If It's Too Loud...

Even though there were six total acts playing this night for TT the Bear's final blowout week of shows, I'm going to focus on Willy Mason and Evan Dando. The Grown Up Noise started playing maybe five minutes after the doors opened and stopped with maybe 50 people in the venue total, The Dazies played a solo four song acoustic set, and I left before Runner & The Thermodynamics because they went on at 11:30, and I'm a grumpy old man with work the next day. The Thalia Zedek band was great, but I just never can connect with her music. I know it's great and I know I'm losing out, but it just doesn't grab me. This last week of shows at TT the Bear's has been absolutely packed, with insane bills every night. Since the shows were booked last minute, and since Willy Mason isn't in the middle of a tour, I assumed it would just be him with a guitar. Instead he had four other musicians with him, because who could miss TT's last week of shows? They played...

I didn't originally plan to head out to this show, but once Ben Deily announced it would be the final Varsity Drag performance, I had to head out to it. Ben Deily is one of the most underrated songwriters out there today, so when he decides to stop a musical project, you have to make the time to go see it. Varsity Drag's set was pretty much perfect. They opened with favorites "Skinny Ties" and "Summertime." "Summertime" is such a perfect summer song, it fit for the show to be on one of the first amazing spring days of the year. They even played five of Ben's Lemonheads songs in a row (the most I've ever seen them perform in one show), including "Two Weeks In Another Town," "7 Powers," "Ever," and "Second Chance." Oddly enough, there was no mention at any point about this being a final show. They kept the stage banter light and playful. They closed with "Billy Ruane," which was originally...

To help celebrate/promote the reissues of their first three albums, the Lemonheads are releasing videos for individual songs featuring archival footage of the band. The latest is for "Ever," my personal favorite of Ben Deily's Lemonheads material. Originally released on Lick , the video features footage of their very first gig at The Rat in Boston back in August 1986. There is also footage of one of Deily's final shows with the band in 1989, along with some down time at quarries in IN. I love this approach of new videos with old footage and can't wait for more. To get your own copies of the long awaited reissues of Hate Your Friends, Lick, and Creator, head over to the Fire Records website . For the Lemonheads and Evan Dando news, head over to the Lemonheads website . If you're in the Boston area, you can see Ben Deily's current band, Varsity Drag , at TT the Bear's in Cambridge on 3/19.   Lemonheads, "Ever" (Official) 2014, w/re-...

While we wait impatiently for the first sounds to emerge from the next Lemonheads album featuring Evan Dando, Ben Deily, and Juliana Hatfield (aka the LH-Punk All-Stars) and produced by Ryan Adams, we can tide ourselves over with this brand new video for the Lick classic "A Circle of One." According to Ben Deily's Facebook page, this is the first of multiple videos to commemorate the reissue of the first three Lemonheads albums on Fire Records.  In the video for "A Circle of One," you get to see footage of the band from '86-'89, mostly clowning around at home with friends. The "Art Truck" from the Creator  tour is also featured, as well as a cameo from Husker Du's Grant Hart. Keep an eye out for more videos. For more information on Evan Dando and the Lemonheads, head on over to the official Lemonheads webpage . To check out Ben Deily's current band Varsity Drag, check out his website . And finally, go to the Fire Records website ...

Almost a full year ago, Fire Records announced they were reissuing the criminally long out of print first three Lemonheads albums, Hate Your Friends, Creator, and Lick.  Since then, there has been virtually no information released. Are there gobs of previously unreleased tracks and/or alternate versions of songs? Or is it just a straight remaster with maybe an extra song on the end? In the day of bands announcing a new album on their website with a link to download that album immediately, a year is an excruciatingly long time to wait. This week, Fire Records posted some of the remastered tracks on Soundcloud, which shows that this is actually happening. Listen to the 5 tracks here .