If It's Too Loud...

One of my favorite things is going to see a diverse live bill. Anyone can put together a show with three pop punk bands on it, but it's a challenge (and far more interesting) to put three unique bands on the same show and have it work out perfectly. Saturday night at The Sinclair saw the steamcrunk of Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys, doombrass heroes Eight Foot Manchild, and the baroque pop of Lovina Falls, and it was perfect. Opening the show was Lovina Falls, the current musical project of Valerie Forgione of Mistle Thrush. This was my third or fourth time seeing them in just a few months, and I'm still entertained every time. It's been interesting to watch Lovina Falls adjust and discover their sound over the past two or so years, and I think they've nailed their current sound down. It's an engaging blend of the baroque pop they started out with mixed with a more rock based sound. Songs like "Ellery Way" and "Vaulted" continue to ...

One of the things that gets me through the month of February is that knowing when it ends, we'll be getting a new album from Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys. Boston's favorite steamcrunk band has been taking part in the RPM Challenge (which challenges artists to write and record a full album during the month of February) for years now. While Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys typically use this challenge to experiment (2020's edition, THE CUTTING HORSE, had a distinct country feel), this year's is more of a traditional Army of Toys release. That's not to say that BRICK THROUGH A LIMOUSINE doesn't see the band experiment. The album starts off with "GIMME A CURSE," which is more of a piano focused shanty. The title track is a hard rocker that is going to easily become a live staple in the near future. "IMA BANNED BOOK" is a kind of almost industrial meets folk experiment that works amazingly well. It simmers with barely r...

Doing Anything this Weekend? is a feature here at If It's Too Loud... where we feature some live shows in and on the far outskirts of the Boston area. Our main rules are that they have to be reasonably priced shows that you can attend last minute. They'll feature If It's Too Loud... approved bands, and we'll provide event links when possible. And since we're in outdoor music season, these events are weather permitting. If you're looking for last minute plans this weekend, we recommend: Friday May 10 The Forest Effect, Ruin the Night, and The Magic City at Warehouse XI, Somerville, MA Sarah Shook & The Disarmers and Nicolette and the Nobodies at The Cut, Gloucester, MA Fishbone's Angelo Moore, Threat Level Burgundy, and The Agonizers at Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center, Greenfield, MA Margaret Glaspy and Ryan Lerman at The Stone Church, Brattleboro, VT BURP, WarGraves, The Downhauls, and GhostWaves at Thirsty First, Lowell, MA Saturday May 11 Walte...

One of the only things I look forward to every February is the RPM Challenge submission from Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys. With the RPM Challenge, artists write, record, and produce an album during the month of February. The Army of Toys' releases are always interesting, and that is no exception with this years', BETWEEN BREATHS. One reason the songs on BETWEEN BREATHS so interesting is how... normal they are. Instead of their normal mixture of punk, folk, cabaret, indie rock, metal, etc., the album opens with "BED AND BREAKFAST," which is a piano led singer-songwriter song about opening a bed and breakfast. Of course, it can't be completely straightforward as Sickert opens by stating that they are "the bellhop from Hell." But it's still along the lines of a Ben Folds Five song, if Ben Folds Five wrote songs about a damned bed and breakfast. The singer-songwriter piano songs continue with the very well timed "WALLY WONKA." T...

As any long time reader of If It's Too Loud... knows, I try to get out to see Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys every chance I get. They don't play a ton of shows, so when they do, it's always An Event. Friday night was being billed as the party of the summer, and seeing how Sapling, Astral Bitch, and dropbear were also on the bill, that claim was hardly hyperbole.  dropbear opened the show, and... just... wow. I really enjoyed last year's Spiralized EP, but I was unprepared for just how great they would be live. Rachel Bacon's vocals were lost in the mix during the first two songs, but once that issue was corrected, it turns out the power in her voice is only matched by the power of the band. Musically, dropbear combines shoegaze with metal and post-punk into this sonic mix that is mind-blowing, particularly live. There were guitar sounds coming from the stage Friday night that were simply jaw dropping. As with all four bands on the bill, dropbear are of...

We've been patiently awaiting the new single and video from Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys to be released on July 22, but it turns out our steamcrunk favorites have made the song available on their Bandcamp early! "Keep My Head" sees the Army of Toys going where we never thought we'd see them: The world of the mainstream! Of course mainstream is relative, but this is by far their most accessible single to date. It starts off as an almost classical piece before the rock kicks in. "Keep My Head" lives in the world of straightforward alt-rock and posibly even adult contemporary... but through their very own filter. It's just the perfect balance of weird and mainstream that if this was the late 90's and/or modern rock radio was still a thing, this could almost be guaranteed to be a surprise hit. But in 2023, we'll have to rely on word of mouth to get this the attention it deserves. You can listen to "Keep My Head" below. The v...

