New England Music News

Boston music news, March 3, 2006

Notes on Street Dogs, and the lineup for the kickoff of the Rock N Roll Rumble

By SARAH TOMLINSON | March 1, 2006

Punk hooligans the STREET DOGS are hard at work writing material for their third full-length album, Not Without a Purpose . . . Not Without a Fight!, which is due in late summer or early fall on their own Brass Tacks imprint. They head into producer/engineer Brian McTernan’s Salad Days studio May 10 to record some of the 20 new songs they’ve penned, which include “Resentment,” “Decency Police,” and “Driving Away on 93.” Singer (and original DROPKICK MURPHYS frontman) Mike McColgan says, “The new tracks have power, speed, and a good old pissed-off spirit bounding through them.” The Dogs are headed to Japan to support the Bouncing Souls, but to warm up they’re playing a handful of US tour dates this month that include an opening slot for the Pogues March 14 at the Orpheum. McColgan: “I pinch myself every day since we were told that we got a show with them.” . . . The 28th annual WBCN Rock N Roll Rumble at the Middle East kicks off April 2, with the preliminary rounds running through April 8 and the final scheduled for Friday April 21. Among the 24 unsigned bands competing for cash and prizes are genre-bending art-rockers CAMPAIGN FOR REAL-TIME, Britpoppish indie-rockers TAXPAYER, and soulful pop revivalists the RUDDS. . . . Dulcet-voiced bi-coastal singer-songwriter RACHAEL CANTU, who’s been roosting part-time in Somerville since 2003, celebrates the release of her new Run All Night (Q Division) March 7 at the Middle East. The album was recorded over three days last September at Q Division with producer/engineer Matt Beaudoin. Tegan Quin of Tegan and Sara, whom Cantu toured with in 2004, guests on the joyous mid-tempo rocker “Saturday,” and Rudds guitarist TONY GODDESS plays organ and keyboard on the mournful “Blood Laughs.” Such collaboration between local musicians is one of the things that Cantu loves most about making music in Boston. “I have played with some incredible musicians who have asked for nothing in return. They just want to be a part of making music. I don’t think I’d have that opportunity anywhere else.” Next up for her is a series of national dates through the end of March; they’ll include a stop at South by Southwest . . . Filmmaker CHERYL EAGAN-DONOVAN screens her REAL KIDS documentary All Kindsa Girls March 2 at Philadelphia’s Fourth Annual Backseat Film Festival. She’ll also show it at Toronto’s North by Northeast Music and Film Festival in June.