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Boo Riley Paints with Musical Color in “Trench Foot”

Manhattan based songwriter, Austin Lesch (also known by the stage name, Boo Riley) brings a tender touch with his latest single “Trench Foot”. There is a sense of desolation that echoes in each note as takes in his surroundings as if to paint them musically.

“I was inspired to write this song after seeing Peter Jackson’s 2019 WW1 documentary, They Shall Not Grow Old” Says Lesch, “Using colorization and modern production techniques they took previously unseen footage that was over 100 years old and made it feel much more immediate and relatable. I wanted to try and do the same through song. My endeavor was to tell a century old story through a modern lens of pop/rock soundscapes.”

What starts off as dreary and gray, winds up swirling to life with vibrant colors that come through as the music swells. It’s as if Lesch is simulating a moment of walking through a war-torn battlefield allowing himself to become moved by a haunting sense of dread that something terrible has happened, but he doesn’t let that stop his musical momentum.

He keeps pushing forward finding meaning in the light vocal hooks that dance upon a beaten earth. There is a heaviness to the inspiration for this song, but it moves with a sense of boundless potential. That pop rock optimism shines through the darkness of the battlefield as Boo Riley marks this time and space as a lesson learned, more ready than ever to move towards a brighter, more colorful future.

“Trench Foot” is available now on major streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and BandCamp. Find this and more great music on the Alchemical Records Multigenre Mixture playlist on Spotify.

Charlie Maybee

Charlie Maybee is a dancer, musician, educator, and writer based in Charleston, South Carolina who currently teaches with the Dance Program at the College of Charleston. His primary work as an artist is with his performing collective, Polymath Performance Project, through which he makes interdisciplinary performance art that centers tap dance as the primary medium of expression and research. He also currently plays rhythm guitar for the Charleston-based punk band, Anergy, and releases music as a solo artist under the name Nox Eterna.

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Foghat Sonic Mojo 2024 Tour. Fillmore Silver Spring, MD March 9
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Foghat’s Roger Earl Refuses to Slow His Ride

By this point in his life, Foghat founding drummer Roger Earl has visited quite a few doctors. But what may be surprising is that the percussionist, 77, is quick to point out that many of the medical professionals who have worked on him also enjoy rocking out.

“Nearly all the doctors and surgeons I know, they all play something: trumpet, sax, violin, guitar,” Earl said recently. “There’s not too many drummers that are surgeons, there’s probably a good reason for that!”

Earl half-jokingly invites his surgeon-rockers to join him and the other members of Foghat onstage at the Fillmore in Silver Spring March 9, where they will be headlining the Rock and Roll for Children Foundation benefit for the Children’s Inn at NIH. Earl, the only original member of Foghat still in the band, will be banging the skins behind guitarist Bryan Bassett and other members Scott Holt and Rodney O’Quinn. “Slow Ride,” the band’s 1975 megahit, is all but assured to be on the setlist, along with tunes from Foghat’s most recent record, “Sonic Mojo.”

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