First Album In 39 Years

We recently had the stellar opportunity to check out the album, “Nowheresville” , via Rum Bar Records, from Boston, garage legends, The Dogmatics. You can listen to “Nowheresville – on Spotify Here, Apple Music Here

The Dogmatics, are a timeless energy that is vibrantly on display on the positively electrifying “Nowheresville”

The common thread that links the band from its ‘80s heyday to now is family. Music history is littered with collectives known loosely as family bands, but it can be argued there has never been a family band quite like The Dogmatics. The sentiment fueled their inaugural run 40 years ago, launching out of the vibrant Boston music scene in 1981, and is the creative conduit that energizes this awe-inspiring second act.

The best part of this new era is what it has always been – fun and friendship,” says co-vocalist and guitarist Jerry Lehane, joined in The Dogmatics by longtime confidants Peter O’Halloran (rhythm guitarist and vocalist); Jimmy O’Halloran (bass); and Tom Long (drums), with 2019 recruit James Young on mandolin, guitar, and assorted vocals.  

Everything The Dogmatics do revolves around this keen sense of family pride, and the album reflects this on several fronts: Honoring fallen brother and bassist Paul O’Halloran, whose tragic 1986 death brought a sudden end to the first iteration of the group; presenting Nowheresville with artwork of a vintage photo snapped by Mary Lou O’Halloran depicting two kids from the Pacific Northwest, rocking perhaps the very first Dogmatics t-shirt design several decades ago; and taking its title from a song Lehane and Paul O’Halloran were working on just before he passed, enduring after only as a long-lost live recording on WERS’ classic Metrowave radio show and a few efforts to record it with later projects that never came to fruition.  

Even the album’s record release party, a raucous one-day mini-festival at Waltham’s French American Victory Club on Saturday, July 26, serves as a communal collection of The Dogmatics’ extended network of friends and family. The inspired lineup, in addition to The Dogmatics, features Black Cheers, Jay Allen and the Archcriminals, Last Stand, Gypsy Moths, Tom Baker and the Double Down, Stop Calling Me Frank, and Band 19.

“The 10 songs on the album show a lot of variety and breadth beyond the classic garage-rocking reputation,” says Young, who grew up listening to the band before officially joining for this second act. “As a new-ish member to the band who started as a fan, it’s great to see the feedback about the band making new music that’s relevant today, and not just being a reunion act. I’ve always had so much respect for the individual band members as musicians, it’s a pleasure and privilege to be part of demonstrating the flex of those skills.” 

Nowheresville is more than just a straight garage rock record. The 10 tracks offer an eclectic spectrum of genres and styles. Recorded at Edsbarn in Canton, produced and engineered by Ed Riemer, and mastered by Dave Westner,

We found ourselves endlessly basking in the eclectic glow of “Nowheresville “ Tracks like “You’ve Got What I want, and “Library Girl” give off a Ramones/ Descendents vibe. While , we felt a folk/country / rockabilly feel with “Con Job” .So many bands tend only have one gear – this is definitely not the case with The Dogmatics on “Nowheresville”

Every track on “Nowheresville” , from The Dogmatics, is better than the last . This is an album that is a must listen.