Runaway High at Dodge Street

Hi,
This past Saturday, Nick and I (later to be joined by Ed) went to the Runaway High/Cocaine Tongue show. I was actually surprised to see that the band was headed up by no other than Ryan Davison (also of Cocaine Tongue and Autumn Above). The other band members Mark, Jim and Rob have joined Ryan to form this Motley Crue tribute band. Runaway High has the same energy that Cocaine Tongue brings (they also dress the same as Motley Crue, which I believe is essential for any cover band covering any band). If you check their myspace page, they are playing in and around the Boston area, including a return trip to Dodge Street in mid-January. This band is a must see for fans of Motley Crue and of old school rock and roll.

Happy New Year!

-DBR

Thoughts on the OT Bar in Beverly

Hello,
I know it's been awhile since I've posted. However, I wanted everyone to know that Cocaine Tongue is coming back to Beverly on Saturday, November 22nd and is playing at the Overtime Bar on Rantoul Street. (9PM start time)

I find it interesting that the OT is starting to have bands like Cocaine Tongue play there. Anyone from Beverly knows that when the OT used to be Mai Tai's, there were all kinds of issues with fights, people drinking too much etc. Then, Mai Tai's closed, got new management and now it's the OT. I went in there at the beginning of the year and found it was an older crowd (I'm not at that age yet personally, so it wasn't my "cup of tea", but thought they did a nice job with the place). Now, at the end of 2008, the bar is trying to cater to a younger crowd.

I have no problem with catering to a younger crowd, in fact, it would be nice to have a local bar in Beverly that can host local rock bands like Cocaine Tongue. However, OT's management should be mindful of what happened when it was Mai Tai's, as well as the on-going issues with the Press Box down the street. If I'm the OT management, I take the same stance as Dodge Street Bar and Grille in Salem: zero tolerance. Frank has done a great job in Salem keeping the riff-raff, untucked dress shirt crew out of Dodge Street (notice in the paper how surrounding bars in Salem have had all sorts of issues, not Dodge Street though).

As a fan and supporter of local music, I hope the OT succeeds in bringing in bands like Cocaine Tongue and other rock bands down the line. They must also be aware of the troubled past certain bars in downtown Beverly.

See you all on Saturday night!

-DBR

The Evening show

This was probably one of the most anticipated shows for me over the past couple of months. So, Ed and I battled the hurricane and headed into Boston. On our way in, I saw that Avalon was gone. I've seen a couple of Social Distortion shows there. I liked Bill's Bar because it had a little bit of that Dodge Street mentality, as opposed to Tequila Rain (there was some fat 30 year old guy singing "Like a Virgin" inside there, haha).

The show itself was great. The Evening remind me a little bit of Status Green in terms of how the keyboards are used. Plus, the lead singer, Ben Goodman, plays both guitar and the keyboard, much like the lead singer of Status Green. Pete got to play the Evening version of "Fallen", which was great because since Roadsteamer broke up, I've been dying to hear a Roadsteamer/one of Pete's songs (and I think I'm not the only one out there that misses those songs). They also did one of The Morning's old songs in "Mistreated" and worked in an excerpt from "Teenage Wasteland", which I thought was great because I know Pete and probably other members of the band have an appreciation for classic rock. The guys sounded great and would recommend going out to see them. Here's a link to "Fallen:

The Evening: Fallen

I've mentioned to Pete that they should play at Dodge Street, but he thinks that there might not be enough room for all of the equipment. I bet Frank could pull something off though.

El Rancho show and The Evening update

We returned to Dodge Street this week to see a rock band called "El Rancho". If anyone can remember Zippo Raid, it reminded me alot of them, except they had more of a rock sound rather than a punk sound. They have a good fan base too with some wearing Somberos and even a gorilla running around! I recorded some video of the band, which I will be putting up over the next couple of days.

I also ran into Pete Tentindo last night to get more information on the upcoming "Evening" debut show. The show is on September 6th at Bill's Bar in Boston. I was told that the band will be going on around 11. Tickets can be purchased at http://www.onslaughtentertainment.com/tickets/
under "Soul Movement's CD release party". There's also a Facebook event page at:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=55801108#/event.php?eid=24684029140&ref=mf

Next Saturday, we are heading to the Lobster Shanty to see Pete and Grateful Ted. I hope to shoot some video then as I was unable to at the Black Lobster due to shitty lighting.

