One More Night Could Ruin Us

Sunday nights are not traditionally made for rocking, but that's exactly what happened last Sunday at TT the Bears Place when the 2nd annual Clicky Clicky Community Servings benefit show blasted through. The show drew a sparse but enthusiastic crowd; given it was a Sunday night, it was hard to expect much more. But it was a great event that raised money for a worthy cause, and it was organized by none other than the mighty Jay Breitling.

I got to TT's too early and ended up going next door to the Middle East to kill some time and hang out with some drunks at the bar. When I went back, I hob-nobbed with several friends before Kurt Heasley of Lilys came out to perform a brief but excellent acoustic set. He said he was suffering from allergies, but you couldn't tell. Heasley played several Lilys classics including "Ginger" and "Claire Hates Me" during his 20 minutes, chatting genially between songs.


A short while later, Soccer Mom provided the aural opposite of Heasley's set with a typically face-melting collection of extremely loud rock songs. The band played several songs from its forthcoming new album; I talked to guitarist Dan Parlin afterward and he said they were still working out the details, but the album should be out in 2014 and will undoubtedly be a scorcher. Major props to bassist Danielle Deveau for soldiering through the set with a cast on.

The Hush Now played its first show in a few years (and I was at the last one) and unveiled new material of its own from its forthcoming long-player. Guitarist Adam Quane sang a few of the new numbers (much to the delight of his excited family members who were in attendance), while singer-guitarist Noel Kelly led the way on some excellent slow-burning material.

The evening closed with a bravura, insane in the membrane (that's a good thing) set from Earthquake Party. Singer-guitarist Justin Lally was all over the stage, ripping off raw and overdriven riffs and solos and trading vocals with keyboardist Mallory Hestand, although you couldn't really make out the lyrics. Not that it mattered; the band emphasized the noise aspect of its noise pop sound, and that was glorious indeed. It'll be interesting to see where this band goes. They certainly have an exciting live presence.

Kudos to Senor Breitling and all the bands and folks who donated their time to make this event happen. It was a great show and will only gather steam and impact as it moves forward.

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.

Completely Conspicuous 298: Give 'Til It Hurts

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss the benefit concert he's organizing. 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
- Olive sniffs the recorder
- Get tickets now
- Providing meals to acutely ill folks
- Last year's event featured Johnny Foreigner
- Rock benefits have been happening for decades
- They seem less impactful now
- Live Aid was a huge event in 1985 with shows in Philly and London
- Controversy over charity administration
- The Concert for Bangaldesh in '71 was the first big charity concert
- The Secret Policeman's Ball was run by Amnesty International
- Sting's Rock for the Rainforest benefit has been happening for 20+ years
- Amnesty International's Conspiracy of Hope was a big deal in 1986
- Breitling: Axl Rose has Vince Neil-itis
- To be continued
- Bonehead of the Week


Music:
Shearwater - Fucked Up Life
Deer Tick - The Dream's in the Ditch

FIDLAR - Got No Money

Come - String (live)

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

The Shearwater song is on the album Fellow Travelers on Sub Pop. Download the song for free at Stereogum.
The Deer Tick song is on the album Negativity on Partisan Records. Download the song for free as part of the Partisan Records Summer/Fall Sampler 2013 on Amazon.

The FIDLAR song is on the EP Don't Try on Mom + Pop Music. Download the song for free at Chromewaves.

The Come song is part of the band's Epitonic Saki Session, which you can download 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 fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Rock for Life

Charity can be found in many different places. This past Wednesday, if you braved the snow, you would have found it in a little rock club in Allston. That was when my good friend Jay Breitling hosted the Clicky Clicky Community Servings benefit at Great Scott, featuring Guillermo Sexo, Varsity Drag, Infinity Girl and the Boston-area debut of Johnny Foreigner.

Of course, nobody could have foreseen the crazy-ass Nor'easter that blew into town that day, bringing with it mucho snow and slippery road conditions. The drive in from the North Shore was rather hairy, but it was nothing compared to the slog JF had to take from NYC, a journey that took the band 10 hours. Meanwhile, the band Speedy Ortiz had been slated to play second on the bill, but they were stuck in Northampton because of the snow, so Varsity Drag agreed at the last minute to jump in.

It was a mini-Webnoize reunion, with me, Jay, Briggy and Doobs all in attendance, as well as other luminaries (and friends of the podcast) Nick Lorenzen (who is raising money by selling pies for Community Servings, which provides free meals to the chronically ill and their families), Mike and Cathy Piantigini and Brad Searles (who got there after I left). Infinity Girl and Varsity Drag both played excellent rocking sets, and then Johnny Foreigner (who only arrived a short while earlier) took the stage and promptly blew everyone's freaking minds.


Jay has been hyping these guys for years and is pretty much responsible for "breaking" the band in the U.S. (using the term loosely, of course) and I've been digging their albums, but JF has to be seen live to be fully experienced. They started their set with "Johnny Foreigner vs. You,"  sung by frontman Alexei Berrow and bassist Kelly Southern as they stood amongst the audience before climbing onstage to explode into "Feels Like Summer." The band thundered through a blistering set of older and newer songs before Southern led a group of folks outside to do snow angels on the sidewalk.

Guillermo Sexo came out for the headlining set at just past 12:30 a.m., but I had to head home so as to not be completely brain-dead the next day at work.

Kudos to Jay and Nick for pulling off such a great event to help out folks in need. And as was heard from the stage early and often that night, buy a pie, dammit.