Completely Conspicuous 370: Above the Din

This week, it's my conversation with Bryan Hamill about how music discovery has evolved over the years. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:
- Recorded at a noisy pub in Cambridge, Mass.
- Check out Bryan's blog The Ash Gray Proclamation
- Pre-gaming prior to Swervedriver show
- Bryan used to find out about music from radio (WBCN, WFNX) and magazines
- The inevitable teenage metal phase
- Older brother introduced him to bands like the Neighborhoods and the Replacements
- Record reviews and tips from friends were important
- Boston rock scene was pivotal, then and now
- Worked in radio for several years
- Started blog 9 years ago to champion indie rock scene
- Scours Soundcloud, Twitter, Spotify for new music
- Major labels are less important now
- Nobody plays indie rock on radio other than college stations
- Bands make money through playing shows and selling merch
- Records sales are no longer a factor
- Tips from publicists and bands
- Bands don't have to compromise because chances of success are slight
- As a teen, found music by combing through stacks at record stores
- Boston still has great clubs to see new music
- Corporatization of radio is bad for everyone
- Rock is niche music now
- As a genre, rock is in a down cycle

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
 
The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 299: A Little Help From My Friends

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss benefit concerts. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").


Show notes:
- Recorded at Casa Breitling before a live studio audience
- Breitling's hosting the 2nd annual Community Servings benefit show on Nov. 3 at TT the Bears in Cambridge, Mass.
- Featuring K. Heasley of Lilys, Soccer Mom, The Hush Now and Earthquake Party
- Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz will provide DJ sets
- Providing meals to the chronically ill
- Roger Waters held huge benefit show in Berlin in 1990
- Breitling was in Germany at the time
- The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert was huge in '92
- Two big post-9/11 concerts in NYC
- SARS benefit concert in 2003 was the biggest show in Canadian history, with the Stones, AC/DC, Rush
- Live 8 in 2005 was actually eight concerts in eight cities on the same day
- Pink Floyd reunited with Waters
- Did benefits have more impact in the past?
- Increased capacity to put on benefit shows now
- Hear 'N Aid was the mid-'80s metal version of We Are the World
- Featured a ridiculous number of guitar solos
- Big charity show in Boston earlier this year after the Marathon bombing
- Hot Stove Cool Music started in Boston, now also in Chicago
- Recent Crash Safely MS benefit ran four nights in Boston-area clubs
- Breitling: Bands and venue make benefits happen by giving their time
- Club bookers were a huge help
- Plenty of logistics to consider
- Last year Community Servings benefit was at Great Scott
- Different kind of benefit for Community Servings, reaching a different audience
- Get yer tickets now
- Bonehead of the Week


Music:
The So So Glos - Emergency
Grooms - I Think We're Alone Now

Black Hearted Brother - This is How It Feels

Slowdim - Wishing Well

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The So So Glos song is on the compilation Shaking Through Volume 4. Download the comp for free at Bandcamp.
The Grooms song is on the album Infinity Caller on Western Vinyl. Download the song for free at Bandcamp.

The Black Hearted Brother song is on the album Stars Are Our Home on Slumberland Records. Download the song for free at Chromewaves.

The Slowdim song is a reworked version of a song on the band's self-titled album. Download the song for free at Bandcamp.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

This is Hi-Fi

Sometimes we Boston-area rock fans don't know how good we have it. And not even just for the ridiculous wealth of great local bands and clubs that we have access to; this is obvious. No, it's because we have the great fortune to live in the same general vicinity as the legendary Mission of Burma, and that said band continues to play terrific shows around here from time to time.

Last Saturday was one of those times, as Burma helped christen the recently opened (after a few frustrating months of delays) Sinclair in Harvard Square. The club holds 525 and it bodes well that the place was still standing after Burma's typically thunderous set. The sold-out night opened with a fine set from Cambridge's Reports, who melded pop melodies with a louder garage edge like a new take on the Feelies.