Music Scene at Old Orchard Beach

Howdy,
Just came back from Old Orchard Beach and have lots to talk about. The second night we went up there, we went to this night club at the end of The Pier (I forget the name of it). Anyways, the upstairs is like a night-club with a spring break like atmosphere (it was where all the "beautiful people" go). On the first floor though is where the bands play. Now last year, one of the bands that played there did a great cover of "Freebird" (after of course Nick and I yelled it after every song). This band that was up there were older guys, so you would think they would play classics. THEY PLAYED BLINK 182, WTF!!! Not my idea of the best band to cover.

The following night, we went to a place called Club Mirage (check the DBR myspace page, they are on there). I wanted to check them out because Cocaine Tongue is playing there THIS SATURDAY! (((MONSTER TRUCK VOICE))) It reminded me of Dodge Street north in a way that their band line up and types of bands reminded me of Dodge Street. Also, if you check out Club Mirage, check out a band called "Losing Tomorrow". I shot 3 videos of them and they are now up on the YouTube page. I even got a free cd! I was about to get the cd when this girl who either worked there or was a follower of the band said I had to lick her chest to get it. That alone makes it the best free CD ever!

For those of us that don't have the money for gas, Cherry S/T is playing at Dodge Street this Saturday. Also, Nick wants to make his debut on the blogs soon (get spell check ready).

-DBR

Black Sabbath cover band: Supernaut

Last Saturday, Black Sabbath cover band Supernaut opened up for Cocaine Tongue. I thought they did a decent job covering Black Sabbath and most of the people that I talked to said the same thing. Most of the time, the opinion of cover bands is in the "eye of the beholder". For instance, a couple of months ago I saw ToolFist and thought they did a great job, yet you look at the comments on some of the videos and they are all negative. Anyways, check out Supernaut on the YouTube page or check out their MySpace page.

Note for Cherry S/T show at Dodge Street

Just a quick note, Cherry S/T the band will not be playing on Saturday. However, from what I was told from someone at Dodge Street is that some of the members of Cherry S/T will be doing an acoustic set to open up for a band called "The Characters", a psychedelic rock band, check them out here:

http://www.myspace.com/characters

North Shore Tonight . Com

This also just in.....

There's a new site up devoted to local bands just like this one called northshoretonight.com
North Shore Tonight has a list of music schedules, as well as an opportunity for local musicians to promote their own shows. You can even be their friend on Facebook!

Pete Tentindo's new band

More good news, Pete Tentindo is in a new band. The band is called "The Evening", which consists of Pete, Ben Goodman, Paul Lourenco and Andrew Malkin. Their first show is Bill's Bar on August 30th. My goal is to get some of the old Roadsteamer fans out to support Pete and his new band. You can also check out Pete at some local shows around here by going to his MySpace page (listed in the bands below). In fact, he's playing at the Black Lobster again this Thursday, so stop on by!!!!

Witchstock

It's been awhile since I've posted on this thing, so here we go.....

Last Saturday was Witchstock at the Salem Willows. My plan was to go towards the end of the day when bands like Status Green, The Force, Prospect Hill and Cherry S/T were playing. So I get there and I explored the merch table (also saying hi to Chris Harvey of Cocaine Tongue, I guess they are going to have a Black Sabbath cover band opening on Saturday). I just missed a band called Toobougou (if you've seen them, you know how to spell it) and they did a good cover of "Time" by Pink Floyd. They gave out a free copy of their CD and stickers which is cool (always push the bands that give out free shit). I was wearing my Status Green shirt and one of the band members came up and introduced himself, which I thought was cool. I shot some video of Status Green, but had to keep switching my position because this stupid old lady kept dancing in front of the stage (check the video, you'll see, not my best work none the less). After that, I headed home because I wasn't feeling so well (after I plan for a month to go to not only Witchstock, but the Dodge Street after party). However, we'll get to see Cherry S/T and The Force later this month at Dodge Street.

Status Green also has a new video up for their song "Firebomb". Check it out:

Status Green: Firebomb Music Video

The Black Lobster

Hello,
The other night, I checked out the Black Lobster at Strombergs. Former Roadsteamer and Winstons band member Pete Tentindo was performing there, along with Greatful Ted and Terri Lee. I was impressed by the venue as it is behind Strombergs in the back, but right on the ocean. It's a great place to go to watch acoustic shows as Pete and friends covered Beatles songs, as well as other well known rock hits. I've added the Black Lobster's music schedule to the page and be sure to check out "Britannica Duet" on the nights listed (it's Greatful Ted's band).

