Category: Photos

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The Dirty Truckers @ Radio 5.4.2012

The Dirty Truckers were back in action Friday night. The band was celebrating the release of their new Tiger Stripes EP and the 7″ single for the song “Human Contact.” It had been a while since the last time I saw these Boston wranglers. I was starting to get the shakes. Their set at Radio was just what I needed. The Dirty Truckers blasted out one of the best sets I’ve ever seen them play. They played the new stuff. They played the old stuff.* They rocked the in-between stuff like nobody’s business. “Sea Pines” and “3 Weeks To Go” blew the doors off the joint.** They threw in a couple of covers to keep themselves honest. In the end, the ‘Truckers reminded everyone that they’re one of the best rock ‘n’ roll bands around, not that we’d forgotten.

* Including “Backpack” from their first record.

** Both off of 2008’s fantastic Loose In The Joints

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The Scars @ Radio 5.4.2012

The Scars brought the punk rock to Radio.

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Chestnut Gowler @ Moe’s Lounge 5.4.2012

Friday night found an art show at Moe’s Lounge in Radio’s basement. This was the third installment of the Drop Ya Mic Pickup Yer Paintbrush series that is curated by Nicole Tammaro. There was a slate of musical performances to entertain the art aficionados in attendance. I got there late, but I managed to catch some of Chestnut Growler’s set of stripped-down punk folk tunes.* I’m glad I got in on at least a little bit of the fun.

* …and a hair metal cover.

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St. Helena @ T.T. The Bear’s Place 4.28.2012

It’s 6:45 on a Saturday evening. It’s still sunny out, not that you’d know it inside TT’s. It’s fitting that we’re here to see St. Helena. Sure, some of their songs have bright melodies, but there always seems to be a bit of a dark undercurrent. Art imitating life, I guess.

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Guilty Party @ P.A.’s Lounge 4.27.2012

Guilty Party closed out a night of noisy, stripped-down rock ‘n’ roll at PA’s. This crew brought a little extra fuzz and agitation to the festivities.

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Headband @ P.A.’s Lounge 4.27.2012

With sets by Fat Creeps and Royal Wedding still reverberating through the room, Headband kept the rock ‘n’ roll racket going at P.A.’s last Friday night. These guys rattled off a mix of Pavement-style slacker rock, garage grittiness and fuzzed out noise pop.

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Royal Wedding @ P.A.’s Lounge 4.27.2012

Royal Wedding is garage rock turned inside out. Acoustic drums trigger electronic drums feeding a pair of upended Roland Jazz Chorus amps. Guitars and vocals echo while the bass rumbles along. These guys sound like the house band in my imaginary post-apocalyptic rock ‘n’ roll film.

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Fat Creeps @ P.A.’s Lounge 4.27.2012

The engagingly indifferent indie pop of Fat Creeps reverberated through PA’s on Friday night.

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The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library @ Somerville Public Library 4.21.2012

The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library at the Somerville Public Library? I’m in.

I’m always looking for opportunities to take the boys to see some live music. Big Little One has been into taking pictures lately, so I thought this would be a good opportunity for him to do his first live shoot. I grabbed his camera (and mine of course) and we headed out for the Somerville Library.

We got there a little late. The band was already playing. The PA wasn’t working properly, but this may have been a blessing in disguise. Michael and his bandmates were able to deftly balance their levels with good old fashioned playing dynamics. It made for a folksy performance that suited the songs well. A song like “Lymph Nodes” is made all the more rousing by voices moving air without any amplified assistance.

As for the boy, he had a blast. After the first song he ditched his kiddie camera and convinced me to hand over my iPhone. He spent the rest of the set snapping away. So, what kinds of photos does a five-year-old take?* The most amazing live music photos ever.** See for yourself. The Instagram photos at the end of this set are some of his shots from the day. He even chose the black-and-white filter all by himself.

* To be fair, he’s almost six.

** Full disclosure: I may not be entirely impartial.

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The Grownup Noise @ T.T. The Bear’s Place 4.20.2012

The band that was supposed to play first in the 2012 Rock ‘N’ Roll Rumble has just played last. In a classy move by Anngelle Wood,* The Grownup Noise closed out this year’s festivities as the non-competing guest band. The eclectic indie rock outfit was supposed to open Preliminary Night #1 before Paul Hansen slipped a disc in his back a couple of days before the show, forcing the band to reluctantly withdraw. Thankfully, he’s feeling much better now. The band took to the TT’s stage and played a great set to wrap things up. What a fitting end to a wonderful three week run.

* Anngelle is full of classy moves when it come to The Rumble.