insults – Just a Doper, Electric Eeels – Spin Age Blasters, Black Abba – Betting On Death
Glen: Pscience – X-Ray Eyes, Charles Beverly – Don’t You Want a Man Like Me?, The 5th Dimension – Don’t Cha Hear Me Callin’ to Ya, Barbara Carr – Messing With My Mind, Charles Beverly – Hollywood
Chris: Five Discs – Never Let You Go, Fats Domino – Blueberry Hill, Bobby Darrin – Mack the Knife, Rosie & the Originals – Angel Baby, Rolling Stones – Lady Jane
Glen: Jay Blackfoot – The Girl Next Door, Dean Martin – Return to Me, The Minutemen – Slopping Around ????. The Vagrants – Rescue the Sea, The American Breed – Bend Me, Shape
Chris: Butthole Surfers – Cowboy Bob, The Legendary Stardust Cowboy – Relaxation, The Shaggs – Philosophy of the World, Little Sports Car, Toxie – Newgate, Three Degrees – When Will I See You Again?
Glen: Children of the Flaming Wheel – Trenches
Chris: The Tempos – The Closer You Are, SOA – Public Defender, Gonna Have to Fight
Glen: Paris Hilton- I Want You
Chris: Best Coast – So Gone, That’s the Way Boys Are
KLYAM SUMMER PROGRAM #1 KENNEY PARK – 8 BONAIR ST., DAVIS SQUARE, SOMERVILLE FREE OUTDOOR SHOW ($5 to $15 SUGGESTED CASH/VENMO) 1 to 5 PM
THE GLUE – Cash’s number one fan / outlaw country, folk, and rhythm & blues outfit led by ex-Back Baynian Lily Fein – now based in New Orleans, Louisiana.
DEW MYRON – (David) Berman’s boy – prolific urban honky tonker – turns it up and down and all around.
INSPECTOR 34 (solo) – Lowell psych pop mastermind Jim Warren goes back to where it all began – with passion, guitar, and a voice.
HEALERS CO.– Sample flooded dreamy electronica bliss with a trippy wink and nod to New Wave/80s dance aesthetics.
We’re BACK again to tempt you with a good time on a school night.
Wednesday June 1st – we’ve got you covered with all your down south swamp boogie, Lou Reed’s favorite jittery doo wop, and of course, our staple: TREMENDO GARAJE! Of all kinds.
All at your local State Park in Kendall Sq. 9 PM to late. Bring a friend or lover.
Bradford Barker has a way about him. In the past few months we’ve become connected. Conjoined nearly. It all started with a little CATCHING UP – those that are paying attention KNOW. Whatsup. The Calendars, Death Snail, Kitty Fuckers, The Alaskas, At Stan’s Bris. All of these entities foreign to me mere months ago. And yeah I’m not going to leave off the infamous Dirty Babies Club – where it all began…. (for me)
Well, the spirit of Denizen and, by extension the Furry fraternity, is to throw a lot at you all at once. This method is refreshing and wild. So Brad drops this one on us: Saves The Nation – a studio quality release that was recorded, mixed, and mastered by co-conspirator and indie popper turned punk Gavin Caine. I knew what to expect and what not to expect. Both.
There’s plenty of remarks to be made about this record. Questions, too. But we will leave that to the talent evaluators and mass media. I’ll tell you this.
The beauty of this album is the adventurous genre hopping. Bradford goes from acoustic singer-songwriter to indie rockstar to making the alt country record that Jay Reatard never made. Splitting the difference between a Pavement era Weird Al and a vintage Dew Myron. But not ever really being satisfied with just that. Powerful.
WE ARE BEYOND EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE OUR NEXT SHOW – KLYAM BLESSES THE BAY – A FREE OUTDOOR SHOWCASE @ BLESSING OF THE BAY BOATHOUSE PARK (SOMERVILLE) ON SATURDAY, MAY 14 FEATURING ……
The KLYAM blog is certainly back – cool to see some OGs taking note. Thanks to BCN for the shout out in its Platforms section! The Compass has been guiding Boston eclectics to underground/off kilter music, art, and more for over a decade. The Compass started off as a mere page of show listings, but has expanded into its current lengthier newspaper format.
So you had a ball last night at our first DJ night over at the best bar around – State Park in Kendall Square? Same. It’s long been an institution, but the People Playing Records series is knocking it out of the Park as an opportunity for amateur music enthusiasts & disc jockeys to spin their heart out. We’re grateful to be a part of the mix! Speaking of which the crowd is quite the eclectic mix of students, tech millionaires, punks, pool sharks, loan sharks, friends, and first dates. The staff is friendly AF. Shout out to them.