Nutshell at Dodge Street

Well, we arrived too late to see American Idiots, the Green Day cover band. However, when we got in there around 11, there was a large crowd in the back room and dwindled throughout the rest of the night. Maybe it was because they weren't fans of Alice and Chains or maybe it was because they were there to see American Idiots, who knows?
Nutshell did turn out to be a pretty good cover band. The lead singer likes to do a lot of interacting with the audience, including singing while walking around the crowd (stolen from Chris Harvey of Cocaine Tongue). I would have picked up a Nutshell T-shirt, but was unable to find the merch table. The cover band scene is alive and well at Dodge Street!

Reggae Night at Dodge Street

Hi,
We got into Dodge Street around 11pm on a hazy Saturday Night. A band called the "North Shore Roots" were playing. A couple of the guys I recognized were from Beverly. Check them out at North Shore Roots.

Next week, cover bands "Nutshell" (covering Alice and Chains) and American Idiots (covering, you guessed it, Green Day) will be at Dodge Street. Very excited to see what these cover bands can bring up on the Dodge Street Stage.

TOOLfist at Dodge Street

Good Evening,
Last Saturday, Ed and I caught Tool Fist at Dodge Street. Tool Fist, as you might guess is a Tool cover band. Between Ed and I, we both don't own a single Tool CD, but I do recognize when one of their songs come on the radio (when I listen to it anymore, which is rarely), plus Frank basically said the same thing. However, the band put on a great show, ten times better than what Fair Warning put on the previous week (I really don't mean to bash them, see my previous entry about Fair Warning). They sounded great and sounded like the actual band Tool. Ed picked us both up a T-shirt/Sticker/CD package for $12 each (what a bahhhhgan). I'm kind of surprised that the YouTube's I put up haven't got more hits yet, even if they were posted on Sunday. I would definitely recommend going out to see them next time they are around (which if you view their MySpace page, would be at O'Briens Pub in Lynn on the first Saturday in August).

This week, Dodge Street is having a "Dodge Fest Weekend" with Reggae night on Saturday night, don't really know much more beyond that. Until next time.....

Love is Currency and DBR team up!

DBR is teaming up with the website loveiscurrency.com in order to cross promote both sites. Love is Currency was created by Jenna Silva, a fellow Roadsteamer fan (heck, she lives in the same apartment building with the guy). Her goal is to "connect like-minded, open-minded artistic and innovative people" though different writings and social groups. In fact, she has put up a subsection and a petition to bring Robby back to WBCN. I hope you check out her site and look for a DBR write up soon!

Vote for Autumn Above on AP for Best Unsigned Band

Courtesy of Josh Terrill:

Autumn Above is in the running for May's Best Unsigned Band by Alternative Promotion, an international rock promotion firm out of Finland. Follow the link to cast your vote and help the guys spread the word now! You're only three click's away from helping the band!

http://alternativepromotion.webs.com/voting.htm

Fair Warning at Dodge Street

Last weekend, DBR's Big 3 went to Dodge Street to scout out the Van Halen tribute band: Fair Warning. I noticed the crowd for this show was an older crowd (it even made Ed look younger). My thoughts on Fair Warning are that I really wanted to like them, but they were lacking something lacking with them. Plus, after seeing Cocaine Tongue numerous times, you expect that same kind of showmanship (members of the band dressing up like Guns and Roses) from other cover bands. Nevertheless, the video is up on YouTube and you can judge for yourself.

Speaking of cover bands, Tool tribute "Tool Fist" will be at Dodge Street tomorrow night. Most likely we will end up going there. Also, Cocaine Tongue is playing at the Good Time Emporium with Negative Creep (a Nirvana cover band). Enjoy the music!

-DBR

Bring Robby Back!

http://loveiscurrency.com/LoveIsCurrency/Bring_Robby_Back.html

Shows from the weekend, May 10th and 11th

Hi everyone,
It was a big weekend for music! Saturday night, Ed and I ventured out to the Harborhouse in Gloucester to see Cocaine Tongue. Of course, we got lost and mapquest was no help at all, plus we thought it was in downtown Gloucester when the bar was actually in a residential area (who puts a bar in a residential area anyways?). The guys had a good set of songs, but at the end of the night, Ryan (bass guitar and vocals) said that his guitar was off and Chris (lead vocals) said that his voice was off, plus Nick (keyboards) didn't want to be shown on camera, haha. Nevertheless, Ryan and Chris really didn't want me to put up the video from the show. I didn't think there was any problem with the video at the time I shot it (this with 4 or 5 beers in me, everything sounds good). However, after further review, Chris's vocals were way off. So, in fairness to the band in promoting them at their best, I will only put a couple up from the show.

