Silver Screams - Defective Machines 12" EP

Silver Screams - Defective Machines 12" EP

It is hard to believe that the Boston area band, Silver Screams, has been together for 5 years now.  Defective Machines, was released this month (May 13, 2017) and is their follow up to the 2014 CD EP, Creep Joint Scratch.  This 6 song DIY recording comes on a beautiful radioactive orange 12 inch vinyl that compliments the color on the cover art.  The artwork reflects the dark, moody, apocalyptic tones of the lyrics.

The band has upped the anti on their sound since their first release.  While they both have dark vocals, the first release was more up tempo post punk with splashes of The Church, The Stranglers, and UK Subs Flood of Lies era sprinkled in.  "Dead Air", the opening track on this beauty, punches you in the face with its driving bass and drums.  This continues through the remaining 2 tracks on the A-side.  It is over in about 8 minutes and you feel wore out from the pace.  It throws me back to the reunion show I saw of The Effigies at the Empty Bottle in Chicago in 2004.

Side 2 has more guitars than its flip side, but still has a nice back beat. The tempo decreases and the songs get a bit longer.  I hear touches of The Church, The Bomb, and the experimental B-side of the UK Subs Endangered Species LP.  Finishing off the record is a cover of Joy Division's "Disorder" from their 1979 Unknown Pleasures LP.

If you checkout their Bandcamp site, you can get an additional two songs on the EP download.  Silver Screams adds some punch to cover songs from the 1995 release "Freak Show" by The Freeze and the 1980 debut of "Crocodiles" by Echo & The Bunnymen.  Interestingly enough, the range of influences of the band covers the spectrum between these two songs.

When you mix the style of the music with the darkness of the lyrics, you get a new genre of punk rock - POWER GOTH!  I have enjoyed the growth of the sound of the band over the years.  I can't wait to get up to Boston to witness their power live.  Keep up the good work boys.  Looking forward to the next release.  Don't take so long to get it out this time.

To keep up with where the band will be playing live follow them on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SilverScreamsBoston.  To buy their music, follow them on their Bandcamp page - https://silverscreams.bandcamp.com/music.

UK Subs - Another Kind of Blues

Artist: UK Subs

Title: Another Kind of Blues

Format: Vinyl (light blue, 180g)

Year Released: 2015

Label: Demon Records

Cat. No.: DEMREC69

# Tracks: 17

Genre: Punk - UK 70’s

Origin: London, England

Similar Artists: Vibrators, Urban Dogs, Chelsea

Rating: 5

Rating Scale:

5 = Classic

4 = Worthwhile Owning

3 = Some Decent Tracks

2 = Collector’s Only

1 = Trashbin

This is a re-issued version of the first UK Subs LP that was originally released on September 14, 1979 on GEMS Records (GEMLP 100) and recorded in May-June 1979 at Kingsway Recorders Ltd.  Demon Records in association with Captain Oi! released this in 2015 as part of the reissue of the first four UK Subs LPs.  This version is on heavy 180g vinyl and is a light blue color that matches nicely with the blue, deluxe gatefold cover.  The inner portion of the gatefold has the lyrics for the LP printed on it.  This also comes with record sleeve cover art.

The lyrics on the LP cover the usual for the era - crime, war, sex, poverty, and drugs.  Three singles were released from this LP - C.I.D. (all 3 tracks), Tomorrow’s Girls (title track), and Stranglehold (all 3 tracks).

Overall, this LP has a great sound that I feel has held up well over the years.  There are a few tracks in the middle that I just never got into (I.O.D., TV Blues, Blues), but the rest are classics that over shadow those few numbers.  I really wish that they would have added the B-sides from the Tomorrow’s Girls 7in to the original LP (Scum of the Earth and Telephone Numbers).  But, back in those days they tried to sell singles with non-LP tracks to make some dough too so I get why they were not included.  In fact, I am quite surprised that the other two singles from this LP had their b-sides included.

Vocals, Harmonica - Charlie Harper

Guitar - Nicky Garratt

Bass - Paul Slack

Drums - Pete Davies

Track Listing:

1. C.I.D.
2. I Couldn’t Be You
3. I Live in a Car
4. Tomorrow’s Girls
5. Killer
6. World War
7. Rockers
8. I.O.D.
9. TV Blues
10. Blues
11. Lady Esquire
12. All I Wanna Know
13. Crash Course
14. Young Criminals
15. B.I.C.
16. Disease
17. Stranglehold

SONIC LOBOTOMY # 55 - SILVER SCREAMS (CREEP JOINT SCRATCH EP)

Silver Screams is a punk rock trio from the greater Boston area who named themselves after a lyric in a song by The Damned.  They have their first EP coming out in early May.  Check out the artwork below.  It was made by the legendary Chris Shary who has created some artwork for the Descendents over the years.  The members of Silver Screams have been around punk rock for over 20 years.  In fact, one member of the band drove Joey Ramone to the airport after completing an interview with him on his college radio show.

