Dying Scene

DS Album Review: Samiam – “Stowaway”

Holy shit I love this record… Okay, so I suppose that’s maybe not the most professional way to kick off an album review, but whatever. This is a punk rock website and reviewing albums isn’t exactly my profession in the technical sense… Anyway, let’s start over. Back in September of 2011, just a day before […]

Holy shit I love this record…

Okay, so I suppose that’s maybe not the most professional way to kick off an album review, but whatever. This is a punk rock website and reviewing albums isn’t exactly my profession in the technical sense… Anyway, let’s start over.

Back in September of 2011, just a day before my 32nd birthday, I had the privilege of reviewing the then-brand-new and incredibly stellar Samiam album Trips. I loved it. I loved everything about it. It finished the year right near the top of my Best of 2011 albums list, and if I were to rerank that list a dozen years later, it’s probably the album that holds up the best. Sometime after Trips was released, I remember commenting on some social media platform – I think it was MySpace honestly rofl – that hopefully it wouldn’t be another five years before the next new Samiam record (Trips is preceded in the Samiam discography by 2006’s Whatever’s Got You Down) and the band’s lead guitarist and artistic force Sergie Loobkoff just responded “LOL” or something like that. At the time, I interpreted that as “LOL, don’t worry, we won’t wait that long next time.” Yet here we are, just about a dozen full years later, and we’ve finally got the follow up to Trips in our midst. It’s called Stowaway and it’s out this Friday (March 31st) on Pure Noise Records and saying that it was worth the wait is a bit of hyperbole because I wish we didn’t have to wait 11.5 years…but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t worth the wait.

Stowaway kicks off with “Lake Speed,” a track whose introductory air-raid siren dive bombs are soon met with a frenetic energy that shows that musically, Samiam have not only not lost a step but are in fact as charged-up as ever. It’s as tight and concise a post-hardcore-style ripper as you’ll find in the Samiam catalog complete with a pretty awesome guest spot from *SPOILER ALERT* none other than Hot Water Music’s Chris Wollard. It’s a damn-near perfect track, with Wollard and Samiam frontman Jason Beebout layering their unique voices over Loobkoff and Sean Kennerly’s dizzying guitar runs while the comparatively new rhythm section of Colin Brooks (drums) and Chad Darby (bass – more on that later) push a blistering pace. The whole thing is controlled chaos and creates the sense that it could careen off the rails at any moment, but then it’s over somehow just as quickly as it began. (Oh, and its lyrical tip of the cap to the longtime NASCAR driver with whom it shares its name is just the icing on the proverbial cake).

“Lake Speed” gives way to “Crystallized,” one of the three singles that was put out in the leadup to the album’s release. In many ways, it’s a perfect single: it’s got a big, classic Samiam sound that’s been charged up by Brooks and Darby the latter of whom you may recognize from his time in one of Chris Wollard’s other projects, Ship Thieves. If you’re an astute follower of Dying Scene, you’ll recall the time that he and Wollard joined us on the (*both laugh*) podcast, during which he may or may not have indicated that he was working with Samiam on new music and may have short-circuited my brain in the process…

“Lights Out, Little Hustler” follows and continues in the vein of charged-up, instant classic Samiam tunes. Oodles of vocal harmonies adorn the verses before frontman Jason Beebout’s inimitable voice powers through on the powerful, introspective singalong chorus. “Shoulda Stayed” would have been right at home on 120 Minutes or on a certain skateboard-inspired videogame series in a previous decade, as do the chunky guitar in the verses of “Shut Down.” “Scout Knife” features another appearance from Wollard, which makes sense given that some of the album’s components were recorded at Gainesville’s Black Bear Studios with frequent HWM/Ship Thieves collaborator Ryan Williams.