Here are the songs/sets that we played:
Glen: Lee Hazlewood – Califa (Stone Rider), T. Rex – The Slider, Ananda Shankur – Jumpin Jack Flash, The Tail Gators – Rock ‘n’ Roll Till the Cows Come Home, Danyel Gerard – Sexology, The Hawaiian Singers – Bali High
Chris: The Earls – Remember Then, The Mighty Hannibal – Love is Funny, The Lids Something to Do, The Mummies – (You Must Fight to Live) On the Planet of the Apes/White Caps Part I
Glen: The Barbaras – Summertime Road, Giorgio Murderer – Beat Up the West Coast, Swell Maps – International Rescue, Swingers Resort – Hit List, The King Khan & BBQ Show – Zombies, Ty Segall & Mikal Cronin – I Wear Black
Chris: The Phantom – Love Me, The Novas – The Crusher/Take 7, The Triumphs – Surfside Date/Susie in My History Class, Pleasure Seekers – What a Way to Die
Glen: Paris Hilton – I Want You, Tracey Trance 10th & Stone Lane, Beat Happening – Noise, The Beets – Broken English, Saralee – Lead the Fire, Thee Oh Sees – I Was Denied
Chris: The Cavemen – Nightmare/Over You, The Donnas – Let’s Go Mano/Last Chance Dance, The Reatards – I Lie Too/She Don’t Know
Glen: The Savages – Born to Be Wild, Bound & Gagged – Black Sand, The Hawaiian Singers – The Hawaiian Wedding Song, Swell Maps – Hey Johnny, Where’s the Chewing Gum? T. Rex – Spaceball Ricochet, Tracey Trance – Feelin’ the Sun
Chris: Dion – I Wonder Why, The Dreamers – Because of You, The Students – Everyday of the Week, The Velvets – Tonight (Could Be the Night), Trampoline Team – Kill You On the Streetcar/False Fiend, The Wongs – Get Away/Let’s Go to Outerspace (Baby)
Glen: The Tail Gators – Cajun Honey, The Barbaras – Topsy Turvey Magic, Giorgio Murderer – I Ain’t Doing So Hot, The King Khan & BBQ Show – I’ll Never Belong, Ty Segall & Mikal Cronin – Ramona, The Beets – For You
Chris: Beat Happening – Red Head Walking, Adam Green – Friends of Mine, Atlas Sound – I’ll Be Your Mirror, Best Coast – Sun Was High (So Was I), Cyrpress Hill – Insane in the Brian
Glen: Paris Hilton – Stars Are Blind, Thee Oh Sees – Warm Slime, Mohammed Rafi – Jaan Pehechaan Ho, Saralee – Jackolantern House, Saralee – Bugs in My Coffee, Charlotte Leslie – Les Filles C’est Fait
Chris: Marie Marie – Do You Do You Brush Your Teeth? Mickey Bliss – Cocktails for Two, Cyndi Lauper – Time After Time, Generation X – Dancin’ With Myself, Nots – Virgin Mary, Anemic Boyfriends – Fake ID, Icky Boyfriends – Frank’s Mom/Muffin, Euromilliard – Indolore, The Kingsmen – Louie Louie, From – Chase Me Up a Rhubarb Tree, Fire Heads – Sleep At Night/Hardly There, Mudhoney – Sweet Young Than Ain’t Sweet No More, Bukkake Boys – Elite/Self Interest/Invisible Boundaries/Female Dog, -1 – Hate is a Faucet/You Lack Direction/We Guilt This City/Policin the Scene/Social Justice/Negative One, Smith Westerns – Irukanji/Crabman, The Jades/Lou Reed – So Blue/Leave Her for Me, John Trubee – A Blind Man’s Penis, Connie Lingus – Fuck Me Forever, The Teddy Bears – To Know Him, Is to Love Him, The Elegants – Little Star, The Cryin’ Shames – Please Stay
Will McCall aka Will Heel aka shhhanthemum built Trixie’s Palace. That should be enough of an introduction and it should speak volumes. Will came back to the area recently and it was glorious. Cheers to more visits! Here’s a bit of a catching up.
Q1. Will – pleasure to catch up with you! Your solo set at Furry Frat on Friday, March 18 was magic. Get back to that in a minute. As you informed me – you’ve been away from Boston for a bit – living up in New York. How’d it feel to get back here and perform?