Burma played a 100-minute set, mixing in several songs from their latest release Unsound with material from their other three post-reunion albums and of course, from the classic '79-'83 first incarnation of the band. Burma was as powerful as ever: Roger Miller rocked furiously on guitar, while Clint Conley's bass reverberated through the hall and Peter Prescott made with the pounding drums and shouted vocals.

But what set this show apart from the previous Burma concerts I've seen over the last 10+ years since they reunited was the way they mixed things up. About halfway through the show, Miller introduced his brother Benjamin on sax and Steve Smith on trumpet; Prescott dubbed the combination the Burma Transit Authority. Later, Roger Miller played trumpet while his brother played sax, Conley played guitar and sang and tape loop dude Bob Weston played bass.

The piece de resistance came in the encore when Jeff "Monoman" Conolly of DMZ/Lyres fame joined the band for a couple of old DMZ songs and then a cover of the Stooges' "I Feel Alright." Conolly was hilarious, dancing around the stage like an old vaudeville performer. Interestingly, Burma never played their signature song, "That's When I Reach for My Revolver," but they didn't have to. Asses were kicked regardless.

For All to See

Amid all the hue and cry in these parts about the demise of WFNX-FM as the area's pioneering alternative rock station, life goes on. The station has been replaced at 101.7 on your FM dial with WHBA, aka The Harbor, a "Variety Hits" station. It's a DJ-less shuffle station that plays any manner of top 40 detritus. It's become a morbid curiosity of mine to tune in quickly just to see what's playing: in the last week since it launched, I've heard Marky Mark's "Good Vibrations," Bon Jovi's "Runaway," a few Madonna songs, Donnie Iris' "Ah Leah" and Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit. So...time to change that FM preset in my car.

In the meantime, one last farewell to FNX was delivered last week in the form of the three-night Boston Accents Funeral Party at Great Scott in Allston, hosted by Boston Phoenix writer Michael Marotta (who hosted the Boston Accents local artists' show on Sunday nights on FNX). I attended night 2 last Tuesday, which featured the bands Mean Creek, Mellow Bravo, Soccer Mom and Dirty Virgins, as well as DJ sets from none other than my friends Jay Breitling and Brad Searles. I had to leave around 12:15 so I was only able to see two songs from Mean Creek, but the rest of the night was a blast. Soccer Mom was at its ear-shredding best, Dirty Virgins rocked hard with a Flying V-wielding bassist, and Mellow Bravo bringing a schticky-but-fun vibe to the room that was highlighted by a cover of the J. Geils Band classic "House Party." It was tough to hear everything that Jay and Brad played because of the general audience noise in the club, but it was cool to hang out with them, drink beer and hear songs from the likes of Orbit, Dinosaur Jr., Young Adults and the Swirlies, among others.


Sadly, local bands have one less way to get their music heard on the radio, but for three nights, that didn't matter. And the rock shows will forge on, so at least Boston's still got that going for it.

The Sound of Our Town

A few months ago, I was at a used bookstore in Hampton, NH, with my mom and my daughters. While the girls looked for books, I perused the music section and came across Brett Milano's The Sound of Our Town: A History of Boston Rock n' Roll. I was familiar with Milano, a freelance music writer who has done reviews for the Boston Globe, Boston Phoenix and Boston Herald over the last few decades; I also see him at a fair amount of shows in town, most recently at the Wild Flag gig at the Paradise.

Knowing him as a seasoned observer and a good writer, and also noting that the book was $8 used, I picked it up and plowed through it over the last week (that's pretty good for me, given all the distractions I have going on at any given time). The book traces Boston's music scene from the 1950s to the present (it was published in 2007), so Milano has a lot of ground to cover in 241 pages. He does a good job of hitting the high points and giving the reader a taste of what was happening in town at a particular time.