“Monterey Canyon” features probably the album’s best examples of the Loobkoff’s trademark single-note atmospheric divebomb melody lines. “Natural Disasters” is maybe the brightest sounding track on the album to this point, in some ways belying the songs vocals which, if taken literally, lament that the damage we’ve done to our home planet is probably irreparable at this point. “Stanley” is a fun song with a lot of different stylistic layers and sonic textures. “Highwire” starts somewhat down tempo for a Samiam song but turns itself into a a bombastic anthem with what are probably Beebout’s most soaring vocal performance. “Something” is a sneaky contender for my favorite track on the album that isn’t called “Lake Speed.” It’s a no-nonsense, four-on-the-floor, downstroke heavy punk rock ripper with Loobkoff and Kennerly again trading catchy guitar melodies over an even catchier shoutalong outro. The title track closes out the festivities in a way that probably best encapsulates all of the album’s different layers and textures and sonic directions in one four-minute package.

There has been talk at times over the years since Trips that part of the reason that there wasn’t new Samiam music was due to concern over whether or not Beebout still wanted to sing and to write new lyrics; there’s a quote out there somewhere about “maybe people over the age of 50 should admit they’re probably too old to be in the music business” I think. To state it emphatically and for the record, I’m really glad he decided to keep at it. Beebout’s voice has long been one of the most powerful and unique in the game and that’s just as true a statement now on Stowaway as it was at any other point in the band’s thirty-five year tenure. There’s a feeling and an urgency and an introspection and a devilish humor in both his vocals and his lyrics that are unmatched and that have the ability to provoke both goosebumps and long, honest looks in the mirror, sometimes within the same song. See “Shut Down” or “Monterrey Canyon” on this one, for example. When added to Loobkoff and Kennerly’s urgent guitars and, lately, Brooks and Darby’s punishing grooves, it’s part and parcel to what makes Samiam Samiam after all this time. It’s fair to say that Stowaway will be tough to dislodge from the #1 spot on this year’s end-of best-of list, and it’s fair to say that if I revisit this album in another dozen years, when I’m in my mid-50s (woof…) it’ll still feel as vital and compelling as ever.

by Staff Writer jaystone
Tags: 
chad darby colin brooks jason beebout pure noise records samiam

  1. Samiam has been critically underrated and ignored almost shamefully, one of the best bands that never got better recognition, but anyone who is a true fan of the genre and knows them knows they deliver some of the best “no filler” albums that would give even someone in a vegetative state goosebumps. Right on, this is a perfect review. I was introduced to them via the album Billy back in the day and some of my fondest memories are hitting the pavement with a Walkman and skating to what would inevitably be the sandtrack to my life.

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DS Photo Gallery: St. Patrick’s Day in Boston Dropkick Murphys, Turnpike Troubadours and The Rumjacks

Despite living in the Greater Boston Area for the four-plus decades I’ve been alive, and despite having seen numerous Dropkick Murphys lineups play numerous Dropkick Murphys shows – from a show where they appeared sandwiched between The Mr. Rogers Project and The Pietasters at The Living Room in Providence to headlining the hometown Agganis Arena […]

Despite living in the Greater Boston Area for the four-plus decades I’ve been alive, and despite having seen numerous Dropkick Murphys lineups play numerous Dropkick Murphys shows – from a show where they appeared sandwiched between The Mr. Rogers Project and The Pietasters at The Living Room in Providence to headlining the hometown Agganis Arena over St. Patrick’s Day weekend – I’d never actually seen the band live and in person on the most Boston Irish of holidays itself. Until now. The 2023 installment of the Dropkicks’ annual St. Patrick’s Day weekend festivities took three days at the massive new MGM Music Hall that serves as the literal back door to Fenway Park, with Sunday’s wrap-up show happening across the street at the comparatively quaint 2200-capacity House Of Blues.

As has been customary for many of the St. Patrick’s Day weekend festivities that Dropkick have thrown over the years, this run capped off what had been a pretty busy tour schedule in support of their latest album, in this case This Machine Still Kills Fascists, the Woody Guthrie-inspired record that they put out on their own label last year (a follow-up, Okemah Rising, is due out this Spting). Openers rotated slots across the four main shows (Saturday also had an early “soundcheck”-style abridged set and meet-and-greet); St. Patrick’s Day itself featured The Rumjacks and Turnpike Troubadours; Nikki Lane and Jesse Ahern also took their respective turns in the rotation at the weekend’s other shows.

