Drago’s Annual Summer Weekend Bash
Drago / Dead Like Death / The Dimwits / The Doll Eyes
The Beachcomber, Quincy, MA 7/27/13
Well, this is the “D” day of the yearly weekend reunion each summer on Wollaston Beach in Quincy. This is a yearly ritual and unlike most rituals (like cannibalistic human sacrifice or Easter) this is one you wanna keep.
All the bands have “D” in them and after much serious consultation with Rotten Drunk and Rice Edmonston I’ve decided this is the “Decadent Debacle full of Depravity and Degradation Night” and NO!- it has nothing to do with dirt-bags or douchebags as none of those folks are here (‘cept for little ol’ me).
First up is The Doll Eyes. Their music explodes through the beach patio, within the confines of the club, upside through the boardwalk, shooting out across the mini-highway, the beach, the water, the ocean, out into the darkened sky toward the moonlit night.
Their first song is “Walden Pond,” one of my favorite tunes on our site. Problem is I don’t recognize it, I do recognize that it’s a great tune that gets the night thumpin’ with energy though. I’m informed by Nate Shaw, guitarist/singer/ songwriter for The Doll Eyes afterward of my misguided observance and feel ashamed- but only for a moment.
Can I mention that Rotten Drunk their drummer plays in the most minimal of styles of any drummer we know? Hell, he could be standing up playing rockabilly style for what he does. I’m stating this noting his concise application. It could be said that poetry is using a few words to express complex emotions and ideas and that is what RD’s drumming does. Pure poetry and I’m sure he’d disagree but I don’t- the band kicks ass during their set, as I’m sure most would agree, and sets off the night to a great start.
The Dimwits were one of my favorite punk bands in years past and this is where I first reviewed them without seeing them,
I was a reviewer at The Noise at the time and I had an allotted number of words per band. The Dimwits played last and I had to leave before they played. When I wrote my piece I found I needed extra words to say what I wanted, so, for the extra words, I gave them one or two lines like, “And The Dimwits were great, also,” but I hadn’t heard them.
I did finally get to see them and they became my favorite local band for many years.
All this, I’m disappointed to say, was destroyed tonight in a scant thirty minutes.
I say this in jest and looking at these guys, and unlike myself they are getting older, I do notice their lyrics are so funny and juvenile and how much I still do like them.
Breaking out with “Mongoose” they do all my favorites like “Leech” and “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” but songs I forgot about like “Small Town Cop” when it kicks into double time at the end really grab my attention.
This is funny, hardcore punk at its finest with twist and turns in the arrangements and tempos galore. They have a steady, charging rhythm section, unrelenting, decimating guitar and a forceful, stalking stage presence by the singer, The Sheik.
Did I mention the childish, bratty lyrics? Well, they do have one that goes,“There is no truth and there are no lies” which I think is pretty good. They end the set with a cover of an Edie Brickell song that I believe would cause her to give birth to a deformed frog if she heard it. Thankfully she wasn’t in attendance and I’m thankful I was.
Dead Like Death is the next band and they challenge Taxi Driver for having the largest singer in Boston. They put forth a heavy metal influenced set of hardcore that though more than ably played never really connects with me. But I must say in what they do they do it exceptionally well.
Now it’s time for Drago and need I say more? An awesome punk/hardcore band of years past with heavy music sometimes unappreciated maybe because of its pairing with humorous, funny lyrics. I must admit I didn’t get them in their prime and for that I can only walk the streets feeling abandoned and disgraced.
But tonight I’m enjoying the band muchly. They do “Tomahawk” their tribute to wrestler Chief Jay Strongbow. “Red Skies” based upon some Grade D movie. A song where the singer admonishes kids “to stay off my lawn,” my personal favorite and a song with the politically correct chorus, “Make the world a better place/ punch a vegan in the face.”
With the rock solid perfect rhythm section of Rice on Drums and Mark P. on bass, Kristen Edmonston’s slashin’ bashin’ her way on guitar and Mike Gurley manning the front of the stage with a forceful but cheerful presence- How can you lose?
You can lose by not being here this weekend. I didn’t and I’m the biggest loser there is. You owe it to yourself to make it next year.
Drago Rules!
(Slimedog)
