The Manglers / Sourpunch / F.U.’s / Red Line Rebels / By The Throat
Stony Brook Station, Jamaica Plain, MA 5/4/13
So I’m going to this “Wake Up The Earth Festival” this Saturday afternoon only because all these punk bands are supposed to be playing there. I park my car near the Stony Brook Station and check out this vast, sprawling park next to it. I find two stages, one that’s large with a huge sound system- yeah, the punks won’t be allowed on this- and a very small area where they have a band with mandolins, banjos and Cowboy hats.
I walk around with all the hippies. They’re having a “Prayer To The Moon” or some nonsense. Even with the horrible music there are lots of people here so you’d think at least I could check out some girls. But though most are young it’s not politically correct to look attractive- so no makeup, everybody drab in green and brown clothes. Hey, its Earth Day- let’s celebrate nature that gives us earthquakes, tornados and hurricanes- I agree.
So as I see the hippies walking around with their blissful smiles; I have one, too. But really mine’s a smirk and I spend an hour and a half there and just can’t take it anymore. As Alice Cooper once sang, “I gotta get out of here, I gotta get out of here.” Sure, I believe in ecology but I think hippies are the most hypocritical people I’ve known and the political correctness bullshit is directly linked to them. As I’m heading out I overhear a young Asian girl behind me on her cellphone, “Yeah, the hippies are out in full force today,” I smile and nod my head.
I go to my car, drive along the street of the park and out of the corner of my eye I catch a glimpse of a group of people dressed in black on a hill. “Damn, that’s where they must be.” It turns out this park is so big they are actually closer to Green Street Station, where I proceed to park my car and then walk back. I find them next to a skate park.
I did find it a bit strange, having punks play a hippie fest, but they are stationed at the very, very end of the park so as not to disturb the enlightened ones.
I missed By The Throat (think Black Flag/ Bad Brains updated) and the Red Line Rebels (think Germs/ Minor Threat updated) but I’ve seen them both before and I know both are great.
I did walk in on the F.U’s set and it was fun seeing them out in the sunlight playing under a tree. I have some fun telling people to put out their cigarettes as there’s no smoking in the club. And no, they aren’t playing a lot of Greatful Dead songs tripped out on mushrooms. They’re just playing a great set of Boston old-school hardcore and it makes me feel better after my truly, traumatic experience.
After the set, Jones, the young guitarist from the F.U’s and Jay, singer for the Red Line Rebels are skateboarding in the skate park. I put on my roller-blades, do some laps while I play Abba on my boom box. But people are looking at me funny; I get self-conscious and put my skates away.
I’m really glad I did though because Sourpunch is next. They’re from Providence and don’t get up here that often. Actually, there’s not many of them, just Jenn on vocals and guitar and an able drummer. As a former bassist you’d think I’d mind but it just bares the soul of the songs much better. She is, in my opinion, one of the best songwriters we have on our site. Think of a mix of The Ramones, Joan Jett and Eddie Cochran and you’ll get a good idea of what this punch is made of. And when I say punch, it’s a double wallop of passionate playing and true, intense words. I hear the pure rock’n’roll of “Stumbleina” and think- this is a song Jerry Lee Lewis would record and then the gritty garage punk of “That’s My Girl” sets the hairs on my arm straight up on this warm, spring afternoon- simply amazing.
Then it’s a big, big bring down with The Manglers. I say this in jest because they are either your cover band from heaven or cover band from hell. It’s down to whether you like lime or yellow Jell-O, I think, or more concisely, if you like covers of the original punk bands. You know those straight edge bands like The Dead Boys and Johnny Thunders. Well, this is heaven and lime Jell-O for me with such golden oldies as “Search & Destroy” and “Sonic Reducer” coming down the pike. I love how the guitar player keeps leaping about, pulling his plug out of the amp and the singer, Brian, repeatedly gathering it up to plug it in once again. They end with a cover of AC/DC’s “Walk All Over You” that has all the hippies vomiting brown rice and tofu in front of the stage in utter disgrace.
I’m off to do my job, the Saturday Matinee at the Midway, less than a mile away is about to begin. I’m so glad I finally found the punks, much better music and much cuter girls.
(Slimedog)