The Rumjacks kicked off the St. Patrick’s Day festivities promptly at 6:30pm to a fairly robust crowd in spite of the early set time. Probably helps that the holiday fell on a Friday and that it’s spot at the end of Lansdowne Street puts MGM right at the start (or end, I suppose) of a run of bars eager to cash in on the most pub-crawlingest of holidays. The Australian lads’ set had a bit of a hometown feel to it, not just because most Celtic/Irish punk bands do pretty well in this market, but because not only is local boy Mike Rivkees manning frontman and tin whistle duties, but his fellow Mickey Rickshaw bandmate Kyle Goyette has been handling accordion duties and may/may not officially be a Rumjack now? The band ripped through a baker’s dozen Irish bangers including “Through These Iron Sights,” “One For The Road” and, of course, “An Irish Pub Song.”

Turnpike Troubadours occupied the middle slot on the bill, and they’re a band I’d been looking forward to catching again for a long time. The last time I saw Turnpike was back in 2018 at Lucero’s Family Block Party in Memphis. It was good, but it wasn’t, from my understanding as someone who was considerably late to the Turnpike game, a really representative set for a variety of reasons, and the band went on hiatus early the following year in order to allow frontman Evan Felker to sort out some personal demons. The band reunited about a year ago and good grief are they making up for lost time. 

Earlier in the week, Turnpike had played in front of something like 75,000 people at the Houston Rodeo and Livestock show which, I’d imagine, is something like Texas’ version of St. Patrick’s Day in Boston. And while that’s a level of nerve-wracking that I can only begin to wrap my head around, it probably has to be a different sort of nerve-wracking to be main support for a long-running Boston Irish punk rock band on their home turf on THEIR day, particularly when you’re A) not from around here and B) playing a style of music that doesn’t always translate to the rowdy, occasionally finicky Boston punk crowd. But make no mistake – Turnpike killed.

The band took the stage and immediately dove into “Long Hot Summer Days,” a boot-stomping cover of a John Hartford track that Turnpike have made their own over the last decade-or so. The song leans heavily into the fiddle and even heavier into multi-part vocal harmonies, and I heard someone up along the barricade comment once the song was done that it was probably the most “punk rock” moment they’d see tonight, and in many respects, that sentiment wasn’t wrong. But at it’s core, “Long Hot Summer Days” is a blue-collar working song and Dropkick Murphys are one of the last local vestiges of a blue collar core that is all but falling by the wayside, and so maybe Turnpike as a band are not unlike Dropkick’s cousins from Oklahoma. From there, the band ripped through a total of ten songs of love and heartache and rebellion. “7&7” and “Gin, Smoke & Lies” and “A Tornado Warning” were particularly well-received by the crowd that, sure, was chock-full of scally caps but was also not without it’s own share of cowboy hats. In Boston!

From there, obviously, it was time for the main attraction, the one-and-only Dropkick Murphys. As per usual, the band took the stage to the Sinead O’Connor/Chieftains rendition of “Foggy Dew” before immediately ripping into “State Of Massachusetts” from their 2007 classic The Meanest Of Times. Frontman and founder Ken Casey handed off live bass playing duties to longtime touring member Kevin Rheault years ago, leaving him free to endlessly, tirelessly pace the stage and interact with the crowd from both behind and atop the barricades at stage front.

Dropkick Murphys have had a bit of a nebulous lineup over the years, and the 2022/3 edition is no different. With Al Barr still sidelined to tend to his ailing mother, the current lineup finds Casey joined longtime drummer Matt Kelly, guitarist James Lynch, multi-instrumental virtuosos Tim Brennan (that’s him on accordion on the right) and Tim Brennan joined by Rheault on the bass and Campbell Webster on bagpipes and tin whistle and maybe percussion during some of the Woody Guthrie songs? It was a little tough to tell because the high-energy show was filled a constantly changing pre-programmed digital backdrop and the stage was replete with myriad moving parts, barely two songs goind by without some change in instrumental duties for at least one if not more Dropkicks.

The band was also joined on stage by a host of special guests on the evening. Erin McKenzie (seen at left), most notably of The Doped Up Dollies but also collaborator with the likes of Big D and The Kids Table and Lenny Lashley and, of course, the Dropkicks, joined for a charged-up rendition of “The Dirty Glass.” Turnpike Troubadours’ Evan Felker came out for “The Last One,” the track he lent his vocal talents to on record on This Machine Still Kills Fascists. They were also joined on stage by Woody Guthrie’s grandson Cole Quest on dobro.

