Red Shaydez! OK let’s talk some sh**t! Sorry for the potty mouth. Just trying to introduce my next guest appropriately. Red Shaydez is a Do it your-selfer whose name I have heard countless times over the past few years. She is a busy woman and talent. A hip-hop artist, producer, videographer, public speaker, educator, and youth mentor, Red has been nominated and/or won several Boston Music Awards including Breakthrough Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, 617 Session artist of the year and I a...
Oct 21, 2021•29 min•Ep. 189
Right when I first started ATB in 2016, emails asking to be a guest were few and far between. One of the first requests I ever got that year was from my next guest, who I never actually met until this past summer. Musician Justine Covault had herself just started her band Justine and The Unclean. She’s someone who gets stuff done. From co-founding female-fronted rock festival WhistleStop Rock to starting a monthly residency at The Plough And Stars with 'The Mess Around', Justine has ventured int...
Oct 06, 2021•46 min•Ep. 188
Linnea Herzog is someone you don’t miss when you walk by her. Or see on stage. And I would surmise at her day job as a neuroscientist at The Broad Institute, you can’t miss her there either. Musicians are smart. But some are smarter than others, especially when you get a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Brandeis University where Linnea studied how taste and spatial information are processed in the rodent hippocampus. Linnea is actually our second musician/scientist we’ve spoken to at The Broad Institu...
Sep 09, 2021•44 min•Ep. 187
I saw my first show at Once Ballroom in Somerville a few years ago, entering the building, wondering if I just walked into a bar mitzvah, or as JJ Gonson first thought when she saw the room for the first time, a high school prom. But on the raised stage I saw the band, Dada. That was only the first time among many. Mostly I was there for the infamous Boston Emissions Rock and Roll Rumble, where the place transformed into a community of music fans and bands who supported each other and the music ...
Aug 05, 2021•55 min•Ep. 186
Matt Lorenz, AKA The Suitcase Junket. Many sounds come from this one-man band. Sounds from actual suitcases, from guitars found in the trash to any number of odds and ends Matt procures, invents, and salvages. He is an inventive and talented guy. I took a trip out to western MA to chat with Matt in his recently almost finished studio to talk about, well, a whole bunch of things - his latest album The End is New, his upcoming show at the Sinclair in Cambridge MA on August 6th, his life before, du...
Jul 29, 2021•34 min•Ep. 185
Matt Lorenz, AKA The Suitcase Junket. Many sounds come from this one-man band. Sounds from actual suitcases, from guitars found in the trash to any number of odds and ends Matt procures, invents, and salvages. He is an inventive and talented guy. I took a trip out to western MA to chat with Matt in his recently almost finished studio to talk about, well, a whole bunch of things - his latest album The End is New, his upcoming show at the Sinclair in Cambridge MA on August 6th, his life before, du...
Jul 29, 2021•41 min•Ep. 184
When COVID first hit Boston and we were sequestered in our hobbit holes, we decided to offer a window for everyone to see and hear live music for a musical respite from the pandemic. One of our guests on this program that we called #TogetherAtHome was the awesome Wolff Sisters. These three sisters and musicians, who are also fellow 2020 Boston Music Award winners for Americana Artist of the Year, invited me into their home to chat about their last album Queendom of Nothing. But their most recent...
Jul 22, 2021•49 min•Ep. 183
I was very happy to sit with Knar Bedian, Founder and Editor in Chief of Sound of Boston music blog. I discovered Sound of Boston before I started Above The Basement and I am a huge fan. I asked Knar on in the early days of ATB and she politely refused. But I kept at it and finally got her on the show. Knar loves Boston, and like many of us, she wants to make sure people know how amazing and vibrant the Boston music scene is. But even beyond that, as a proud Armenian-American, Knar is a tireless...
Jul 08, 2021•35 min•Ep. 182
Like so many of the Boston musicians we have talked to, Avi Salloway from the band Billy Wylder is a very thoughtful guy who has learned that as an activist, you need to understand how to be an ally. Avi just released a new EP called Whatcha Looking For and we were fortunate enough to hear a few tunes from it. He has played music around the globe, from working with Israeli and Palestinian youth to develop creative nonviolent tools for social change with the Non Profit organization Heartbeat, to ...
Jun 01, 2021•53 min•Ep. 181
Juliana Hatfield! If you did not know, Juliana is a Boston native and still resides in the city. You may see her finishing up her 10…ok maybe 5k run if you can pick her out from the crowd of masked runners. She likes the anonymity and this isolation in the time of COVID fit her very well – or at least it didn’t change much for her - as she is a restless artist and will always find something to do with her creativity. With 26 or so albums under her belt, 19 of those solo studio albums, as well as...
