April issue of Boston’s The Noise has a review of Monument Thief’s ‘Your Castle Comes Down’
MONUMENT THIEF – Your Castle Comes Down 13 tracks
Jeremy Withers and Bill Paukert have a long history of making music together, but their latest project, Monument Thief, is probably their most direct and forward-thinking act to date. The band’s trademark sound is a fresh blend of pure and uncompromising rock ’n’ roll that borrows eclectically from the vast vernacular of the genre, incorporating elements of punk, hard rock and alternative.
One of the most interesting things about Your Castle Comes Down is that it allows listeners to take a peek into the kaleidoscopic song-writing sensibilities of the band. Tracks such as “Every Time” or “A Scene” are as gritty and punchy as early Nirvana, while songs the likes of “All On Me” or “Endless Debut” showcase the band’s ability to create memorable melodies, unlike artists such as The Cure or R.E.M.
Your Castle Comes Down is a classic-sounding yet remarkably diverse album that truly makes for an engaging and intriguing listening experience for fans of alternative music spanning all ages and currents.
Matt Fraza interview in the Newport Mercury
By Bre Power Eaton | Mercury | February 25, 2015
As an elementary school teacher at Kingston Hill Academy in Saunderstown, Matt Fraza loves putting on plays with his students. The actor and director enjoys the feeling of unpredictable chaos, of not knowing what will actually happen onstage. This same feeling he now thrives on as a musician. Three years ago, the Perryville resident decided it was time to stop just listening to music and make his own instead. His debut album “Let Trouble Go” was released with 75 or Less Records last September.
Congrats on the release of your debut album!
Thanks. The late-in-life debut.
Well, you’re also busy acting and directing, right?
I kind of came to music through that. I had always played guitar, but from acting and directing, the methodology and work in that I brought to music and found out that I could write and perform songs. Before I didn’t know what my place in music was, but then it was like, Oh! You just have to work at it and memorize the best version of what you want to do. It was like acting like a musician, but now I’ve been playing music long enough that I am a musician.
If the album was a cocktail of your inspirations, what is the recipe?
The mixers that come to mind are the artists that I’ve listened to over and over again. Gram Parsons and the early ’70s Stones. I really love Elliott Smith too, but soul music at the same time.
It kind of reminds me of old punk.
That’s something we always hear too. The Velvet Underground, growing up I loved that. There’s a certain quality to it, I think. People wherever we play, they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s got some ’70s New York punk to it.’ I’ll take that as a compliment. I love that kind of music.
Has the album been a work in progress for a while?
I’ve been working on it for about three years maybe. I’ve only been doing the musical performing thing for about three years, but I had that idea, I was in “King Lear” and I was really tired from moving sets and learning all this stuff, and I wanted to do something that I could do on my own time, on my own schedule and not have to listen to what other people were telling me to do, so I wrote the songs in a couple of batches. To get through the recording, it was about three years. Kind of learning how to play shows, playing shows, and learning how to add musicians to it little by little, getting the songs from just one person playing them up to a full band.
How long have you been playing guitar?
12 or 13, around that age. I was playing but I really didn’t know what I was doing. I was messing around.
So now do you feel like you know what you’re doing?
To a degree. I know I have a place in music. I practice a lot to get better at it — just being in the frontman role and playing the guitar. So now that I know what to do, I can get better at that. I hid in the background for a long time because I didn’t think I could, didn’t think I had a good voice, but then you don’t have to feel that way. Anybody can do it.
Teaching, acting, singing. You’re kind of a Renaissance man. Is jumping to the next thing kind of a life pattern for you?
Sort of. It has been a pattern, I guess. I had that accident [in which he lost his lower left leg] when I was 16. Probably for 10 years after that I didn’t do sports. I was active. I worked all the time. I was growing a family at a young age. As I got a little bit older, I went skiing and learned that I could ski, I learned how to surf and got really into surfing for a long time, then picked up the acting. I almost made a conscious decision with music — you never get to the end of learning.
Do you mind if I ask about the accident?
Basically I got hit by a Thunderbird and that was it. I got crunched.
Have you been on crutches for a long time?
On and off. I’ll go long periods of time on the prosthetic, too. I’m kind of in a tricky spot with it right now. Because I’m on crutches and it’s icy, and then I’ll wear the prosthetic, but it hurts. So it’s hard, but it’s not stopping me. The physical stuff, it’s a challenge. But most people that know me don’t see it after a little bit. It’s not that I act like it’s not there, but I try to be fully engaged in whatever I have going on. If you have something that hurts all the time, the best tactic is to fully engage with something.
