Built4BBQ’s Star Spangled Bonanza 2 is coming up real quick! The double-barrel lineup at the Low Beat and Pauly’s is stacked full of bands you know and love, as well as some killer rock ‘n’ rollers making their Built4BBQ debuts. Over the next week, we’ll shine a star spangled spotlight on some of these most righteous dudes. First up, kicking your teeth in at 7:45 on the Low Beat stage, it’s our favorite Boston punks, The Radicals.

The raddest. Photo by Nuraj Shrestha.

More than just about any other band we’ve seen in the past number of years we’ve spent as jaded, boring adults, The Radicals remind us of why we ever got so stoked on this whole punk rock thing. On record or in a Jamaica Plains dive bar, the pure energy and joy these three fine young gentlemen expel brings you back to a time and place where the sweat’s dripping from the ceiling, the 40s are reasonably cold and little sub-genres of sub-genres don’t exist. This is punk rock for
punk rock’s sake, weaving bits and pieces of everything that ever mattered into a kick-ass 30 minute wave of fast and loud that’s pretty much guaranteed to put a smile on your face and a stomp in your step.

So you understand, it’s a goddamn shame that after something like a decade of wrecking basements across the eastern seaboard, The Radicals will be calling it quits this August. It’s a bittersweet thing, welcoming our Boston buds to town for their first and last Built4BBQ fiesta, but we’re happy we get to help see them off in style. This will likely be their last Albany appearance, and maybe even their last show before their big Boston send-off and EP release on August 15, so make sure you show up early and hit the pit one last time in tribute.

The dudes are currently offering all their fine album releases for name-your-price download at their Bandcamp page – have at it and sing along loud and proud on the 4th of July.

Bitchin’ poster by Henry’s Rifle.

Patriots and compatriots, we are proud to announce the return of Built4BBQ’s Star Spangled Bonanza, coming to The Low Beat & Pauly’s Hotel this Independence Day! Six George Washingtons at the door gains you access to two fine venues and nine killer American rock ‘n’ roll bands. We just might have outdone ourselves with this year’s lineup, which will feature:

* Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride! A super-special return of the TOOOOOADS, we promise you don’t want to miss how Albany’s best-ever superstar cover band celebrates the 4th.

* The Slaughterhouse Chorus! A rare appearance from Albany’s third-best punk band, playing their first and quite possibly only public show of 2015 in commemoration of their favorite holiday.

* Kimono Dragons!  Talk about jazz all you want, but we all know that surf rock is America’s true contribution to world culture. And the Dragons bring it better than anybody.

* The End Men! Fresh off their Euro tour, our Brooklyn buds will be celebrating the Albany release of their fantastic new album Terms and Conditions with their first ever 518 appearance as a trio, featuring the mighty Matt Elia of Public Access fame on saxophone.

* The Savage Randys! Does anything scream “HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA” more than the perfect marriage of punk rock and professional wrestling?

* Party Boat! The 518’s catchiest band is now also among its rockin’est. If you haven’t seen these dudes, or haven’t seen them in a while, you’re in for an awfully good time.

* Charmboy! It’s been way too long since we had our faces thoroughly shredded by our favorite power trio.

* The Radicals!  Boston’s best make their long overdue Built4BBQ debut. These three dudes make the kind of music that’s inspired 239 years of American circle pits.

* Henry’s Rifle! You know him, you love him. Our resident country-blues madman stomps the boards and shreds the strings for one of his only shows this summer.

Doors open at 6pm! BYOfireworks. Find more info at the Facebook event.

SAVE THE DATE, AMERICA.

We’re pleased to announce that The End Men‘s latest and greatest, Terms and Conditions, is now available for your internet consumption. Limited-edition vinyl and hand-screened CDs are on the way. Augmenting the dynamic duo’s patented rock ‘n’ roll assault with the addition of saxophone maniac Matt Elia, Terms and Conditions is the loosest, heaviest, jazziest, gnarliest End Men record yet, taking the band’s bluesy pummeling in all manner of unexpected but wholly righteous directions. Dig in.

If you’re on the right side of the Atlantic, the End Men just may be coming to town near you soon; if you’re here with us in the 518, keep your calendars clear on the 4th of July.

BBQ special edition CDs.

That tasty, tasty vinyl.

While the rest of us ball up into the fetal position to wait out the rest of this god-foresaken northeastern winter with healthy supplies of apathy, alcohol, Netflix and nachos close at hand, our Brooklyn brethren THE END MEN have decided to use all the time indoors to their advantage. These rock ‘n’ roll animals are hard at work with co-producer John Epperly in his new studio, laying down monster tracks for their upcoming fourth album, Terms and Conditions.

This record will be the first to feature the contributions of Matt Elia, the saxophone colossus and all-around good guy you may recognize from his time in Public Access and frequent guest spots with the Slaughterhouse Chorus. Expect the patented End Men growl and grind we all know and love, enhanced by strains of reedery reminiscent of Bowie and Beefheart on a bender. The world needs this album, and we frankly cannot wait to hear it.

There’s talk of a vinyl release, and you know that shit ain’t cheap, so how about you go buy some stuff from the End Men right now and help them press this down and dirty rock music into the wax grooves it was always meant to blast from.

A European tour commences this spring, and we’re reasonably sure the U.S. ain’t safe either. Follow along at home at for updates.

We did it, people. The future is here, and it’s already looking pretty weird.  2015 kicks off with a righteous birthday bash for our buds at B-Scene Productions at the Low Beat on Saturday, January 10. This killer bill of northeastern punk rock will be initiated by none other than Built4BBQ’s latest offspring, GIRTH CONTROL. A ska-punk sideproject from members of The Slaughterhouse Chorus, what began as a one-off excuse to play Less Than Jake covers in public is now a living, breathing, skanking monstrosity. Armed with a set of original songs celebrating the glory of ’90s punk, cheap beer and mohawks, Girth Control will make their very first venture above ground on the 10th after a couple wild Shred Shack appearances closed out 2014. Actual bands on the bill include Totally Gnarly, Boston dudes Loser’s Circle, long-running Pittsfield punx The Damaged and CT’s Cry Havoc. Bring your circle-pittin’ shoes.

Here’s the Facebook event.

It’s the day we hoped would never arrive: the one, the only, the Pistolwhips, destroyers of planets, saviors of the universe, will take their final bow this Saturday at the Shred Shack. The plaid-clad garage rockers have been doing their thing better than everyone for a few years now, putting out the best album of all time and some face-melting singles along the way, but now the time has come to freeze this beautiful, three-headed rock ‘n’ roll dragon in carbonite. Nothing solid gold can stay, my friends.

We’ve got one last chance to laugh, cry, sing loud and shred gnar – this Saturday, November 15, at the Pistolwhips’ underground lab away from home, The Shred Shack, with The Slaughterhouse Chorus and Long Island dudes InCircles in tow. Drop us a line for address at built4bbq at gmail dot com.