That show was a blast. Yea I’m living up in Syracuse right now. I bombed down I-90 for 5 hours blaring Merle Haggard and NBA podcasts on a whim just to play a basement show and sleep at the Furry Frat. Boston still feels like home…or like a weird second home. I get a beautiful strange feeling everytime I come back. And it was an honor sharing the bill with a legend like yourself.
Q2. Some might know you as a Trixies Palace (R.I.P Allston basement) legend or some variation of that, perhaps from your days in Healers Co. Would you mind giving a little history/timeline of your association with Trixies and Healers Co.? Did you have bands or projects that go even way(er)back? We certainly met there and I won’t forget the Healers set from the noise fest we did a few years back.
Its actually a funny story. I built Trixie’s Palace.
There was no house at first. Just a humble shack on a street corner in Brighton.
One night there was a great and terrible storm. The shack was torn apart by winds. And then a bright, blinding light.
An angel appeared to me. She told me I needed to build a house where musicians can play basement shows. I was afraid. Why me? I’m only 24..how could i possibly build a DIY show house?
She told me if you build it, you will start a band (Healers co.) that will one day have 61 likes on facebook. That was enough to convince me.
So yea I built Trixie’s Palace.
Then I told Johnny to come move in and the rest is history.
Q3. To dive into your sound a little bit – how long have you been interested in ambient/sample based music and were there any groups, individuals, or associations that knocked you on your ass or rather lit a fire under there to get you to want to contribute to this paradigm? There’s like a bigness to what you’re doing, set up against a background of glitches and weirdness. It’s awesome!
When Healers first started playing live we would usually play sets all the way through without stopping and I would play different jazz and opera tapes during transitions between songs to poke thru our noise. And then i accidentally acquired some tapes with 90s R’n’B mixes and Electronica mixes and that sent me down this wormhole of sampling and building new songs from the samples.
In terms of like “sample” based music that was influential.. I could point to a couple records that were big for me. Lost and Safe by the Books was one for sure. Person Pitch by Panda Bear. Quasimoto’s The Unseen.
Early in the pandemic I got into this electronic group called The KLF and especially this one record of theirs called Chill Out that’s like this weird ambient house album that’s filled with all these uncleared samples from Elvis and other big name oldies acts- the original album has never been officially rereleased because it’s chock full of all these uncleared samples and highly illegal to sell. They’re a kinda crazy rabbit hole to go down. But they have quite the band story…give it a google if you’re bored.
Q4. Let’s talk a little Eddy El Dorado. The Enemy of the State. This is a hidden gem. Seriously. Anything you want to put on the record regarding this? Did the CD sell on Craigslist? I’m getting Daniel Johnston teleportation / Madchester vibes – at least initially. But that’s an oversimplification. Beautiful rocque or folk oriented music. Did you have a homerecording frenzy during the pandemic?
There’s not much I can say about Eddy El Dorado. He’s a wanted man so I have to be brief.
I met him at a honky-tonk in the Adirondacks. He’s said some terrible things i can’t repeat but part of me thinks he’s a genius.
If he could talk i bet he’d say something like “Enemy of the State is streaming on apple music now”
Q5. American Tarragon Radio is the best radio show in America broadcasting on Spark Radio Syracuse. How’d this come about and what’s your mission statement?
Spark is a really cool community oriented, non-commercial institution in Syracuse that runs a radio station that broadcasts on two FM channels in Syracuse. I reached out to them last fall about hosting a show and they were kind enough to indulge me.
I have a weekly hour-long show where I play whatever has been pleasing me and each show is archived at https://www.mixcloud.com/americantarragon/. There’s a bunch of really good, eclectic music being played on their station. By far the best station in Syracuse.
Even if no one listens to the show i get off on the fact that i get to shoot my favorite songs out onto radio waves through the atmosphere and up into space. The electromagnetic spectrum is trippy, man.
Q6. Getting back to the Furry Frat show / where you are performance-wise. I get a feeling that you don’t feel limited in what you can do? For those who missed it and love details and techniques (but also mystery), can you give a little speel on what we bore witness?
I call it my karaoke set. I essentially just play Healers co. instrumental tracks with the vocals and synth lines cut out. Then I sing and play a few blips on the synth over top for my “performance.” I don’t take it too seriously. I kinda realized the more fun i have when i’m performing the more fun it is for the people in the room.