Dropkick Murphys have done a lot of good for both the music community and the community-at-large, particularly here in Massachusetts, over the course of the last quarter-century. Even if you strip away some of the over-the-top garish green shamrock imagery in the crowd (and out on the street), St. Patrick’s Day weekend serves as a way for the community to come together and both celebrate with the band and, ultimately, celebrate the band and what they stand for and to repay the favor to the band who now carry the torch for the punk music scene in Boston. It’s like old home day but for a full, unofficial long weekend, and I’m glad to say I finally shot the weekend’s crown jewel event. See below for more slideshows from each of the bands performances!

The Rumjacks Slideshow

Turnpike Troubadours Slideshow

Dropkick Murphys Slideshow

by Staff Writer jaystone
Tags: 
boston celtic punk dropkick murphys st. patrick's day the rumjacks

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DS Photo Gallery: Joshua Ray Walker and Vandoliers at The Middle East in Cambridge, MA (3/8/23)

Remember a bunch of years ago when Joe Strummer (RIP) was asked his thoughts about what constituted “punk” and his answer was along the lines of “punk isn’t about the boots or the hair dye” and instead it’s about having exemplary manners to your fellow humans and especially about not being an asshole? Because I […]

Remember a bunch of years ago when Joe Strummer (RIP) was asked his thoughts about what constituted “punk” and his answer was along the lines of “punk isn’t about the boots or the hair dye” and instead it’s about having exemplary manners to your fellow humans and especially about not being an asshole? Because I do, and because if you ask me – and I’m operating on the assumption that you did because you’re reading Dying Scene – some of the most “punk rock” music that’s being created in American music nowadays doesn’t come from bands that are on “punk” labels or play music that involves Les Pauls and Marshall stacks or mohawks or skateboards or two-tone wingtips or come from places like southern California or the streets of Boston. Instead, some of the most important and progressive and culturally-inclusive and, in that sense, most “punk rock” music being created comes from places like Tennessee and Texas and the Carolinas and the Deep South and comes from music we’d traditionally call “Americana” or “outlaw country.” There is something inherently “punk rock” about sticking up for the poor or the marginalized or the different or the outcasts when you live in a place that those of us in our safe, suburban coastal elite homes might otherwise look down upon for the Redness of their political views.

And so it was that a tour featuring a pair of acts that have been featured at places like the Grand Ol’ Opry and the Ryman Auditorium and the State Fair of Texas and onThe Tonight Show w/Jimmy Fallon became, in my mind, one of the most eagerly-anticipated “punk rock” tours of the early stages of the year that is 2023. I’m talking, of course, about the recent Joshua Ray Walker/Vandoliers tour that found itself upstairs at the iconic Middle East in Cambridge, Massachusetts, last week. It was the first time that either of the acts – who both hail from the Lone Star State – had played in Massachusetts, and safe to say it was a resounding success.

Vandoliers had been very recently in the news for auctioning off their stage-worn dresses after a show in Tennessee in protest of that state’s abhorrent anti-drag legislation, and they carried that energy through a barn-burning hourlong show-opening set. Frontman Josh Fleming pointed out how he’d spent many hours in his younger years watching old YouTube videos of punk shows that had taken place at the Middle East over the years, and while his band’s sound may include a fiddle and a trumpet and a large-body Gibson acoustic and songs about highways in its home state, the live show is every bit as “punk rock” as many of those performances from years-gone-by. Personal highlights included “Cigarettes In The Rain” and “Every Saturday Night” and, of course, their rousing cover of “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles),” a song that I’m 99% sure I saw Down By Law cover in that same venue more than a quarter-century ago.

Headlining this run – although both acts played hourlong sets so it made it feel like a co-headlining affair – was the one-and-only Joshua Ray Walker. If you’re not familiar, here’s the brief version: Walker is a Texas-born-and-bred singer and songwriter and dare I say guitar virtuoso. He’s a larger-than-life figure both in myriad ways and writes songs that can make you smile (see “Sexy After Dark”) and songs that can make you cry (see “Voices” or “Canyon” or like 3/4ths of the rest of the catalog) and, quite frequently, songs that can do both at the same time (see their honky-tonkified version of “Hello”). Oh, and he’s got a voice like a goddamned angel.

