News and notes on Dear Leader, Radio Knives, Damone, and Crash and Burn
By SARAH TOMLINSON | January 17, 2006
DEAR LEADER are hard at work on their second album; tentatively titled The Siamese Democracy, it’s due out in April on Lunch Records. Former Sheila Divine frontman Aaron Perrino and company are recording at Camp Street Studios in Cambridge with Paul Kolderie, who also produced their Boston Music Award–winning debut, All I Ever Wanted Was Tonight. Among the songs they’re laying down are current live-show favorites "(I Got) Radar" and "Labor On." In the meantime, their debut album is being re-released on January 23 by Play It Again Sam records (also home to Mogwai) in the Benelux territories (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg), and they’ll tour overseas in February. They’ll play a couple of sendoff shows at T.T. the Bear’s Place on January 27 with the Bleedin Bleedins and January 28 with Caspian . . . After banging around the Boston area for two years, and changing their name from TV Eye at the insistence of Iggy and the Stooges, local garage-punk band the RADIO KNIVES are self-releasing their debut album, Cursed. The band, featuring former Downbeat 5 drummer Dan McCarthy, recorded the release at Basement 247 in Allston with Jack Younger (producer to the COFFIN LIDS and the KONKS), who "took a few sonic experiments on the record that are pretty weird and interesting," according to McCarthy. Check it out at myspace.com/theradioknives, or when they play January 13 at Bill’s Bar with MUCK AND THE MIRES and THE WORLD’S GREATEST SINNERS . . . It’s official: goodbye, Green Street Grill; hello, GREEN STREET. Former B-Side bartender Dylan Black and owner John Clifford are taking over the Central Square restaurant and bar on January 10. There will be a closing-night party on January 8, after which the space will close for renovations. They’re aiming for a Valentine’s Day unveiling, with their new name, menu, and cocktail list in place. The bar will not book any live music but will offer a late-night menu and host specialty-cocktail events . . . The release date for their as-yet-untitled sophomore album has been pushed back until June, but in the meantime, righteous rockers DAMONE are keeping the dream alive with their "Ultimate Shredder" contest. Contestants have until February 1 to send in a videotape picturing themselves "raining down fiery bolts of lightning," according to contest rules. They’ll be judged on sound, skill, technique, and passion, and the fiercest shredder in the land will receive a Gibson SG ’61 Reissue guitar and the chance to appear in a Damone video. Shred on for more details here . . . Pedal-to-the-metal punk rockers CRASH AND BURN announced that their New Year’s Eve show last weekend at the Middle East would be their last, but they’re already hinting at a "proper" final show sometime in the spring. In the statement announcing their decision, frontman Billy Brown said that while there was no bad blood among the band members, "we all feel the need to pursue other things, in music and out of it."
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On the Web:
Dear Leader: http://www.dear-leader.com/
Radio Knives at Phoenix Band Guide: http://phoenixbandguide.com/artistprofile2.aspx?id=2381
Damone: http://www.damone.net/
Crash and Burn: http://www.crashandburn1.com/
Email the author:
Sarah Tomlinson: stomlins@mindspring.com
Topics:
New England Music News
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, Entertainment, Music, Music Reviews, Culture and Lifestyle, Holidays, Sheila Divine, Dylan Black, Mogwai, Aaron Perrino, John Clifford, Less 