Apr 15, 2021•45 min•Ep. 180
Boston Radio and WBCN legend, Oedipus, is someone who seems to have said yes to everything. Oedipus got his start as an intern in college radio in the 70’s and worked his way into the WBCN family, creating the Boston Radio powerhouse that BCN became. With his cutting-edge pink hair and his love of punk and new wave music, the musicians that made up the Boston bands like DMZ and The Real Kids, many of whom slept on his floor in his small Beacon Hill apartment, paved the way for other bands to bre...
Apr 02, 2021•52 min•Ep. 179
What is a Jamoke? Is a chump a jamoke? We really have no idea. But we love the question and will begin using the word Jamoke on a regular basis. These are the deep questions we dove into when talking with Jennifer D’Angora and Ed Valauskas. Plymouth native Jennifer D’Angora, also known as Jenny Dee, has been on the Boston music scene long enough to be in more bands than we can count. The Dents, Jenny Dee and the Deelinquents, The Downbeat 5, and the fantastic group of musicians that make up the ...
Mar 18, 2021•51 min•Ep. 178
We first heard of Destiny Claymore in an article on Vanyaland and then in another piece by the great Jed Gottlieb in The Boston Herald. A Boston triple threat with an incredible, unique voice and dancing chops, Destiny had a pretty great 2020 - despite COVID. She appears in the upcoming film Free Guy with Ryan Reynolds and not too long ago was also in The Expecting with AnnaSophia Robb. In addition, she was able to release her album Pretty to rave reviews. Not bad for a COVID-filled 2020. Her un...
Mar 12, 2021•43 min•Ep. 177
We think what makes our conversations interesting is the face-to-face we always have and actually required at one point. We used to say no to virtual conversations. But we aren’t idiots, as far as you know, and we are still chatting with our guests virtually because of the evil COVID, and while we are not fans, we still at least get to talk with great musicians who turn out to be great people as well. Two fellas who fall into those two descriptions are Paul Wright and Tim Harrington from the ban...
Feb 25, 2021•45 min•Ep. 176
Part Two! Fans of Phish, Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, these fans are all great. But nothing compares to the fans of the homegrown Boston band Neighbor. Whether that is hyperbole or not (Ron will need to find the definition of that word in a dictionary), the fellas in Neighbor would argue that they do have the greatest fans in the world. Neighbor is Richard James, Dan Kelly, Dean Johnston (aka The Dux), and Lyle Brewer. Four guys who serendipitously came together either as childhood friends or ...
Feb 05, 2021•24 min•Ep. 175
Fans of Phish, Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, these fans are all great. But nothing compares to the fans of the homegrown Boston band Neighbor. Whether that is hyperbole or not (Ron you can find the definition of that word in a dictionary), The fellas in Neighbor would argue that they do have the greatest fans in the world. Neighbor is Richard James, Dan Kelly, Dean Johnston (aka The Dux), and Lyle Brewer. Four guys who serendipitously came together either as childhood friends or were dragged to...
Feb 04, 2021•52 min•Ep. 174
We had a remote conversation with the Boston band The Devil’s Twins, who we’ve wanted to have on for a while. We do not like remote conversations, but we did find it was better than having them in person with masks on. First of all, it is obviously safer to do it remotely, and also it is much more difficult to have a face to face when you can’t even see their faces. So, we will continue to be remote until it is safe to see people in the flesh. That said we were lucky enough to have on Nicole Coo...
Jan 29, 2021•50 min•Ep. 173
We sat with DJ, entrepreneur, and the first black woman to own a digital radio station, Ms. Hot Sauce – AKA Danielle O Johnson. This is probably the most raunchy episode we have ever done, which isn’t really saying much because, well, Ron and I are kinda like saints without the two required miracles. But we do have some inappropriate language in this episode, so block your child's ears as you listen and make this episode go. crazy viral! Danielle started Spark FM just this past year and she has ...
Jan 21, 2021•48 min•Ep. 172
Boston born U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo got her start at Wally’s Jazz Café when she was tricked into performing her poetry in front of an audience by her friends. But her journey reaches much farther than the great Wally’s. U-Meleni spent her youth in Zimbabwe and she credits her late mother as well as her grandmother for her gift of empathy and expression. Since Wally’s, she has gone on to perform internationally as a poet, singer, speaker, and educator. In addition to her artistic endeavors, she is ...
Jan 14, 2021•44 min•Ep. 171
Anyone who grew up in the Boston area in the '70s will remember the GBH theme music that played on our TV sets while we sat 10 inches away from the TV and watched Sesame Street or the always hip kids show Zoom. No, not the Zoom we all use today, but the 1972 Zoom. That iconic music (which you will hear on the episode) is embedded in our brains, and we are happy to say it is still being used to this day by GBH (formerly WGBH). We had the great opportunity to speak with GBH President and CEO Jonat...
