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Paupers, peasants
Read Yellow bone up on Dylan
BY CHRIS RUCKER
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Boston claims a not quite spurious but also not entirely overwhelming connection to Bob Dylan, and a forthcoming indie-punk Dylan tribute has a couple of tangential Boston connections. Being readied by the Los Angeles (formerly Boston) label Doghouse Records, the double-disc Paupers, Peasants, Princes and Kings will include Dylan covers by Read Yellow, Apollo Sunshine, and Panama Jerk, this last featuring Blood Brothers guitarist Cody Votolato and (former Boston dude) Wes Eisold of Give Up the Ghost/Some Girls fame. "When Doghouse asked us to be part of the comp, we were both excited and skeptical at the same time," says Read Yellow frontman Evan Kenney. "We didn’t know how the hell we were going to cover a Dylan song. We decided to do ‘If Not For You’ [off 1970’s New Morning], which is more on the honky-tonk side of Dylan’s library. We picked it because we loved the song, and it was, stylistically, a challenge for us." Especially since, as you may have noticed if you’ve caught Read Yellow recently (say, on their tour with Providence spazz-punks Daughters), they’re undergoing their own version of Dylan-goes-electric. "What I’m most excited about is that Read Yellow’s sound has changed a lot in the last few years," Kenney continues, "and this is sort of a peek into what our new album is going to be like. We wanted to do a version that was kind of dark, a little noisy, and abrasive but still remained an unsettling love song. We know Bob Dylan would hate it, but we love it and that’s all that matters. Then again, one of Bob Dylan’s favorite artists is Ice-T, so maybe he’ll dig our noise." Look for Paupers, Peasants, Princes and Kings around Halloween. Killswitch Engage have scheduled a last-minute gig for this Monday, July 25 (an Ozzfest off night), at the Palladium in Worcester; the gig is being filmed for a DVD. Their Ozzfest tour mates As I Lay Dying open. Tickets are a measly $5; call (800) 477-6849. Killswitch had been scheduled to join fellow Massachusetts dudes Shadows Fall on the main stage at Ozzfest, but they turned it down in order to co-headline the second stage — and at the tour kickoff at the Tweeter Center last weekend, the move looked to have paid off, since every fifth kid seemed to be wearing a Killswitch shirt. Shads, Killswitch, and Bury Your Dead (also on the second stage) turned in intense sets; they were the most impressive indie acts amid a collection of fake hardcore and metal bands that need to go away forever. . . . Boston hardcore act Disaster Strikes are in the studio with Today Is the Day frontman Steve Austin, whose production credits include discs by Converge, Lamb of God, and Unsane. Austin moved to Massachusetts a few years ago and opened his own Austin Enterprises studio in Lunenburg; look for an album at the end of the year on Jello Biafra’s Alternative Tentacles label. . . . The Dutch hardcore band No Turning Back have joined the Salem based Bridge Nine Records roster. Formed in 1997, the group had released material with Reflections Records and GSR; look for their new Rise from the Ashes on September 20. . . . And mark your calendar for the Scorpisces Production "Punk-B-Q" on August 6, with sets by Wiley Riley & the Clam Smackin’ Action, These Lies, Tomorrow the Gallows (Jeff Rowe from Boxingwater), the Killtakers, Shanghai Valentine, Attackula, and more. It’s an all-ages, all-day show at Evans Field, at the MBTA depot in Rockport. Chris Rucker is the host of New England Product, which airs Sundays from 9 to 10 p.m. on WFNX 101.7 FM.
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