Boston Rock Photos And Stuff
One Night Band! One of my favorite nights of the year. The 4th installment of this event kicked off with a tight and enthusiastic performance from Zumix band The Mosquitoes In Tuxedos. Did we just meet some future One Night Band participants? Don’t count it out.
Bent Knee is chaotic and totally in sync. How can that be? I don’t know, but I saw it.
Do you know what I like about Emily Peal And The Band Of Skinny Men? I like when the song starts out quiet. Maybe there’s a piano or some finger-picked guitar. Then things get a little tense. You wonder where this is going. All of a sudden there’s a brrrruuuuuuum-brrrruuuuuuum-brrrruuuuuuum-boom-thwack-boom-thwack-brrrruuuuuuum-brrrruuuuuuum-brrrruuuuuuum and you’re kind of knocked back a little from the oh-my-goodness-how-did-they-get-that-heavy wall of sound coming from the stage. It’s a neat feeling, like being 6 years old and spinning around and around until you collapse in a heap. Then you get up and do it all over again.
This was the release show for Emily’s new EP, Fine Fur Coat.
Holy smokes! The Field Effect were at the tippy-top of my bands-to-check-out list. This was mostly due to the persistent reminders of how great they are by Beardie McFunsponge. Boy howdy, was he right.* The Field Effect are an amazing live band.
* He usually is. Don’t tell him this, though. I don’t want his head to get too big for his hat.
I’m feeling a little disoriented. Black Thai are up on the Radio stage blasting through a new number. It’s a dizzying barrage of devastating riffs and manic drumming. It’s all fingers and limbs flailing about in a fret and foot-pedal frenzy. Black Thai have just raised the bar.
The Acro-brats are going to rock until there’s no one left standing in the crowd. What’s that? There’s another band coming up after them? OK, The Acro-brats are going to rock until there’s no one left standing in the band. Good times.
In contrast to the adrenalin rush of a show Radio has going on upstairs, Moe’s Lounge is featuring some engaging, stripped-down performances. Earlier in the night I caught Ryan Lee Crosby bleeding blue. Now, Lonesome Red are delivering some stark Americana. Sometimes all you need are a guitar, a couple of drums and some voices to carry a tune.
I’m not going to beat around the bush. I’ve never seen a more accurate description of a Cocked N’ Loaded show than what Richard Bouchard wrote on Boston Band Crush when previewing this show:
Cocked N’ Loaded play some of the best drunken, we-can’t-believe-this-hasn’t-gone-flying-off-the-rails-yet rock anywhere; frontman Kyle Neeson is as depraved on stage as any Florida bath salts addict, and at least twice as cunning, so watch out.
The band lived up to every word.
After a youthful burst of punk rock from Problem Child, I head on down to Moe’s Lounge to see what’s going on. Ryan Lee Crosby’s tortured Telecaster is reverberating off of the wood paneling. They say guitar playing is all in the fingers. Ryan’s fingers sound like they’ve experienced one hundred years of sorrow. They leave quite an impression.
Teenagers have been starting punk bands for over 35 years now. While I wish more kids were doing it, I wouldn’t exactly call it uncommon. You know, pick up a guitar. Learn a couple of chords. Convince your buddies to start up on bass and drums. Play a bunch of basements and parties for your friends, maybe a couple of all ages shows. Drive 207 miles to another state to open a crazy-over-the-top-rock-n-roll show at Radio.
Wait, what was that last part?
The last part is exactly* what Problem Child did. This trio of teens made the trek from Williston, VT to play at Radio the other night with Cocked N’ Loaded, The Acro-Brats and Black Thai. This makes me happy.
* Maybe not exactly. I estimated using Google Maps.