Which song seems to strike a chord with your fans?
People like “Hit the Wall” a lot since we kind of rev it up.
And it’s motivating. You sing, “I hit the wall, I kept on going. That wall couldn’t stop me.”
It’s a defiant sort of deal. And “Seventeen” people always seem to like because there’s something about it that’s heartfelt.
A nostalgic sort of feeling?
Sort of. I was thinking back on what it’s about — I’ve been married for almost 24 years — but those days, about being 17, I was friends with my wife, since when we were 12 or 13. I just remember we’d be out drinking or whatever in bars with other teenagers and she was holding me up, and she still is! (Laughs.)
Because you got married in your early 20s and started a family, do you feel like now you’re reliving those younger years?
Not really. You can’t. You know too much to be back in your 20s.
If you could open for anyone, who would it be?
Neko Case.
Why?
Because she’s a daring singer and lyricist and tours with her dog!
Another area of performance in your life is teaching elementary school, where you also teach drama.
We put on so many crazy good plays at Kingston Hill Academy. And that was part of the music thing for me, too. I like putting on a show, dressing up, and having these certain chaotic factors. A lot of it comes from that. The chaos factor is so high when you’re putting on shows with kindergarten to fifth graders. The fun of it is gigantic!
How is that similar to playing music?
Just the excitement of having a show coming up and getting ready for it.
So what do you enjoy more — making records or performing?
They’re two different parts of the same organism. The creation part was fantastic. Working with Tom Chace and Kraig Jordan on the record, making everything as good as you could make it. I think the performance is as or more exciting just because there’s an audience there and there’s a certain element of not knowing what’s going to happen.
That chaos?
Yeah! Keep the band on their toes. Not tell them what’s going to happen. (Laughs.) Bands surprise each other with mistakes. Not in a bad way. Mistakes are a part of performance.
What are your favorite theater roles?
I’ve played in a lot of Shakespeare with Mixed Magic Theatre in Pawtucket: “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “The Tempest,” “Comedy of Errors.” I played a major role in this show called “An Iliad” with The Wilbury Group. It was one actor and one cellist. I played Homer and all the characters in the story. It was painful to learn, but I did really enjoy it. … It’s the kind of role that I’ll be able to play again down the road. It’s kind of back to the Homeric tradition, like “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey.” They were passed on for thousands of years by these guys called rhapsodes and basically you’re a rhapsode when you tell the story because you memorize not the whole thing like the rhapsodes did, but they would go from place to place and present it in an exciting way. So I know I can do that.
So you’re a rhapsode?
I kind of have a rhapsode in my back pocket! I’m just happy to know that it’s there. It was worth the work.
Coma Coma ‘New American Dream’ review in Motif Magazine
Coma Coma – New American Dream (75orLess Records)
Coma Coma have always reminded me of late ’90s alternative rock bands like Radiohead and Hum. Coma Coma works the quiet verse to loud chorus formula with “Warning From The Outside” with mediocre results. The verse lingers too long and doesn’t really have the punch to carry it to the chorus. On the other hand, “Lost in The Slow Decay” excels in this format because it is stronger both musically and lyrically. Even better is “21st Century Savior,” which between its sing-a-long from the ledge chorus to the stoner rock guitar sorcery, might be the best thing that Coma Coma has ever done! New American Dream closes with “Letter to Your Former Self,” which is a 9-minute opus that channels Pink Floyd and Sonic Youth with an outro that is an indie rock version of “Free Bird.”
Further Down the Road, Classic Ruins, Silver Screams, and Coma Coma will drop the hammer at AS220 on Feb 20.
Mike Mountain and Six Star General make Boston’s The Noise Top 10 of 2014
Top 10 New England Rock ’n’ Roll Things of 2014 (in no real order)
10. MIKE MOUNTAIN playing live all over New England, sermonizing and destroying basements and clubs.
9. GUERILLA TOSS creating a post rock disco dance party.
8. SIX STAR GENERAL bringing the party like its 1989.
7. MINIBEAST bringing together the master maniacs of Mission of Burma, Six Finger Satellite, and the Eyesores.
6. DOOMSDAY STUDENT for keeping it real.
5. SEDIMENT CLUB for waving the Captain Beefheart flag high.
4. EXTINCTION MACHINE for coagulating Lolita Black, Dropdead, and Onleyville Sound System.
3. OUTLAW IN PERU for keeping it insane.
2. 28 DEGREES TAURUS for blowing our minds.