Dec 30, 2020•51 min•Ep. 170
Chuck had a solo conversation with the great New England band Twisted Pine. He sat with fiddle player Kathleen Parks, mandolin player Dan Bui and bassist Chris Sartori not too long ago. We missed Twisted Pine's newest addition, Anh Phung, who plays flute in the band, but she is safe at home in beautiful Canada. But we did get to talk about her behind her back - all nice things of course. Twisted Pine is one of the most acclaimed young string bands in the Northeast. These fine musicians bring the...
Dec 17, 2020•55 min•Ep. 169
In early November we ran across an article in the Boston Globe about a collaboration between the Boston Hip Hop group STL GLD and The Boston Symphony Orchestra. The headline alone caught our interest – the BSO is collaborating with a hip hop artist? We were so interested. We watched a music video that they put together and it blew our minds. The song itself, "With Me," from STL GLD's 2019 album "The New Normal” is an amazing piece, made even more incredible by adding talent from some BSO musicia...
Dec 10, 2020•33 min•Ep. 168
It has been an insane few weeks, which is an understatement to say the least since that could apply to the entirety of 2020 if not the last four years. We don’t mean to lay our politics out there, but whatever your beliefs, 2020 can’t end soon enough. Luckily, we were able to talk to the multi-talented Kemp Harris to bring a little light into this terrible year. Kemp is a quintuple threat – actor, songwriter, composer, singer, storyteller – and we are probably missing a few other talents in ther...
Dec 03, 2020•41 min•Ep. 167
Mission of Burma has been called, and we quote, "...one of the most important American rock bands of the last 20 years." That quote may be a bit dated, as now it may be 40 years, but either way, Clint Conley may find that to be hyperbole. But the fact remains that bands like The Pixies, Pearl Jam, Moby, REM, Nirvana and Throwing Muses (to name just a few) list Burma as a major influence, it is hard to argue with that moniker. In 1979, bass player Clint Conley, along with guitarist Roger Miller, ...
Nov 19, 2020•49 min•Ep. 166
We had an opportunity to sit with Abby (Abs) Kahler and Zoe Young - two of the members of the feminist folk foursome from Western, MA in the Pioneer Valley, Ruby Mack. We were sad to miss their bandmates Emma Ayres and Abbie Duquette, but during the time of COVID, we are always happy to sit face to face albeit 10 feet away and masked to chat with talented musicians. We got heavy into their songwriting and their debut album Devil Told Me, which they just released in late October. Like so many mus...
Nov 12, 2020•49 min•Ep. 165
Boston native Mark Kates is the founder of Fenway Recordings and manages several bands, including MGMT, The Cribs, Mission of Burma, Doves, Swim Mountain and KUNZITE. He had been in the biz since he was a kid, signing a who’s who of bands over the years including Beck, Jawbreaker, Elastica, Alabama 3. When working for Geffen, he brought them Sonic Youth and also worked with Nirvana, Hole, Teenage Fanclub, XTC, Siouxsie and the Banshees, White Zombie. The list is CRAZY. Oh yeah, and he also ran t...
Oct 29, 2020•54 min•Ep. 164
We took a lovely drive to western ma to sit alongside a flowing river with our new best friend Erin McKeown. OK, she might not be our best friend, but we certainly wish she was. Erin is a force of nature. A persistent welcoming smile immediately put me at ease. So much so that we talked for almost two hours. Which is why this episode is in two parts. We talk music, musical theater, writing, name dropping, COVID, hope, and other things too numerous to mention. Over the last few decades Erin McKeo...
Oct 22, 2020•29 min•Ep. 163
We took a lovely drive to Western MA to sit alongside a flowing river with our new best friend Erin McKeown. OK, she might not be our best friend, but we certainly wish she was. Erin is a force of nature. A persistent welcoming smile immediately put me at ease. So much so that we talked for almost two hours. Which is why this episode is in two parts. We talk music, Musical theater, writing, name dropping, COVID, hope, and other things too numerous to mention. Over the last few decades Erin McKeo...
Oct 22, 2020•52 min•Ep. 162
Every time we ask someone in the music business what is the most exciting thing happening in music in the City of Boston, we always get the same answer. Hip-Hop. Not only has Hip Hop become the most popular music genre in the rest of the world, but Boston has become a hotbed of fantastic hip-hop artists like our next guest, Brandie Blaze. Brandie is nominated for Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the Boston Music Awards and is blazing (sorry) her own path with her powerful and energetic perform...
Oct 15, 2020•44 min•Ep. 161
Every once in a while we get to chat with a Boston legend. Chris Smither is one of the most distinguished and authentic singer-songwriter/bluesmen over the past 50+ years. His soulful voice and excellent finger-style guitar playing is set to a heartbeat kept in time by his signature tapping feet. Chris moved to Boston from New Orleans back in the mid 1960’s and within hours of arriving he was on stage with Eric von Schmidt in Harvard Square at Club ‘47 (now Club Passim). Hanging out with his fut...
Oct 08, 2020•59 min•Ep. 160
