rock and roll fables

music, comics, and media in a rock 'n' roll world

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Helen McWilliams: A Rock And Roll Fables Conversation

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Credit: Coleman Rogers Photography

We don’t watch a lot of reality TV but when we do we definitely get invested enough and get bummed when the higher ups overlook the underdogs we usually root for. While the Rock & Roll Rumble is by no means the same as reality TV, the fact of the matter is that the annual competition is reality. And we definitely had some favorites who some would consider underdogs after some lengthy research leading up to our preview coverage. One of those artists was Salem’s own ONE FALL who, being a relatively new band with only a few shows under their belt at the time, managed to win the whole damn thing! And from the performances we saw throughout the course of the Rumble we could see why.

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Pulp Rawk: That Halloween By Mike Hickey

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Did you know that there was a companion novella to Mike Hickey’s 2021 short film That Halloween??? Neither did we! Until we met the director quite unexpectedly earlier in the year at Salem Horror Fest and he told us all about it! Being a completist, and because we loved the short which you can read about here, we just had to get our hands on a copy. And like most books in our possession we didn’t get to it in a timely manner… until now!

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Singles! SWTEVL, “Hellzapoppin'”

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“Listen at your own risk!” might be the final line uttered by Tairrie B. Murphy at the conclusion of the debut single from new outfit SWTEVL (Pronounced “Sweet Evil”) but the only risk we can envision is listeners missing out by not taking a chance on the righteous Rawk flowing out of the speakers when “Hellzapoppin'” is on!

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Pulp Rawk: MASS: Essays On Memory, Language, & The State Of Massachusetts By Buick Audra

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Were you properly immersed in the new concept album called MASS from Friendship Commanders? Did you find yourself completely captivated and intrigued by “Dissonance”, the spoken-word closing track on that record? Well, the story doesn’t end there!

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RNRF X Salem Horror Fest: The Ones You Didn’t Burn

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We covered a LOT of the 2023 Salem Horror Fest selections but realized, after a point, that some of our overflow following the festival’s conclusion might be best held for a rainy day… or perhaps a Spooky Season??? One of those leftover SHF reviews of ours is for The Ones You Didn’t Burn from writer/director Elise Finnerty which, unlike most of our coverage at the time, is conveniently ready to watch as soon as you finish reading this (Links below)!

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2023 Rumble Champs ONE FALL Close Out Banner Year With The Next Batch Of Your New Favorite Punk Rawk Anthems On Spine First!

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Design Credit:  Adam Cutler at Motionless Visions

We cannot get over how rad the new EP from Salem’s ONE FALL is. Actually, scratch that. We can get over it. You know why? Because ONE FALL ain’t your 2023 Rock & Roll Rumble winnahs on a lark. They earned it from releases and performances like this and if their last release didn’t convince you then Spine First! certainly will.

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Singles! Ex-Hyena, “In Slow Motion”

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Artwork: Ian Adams

We don’t listen to Ex-Hyena nearly as much as we should and latest single, “In Slow Motion”, is a glaring reminder of that fact. A Gothic Electro burner in the vein of The Faint’s early work with sweeping old school ’80’s New Wave tendencies, the newest from Reuben Bettsak and Bo Barringer is a synthetic symphony through and through.

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Singles! Parts Per Million, “CTRL ALT DEL”

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Album Art by Evan Middleton

Once we discover a new band, barring some kind of disastrous/monumental change in sound, we’re usually fans for life. Maybe that’s the comic nerd/collector/completist in us but loyalty is a thing we believe in. Just don’t be trash bag humans and stay true to yourselves in the tunes, okay? Like Parts Per Million. A band we didn’t even actually witness at this year’s Rock & Roll Rumble but still covered, Parts Per Million still managed to leave an impression solely from 2022’s The Cycle (“Undead” and “Placebo” regularly gets stuck in our head) so of course we’re going to jump all over any new music coming following that.

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Singles! Smitt E. Smitty & The Fezztones, “The Growler”

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Smitt E. Smitty & The Fezztones’ last banger/earworm (“Buzzkill Baby”, go get yourself obsessed here) was one that we really, really, REALLY wanted to cover but just missed our window of opportunity so when the newest slab of what we assumed would be some more sonic gold dropped in ye olde digital inbox, we were bound and determined not to miss out again.

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