The live music scene in the greater Boston area can be a bit of a fickle beast at times, particularly for bands that aren’t from around here; I’ve seen far bigger “punk rock” names play the very same venue to far smaller and less enthusiastic crowds than the one that showed up to party and dance and holler on this particular late winter Tuesday evening. Because it’s not about the mohawks or the hair dye – it’s about the people and the connection. See more pictures from the shindig below!

Joshua Ray Walker Slideshow

Vandoliers Slideshow

by Staff Writer jaystone
Tags: 
americana i feel sexy after dark joshua ray walker outlaw country vandoliers

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DS Exclusive: The Deathbots debut “Thumper” from upcoming split with Cardboard Box Colony

Happy Friday, and more importantly, Happy St. Patrick’s Day, comrades! We’ve got a fun new exclusive for your earholes today, and it comes to us all the way from the mountains of…Asheville, North Carolina! It’s from a band called The Deathbots, a trio who’ve been described as “a brawling mix between Bad Religion and Johnny […]

Meet The Deathbots!

Happy Friday, and more importantly, Happy St. Patrick’s Day, comrades! We’ve got a fun new exclusive for your earholes today, and it comes to us all the way from the mountains of…Asheville, North Carolina!

It’s from a band called The Deathbots, a trio who’ve been described as “a brawling mix between Bad Religion and Johnny Cash, that combo of super speedy melodic punk and killer bad-ass country” which sounds pretty awesome to us!

The song is called “Thumper,” and it appears on The Deathbots’ upcoming split EP with their pals in Cardboard Box Colony. The EP was recorded in the bands’ shared practice space before being shipped off to the almighty Blasting Room to be mastered by the iconic Jason Livermore. Here’s what the lads had to say for themselves:

I’m super excited to share this split 7”/EP with our good buddies, the awesome Cardboard Box Colony. With our two contributions, a song about what happens when cartoon rabbits get pushed too far, and a song about a pirate ghost ship, we perfectly showcase the essence of our band: a bunch of punk rock nerds just trying to stave off the ennui of existence through music. – Alex (bass guitar, screams)

There’s something a little magical about vinyl records, it means a lot to be able to offer all of our fans something they can hold after so many years of virtual releases. It’s even better to be able to do it with our good friends in Cardboard Box Colony. Plus it’s definitely our best material to date, come out April 15th and get your grubby little mitts on it! – Karl (guitar, vocals)

“Having the ability to self-record, mix and produce this split at our home studios is rewarding, and I’m proud of how all these songs turned out. Plus being able to play drums on both sides of a split EP in 2 different bands was an awesome experience on its own.” – Brandon (drums, more vocals)

The split is out April 14th on all streaming platforms and will also be available on a white “Box/Bot” shaped 7-inch record. There’s a hometown record release throwdown on April 15th if you’re in the Asheville neck-o-the-woods too. Pre-order the split here, and check out “Thumper” below. (Sadly, we’re pretty sure it’s not an ode to 1990s Boston-based ska/punk/metal band Thumper, but a boy can dream, can’t he?)

by Staff Writer jaystone
Tags: 
asheville nc cardboard box colony stimulus package records the deathbots thumper

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DS Photo Gallery: SACK with Huntingtons and The Young Rochelles (O’Briens – Boston, 3/5/22)

SACK brought their sweaty, high-energy street rock carnival to a sold-out O’Brien’s Pub last weekend. It was the last stop on their brief, four-day ripper of a Northeast tour that found them shredding the gnar alongside a couple of Ramonescore-inspired stalwarts – Huntingtons and The Young Rochelles – for the long weekend. Let’s have a […]

SACK brought their sweaty, high-energy street rock carnival to a sold-out O’Brien’s Pub last weekend. It was the last stop on their brief, four-day ripper of a Northeast tour that found them shredding the gnar alongside a couple of Ramonescore-inspired stalwarts – Huntingtons and The Young Rochelles – for the long weekend. Let’s have a look at the evening’s festivities, shall we?

