mssv – Rad/ATL

August 15, 2024October 12, 2024 RadATL Uncategorized

Mike Baggetta & Peter DiStefano’s ‘Punk Jazz Tour 2024’ comes to Railroad Earth Sat., Sept. 21

Mike Baggetta (left) & Peter DiStefano. Photo by Dan Jones

Mike Baggetta of MSSV teams up with Porno For Pyros’ Peter DiStefano for a duo performance blending together improvisation, some new compositions, and a few cover tunes in a set of dueling guitars and voices.

They’ve been on the road together for the “Punk Jazz 2024 Tour” since the beginning of August, working out material for a new album they’re recording at PULP Arts in Gainesville, FL the night before making their way to Atlanta.

For this second leg of the tour, Baggetta and DiStefano will show off some of the new material they’ve worked up while out on the road. They’ll roll out a Porno For Pyros song or two, and they’ll even play some newer MSSV songs that are coming together for an upcoming third album due out in the Spring of 2025.

Bill Taft’s Guitarguments and Robocromp (feat. Jeff Crompton and Rob Rushing) also perform. $10. 8 p.m. Sat., Sept. 24. Railroad Earth is located at 1467 Oxford Rd. NE near the Emory University campus.

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August 25, 2023October 30, 2023 RadATL Uncategorized

MSSV, Blood Circuits, and W8ING4UFOS play Boggs Social & Supply on Thurs., Oct. 26

MSSV: Stephen Hodges (from left), Mike Watt, and Mike Baggetta. Photo by Devin O’Brien

It’s misleading to call MSSV an experimental rock trio, as these three elder statesmen of the underground know exactly what they’re doing. Still, bass player Mike Watt, guitarist Mike Baggetta, and drummer Stephen Hodges craft a fluid, mostly-instrumental body of work that flows beyond the confines of their impressive collective resumes. Hodges has performed with the likes Tom Waits, David Lynch, Wanda Jackson, and Mavis Staples for years. Baggetta has collaborated with everyone from Bob Stagner of Chattanooga’s Shaking Ray Levis on the Triage album to legendary session drummer Jim Keltner. And, of course, Watt raised the bar high for American punk and indie rock playing bass and singing with the Minutemen, fIREHOSE, and via scores of solo releases and offshoot ensembles. Together, MSSV hones in on a rhythm, a groove, or a subtle shift in sound to explore and expand upon with each new number. Their approach is part composition, part improvisation, and part file-under-some-other form of silent musical telepathy that is as sophisticated as it is undeniably catchy.

MSSV is on the road playing songs from their second studio album Human Reaction, due out Sept. 1 on Big Ego Records.

Atlanta’s noisey post-punk newcomers Blood Circuits (featuring former members of Free Masonry, Gaijin, Remuxers, Hal Al Shedad, and Car Vs. Driver) and the city’s quintessentially baroque chamber-punk balladeers W8ING4UFOS set the night in motion.

$15 (adv). $20 (door). 7 p.m. Thurs., Oct. 26. Boggs Social & Supply.

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