What I'm Listening To

Worcester Telegram

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What you’re listening to: LB Worm


By Victor D. Infante TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
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LB Worm Blogger, “Wormtown Punk Punk”
What LB Worm is listening to:

1. “202,” Angry Johnny and the Killbillies 2. “I Don’t Want To Be Left Behind,” by the Time Beings 3. “Bitch,” by the Plastiscines 4. “Good Old Days,” by the Numbskulls 5. “Psycho Boyfriend,” by Slitstich 6. “In Me Shed,” by Punks Not Dads 7. “Cape Cod Girls,” by Sharks Come Cruisin’ 8. “The Ballad of McNasty,” by the Pity Whores 9. “Monkey Man,” by Guns Of Navarone 10. “What’s Up Doc?” by Carbon Silicon LB Worm, blogger and WURN.org radio host, likes his music local and he likes his music loud. What else would you expect from someone behind the popular music blog, “Wormtown Punk”? The Time Beings, the Numbskulls, Slitstitch — Worm offers a veritable who’s who of the Worcester scene’s flat-out, straight-ahead rock, and he’s not ashamed to show his love.

For example, of the Time Beings’ “I Don’t Want To Be Left Behind,” he says, “This is Worcester’s own guitar god Preston Wayne’s garage band. Raw wild rock music played at high volume that will make the birds fly away from house.” And he says, of the Numbskulls track, “A song about friends and family in the rock ’n’ roll scene in Wormtown. One of the best punk bands to ever come out of Worcester.”

Which is high praise, from someone who’s relentless in promoting the music scene, and whose knowledge of the music extends beyond the city’s borders, and includes such unique bands as Sharks Come Cruisin’.

“SCC,” he says, “is a band out of Providence that plays traditional sea shanties and sailor songs with a modern twist. This, the opening track, is about women from the Cape, and how they live their lives and raise families.”

Other bands on his playlist come from as far away as Europe, such as the UK’s Punks Not Dads, which he describes as, “Old punks from the UK who prove that punks don’t fade away, instead they make loud music to annoy their kids and neighbors. A great song about the glory of your backyard shed, where you can get away from it all and relax.”

And of course, a few punk legends make their way onto the list, most notably on Carbon Silicon’s “What’s Up Doc?”

“This is former Clash guitarist Mick Jones and Generation X bassist Tony James’ new group,” says Worm, “who would rather give away their music than charge people for it. You can download this CD from their Web site. The song is faster and harder than most of the stuff Jones has played in the past.”

But in the final analysis, Worm’s someone who reserves the better part of his love for local acts such as Slitstitch.

“More punk noise from Wormtown,” he says. “This one starts slow then builds into a fast paced rave-up, ending in total destruction of your ears.”

And from where Worm’s sitting, that sounds about perfect.

Guilty pleasure: “No songs on my MP3 player to be embarrassed by,” says Worm, who played all the songs on his list on his radio show. “I don’t listen to bad music, and the only things on my MP3 player are old radio episodes of ‘The Jack Benny Program.’ ”