If It's Too Loud...

Today is a day devoted to spending as much money as possible in order to get great deals. While you're spending all your money today, Rum Bar Records have decided to give you an amazing sampler for free! The Nice Price 'Second Shot' (Free Digital) 2024 Sampler is a monster thirty-eight track sampler of what Rum Bar Records has been up to all year. Rum Bar is one of our favorite labels, and you'll soon see why with this free release. It's thirty-eight killer garage rock and power pop songs that show off how diverse and great the label's releases are. It features long term If It's Too Loud... favorites like The Yum Yums, Jittery Jack with Amy Griffin on Guitar, Girl with a Hawk, Muck and the Mires, Diablogato, The Shang Hi Los, and The Dogmatics, as well as many, many bands to discover. Seriously, who else is going to give you a deal this great on this Black Friday? Lou Mansdorf of Rum Bar Records says of his label's new sampler: “I think we’re all in a cr...

This past weekend saw the return of The Town and The City Festival to downtown Lowell over Friday and Saturday. With such a stacked line up and so many bands to see, it was impossible to see them all, or even every band you wanted to see. I tried to take in as much as possible, had to make some tough decisions (or had some made for me), and had a fantastic two nights of music. I started off my night at Smokehouse Tavern to see The Only Things, , Muck and the Mires, and Linnea's Garden. I've been listening to The Only Things for years now, but this was my first time finally seeing the Lowell band live. I missed a few songs of their set, but from what I saw they out on a great show. Just some solid punk and garage rock and roll played by a group of guys just having fun with it. They closed with a cover of The Replacements' "Bastard of Young," which fit right in with their own songs. Next up for me was Muck and the Mires. I'm always shocked that the Boston garage...

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. If you're looking for last minute plans this weekend, we recommend: Friday April 26 The Town and the City Festival, Lowell, MA      Tysk Tysk Task, One Fall, Subpunch, and Burp. at The Old Court     Frank Morey, Sofia Talvik, and Evan Goodrow at Gallery Z     Cuidado, Linnea's Garden, Muck and the Mires, and The Only Things at                   Smokehouse Tavern     Orbit and D-Tension & The Secrets at Warp & Weft Kid Gulliver and The Smallest Town Ensemble at Exhibit 'A' Brewing Company, Framingham, MA Screaming Dead, Gretchen Shae & The...

This weekend marks the return of The Town and the City Festival on Friday and Saturday. The festival is spread throughout downtown Lowell, MA with many of the venues within a block or two of each other. The festival is always a well run great time with something for virtually every music fan. Here's a guide to what we consider to be the highlights, which include many of our favorite artists! Friday night features Sofia Talvik at Gallery Z. The singer-songwriter is on tour throughout the US all the way from Sweden, and has been a favorite of ours before we started If It's Too Loud... She'll be joined by Evan Goodrow and Frank Morey. Christ Church United features the legendary English singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock. Any time he plays in the area is an official Big Deal. You can tell The Town and the City know what they're doing since this is a return to the festival for him. He'll be joined by Syd Straw, making this a legendary bill in the making. If you're loo...

December is an incredibly busy month for all of us. It's hard to make time for live music or nights out with all of the obligations, family time, etc. Normally we wouldn't implore you to go out on a Saturday night in mid-December, but this Saturday is an exception. First, Let's Rock Cancer is a great cause and is benefitting The Cancer Care Equity Center at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Second, the line up is amazing. You get the vintage garage rock of Muck & The Mires, Vapors of Morphine keeping the spirit of Morphine alive, the killer power pop of The Chelsea Curve, the eclectic weirdo sound of Muzzins, the fusion sound of The Ray Liriano Experience, and cover band Uncivil Servants. Plus, Henry Santoro of WGBH (and ex-WFNX) is the MC for the evening. The whole thing goes down this Saturday night at Crystal Ballroom at Somerville Theater, with tickets starting at $25. For more information on Let's Rock Cancer and to buy tickets, head on over to the Crystal Ballroom...

The Town and the City Festival continues to be one of the best smaller festivals in the northeast, and this year's line up is stellar. Held throughout Lowell, MA, this year's festival will be held April 26 and 27. In 2024, Robyn Hitchcock returns and we'll also get long standing indie rockers Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Americana artist Amythyst Kiah, Swedish singer-songwriter Sofia Talvik, and Boston indie pop sensations The Q-Tip Bandits. The festival also includes some of our absolute favorite local artists including Akrobatik, Burp, Colleen Green, Jen Kearney, Linnea's Garden, Muck & The Mires, One Fall, Orbit, Roger Miller, Sapling, Subpunch, The Chelsea Curve, The Shirt & Shoes, Tysk Tysk Task, and many, many more. And this is just the initial line up, with more to come in 2024! Two-day passes go on sale today at 10:00 am for the special low price of $45 until November 30. For more on The Town and the City Festival, check out the festival's website .