I moved to New England in 1983, when a lot of cool shit was going on in town that I was sort of aware of from listening to local radio, but I didn't start going to club shows locally until 1989 or so. My actual first forays were to a grimy little rock club called Grover's, right here in Beverly, seeing bands of local renown like O Positive, Barrence Whitfield and the Savages (Barrence still lives in Beverly and is a cool dude), Tribe, Heretix and Bim Skala Bim. The Rolling Rocks were cheap and it was my first experience of seeing bands up close and in my face, as opposed to the many arena shows I'd attended by that point. Sadly, Grover's went out of business in '90 or '91, reportedly because of unpaid taxes; one day the doors were padlocked shut and that was that. The site of the club now houses a fairly upscale restaurant.

After that, I caught bands at the Salem clubs Bleachers and the Dodge Street Grill, but mainly I started going to Boston clubs like The Channel, the Paradise, the Middle East and Lansdowne Street clubs like Avalon, Axis, Venus De Milo and Bill's Bar. Soon club shows made up the majority of my concertgoing, and they still do. Just last night, I was out late with my good friend Mr. Breitling as we checked out one of his favorite bands, Soccer Mom, as well as AM Stereo and Ho-Ag at the relatively new club Radio in Union Square in Somerville. All three acts were excellent and kicked several kinds of ass, and it was cool to see a wide range of ages in the attendees (albeit the older folks in the crowd were there to see AM Stereo, who have been around since the late '90s). It was hot as balls and loud as hell, which is really what any good rock show should be. Even if the suburban clubs are long gone for the most part, the Boston rock scene continues to churn out excellent bands. And although I'm less able to go out and see them on a regular basis, it's nice to know they're out there.

Completely Conspicuous 210: Live and Dangerous

Part 2 of my conversation with special guests Nick Lorenzen and Mike Piantigini as we discuss Boston's live music scene. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").



Show notes:

- Mike still goes to many rock shows

- The scene's rebounding, more new clubs

- Nick did not pogo at recent Superchunk show

- Nick and Mike saw Paul Westerberg's first solo show

- Myspace lives!

- Nick and Mike were in the band Lump in the '90s

- Brighton Music Hall is making an impression

- Live Nation squeezes out smaller clubs

- Live Nation Entertainment owns Live Nation and Ticketmaster

- Big venues are in trouble

- More bands played big arenas like Worcester Centrum in the '80s

- Memories of INXS

- Discovering your new singer on YouTube: Yes, Journey

- O Positive, a great Boston band from the past

- The suburban rock clubs of the '80s and '90s are mostly gone now

- The smartphone has reduced the amount of longform reading we do

- Debating Pearl Jam's fight vs. Ticketmaster

- Tickets in big venues are more expensive, but club tickets are still cheap

- Movie ticket prices haven't grown exponentially

- Moviegoing experience is less enjoyable

- Pixies need to pick another album to play; touring behind Doolittle for a few years now

- Mike: 2011 was a good music year

- We consume and digest music much quicker now

- Who doesn't have a Rick Neilsen guitar pick?

- Jay and Mike realized they grew up a few towns over from each other

- Mike bagged Queensryche's groceries (not a euphemism)

- The Kingston, NH Fairgrounds had several big festival shows in the '80s

- Next episode: Older artists aging gracefully while others hang on too long

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:
Lee Ranaldo - Off the Wall

Reigning Sound - Shaw

White Rabbits - Heavy Metal

Mind Spiders - Wait For Us

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The show is sponsored by Budget, the country's premier car rental service with 900 locations. Go to Budget.com/CompCon and save 10% off any reservation or $30 off a weekly rental.

The Lee Ranadlo song is on the album Between the Times and Tides on Matador Records. Download the song for free at Matador.

The Reigning Sound song is on the EP Abdication...For Your Love. Download the song for free at Scion AV.

The White Rabbits song is from the album Milk Famous on TBD Records. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at the band's website.

The Mind Spiders song is on the album Meltdown on Dirtnap Records. Download the song for free at Epitonic.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his music blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his site PodGeek.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.