Then, on Sunday night, Ed and I once again traveled out to Allston Rock City to see Robby Roadsteamer and some other local comedians. The place was dead early on, but once the night went on, people started to trickle in (this was on Mother's Day night so that kind of explained the crowd, or lack there of). Robby unveiled some of the new songs on his third and final acoustic album "This album syncs up to Toejam and Earl". Robby also announced that he will have this new CD available for download on his website. If you go to the right side of the page near the pictures, I have posted the link to the page for the new album. Good show and the comedians were great as well. Congrats also to Chris Coxen for winning $25,000 in the Jockey Underwars competition. For more on Chris, go to www.christophercoxen.com

Have a great week!

-DBR

Cocaine Tongue at Dodge Street

Hello,
Last Saturday was a crazy night, so much in fact I was only able to get three videos of Cocaine Tongue. This is what happens when you go to a show and a Beverly High Reunion breaks out. Anyways, before I realized that half my graduating class was at the bar, I did record a couple of songs by Faith in Distortion. I've seen them in the past when they have opened up for Cocaine Tongue and they put on a pretty good opening set. Cocaine Tongue has a new member in Ryan Davison. Him and Chris Harvey are also in Autumn Above (who we saw last week). I think Ryan did a good job in his GNR cover band debut. Keyboardist Nick D'amico is a regular host on WBCN's Hardy and Robby Roadsteamer show. I sent in an instant feedback asking him to plug Saturday night's show. While I didn't get to hear the "shameless plug", he did make mention of the video on his MySpace that I shot about a month ago at the Italian Club (well, at least one of my videos got a little bit of a plug)
This Friday, Cherry S/T is playing at Dodge Street (I, personally, though will not be there due to other commitments) and Cocaine Tongue is playing at the Harbor House in Gloucester. Then, on Sunday night, Ed and I make our way back out to Great Scott's for another one of Robby's acoustic shows. Robby has mentioned that he's not going to do as many shows during the summer, so this is probably going to be one of the last chances to hear is acoustic act for awhile. That's about it for now. Talk to y'all next week.

-DBR

Autumn Above at Dodge Street

Hello,
Last night, Ed and I went to the Autumn Above show. Decent crowd at Dodge Street last night, which will happen when you have local bands like this playing (both Ryan Davison and Chris Harvey are from Beverly, so I recognized some people there). Autumn Above is different from the other bands on here in that they will play either one long song or put two songs together (for someone that uses YouTube, this can be tricky because I only have 10 minutes to work with). I found that many of their songs give a kind of melancholy, sad tone with emotion behind it. When watching the clips from last night, I also thought Frank did a good job with the lighting (darkening the stage during certain parts of the song added to the band's performance).
Next week, if we can get in early enough, it's Chris's other band, Cocaine Tongue. I recommend getting to Dodge Street by 10 (treat it like Cherry S/T is playing). However, if you cannot get in, the Tokyo Tramps are playing over at the Bangkok Paradise (with all the under age kids sneaking drinks). I've seen them at Dodge Street before and are not a bad alternative for a Saturday night.

Have a good week!

-DBR

Countdown to 420 at the Middle East

Good Afternoon,
Last night was the "Countdown to 4:20" at the Middle East upstairs. This is the first time the three of us have been in the upstairs at the Middle East (the Middle East is like a big castle of music!). Anyways, once they got the rappers out of the way (I think their name was Hectik, or something like that), Robby came on and did his thing. View "Lost Cat Poster" below to see Robby throw his guitar (if the site will let me upload, I had a problem with that on the last post). We also finally got to see "The Andwutz" an all girl rock band. I thought they were pretty good, but I would have thrown in some cover songs. One thing that I believe bands should have in their arsenal of songs are some cover songs. If needed, you can always have a song that people can identify with. Anyways, the crowd was really into them. As I was heading back from the bathroom, I did see that the show was sold out. I didn't realize that the Freedom Rally isn't until September, but will probably go if Robby or any other good bands are playing.
Next week, it's back to Dodge Street to see Autumn Above. Have a good week!

-DBR

Cherry S/T show

I finally got around to putting this post up. Last night, I was working on my very first promo for next week's show at the Middle East.

