Above The Basement - Boston Music and Conversation

Red Shaydez!

OK let’s talk some sh**t!

Sorry for the potty mouth.  Just trying to introduce my next guest appropriately.

Red Shaydez is a Do it your-selfer whose name I have heard countless times over t…

Right when I first started ATB in 2016, emails asking to be a guest were few and far between.  One of the first requests I ever got that year was from my next guest, who I never actually met until th…

Linnea Herzog is someone you don’t miss when you walk by her. Or see on stage.  And I would surmise at her day job as a neuroscientist at The Broad Institute, you can’t miss her there either.

Musician…

I saw my first show at Once Ballroom in Somerville a few years ago, entering the building, wondering if I just walked into a bar mitzvah, or as JJ Gonson first thought when she saw the room for the f…

Matt Lorenz,  AKA The Suitcase Junket.   Many sounds come from this one-man band.  Sounds from actual suitcases, from guitars found in the trash to any number of odds and ends Matt procures, invents,…

Matt Lorenz,  AKA The Suitcase Junket.   Many sounds come from this one-man band.  Sounds from actual suitcases, from guitars found in the trash to any number of odds and ends Matt procures, invents,…

When COVID first hit Boston and we were sequestered in our hobbit holes, we decided to offer a window for everyone to see and hear live music for a musical respite from the pandemic.

One of our guests…

I was very happy to sit with Knar Bedian, Founder and Editor in Chief of Sound of Boston music blog.  I discovered Sound of Boston before I started Above The Basement and I am a huge fan.  I asked Kn…

Like so many of the Boston musicians we have talked to, Avi Salloway from the band Billy Wylder is a very thoughtful guy who has learned that as an activist, you need to understand how to be an ally.…

Juliana Hatfield!    

If you did not know, Juliana is a Boston native and still resides in the city. You may see her finishing up her 10…ok maybe 5k run if you can pick her out from the crowd of maske…

Boston Radio and WBCN legend, Oedipus, is someone who seems to have said yes to everything.  

Oedipus got his start as an intern in college radio in the 70’s and worked his way into the WBCN family, c…

What is a Jamoke? Is a chump a jamoke?  We really have no idea.  But we love the question and will begin using the word Jamoke on a regular basis.

These are the deep questions we dove into when talkin…

We first heard of Destiny Claymore in an article on Vanyaland and then in another piece by the great Jed Gottlieb in The Boston Herald.  A Boston triple threat with an incredible, unique voice and da…

We think what makes our conversations interesting is the face-to-face we always have and actually required at one point.  We used to say no to virtual conversations.  But we aren’t idiots, as far as …

Part Two!

Fans of Phish, Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, these fans are all great. But nothing compares to the fans of the homegrown Boston band Neighbor.

Whether that is hyperbole or not (Ron will need…

Fans of Phish, Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, these fans are all great. But nothing compares to the fans of the homegrown Boston band Neighbor.  

Whether that is hyperbole or not (Ron you can find the…

We had a remote conversation with the Boston band The Devil’s Twins, who we’ve wanted to have on for a while.  We do not like remote conversations, but we did find it was better than having them in p…

We sat with DJ, entrepreneur, and the first black woman to own a digital radio station, Ms. Hot Sauce – AKA Danielle O Johnson.

This is probably the most raunchy episode we have ever done, which isn’t…

Boston born U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo got her start at Wally’s Jazz Café when she was tricked into performing her poetry in front of an audience by her friends.  But her journey reaches much farther than…

Anyone who grew up in the Boston area in the '70s will remember the GBH theme music that played on our TV sets while we sat 10 inches away from the TV and watched Sesame Street or the always hip kids…