Sidewalk Driver performs at Radio's opening night in October.
With a push to expand to live music to seven nights a week and the recent opening of its downstairs room, Moe’s Lounge, Somerville rock club RADIO recently added two new talent buyers to its booking team.
CHRIS BARRETT (Kingsley Flood, Eddie Japan) and ROBIN GOODHUE (Ammonia Booking, Livver) have joined co-owner AIMEE MCGRATH in bringing both local and national bands to the 200-person capacity Union Square venue that opened last October.
“I’d like to have the calendar really diverse,” said McGrath earlier this week. “It’s a good group to keep stuff booked across the board. I want to do punk shows, indie shows, country shows… I want to get as much Boston music in here as I can, and keep the room costs low.”
Goodhue, who books punk and hardcore shows around town under his Ammonia banner, will oversee Wednesday and Thursday nights in the main upstairs space, which will undergo renovations that will raise the stage and improve the sound system. McGrath will handle weekend gigs, and eventually the rest of the week.
“I like everything, so if it’s good and the community likes it, then it’s a home run,” Goodhue wrote to the Phoenix in an email. “I like everything so as long as it doesn’t suck. Also there’s a thought of having free Monday or Tuesday night karaoke, because Razzy’s used to kill it.”
Meanwhile, Barrett will hold down the 45-person-capacity Moe’s, keeping the small subterranean space eclectic but running it as a standard live entertainment venue with various formats. “I’m hoping to make it a cool, kinda intimate venue to play,” Barrett also wrote in an email. “Maybe do some of the more experimental stuff that you find over at places like the Lily Pad, but in a room that serves adult sodas and other grownup beverages.”
With its built-in intimacy, Barrett also hopes to “make it a bit kind of like the Allston basement show scene. It's got a rec room feel.”
That means everything from five-band punk bills to the current He Said She Said series on the third Thursday of every month. The brainchild of Bo Barringer (Future Carnivores/The Wrong Shapes), He Said features guy/gal duets in a stripped-down setting. Recent nights featured Noelle LeBlanc, Paper Snakes’ Davina Yannetty, and Phil Wisdom of Butterknife, and April 12 welcomes, among others, Travis Richter and Leesa Coyne from Naked On Roller Skates.
Moe’s will also house non-music-related events, as well, and admission to Radio upstarts will get you into basement room. “There’s trivia going on every other Wednesday right now,” Barrett adds. “Maybe have some movie nights down there. But also some chill nights with people spinning vinyl, so if you need respite from the loud music upstairs but either aren't ready to go home or are just taking a break, you can still hang, have a drink, but talk with friends and still having a cool vibe going on. It's an interesting space and kind of unique.”
For booking inquiries, contact Radio at playatradio.com; Barrett at bookingmoe@gmail.com; and Goodhue at robinradiobar@gmail.
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