Beautiful Was the Fight , the new documentary feature from Dave Habeeb, started out at a Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys show. (I believe it was   this one .) It was Habeeb's first time seeing Ruby Rose Fox, and he decided he wanted to make a documentary short about her. He filmed during her Queen Treatment Only Festival the next month, but upon seeing other artists like When Particles Collide, Sarah Blacker, and Haley Jane & The Primates, his short documentary about one artist expanded to a feature length documentary about women in the Boston music scene. This documentary is going to appeal to just about any reader of If It's Too Loud... based solely on the artists that are included in  Beautiful Was the Fight.  It features artists we regularly cover such as the aforementioned Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys and Ruby Rose Fox, as well as other favorites including Sapling, Wyn Doran, Liz Bills & the Change, Stormstress, Carissa Johnson, a...

There's only one thing that I enjoy about March, and it's that every year Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys participate in the February RPM Challenge and write, record, and produce a new album! Every year their submissions get weirder and somehow better than the ones before. 2023 has given us Ghost Parade. The title track is quickly becoming a favorite, and I can see it becoming a beloved live show staple and ending up on many Halloween playlists, with it's spooky vibe that reminds me a lot of classic cartoon music. Immediately following that is "MEET ME ON THE MOON," a ballad which sounds like Walter Sickert is shooting for the Adult Contemporary charts or a Grey's Anatomy needle drop... but through their own odd filter. I always thought 2020's RPM Challenge album THE CUTTING HORSE  would be the Toys' strangest release, but what makes Ghost Parade  so intriguing is how almost mainstream it ends up being. "KEEP MY HEAD" is a gothic...

Photo via Facebook If you're of a certain age and disposition, you probably have roughly a thousand memories associated with Mazzy Star's iconic "Fade Into You." You know that it's one of the greatest and most beautiful songs of all time. However, it doesn't seem to get covered as much as you'd (or at least I'd) expect it to. As part of their streaming talk/variety show Bunker Buds , Walter Alice Sickert recorded a solo cover of the song. It's just Sickert and their guitar, and it's spectacular. I don't think any vocals on "Fade Into You" could top Hope Sandoval's, but Sickert does a fabulous job, and this cover is quite simply stunning. With the theatrics and bombast of the Army of Broken Toys, it's easy to miss how spectacular of a vocalist they can be. "Fade Into You" helps remind us all of Sickert's talents. You can watch Walter Alice Sickert cover "Fade Into You" below. For more on the artist, ...

One of my favorite things about Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys is their sense of pure joy. Of all the songs we've covered of theirs, none have been more fun than their latest, "Goth Beach." It's a throwback to all of your favorite 60's beach songs, just a little heavier and steam-crunky. This is a joyously rockin' song about smoking a spliff with Robert Smith, Bauhaus bikinis, spf 666 sunscreen, a shark smoking cloves, and more. Sometimes, especially now, you just need a fun and silly rock song to help get you through. If you've ever wanted to hear goth surf guitar paired with metal viola playing, "Goth Beach" is your dream song. And if you haven't, this is still the song of the summer. You can watch the video for "Goth Beach" below. The song is currently available for download over at Bandcamp . For more on Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys, check out the artist's website .

February is the worst month of the year. Everyone is sick of the cold and snow, and everything is starting to get that gross late winter sludge on it. Even when the snow melts, it just makes the world muddy, and we can't even start to consider Spring being near yet. The one good thing about February is the RPM Challenge, where bands write and record a full album during the month of February. The highlight of that lately has been Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys' contribution! This year's RPM Challenge album is Permanent Fire, and is their seventeenth overall(!) . This is a much more scaled down sound than we're used to from Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys, but I hesitate to called it stripped down or sparse. The production on the album is unbelievable, especially when you consider how quickly everything had to come together to make it. Calling the album Permanent Fire expressly lays out the theme of the album. This sure sounds like a reaction to...

For the past five or so years, Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys have been performing Something Strange , their music and burlesque tribute to Tim Burton's iconic film The Nightmare Before Christmas. I've (somehow) only made it to one performance of it, but it's an absolutely delightful live reimagining of a holiday classic done in a way that only Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys can. Obviously the show didn't happen last year, but this year saw the return of Something Strange last weekend. This week saw the release of "Making Christmas," Sickert and their band's cover from the performance. It's a wonderful version of the song that stays quite true to the original, and if you love the band or the film, you're going to love this. The Army of Broken Toys perfectly capture the joy and playful menace of The Nightmare Before Christmas. I've been wishing for a release from this show, so this is particularly special for me. You ...