Silver Screams recorded session #55 for Sonic Lobotomy in late February.  Sonic Lobotomy is an internet TV show featuring primarily Boston area punk bands playing a live, in studio set.  The show also usually has an interview with the band.  TJ Welch, of the Welch Boys, created the show, and handles all aspects of the show on his own.

Here is TJ's description of the band and the performance.
Silver Screams are a trio that plays tight and original, post-punk rock. Their music has strong hooks , without losing it's sharp edge. These guys are veterans of some great bands. They collectively bring forth the talent and musicianship in their intense, thirty minute musical assault . After that, the band unwound in the man cave for an interview, Wayne's World style.... and we talked about all that goes into making their great music. This was indeed a fantastic night of local rock and roll from the Silver Screams. It was a pleasure to capture them on my show.

Here is the setlist from the band's performance on the show.

Infinite Mirror

Welcome to Utopia

Wasted Life (SLF cover)

Straight Jacket

Dead Air

Climbing Mt. Rumpke

Wash Away (TSOL cover)

Brown Bagger

The Evidence

For those of you who may have heard of a band named the UK Subs and enjoy their newest releases Universal and XXIV, you will love Silver Screams.  Be sure to check them out if you are in the Boston area.  Here are links to additional band websites.

https://www.facebook.com/SilverScreamsBoston

http://www.silverscreams.us/

Dropkick Murphys - House of Blues, Boston - 2013-03-17

A few minutes prior to buying the VIP ticket package, I bought the tickets for the Dropkick Murphys St Pat's Day show at the House of Blues.  At the time, they only way to get the tix for that show was to buy the combo package with tix for the TD Garden and the HoB shows.  I ended up giving my cousin Jody and his girlfriend my extra set of ticket for the TD Garden show.

The sound at this show was so much better than at the TD Garden.  The setlist was pretty different too.

1.Cadence to Arms 
2.The Boys Are Back 
3.The Fighting 69th 
4.Burn 
5.Barroom Hero 
6.Amazing Grace 
7.A Few Good Men 
8.Pipebomb on Landsowne 
9.Prisoner's Song 
10.Jimmy Collins' Wake 
11.Captain Kelly's Kitchen 
12.Forever 
13.Worker's Song 
14.The Wild Rover 
15.The Dirty Glass 
16.Bastards on Parade 
17.God Willing 
18.Rose Tattoo 
19.On the Attack 
20.The Battle Rages On 
21.Don't Tear Us Apart 
22.Out of Our Heads 
23.Dirty Water (The Standells cover)
24.I'm Shipping Up to Boston (played instrumental with crowd singing vocals)
Encore:
25.End of the Night 
26.Skinhead on the MBTA 
27.Alcohol (Gang Green cover) (Scruffy Wallace on Vocals)

Somewhere in the mix, they played a cover of Cock Sparrer's "Watch Your Back" which was the second best highlight of the night for me.  The first highlight was when the band brought 4 members of the military force that killed Osama Bin Laden on stage prior to singing "Forever".  I thought I was at a WWF event as the crowd broke into a USA chant!

I had never seen the band play "Dirty Water" live and that was a treat.  It was also great to hear them play "End of the Night" and let the women on stage.  We left after that song which is very unfortunate as I would have really like to have heard them cover "Alcohol".

"End of the Night" was the great way to end the night and cap off the weekend.  We beat the crowd to the cabs, and headed back to the hotel exhausted.

 

 

 

 

 

Dropkick Murphys - Boston TD Garden - 2013-03-15

Back on Black Friday, I purchased a VIP package for Wendy and me to go see the Dropkick Murphys at TD Garden in Boston on St Pat's weekend.  It turns out that there were about 300 people that had the VIP package which was a little more than I expected but still a relatively select group.

We arrived at TD Garden at about 3pm to wait to check in, and then waited about another 30 minutes before the festivities started.  As part of the package, we were able to go to the soundcheck.  The band played 5 songs for us.

The State of Massachusetts (which they did not play at any of their 3 concerts that weekend - only for us :) )
The Dirty Glass (with one of the Parkington Sisters)
Barroom Hero (they let someone from the crowd sing it)
Kiss Me I'm Shitfaced (Ken was trying out the acoustics while he walked the rink)
I don't remember the 5th tune.

 

 

After the soundcheck, we waited in the Legends Room at the arena for about 20 minutes before the band was ready for the meet and greet photoshoot.  Al Barr said he liked my t-shirt.