I'm a little bit of an obsessive Jon Spencer fan. I've seen Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Heavy Trash, and Jon Spencer + The HITmakers before, so I'm obviously going to try to see the man every time he comes through the area. With the release of last year's excellent Spencer Gets It Lit , I've watched the band play multiple tours without coming to Boston, or anywhere else I could feasibly get to easily. When he finally announced a Boston show at The Middle East, I couldn't pass it up. An added bonus were two local support bands I'd go see on their own anytime. Muck and the Mires were a perfect opener for Jon Spencer. They have this vintage garage rock sound that could be from anytime in the past six decades. It's the style started in hundreds of garages across America once The Beatles broke out that isn't exactly easy to tie down to a specific time since every generation has a handful of these bands. They're one of those bands that I would have sw...

Photo by Matt Lambert Muck and the Mires started off in 2001, but I would have sworn they've been around at least two decades longer than that. The Boston garage rock staples just have that timeless feel and sound much more like a band from the early 80's punk/rock scene than the early 00's. They've just released a new single, "Beat Revolution," that sounds like it would pre-date the 80's by about fifteen years. This is the kind of garage rock that was made in the 60's, or at least at the height of 60's nostalgia during the 80's. It's the kind of song that sounds like it was from a Nuggets compilation. "Beat Revolution" is pure classic early garage rock 'n' roll, and who doesn't need that sound more often? You can watch the video for "Beat Revolution" below. The song is available as a single via Dirty Water Records in Europe and Rum Bar Records in the US. For more on Muck and the Mires, check out the band...

Muck and the Mires are continuing their streak of classic sounding garage rock with modern topics. The latest is "She Blocked My Number," a song about getting your number blocked by a romantic interest, and finally realizing that this means the relationship is over. Combined with the classic 60's garage rock sound, "She Blocked My Number" could feel like a dad trying to still sound hip, but somehow avoids that. (Plus, we can relate to the dads trying to stay hip just a little more than we care to admit...) Plus, "She Blocked My Number" is significantly more groovy than the previous songs we've heard from Muck and the Mires's upcoming release. You can watch the video for "She Blocked My Number" below. Take Me Back to Planet Earth , the upcoming EP from Muck and the Mires, will be out September 25 on Rum Bar Records. You can pre-order a copy via Bandcamp . For more on Muck and the Mires, be sure to check out their website .

Boston's Muck and the Mires have been keeping busy in self-isolation. They've written and recorded a new EP, and have made the latest song available from it. "Zoom Breakup" is an obviously very specific to 2020 title for a song, all about breaking off a relationship on Zoom. As specific as the year for the song is (let's all hope it only works in 2020...), the song is timeless. It's that groovy garage rock that we love Muck and the Mires for. Could it be from the 60's? 70's? 80's? 90's? Now? Yes to all of those. "Zoom Breakup" is perfect for fans of bands like The Beach Boys, The Lyres, ? and the Mysterians, and The Prefab Messiahs. You can watch the video for "Zoom Breakup" below. Take Me Back to Planet Earth , the upcoming EP from Muck and the Mires, will be out September 25 on Rum Bar Records. You can pre-order a copy here . For more on Muck and the Mires, check them out on Facebook .

Muck and The Mires are "Boston's international ambassadors of garage rock 'n' roll." Their latest single, "Take Me Back to Planet Earth" brings back the alien/space age garage rock trope, which is never not welcome. It's a groovy song with fuzzy guitars that longs for the good old days. It hearkens way back to the days that you could lay out in the sun without sunscreen, smoke in public places, and before cell phones. The quarantine recorded video adds to the alien feeling by showing many Boston landmarks completely empty. If it wasn't for the subject matter, you'd mistake "Take Me Back to Planet Earth" for a song at least forty years old. You can watch the video for "Take Me Back to Planet Earth" below. Take Me Back to Planet Earth , the new EP from Muck and The Mires, will be out September 25 on Rum Bar Records. You can pre-order a copy here . For more on Muck and The Mires, check out their website .