Hope everyone is healthy and hanging in there. We wanted to let you know that we are still here and active.
With no new shows to book, play, or attend, we’ve shifted gears to a new medium: the Podcast!
Link is up at the top of the website and here. These have been great – one to two (sometimes longer!) hours of catching up with old pals, artists, and musicians. We try to cover formative experiences in music whenever possible along with what’s going on currently and in the future.
KLYAM Recommended Happenings:
THURSDAY, JANUARY 2 – JESUS DRINKS FREE @ The Haven in Jamaica Plain. Free. 21+. 9 PM to 1 AM. The first Thursday night of every month, DJ Dan Shea and cohorts (this time: Nadav & Spnda) spin soul, r&b, country, and yes certainly Gospel, for believers and non-believers. Calling all lovers of old time music from the ’50s through the ’70s.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 4 – NICE GUYS, Minibeast, Service, Freaking @ Great Scott. 21+. RTT Presents. A strong night of punk ‘n noise.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 10 – KARAOKE @ The Lilypad – 10PM to 1AM. $5. Karaoke with Erica & Maria has now become an institution.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 17 – DOG, Children of the Flaming Wheel, and G. Gordon Gritty @ Deep Thoughts in Jamaica Plain. $5-10 sliding scale donation. All Ages. Noise behemoths and utter legends DOG make a come back to Boston! Children of the Flaming Wheel are coming off a FIRE performance at our recent Holiday Party at Dorchester Art Project. Yours truly and band will open the show & expect the unexpected.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 18 – Baby Baby, Thighs, Lane, Russ Waterhouse, Frigid – Banshee Den, Everett, MA. All Ages. A new, DIY spot in Everett? This is one to pique curiosity. And the line-up is just as weird as you’d expect.
As the whole South Coast community is already well aware: a big rolling music festival –the 4752 Festival – is taking place this Saturday, October 19 in New Bedford. Devin Brynes, bassist in Picniclunch, organized the festival and I asked him a few questions in anticipation. See below. Dan Shea also had a discussion with Devin and you can read that awesomeness here.
GGG: The fest is taking place across 6 venues – can you explain a bit of the logistics involved and the selection of the venues?
DB: Yeah so the event kicks off at 3:30 at Circa and continues into the late night hours eventually finishing at No Problemo Taqueria. Myself, band mates and friends will be leap frogging 2 different P.A’s from venue to venue. The set ups are all pretty punk rock style, so should go well. I called on venues in my community to be hosts, and across the board, they were very supportive and receptive. Finding host venues was actually one of the easiest things. All the host venues are run by people with vision and passion for New Bedford.
GGG: What is the artistic climate like in New Bedford? We haven’t been down there since Traphaus in 2015 and are curious how things may have changed since that time.
DB: So, musically speaking there isn’t a lot going on. Craig (who runs No Problemo) has been one of the biggest supports of local music and this event itself. He opens up his space to bands a couple of times a month. There is a pretty vibrant visual art scene here and a fairly new co creative center in the heart of downtown. For some reason, underground, cool shows don’t happen too much. The Traphaus leaving has left a bit of a void for weirder acts to have a place to play in town.
GGG: Have you run a festival like this before, if so/if not, were there any inspirations for putting one on?
DB: I have curated a bunch of smaller shows over the years and back when I lived in Brooklyn, I put on a 2 day festival that was great fun, but a financial disaster. I have been talking about doing something like this in New Bedford for a few years now and, to add something interesting to the scene and to drive a lot of out of town talent to the city too. The only way it was going to happen was if I started booking it a long ways out, so that’s what I did. I think I started contacting people about this in June? This is all a bit of an experiment, but with so many talented people coming in and so many great people opening their doors, I can’t see it not being a successful day.
Early heads up everyone. We’ve got THE HUSSY from Madison, Wisconsin. New album out on Dirtnap Records. 4 Piece Line-Up. Just played Gonerfest. On Tour. Checking all of the boxes. One of the most exciting live bands? Check check. Blew minds opening for Thee Oh Sees? Yes.
But this post and our next KLYAM show that we are Pumped for: THE HUSSY live at The Greek (Greek American Social Construction Club) in Union Square, Somerville (9 Bow St, Somerville, MA 02143) on OCTOBER 21, 2019. One week from today. All Ages. 8 PM Doors. $10.
Opening bands: Funeral Cone – G. Gordon Gritty – Kind Budz
How do you find out about music? Me, I primarily use the internet via various websites (YouTube, Wikipedia, last.fm, etc) to listen to and discover new bands. Doing this myself is quite convenient. I can stop the music or X out of band web-pages that I don’t particularly enjoy. With the radio, on the other hand, you have very little choice. The stations may allow you to request a song or two, but for the most part songs are pre-selected. That way, you are almost forced to like whatever they play. I find that the people who are predisposed to KISS 108 and JAMN 945 often become immediately attached to the songs that are played. These “club anthems” stick with them, but do any of these listeners actually go online, do research, buy albums, and most importantly listen to more songs other than the hits? Even with independent radio stations like WERS, I suspect the average listener doesn’t log onto wers.org and look up playlists. Personally I get the vibe that the DIY approach that I often take makes me like a song for a longer period of time. Good songs don’t just disappear after they’ve had their “time” on the radio; they become apart of my regular, personalized playlist.
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 