Boston UnsceneBranching out into Boston improper, Kenmore Square is home of the Rat, the flashback club for Boston's punk rock and hardcore days. Record stores also abound, and just across the expressway is the fabulous Fenway baseball park, where the night game glare mingles with the neon glow from Axis and Avalon just across the street. Intersecting with Mass Ave. just across the Charles River on the Boston side, Commonwealth Ave. brings you down by truck or train on the green line, past the Paradise, towards Allston. There, in the unofficial rock city of Boston, Local 186 carries on the late night tradition of Bunratty's . Sown among the sites are the smaller stages of lesser known hang-outs and bars, like Charlie's, Green Street Grill, and the Plough and Stars. Mark Sandman of Morphine describes these haunts as a kind of refuge from the hyped events, where they can "just play and be a band in a corner bar."
Every fall the migratory return of college population inspires a surge in both supply and demand on the local music community. "It's always been a college town," reminds Peter Prescott, "so there's a huge influx of kids that have money and want to do something." With such fertile ground for playing around, Boston bands abound. According to local expert Curtis Casela, whose Taang! records is known for its hardcore releases, as well as being the first label to sign the Lemonheads, "Boston has more bands than any place in the country. If you walk down the street, you're either gonna get handed a tape or you're gonna see someone with a shirt. I've been all over the country, and I've never seen as many bands in one city as Boston. And I think everybody wants to be in their own scene."
With so many bands vying for attention and vainly craving their own creative cul-de-sac, competitive friction seems inevitable. "Of all the cities I've been in, Boston is more competitive than any other city," says Adam Lasus of Studio Red, who engineers and produces some of Boston's best output, including Julianna Hatfield's first record Hey Babe and the Gigolo Aunts; he is currently working on Helium's first full-length album. He feels interband strife "is good and bad. Bands at the top are great because they have to be."