The full version of the Healers set will be hopefully coming this spring/summer. My best bud Jack is the other member of Healers.
It will be crazy if anyone will let us play their basement.
Also we’re finishing a Greatest Hits / Covers album that will hopefully be done in the not so distant future.
Q7. Alright Will – any last plugs, anything I might have forgotten, or updates on present & future journeys and endeavors?
Me and Jack have a new business we started called Eternal Clubhouse. It’s becoming one of the most successful pages on instagram (@eternalclubhouse – please follow us). It’s amazing what hard work, perseverance, and buying followers can lead to.
We’ve also been giving back to the community by teaching ambient musicians how to improve the quality of their music and work smarter, not harder.
Gavin Caine is the next ‘Indie Darling’ of the 2020s. But the Allston punk rocker isn’t satisfied with stopping there. Catch their band “Kitty F*****s” at O’Briens Pub on Monday Night – March 28th. I had to see what the fuss was about.
Q1. Alright Gavin – thanks for the time here. You’ve clearly already made it – some of your records are reviewed on YouTube by an obsessive fan – but for those who might not be in the know…what bands/projects/endeavors are you in RIGHT NOW and what do you have to say about them? Brad said that in Kitty Fuckers you are making marionettes of your mates.
Aye thanks a million for reaching out! A good question.. I often can’t keep track myself. Right now the live circuit is Dew’s “The Calendars”, Brad’s “death Snail”, myself and Brad’s “Kitty Fuckers”, and our buddy Sam’s “Jim Rat”. Recording is my favorite piece of it all, so on that front Dew, myself, and co. have been cooking up the latest Calendars, and Brad has entrusted me in handling his next “solo record”, both of which are surly destined to alter time and space itself. I also just made a record with my lifelong pal Pictoria Vark which is gonna pop out in a few weeks.I’m always making music on my own on top of it all, and I just put out my fourth record a few weeks back!
Q2. Give me 3 OG (old time) influences and 3 modern influences on you? Music or otherwise.What I do has always been sort of a cosmic mix of The Beach Boyz n Beatles, and my first record was pretty much if a computer listened to every Guided by Voices song and was programmed to make 14 more. These days the list grows longer than ever but of Montreal and Cardiacs have been my latest obsessions. I’ve also recently been put on to country by the sneaky hands of our Dewey Myron.
Q3. When did you first become acquainted with Denizen Records? What makes it so seemingly easy to work (play ?) with Brad and Dew and others? I entered the Deni-Sphere via Brad, when we met in college long ago. We made a noisycore band called At Stan’s Bris in 2019 that taught me everything I know about rock n roll and excessively making albums, and from then on the floodgates opened. Denizen Records is one of my favorite aspects of what we do up here in Boston.. in a way it’s a chronicle of our lives since we’ve all known each other. Brad and Dew are two of the greatest and sexiest guys I know. Making music with them is like drinking sweet tea on a hot summer’s day. I feel very grateful to be a part of their respective madnesses.
Q4. How much do you love writing music? Is it all you do? I’ve heard rumors that you’re basically trying to turn the Furry Frat into the Brill Building of the 2020s. Feel free to sing the praises of Furry Frat. Also just thought of it – y’ever get self conscious about showing stuff to your mates or is it as loosey goosey as the imagination wanders.
Writing music is something we often partake in at the furry frat. We’re trying to hit our yearly quota of 10,000 songs a year, collectively, or else Big Music will kick us off the airwaves. When we aren’t writing, we’re recording our next #1 or rehearsing for the upcoming Super Bowl LVII Halftime Performance. One of the greatest parts of working with the gang is there are no subjects we haven’t written about. It’s all love here.
Q5. What are your thoughts on the current underground musical landscape in Allston/Boston and in the greater world? Where do you see your place in the continuum. Are you a lifer of the DIY or do you have aspirations to play Roadrunner and TD Garden? Is Bandcamp the best platform out there?
The current Allston world has changed a lot over the years.. these days I’m most involved with what we do. We’re just doing it for kicks and I wouldn’t wanna change that at all. I’ve no idea what the future holds, but every new record we make becomes our new best record, at least I think, so I always look forward to the next thing.
Q6. Have you hit the road before? Any plans? What’s next? Thanks Gavin! Never done a proper tour, but we’d love to get out there. I’m beginning to put together a band of my own called The Alaskas that I’m excited to play around. Lots of new records in the works and Phase 1 of taking over the world and beyond is nearly complete. Thanks so much Glen – your interviews are the greatest!
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 