Hitting in the leadoff spot for the evening were The Young Rochelles, who kicked off the shindig in perfect fashion – which we of course mean both literally and figuratively. The Long Island-based trio blistered through a pogo-friendly set that included “E.T. Cell Phone,” “I Need My Mommy To Do My Laundry” and, of course, “I Never Saw The Ramones.” Also, can we give Ricky Rochelle props for manning both lead vocal AND drumming duties, but not doing it with one of those Phil Collins/TED Talk headsets? That shit can’t be easy.

Batting second was none other than Baltimore’s finest, Huntingtons. I lost count (read as: ran out of fingers) but I’m pretty sure the quartet ripped through like 20-ish songs in a set that couldn’t have been much more than thirty-five minutes and featured what may well be the first attempt at a circle pit I’ve ever seen at O’Briens, which is all the more impressive when taking into account that the median age of paid ticketholders was closer to 40 than 20, and it was a Sunday night. In quintessential Huntingtons fashion, the set finished with an extended, stage-crashing singalong rendition of “No Pool Party Tonight” that was one of the highest highlights of the evening.

Last but not least, of course, was SACK. What is there to say about SACK that best puts the band into words for those that haven’t seen them. It’s loud and it’s fast and it’s metal and it’s sweaty and it contains myriad singalongs to such heartwarming classics as “I Used To Give A Shit” and “I Hate The Bech Boys” and “Live Action LARP.” Oh, and of course the tender ballad “I Tried Suicide.” It’s one hell of a party and I totally thought another photographer was going to eat shit with his camera in the pit but he was far braver than I’ll ever be. If you’ve only seen Kody sing while playing lead guitar in TBR or the Lillingtons, seeing him in full-fledged punk rock frontman mode is a sight to behold.

Check out more shots from the raucous evening below!

SACK Slideshow

Huntingtons Slideshow

The Young Rochelles slideshow

by Staff Writer jaystone
Tags: 
boston huntingtons ramonescore Red Scare Industries sack

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DS Exclusive: Warn The Duke debut lyric video for “Sometimes”

Brooklyn punks Warn The Duke have got another brand new tune for your earholes, and Dying Scene are the first to bring it to you! The track is called “Sometimes,” and it’s slated to appear on their upcoming album All That’s Solid, which is due out next week (March 17th) on Wiretap Records. The album will be […]

Brooklyn punks Warn The Duke have got another brand new tune for your earholes, and Dying Scene are the first to bring it to you!

The track is called “Sometimes,” and it’s slated to appear on their upcoming album All That’s Solid, which is due out next week (March 17th) on Wiretap Records. The album will be released on 12-inch vinyl and will be available digitally on the same date. Give “Sometimes” a listen below, and pre-save All That’s Solid here!

Oh, and remember that if you live in or around Brooklyn, you can check out the All That’s Solid release show over at Our Wicked Lady. Details here!

by Staff Writer jaystone
Tags: 
all that's solid brooklyn ds exclusive sometimes Warn the Duke

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DS Exclusive: Good Friend debut “Tell Me Ma” video just in time for St. Patty’s Day

Good Friend, everyone’s favorite Northern Irish punk rock trio, have got a super fun video for your viewing enjoyment and your friends here at Dying Scene are fired up to share it with you. The video is for the track “Tell Me Ma,” a Northern Irish classic which if you’re like me, you have committed […]

Good Friend, everyone’s favorite Northern Irish punk rock trio, have got a super fun video for your viewing enjoyment and your friends here at Dying Scene are fired up to share it with you.

The video is for the track “Tell Me Ma,” a Northern Irish classic which if you’re like me, you have committed to memory from your Nana’s old Dubliners and Clancy Brothers tapes. The lads have given it a fresh spin, just in time to pregame for your St. Patrick’s Day festivities. Here’s what guitar player and two-time Super Bowl winning coach* Andy Reid had to say: “Anyone could have covered this song, to be honest. I fucking hate it, but if anyone is gonna butcher this tune it might as well be us!“

“Tell Me Ma” appears as part of a two-song digital single, being released by our comrades at Red Scare Industries. It’s due out this Friday (March 10th). Here’s where you can buy your very own copy. Here’s what ye olde label had to say:

We like to rib Good Friend about being from Ireland, but the truth is we love them for it.  Well, now the joke is on Red Scare, because they’ve turned the tables and given us a couple Celtic punk songs to release in time for St. Patrick’s Day. Fans of The Pogues and Flogging Molly will enjoy this pair of rollicking ditties… Sláinte!

