Deep Cuts, Deep Winter

Tatooine Punk Scene goes podracing at Deep Cuts on Wednesday, 31 January 2024.

Good June bases their band in Boston in the opening slot.

Another love letter written from the black-boxed interior of Deep Cuts in Medford, a place for music, food, and drink.

We’re going to post a few of these because the brewpub has been putting on some tight bills of late. Freebie shows, at that. Maybe two bands, no cover, relaxed vibe.

You see the “free show” concept at different joints around town. Even more so during the drab winter months when it’s harder to coax people out of their houses and apartments.

It can be a tough ask for artists, who presumably get paid less for these types of shows. Or does the house just pay the same rate and chalk it up as a business expense during the colder months?

Either way, there’s a tip bucket for the artists floating around, so don’t be stingy on a show with no cover.

While we’re on the topic, State Park Bar in Kendall Square has been offering free live music on Sunday nights. A great schedule too. Is that still happening?

Hump Nights

May 20

Flora Algera / The Cherry Fog / The Cheap Dates

May 23

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus

May 25

Three Sided Die | On Regret | Declaw | Sly Fang

Jun 1

Sapling / Orca Bones / Battlemode / The Jacklights / Double Star

Jul 3

Lesser Birds

The opening quartet kicked out a set of emo-slanted tunes, including a new song that might have been called “What Would You Do?” It’s Good June!

Whatever Jesus would do, of course.

And there’s not much to say about band names when every moniker under the sun has been used twice, thrice, or four times over (there’s another Good June in Victorville, California). But the heartache of a story behind the name of the Boston-based outfit was a surprise punch in the gut on an otherwise unassuming night of pop punk.

Pop culture is a deranged sort of beast where everything serious is taken lightly, and light seriously.

Extra points for stage banter from Tatooine Punk Scene. On a midweek midwinter show you need a little conversation to keep the pulse stable. Don’t EMTs always make sure to keep the patient talking? This is one of those “Boston-based” bands with a witchy scent. Not far removed from the release of their recent single “Lunchbox,” recorded in Salem.