Honest John – (Four Song Demo)
I’m a P.I., private investigator. A P.I. is not an I-Pod or something else you college students stick into your ears. Think you’re tapping into something good? You’re just cutting yourself off from life, from society. Whenever you cut yourself off from your surroundings your just like the goddamn hippies with their LSD mushroom soup or whatever they’re taking.
So don’t kid yourselves. The real life is around you, it’s in the clubs, it’s on the streets, it’s with other people. So don’t live your life in a box you hold up to your ear, an electronic screen in front of your face or canned music transmitting into your brain. Experience life, live and in front of you.
So why am I asked to review this band Honest John? Beats me. My suspicions arose once I heard the name “Honest.” Someone introduces themselves as honest you can bet they’re pulling a con. So I took this assignment cautiously, agreed to listen to a few tunes.
I asked those knuckleheads, Slimedog and Andy Bang down at the TNB paper what they had on these guys. They gave me the old run around- crap like “They play good old crazy punk’n’roll.”
I decided I had to check this band out myself.
I checked in with Mitzi, she’s one kind of dame. You know, you can sample every item in the cafeteria. Some you like, some are just okay. But one you select tells you- this is what I’ll be ordering from now on and Mitzi is my slice of pie.
So I ask her what she thinks about these Honest Johns?
“Honest John are a Providence based hardcore band,” she told me, “They’re kind of new but are now playing all over the place. And that cute boy Jay Genoa just joined them as well. They’re truly hardcore but elements of metal and noise are part of their style. Live they’re a lot of fun but in the studio they’re a bit more experimental. But even those idiots who write for TNB can tell they’re great.”
They happened to be on the jukebox at the joint the Midway Cabaret. Let’s give a listen.
Lou Reed has a song called “Vicious Circle.” I doubt Honest John are aware of this. I am aware of how awesome the song is as the tempos change while the intensity doesn’t. This is full force in your face hardcore that aims to rip your heart, mind and other vital organs out of your body to hold up into the light in resplendent victory. It succeeds.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/01 Visious Circle.mp3|titles=Visious Circle]
“Depression” is a Black Flag cover. If you’re covering Black Flag you better be prepared to let loose with the punk fury. You have to be ready to singe and scorch people’s facial hair off, nose hairs included. You gotta be able to match or exceed the original version, a high task indeed. Mission accomplished.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/02 Depression.mp3|titles=Depression]
As some of you have undoubtedly figured out I have a strong interest in S&M. What other kind of writer would write about the local punk scene but a masochist? So when my dominatrix, Mistress Lisa, straps me down in preparation of taking another inch off my hind side I’ve been requesting she play this song.
What starts as a dirgey, doomy metal song quickly accelerates and then draws back again, much like a whip ready to strike again. As tempo changes, the intensity is piled on until a jingle for patio furniture is oddly inserted. And then we’re back to the dirge. An ominous, effective tune.
I begged Mistress Lisa to play this- I groveled, I licked her boots. She put on Dave Matthews instead. I must admit she is more the sadist than the masochist I’ll ever be.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/04 Masochist.mp3|titles=Masochist]
Honest John tries to honestly give you musical value without pandering to the mainstream. Giving something you can sink your teeth into like a medium rare steak or if you’re a vampire, a pure virgin’s neck.
And a john? Well that’s just a customer for a prostitute. But if we’re not buying in this corporate life we’re prostituting ourselves in it and its’ not our bodies we’re selling folks. It’s our minds, it’s our hearts, it’s our souls.
But Honest John tries to give you uncompromising hardcore with a bit of an experimental vibe thrown in as well. And I put in my report that I liked these guys. And I’ll walk down their musical beat any day of the week.
https://soundcloud.com/h0nestj0hn-1
(Slimedog)