 



 

We then took the subway out near Fenway Park to McGreevy's which is owned by singer/bass player, Ken Casey.  The VIP folks had the bar to ourselves with free drinks and appetizers.  What are the odds we run into a couple from Mississippi who lived just south of Memphis within 10 minutes of where we used to live.  We stuck around for about an hour, and then took the subway back to the TD Garden for the show.

When we arrived at the Garden, Old Man Markley was just finishing up their set which is unfortunate because I wanted to see them.  We did get to see the Mahones and they did finish the set with my favorite tune of their's "Drunken Lazy Bastard".

Black 47 played next.  It was a snoozefest.  I was happy when it ended.

Then the Dropkick Murphys hit the stage and the place went nuts.  It was their first time playing TD Garden.  The security guards and police were a bit antsy.  They were throwing out all slamdancers and crowd surfers.  The band wasn't happy about it, but those were the rules.  After they mentioned it the second time to the audience, it seemed to slow down quite a bit.  The set list covered most of their catalog, and they played a lot of songs from their newest release Signed and Sealed in Blood.  They were also not permitted to allow the women on stage for "Kiss Me I'm Shitfaced" so Ken went into the crowd to sing it.

1.Cadence to Arms 
2.The Boys Are Back 
3.Burn 
4.Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya 
5.Prisoner's Song 
6.Fields of Athenry 
7.Homeward Bound 
8.Your Spirit's Alive 
9.Out On The Town 
10.Citizen C.I.A. 
11.Jimmy Collins' Wake 
12.Worker's Song (Acoustic)
13.The Battle Rages On 
14.The Dirty Glass (with Nora Parkington)
15.Going Out In Style 
16.My Hero 
17.Out of Our Heads 
18.The Warrior's Code 
19.Rose Tattoo 
20.The Irish Rover 
21.Barroom Hero 
22.I'm Shipping Up to Boston (played instrumental, crowd sang vocals)
Encore:
23.Kiss Me, I'm Shitfaced 
24.T.N.T.(AC/DC cover)

After the show, we had to walk around the arena to go pick up our Dropkick Murphys engraved flask and a tour poster signed by all of the members of the band.

It was quite a long day, but very memorable.  I am glad we got the VIP package and we had a great time.  There are more pictures of our trip here.

 

 

 

2012 Vans Warped Tour Compilation

Every year, I pick up the 2CD compilation of Vans Warped Tour bands.  I have them going back to the first year they issued one.

The 2012 tour compilation includes 25 tracks on each CD.  Of the 50 songs, I only would listen to one more than once, Anti-Flag's "Broken Bones".  I don't know why they picked such a bad song by Rise Against to start of the first CD.  There were a few other bands who had decents songs - Nothington, I Am the Avalanche, Blacklist Royals, Murderland, and Ballyhoo.  I guess time has passed me by as I have no interest in most of the stuff that kids are listening to today.

Teenage Bottlerocket - Freak Out!

For years, I kinda blew off this band until Earthdog convinced me that I needed to go watch them in the corridor at the Congress Theater during a Riot Fest weekend.  So, here we are in the lobby crunched between stage, the beer stand, and the stand selling the famous Congress pizza slices.  The sound sucked all day long because of the echo from the concrete floor to the concrete ceiling.  Then, these Ramones looking youngsters from Wyoming hit the stage.  Holy shit!  I was addicted to them from that point on.  I have seen them a few more times at Insubordination Fest in Baltimore with Earthdog.  They play Ramones style simple (for someone who may play an instrument) chords with catchy, most of the time funny lyrics.  Most of the songs just crack me up.

Well, their newest release, Freak Out!, is no different.  I've been listening to it a lot the last few weeks.  And, it has been growing on me with every listen.  I can't stop listening to it tonight so I figured it would make for a great time to write about it.

I can't wait to see them at Riot Fest this year!!!

1. Freak Out! - quick blast with more mentions of Freak than any other words and gone in a flash.  As the Guinness commercials said, brilliant!
2. Headbanger - a song about a guy that whips his head so fast he gives himself a concussion.  How can that not be funny?  They even give a throwback to the last release and mention the Kiss Army - "what the fuck are you talking about?"
3. Cruising for Chicks - just what you would think it is about in Wyoming.  "In my mother's old Suburban, cruising for chicks."
4. Necrocomicon - a parody of the San Diego Comic Con.  "I thought I saw fucking Yoda."
5. Maverick - a parody of the movie Top Gun - "I'm the only guy in Top Gun she ever dated."
6. Done With Love - the anti love song.
7. Punk House of Horror - Don't go there as Rat smells like piss and the place is a fucking dive.
8. Never Gonna Tell You - (That I Love You) the love song.
9. In the Pit - a sarcastic song about the jocks who couldn't make the football team.
10. Mutilate Me - the X rated sex song.
11. Who Killed Sensei? - " I wanna know who killed Sensei?"
12. Radical - the 2nd love song about a girl that you can not afford.
13. Summertime - the song about the weather extremes of Wyoming and being hot as Mexico in Summertime.
14. Go With the Flow - the 3rd love song and the back and forth break ups that take place during teen love.