All three of us were present and accounted for on Saturday night. We got to Dodge Street around 10 and there was not much of a line at all, so we lucked out there. Alot of people were in the bar already because Prospect Hill was the opening act (we'll be seeing them later this week at the Middle East show). The second band was a band called "Status Green". They came up from New Jersey and remind me a little bit of Foxboro Hot Tubs (the guys from Green Day, but with a different name and sound). I picked up their promo CD that had 5 tracks on it. Ed liked them so much, he took 10 of them! Cherry S/T came on and played a lot of songs off their new CD (which I picked up before I left, no one was at the merch table, so I left the $10 there, I'm not going to stiff my fellow North Shorerers, you get the idea). Cherry S/T has a Linkin Park, Hoobastank sound to them, which appeals to a 18-late 20's demographic. Their last CD, "Nova Sonic" was a great CD, with such tracks as "On top of the World" and "Dark Eyes". Their most current CD, "A diary to burn by" is good as well, but doesn't have as many "ear grabbing" tracks as Nova Sonic did (my favorite track on this CD is "My greatest disaster" or "Greatest Disaster", the CD is in my car!) Check out the DBR YouTube page, or click at the bottom for video from last Saturday's show (if it's still at the bottom).

Next Saturday, we venture out to Cambridge at the Middle East Upstairs. Robby Roadsteamer, Prospect Hill and the Andwutz are all on the card. I'm excited to see what the Andwutz are all about (get it???). You stay classy Massachusetts!

-DBR

Cocaine Tongue's Rocket Queen Dance Competition

For those of you that wanted to see the "Rocket Queen Dance Competition", here's the link to it:

Rocket Queen Dance Competition

Enjoy!

Cocaine Tongue show

Hi,
Wrapping up another exciting music weekend. Last night, I was a one man recording machine as Nick had other plans and Ed was sick at home. I managed to find the Italian club and got in the door around 10. Demons Alley was finishing up their set, but I did manage to snag a t-shirt for $10 from their merch table! Before the set, I talked with the keyboardist Nick (who's also in Roadsteamer) and found out that Robby was doing a rock-paper-scissors competition earlier in the day at the TD BankNorth garden (maybe some of the stuff he says on BCN is true after all). Not a whole lot of regulars at this show (I normally run into tons of people I know at Cocaine Tongue shows at Dodge Street), but did run into this dude who went to the last Dodge Street show (this little skinny doogan **I stole that from Ed** with spiked hair). He went to the last show and almost got tossed out for going on the stage too many times (you will see him in some of the YouTube videos). Anyways, Cocaine Tongue then went on stage and put on a great performance as always. Lead singer Chris Harvey plays the part of Axl, but is also in a band called Autumn Above, who we'll be seeing later this month. Everybody was into the band and there were alot more older people here seeing that it was at an Italian Club. The staff was very hospitable as well. I hope Cocaine Tongue comes to this venue in the future. They lead off with "Night Train" and is shown here below. Later in the night, they had a "Rocket Queen Dance Competition". It's a huge file, but I'll see if I can get it up on the site.
Next week, it's back to Dodge Street for Cherry S/T. Get there early folks because it's a Saturday Night and there's bound to be a line to get in after 11. Have a great week!

-DBR

Robby Roadsteamer Show

Good Evening,
Currently working on putting up the clips from Robby's show from this past Tuesday. Ed felt sick all day on Tuesday, but sucked it up and drove us into Allston. Part of this evening was devoted to local comics, including Chris Coxen, manager/agent of Roadsteamer, followed up by an acoustic show with Robby. The great thing about Robby's acoustic shows is that he will singing a song, then stop randomly and tell a story or explain something about the song. Here's Robby singing "The Boston Music Scene" off of his first acoustic Album. Tomorrow night, we are heading to Peabody to see Cocaine Tongue. Have a great weekend!

-DBR

Debut Entry

Welcome to Dive Bar Radio,
As mentioned on my profile on the right, this page is dedicated to those bands that play for the love of the music and their fans. The goal of this blog is to get these great musicians the exposure that they deserve, and have a little fun as well. My friend Nick and I do the majority of the shooting and my friend Ed is the musical historian (and does the driving to Cambridge seeing that he knows most of the venues there). You will hear more about these two in future entries, I'm sure of that. That being said, let's go to the first band!

Last Saturday, March 29th, the trio went to Dodge Street (another place you will hear a lot of) to check out "Demons Alley". You will find their MySpace page link at the bottom of the home page. Check out the videos by clicking the "DBR on YouTube" link below. They do a great cover of Blondie's "Call Me". In the future, I'll upload some videos on here as well.

Tomorrow night, Ed and I head off to Robby Roadsteamer's acoustic show in Allston. Once the video is up, I'll post a new entry. Good night!

-DBR