Check out “Tell Me Ma” below!

*obviouly he’s not THAT Andy Reid…we think…

by Staff Writer jaystone
Tags: 
belfast clancy brothers dubliners good friend northern ireland

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DS News: The Pink Spiders sign to Pure Noise, unleash video for “Gold Confetti”

The Pink Spiders are back!! The Nashville quartet are the latest and greatest actor to join the ranks over at Pure Noise Entertainment. The first release to come from that partnership is “Gold Confetti,” a brand-new single that’s chock full of power-pop goodness. You can buy/save it at all the usual spots, or check out […]

The Pink Spiders are back!!

The Nashville quartet are the latest and greatest actor to join the ranks over at Pure Noise Entertainment. The first release to come from that partnership is “Gold Confetti,” a brand-new single that’s chock full of power-pop goodness. You can buy/save it at all the usual spots, or check out the official video below…and stay tuned or more new music to come!

by Staff Writer jaystone
Tags: 
nashville pink spiders power pop pure noise entertainment the pink spiders

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DS Photo Gallery: Tales from a sold-out Brian Fallon show (w/Dentist) from Crossroads in Garwood, New Jersey

For the better part of a decade now, Brian Fallon has played a handful of annual sold-out shows at Crossroads in the small New Jersey hamlet of Garwood. It’s not quite accurate to call them “hometown” shows, as Fallon doesn’t live in Garwood, although I’m fairly convinced that only like twelve people ACTUALLY live in […]

For the better part of a decade now, Brian Fallon has played a handful of annual sold-out shows at Crossroads in the small New Jersey hamlet of Garwood. It’s not quite accurate to call them “hometown” shows, as Fallon doesn’t live in Garwood, although I’m fairly convinced that only like twelve people ACTUALLY live in Garwood (seriously, when I tell all my Jersey native but non-punk-scene friends that I travel to Garwood for shows, they unanimously say “there’s a place called Garwood?”) and it’s still north-central Jersey so it’s close enough. The shows sell out in virtually no time and it becomes a bit of an annual thing for people to take in two and three (and sometimes four) shows and it feels a little like catching Springsteen at the Stone Pony only for this generation. And while I’ve been traveling from Massachusetts to the aforementioned Crossroads (my favorite place to see shows) for years and while I’ve been seeing Fallon – both solo and with Gaslight Anthem – for even longer, this was the first time the two halves of that Venn Diagram overlapped in the middle.

Asbury Park trio Dentist kicked off the evening’s festivities in fine form. Dentist are a super fun band whose music is as catchy and enjoyable as it is hard to pin down thematically. It’s not quite power-pop and not quite surf-punk and not quite mainstream indie rock and yet it’s somehow kind of all of those things. Bright, jangly guitar lines and infectious basslines and pounding, ass-shaking drums all laying a foundation for Emily Bornemann’s airy, ethereal vocals. Super great band and I’m super glad I finally saw them.

That brings us to story time with Brian. Though Fallon puts together a different dozen-song playlist for each of the four shows on this “run,” there’s an overwhelming air of spontaneity involved. This night’s set kicked off with “Long Drives” from his 2016 solo debut album, Painkillers. Although, in fairness, it started with probably 7/8 minutes of off-the-cuff chatting about the evening and about his weekend and about whatever else before the music kicked in. But that’s part of a Brian Fallon show, and especially part of a Brian Fallon show in Jersey and ESPECIALLY a Brian Fallon show at Crossroads with Andy Diamond and all other manner of local friends and family in the building. It’s loosely-structured and generally humourous and always makes for an endearing and unique show.

