Guitars, Drums, Tones, and Saxophones

Greetings everyone, from sunny, not warmer-enough-than-Massachusetts Durham, North Carolina! Here are some highlights from Death to False Hope Fest’s first night:

• The Dopamines, featuring Roger from Less Than Jake on second guitar, and Mikey Erg on drums, in a last-minute line-up that came together largely on the drive to Durham that afternoon
• Less Than Jake playing the entirety of Hello, Rockview
• Mixtapes bringing the rock, and the crowd loving it. Great to see this young band making such a splash so quickly
• Jay Kutchma of Red Collar playing a killer solo set, ending with “Used Guitars,” my favorite Red Collar song
• $2 Schlitz!

There’s more to piece together, of course. Off With Their Heads also played a great set, including a Fake Boys cover. I arrived a song or two in to the Riot Before’s set, and they threw down a solid performance. Scotty Sandwich has done a fantastic job so far with this festival. Everyone I saw there was in good spirits and seemed to be having a whole lot of fun, just happy to be there.

Death to False Hope Fest!

Hey folks! I know I’ve been somewhat remiss in posting, but things have been busy. Just wanted to put out there that Death to False Hope Fest is happening in Durham, NC this weekend, and that I will be there! Anyone else who will, give me a shout and let’s hang!

For those who won’t be attending, you can follow me on Twitter to get jealousy-inducing updates live from Motorco! Just add @gdts_blog to get in on the fun!

Finally, here’s the schedule. Alright, see you in North Carolina!

2000 Miles b/w The Drone

So the contest is over, and I’d like to congratulate Vanessa for winning The Mighty Mighty Bosstones – “2000 Miles”/”The Drone” 7″!

Thanks to everyone who entered the contest, and to everyone who reposted/shared/retweeted this! Look forward to a return to regularly-scheduled content, and hopefully more contests down the line!

Happy 2011, everyone! What better way to start off a brand new year than to spend a whole lot of words looking back at what’s passed? In that spirit, my Best of 2010 has been posted! You can check it out here.

And don’t forget, there’s still time to enter the Bosstones giveaway!

2000 Miles b/w The Drone

That’s right! I’ve got a copy of the new 7″ single from the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, featuring their cover of “2000 Miles” by the Pretenders, and the Bosstones original “The Drone” on the b-side, and I want to give it away to one lucky reader!

What do you need to do? Simple! Just email gdts.blog@gmail.com with the subject line “I wanna win!” to be entered. The deadline to enter is January 14th.

Repost! Retweet! Share on Facebook! Good luck to everyone!

Hometown Throwdown, night 3

Once again, for the 4th time since coming back together in 2007, Boston’s own The Mighty Mighty Bosstones descended upon their city for the traditional Hometown Throwdown series of shows. As was the case last year, they played three shows at the relatively new House of Blues. Scheduled openers were We Are the Union, the F.U.s, H2O, the Flatliners, DYS, and Less Than Jake, though in the end H2O was forced to cancel when their lead singer’s flight to Boston was canceled.

Once again I was able to attend all three shows, and if it’s possible, that’s the recommended course of action for any Bosstones fan. Obviously, not everyone can do so, but the Bosstones will always vary the setlists enough to make it worth your while. Also to that effect, if someone ever asks which night is best to go to, it’s nearly impossible to answer. The later nights feature the band with, as Dicky says in ’98′s Live From the Middle East, their “Throwdown swerve” on, but every night will feature great songs and performances.

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Is World - Turning EP

Is World is a somewhat oddly-named band from Moline, IL, who I came to be aware of by way of The Please and Thank Yous, who if you haven’t checked out, you really should. Anyway, any friend of those fellas is probably worth a listen, I said, and so I delved into the Turning EP.

The band kicks out some really fun, enjoyable, catchy indie rock. The opener, “Either/Or,” opens with a light verse that leads into a crunching chorus. The lead singer’s kind of high-pitched vocals suit the music well. I wish I could remember who they remind me of, but it’s not coming to me.

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Beware the Dangers of a Ghost Scorpion! - Undead in the Fallout Shelter

So I went out the other night to see my friends’ band, Thick Shakes, a fun, local garage rock act. Playing with them was a band with a ridiculously long name- Beware the Dangers of a Ghost Scorpion. Length aside, it’s good advice. I’m generally cautious of live scorpions; one from beyond the grave sounds like trouble. Anyhow, they burst on stage wearing matching shirts- black with a yellow scorpion silhouette- and black bandanas covering their lower faces. It was visually striking, to say the least.

And then the music started.

They played a set of surf rock reminiscent of Man or Astroman?, though where the latter band had sci-fi flourishes to their sound, this band had a vibe that reminded me of the soundtrack to a gritty western movie. Which was cool. And so I grabbed one of the free CDs they were offering.

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Make Do and Mend - End Measured Mile

I was kind of late on the Make Do and Mend hype train. Despite being somewhat local to me, the Connecticut-based hardcore four-piece flew underneath my radar for a while. I heard about their lauded Bodies of Water EP, but never checked it out. After their excellent split 7″ with Touche Amore, I started to pay attention, and their contribution to the Punknews.org Fest 9 compilation, “Transparent Seas,” really caught my ear. And so, their debut album had me interested. Seeing it was coming on Paper + Plastick didn’t hurt, either.

And so, at their album release show on Friday, I bought End Measured Mile. And let me tell you up front: it’s a great record.

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Red Collar - Pilgrim

Well hello there! I’m mostly recovered from Fest, and ready to get back to this jam. And I’m going to talk today about a band that I swore I had already written about, but apparently not. Red Collar is a band from Durham, NC, who play some upbeat, energetic punk-influenced rock ‘n roll. I caught their set at Fest- after being told by just about everyone I know that they are not to be missed- and somehow loved their music more than when I’d first heard it.

But! Onto the album itself.

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