1. THE BOSTON HASSLE for pulling it all together.
The Noise reviews Black Oil Incinerator’s Live at Dusk
BLACK OIL INCINERATOR – Live at Dusk
This does not sound like a live album. Black Oil Incinerator are perfect with every note, every change, every lyric. I don’t think there are overdubs like stadium rock bands did on “live” albums back in the day. I suspect that these guys just practice a lot. Some of the songs are kind of shoegazy, with some catchy hooks. Other songs are more psychedelic in nature, but with a kind of Lou Reed lead guitar style. I’ve actually seen these guys perform at Dusk in Providence, but have no idea if this is the show I saw. I’m glad this night was captured on tape, or on the computer, or in a bear trap, or however this alleged “technology” the kids are talking about works now. Imagine what damage these guys can do in a regular studio with some time to spare. Like they chant on wrestling: this is awesome!
Suicide Bill & the Liquors – Cricket Wisdom
75OL-199 Suicide Bill & The Liquors – Cricket Wisdom CD
$7.00 S&H Included
Digital download available here
Track Listing
1. Irish Eyes
2. Feel Like
3. Womb Tomb
4. Damn Unicorn
5. No Friends
6. Quality Control
7. Rock Roll
8. Foolish Amputee
9. Cool Fail
10. Roll Call
11. Tourist T-shirt
12. Cricket Wisdom
Suicide Bill and the Liquors are back with their 5th full length album release on 75orLess.
Rock/Roll in the basement by balding guitar players who should know better.
It’s now 2015.
Have Suicide Bill and the Liquors learned a thing or two?
Absolutely not.
Only crickets have the wisdom.
Plan of a Boy Studio Website Launch
75orLess-endorsed recording studio Plan of a Boy is located in the Smill Hill section of Providence, RI. Kraig Jordan (The Masons, Junior Varsity Arson, Lloyd’s Llamas, Stanatron) owns and operates the studio. They have rebuilt the retaining wall, so you no longer have to worry about being crushed to death while taking a smoke break.
The new website is now launched!
The following 75orLess bands have recorded at Plan of a Boy: Baby Oil, Coma Coma, I am Tom Cummins, Lloyd’s Llamas, Bill Keough, Galvanize, Six Star General, Matt Fraza, Junior Varsity Arson, Jodie Treloar, Karma Rocket, 15er, and others.
Seacoast Online names Thrift Store Ransom and Nate Laban & Sam Hill among their top local albums of 2014
Thrift Store Ransom – “Thrift Store Ransom”
Thrift Store Ransom started as an RPM project, and turned into a full-fledged “thing” that wound up being picked up by Rhode Island-based record label, “75-or-Less.” Not too shabby. My favorite part of this project is the collaboration between frontman Eric Ott and his teenaged daughter, Lindsay. She wrote several of the songs included on the effort, including “Moonshine,” one of the year’s finest penned tunes, hands down.
Nate Laban & Sam Hill – “Nate Laban & Sam Hill”
Nate Laban is simply the best punk-folker on the planet. His brand of music is somewhere in the vein of Elvis Costello hanging with the Clash – pumping out jam after jam. “Nate Laban & Sam Hill” does not venture away from that recipe at all. And why would one want to? So good. So aggressive. So feisty.
All 19 of the 2014 Releases
Thrift Store Ransom review at The Sound
File under: Folk, Americana, Pop, Rock
Sounds like: Impromptu jams from The Byrds, Electric Light Orchestra, Elvis Costello, and
Roy Orbison
Thrift Store Ransom was born out of the annual RPM Challenge. As many RPM alumni know, to write and record an entire album in the year’s shortest month is a journey best experienced with friends. The studio project that began with songwriter Eric Ott and Sean Yadisernia quickly grew to a gathering of 10, including Guy Capecelatro, producer Chris Decato and even Ott’s daughter, Lindsay, who contributed the majority, and the best, of the albums’ lyrics.
The band’s name is, in a sense, literal, as if Ott, Yadisernia, and company have raided a thrift store and plucked out gems from the past. The songs travel from decade to decade, employing the best sounds of their respective eras. The ’60s are well represented in the pop hooks on the album’s standout track, “Moonshine,” and the slow psychedelic sounds of “Cold Blue.” The ’70s “Crazy Horse”-inspired sounds of “The Mill Song #2” give way to the ’80s Costello-esque ender, “Crescent Palms.” The transitions are seamless, and combined with Ott’s resonant vocals, make for traveled-time well spent.
Ott is recording new solo material and playing with Nate Laban in Bear, Brook and The Elephant. Let’s hope he finds an occasion to bring Thrift Store Ransom together again. It would be interesting to see what they could do with more time, literally and figuratively.