Down by Law - Champions at Heart

I have listened to this CD twice and it sounded different to me the second time around than the first. It is a mature Down by Law. If I had to guess, Dave was listening to a lot of The Clash when writing the songs. There are a lot of references to Clash song titles “straight to hell”, “know your rights”, “complete control”, etc. He also displays song and vocals styles from all of the bands he has been in – DYS, Dag Nasty, ALL, and DBL. I think it will continue to grow on me the more I listen to it. It may be the most diverse group of songs that DBL has recorded on one release. The first few songs are up tempo, there are a few ballads, there is some with acoustic guitar in the background, some singalongs. There are a lot of lyrics about broken relationships, trying to figure out this world, being true to yourself and the punk scene, etc. I am glad they have put out another release, and that they are touring. A few of these songs would hold up well live, but they did not play any the night that I saw them (from what I can remember). As a bonus, there were two previously recorded but unreleased songs by the Pseudo Heroes - “Tiny Answers” and “Perpetual Sorrow” - that see the light of day with Sam on vocals. Lastly, I want to thank Dave for thanking me in the liner notes.

1. Bullets – This song has been out for a while prior to this release. It is probably the best track on the release. “Well she said you're just a silly boy. I've heard that song before.”
2. Nothing – Along with Bullets, this is another track about alcohol causing problems in a relationship. Another rocker in the style we have come to know by DBL.
3. New Song – The intro to this song could be mistaken as a song by ALL. The lyrics are about keeping punk real, not forgetting about its roots, and not being a “costume” punk.
4. Popcorn & Coke – DBL tempo with silly ALL type lyrics about living on popcorn and Coke and staying up late watching TV. “I don't want another fucking salad.”
5. Knock This Town – This is the first ballad on the CD complete with acoustic guitar in the background. Has some feeling to a track on the Clash's Give 'Em Enough Rope. Dave belts out some passionate lyrics about “our town”.
6. Tiny Answers – The first of two Pseudo Heroes recordings with Sam on vocals. This too has acoustic guitar in the background and is very Pseudo Heroish. Looking for answers regarding why we are here.
7. Face Forward – Dag Nasty style vocals. The lyrics are about moving on from a broken relationship and historical personal ghosts.
8. Punk Rock United (Step 1) – A geography lesson of names of cities making up Punk Rock United. Sort of a thank you to cities that were played over the years. “We haven't changed the world but we've made a fucking start.”
9. Homicide – This has a new DYS style feel to it. I can't quite understand these lyrics. Pretty upbeat tempo. It does end with a 999 style “Homicide”.
10. Misfits United (Step 2) – Dazed. Confused. Mixed Up. Misunderstood. Another sorta ballad.
11. Warriors United (Step 3) – very Smalley folk sounding song. A bit of Dixie in the song. Many mentions of Clash songs in the lyrics - “straight to hell”, “know your rights”, etc. The second half of the song picks up the tempo.
12. Crystals – This may be the fastest track on the release. It has a Dag Nasty feel and DBL from the previous release. Another retrospective about staying true to yourself and to the classic punk scene.
13. Perpetual Sorrow – The second Pseudo Heroes track with Sam on vocals. Another broken relationship song. Similar style to the last Pseudo Heroes release.
14. Rebels & Angels – Fighting the odds that the world has put in front of each of us. “One foot in life, one foot in the grave.”
15. Champions at Heart – Acoustic guitar in the background again. Another folk type song. It has a Clash feel too it as well.
16. All In – New DYS style lyrics with a mid tempo beat. Having fun at a show in the pit together fists raised singingalong. There are some early ALL anthems similar to what was on “Alfredo's”.

Dropkick Murphys - Going Out in Style (Fenway Edition)

In 2011, the Dropkick Murphys released Going Out in Style back in February.  They also played a few shows at the home of the Red Sox, Fenway Park.  They released a Fenway Park edition of Going Out in Style in 2012 with tracks from their Fenway Park shows.  Those releases included a CD, a limited edition green vinyl LP, a digital version on eMusic, and a picture disc single.

The CD has 18 tracks.

The limited edition LP version is a gatefold double green vinyl, and includes a set of Dropkick Murphys trading cards.  The double LP has 20 tracks with "Memorial Day" and "Echoes on A Street" which were are not on the CD version.

The picture disc 7in single includes the songs "Sunday Hardcore Matinee" and "Broken Hymns".  The B-side is not on the CD or LP version, but was on the eMusic digital version.