From there, the setlist stayed pretty heavy on Painkillers tracks – 7 of the evening’s twelve songs, to be exact – including the title track and dueling gut punch songs that are “Red Lights” and show-closer “Smoke.” There were of course a few Gaslight staples; “Mae” and “Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts” and “Here’s Looking At You, Kid” – sprinkled in, the latter of which was preceded by a story about catching up years later via social media with “Gail’s” real-life sister. There was also a Horrible Crowes song (“Black Betty And The Moon”) for good measure. There was also a pretty funny retelling of a classic scene from the criminally underrated mockumentary Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

Check out more pictures from both sets below, and honestly, if you’ve ever been toying with the idea of making the trek down to the Crossroads for one of Fallon’s annual hometown throwdown, just do it. Tell ’em the King of Massachusetts sent ya. You’ll be glad you did.

Brian Fallon Slideshow

Dentist Slideshow

by Staff Writer jaystone
Tags: 
brian fallon crossroads dentist garwood gaslight anthem

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DS Review: Grade 2 reignite old-school punk rock vibes on self-titled full length

I have got a bit of a confession to make: the further away I get from my 40th birthday, the further away I seem to be drifting from my “punk rock” roots. It’s not that I don’t like or appreciate the music or the message at this point; quite the opposite, in fact. It’s just […]

I have got a bit of a confession to make: the further away I get from my 40th birthday, the further away I seem to be drifting from my “punk rock” roots. It’s not that I don’t like or appreciate the music or the message at this point; quite the opposite, in fact. It’s just that I think as the old internal time signature slows down a bit, so too does the music that I find myself gravitating to or seeking out.

But every once in a while, an album or a band (more often than not from the UK) comes along and grabs me by the ears and shakes my brain a little bit and reminds me about all of the things that got me into listening to this music in the first place thirty-whatever years ago. The snarl, the aggression, the being fed up with the current state of the world and your place in it, and the rallying cry for uniting us toward something better.

Enter Grade 2. The trio from the Isle of Wight are just about to celebrate their tenth anniversary and recently released their fourth studio full-length (a self-titled one, naturally) via Hellcat Records. The album somehow has sounds that are both modern and throwback, and it finds the fellas right at the peak of their A-game.

Grade 2 comes out swinging with “Judgement Day.” The frenetic drum and bass-heavy intro is what initially grabs your attention before the almost psychobilly-sounding guitar riff joins, creating a groove that is perfect for both shaking your ass in celebration and shaking your fist in protest. The song checks in at a tidy ninety-three seconds, which gives it a feel that it’s almost over before it starts, yet also serves as a perfect place-setter for what’s to come over the next thirty-four minutes.

When Grade 2 the album is at its best, it finds Grade 2 the band occupying a sort of hybrid style of punk rock. There’s the swagger and camaraderie and gang vocals of classic UK punk bands like Cock Sparrer or The Buzzcocks but through the rhythmic filter of classic 90s East Bay punk bands. The album is a solid mix of rapid-fire sub-two-minute bangers and stretched-out, more melodic tracks that wouldn’t be out of place on a certain series of skateboard-legend-inspired video games. “Doing Time” is a blistering paean to leaving behind the monotony of the day job life.

Personal favorites include the back-to-back “Gaslight” – a middle-finger to corporate profiteers and political hucksters, common themes on both sides of “the Pond” – and “Don’t Stand Alone,” a classic pop-punk tale of unity and trying to look out for those who feel isolated or left behind. Album closer “Bottom Shelf” is another scorcher lead by another nimble-fingered Sid Ryan bassline, a regret-filled ode to life in sketchy barroom corners. Ryan and his bandmates Jack Chatfield (guitar) and Jacob Hull (drums) have got talent and energy and musical chemistry in droves and it’s as apparent on Grade 2 as it has ever been; they might be only in their mid-twenties (oh God, now I’m back to feeling old) but a decade of plying their trade and focusing their energies creates a modern sound that’s well beyond their years.

At some level, it’s disheartening to know that some of the themes of isolation and frustration and anger at the ruling classes are just as prevalent and poignant now as they have been at any point in any of the previous generations across the nearly five full decades since punk rock burst onto the scene middle-fingers first. However, it’s refreshing to know that there are still trios like Grade 2 snarling at the bit to keep the fires lit and modernize the sound and the message.

by Staff Writer jaystone
Tags: 
Grade 2 hellcat records isle of wight self-titled Street Punk

  1. Amazing album. These boys are going to the top.

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