Worm / Honest John / Bad Movies / Unlisted
Midway Cafe, Jamaica Plain, MA 8/8/15
So I just got trained at my new job as an archaeologist. I was digging into the ground a lot, pulling up artifacts from Ancient Mesopotamia. Of course, it didn’t mean that much to me, just another job, you see.
But when I pulled out this ancient urn, everyone around me became ecstatic, wetting their boxer shorts, panties and sundry undergarments. I gotta make believe how thrilled I am, but honestly, I could give a damn, just another gig for me.
Anyways, I got off early. (Guys- take note. Women don’t want to hear that phrase).
So then I report to my real job as a punk scribe. I’ve missed the first act which was a one woman, acoustic guitar solo thing and the next musicians are already playing.
Unlisted is a band I would describe as “experimental” but now the new tag is “noise.”
Now, I would also decree them as “No Wave” a little known movement in New York City in the eighties. But, lo and behold, on their facebook they do describe themselves that way.
But you can call it what you like, I like it, whatever you decide to call it.
This is clanging, abrasive guitars- energetic, crashing drums- a pounding, intricate bass and a female singer, Dana, who though rough and raw still hits the bulls-eye on the emotionally expressive board. (Though she needs to be less shy of the mike).
So I’ve called them experimental and No Wave and I would also call them punk. And to my ears they sound pretty, damn good.
And talking about punk- who embodies the term punk out of all the bands we cover?
Well, it’s Bad Movies!
Bad Movies is like every early L.A. Punk band put into a blender and mixed with every potent punk band of today.
Led by the yellow and blue haired mermaid, Linn. No, I won’t call her hair blonde if it’s raincoat yellow and I call her a mermaid because she told me she goes to local beaches, now, wearing a mermaid tail which has actually caused her to be written up in her local newspaper.
Her band sends out shock waves to the solar plexus while she emotes and screams like the love child of Courtney Love and Freddie Mercury.
I hear some great new songs and one that is actually old but is not on their first album.
“You say I’m on your list/ Well, I don’t give a shit…You can kiss this.”
The band tells music critics to kiss their ass with their upfront music. I kiss their ass only because I deem them to be so good. And today’s set is just another example of their passionate, meaningful songs and fun and exciting shows.
I talk to the lead guitarist from Honest John today right before their set. I tell him how much better they’ve sounded recently and he talks about having a more “streamlined set.”
What used to be a set of intense hardcore mixed with moody doom is now mostly hard-hitting hardcore with an adventuress style.
The song have cathartic lyrics in a hardcore delivery with excellent musicianship all around.
And though the singer, Honest Dan’s, other band Haggard Bastard are my favorite new band right now- this band continues to excel and do they kick ass? They do indeed, they give us all a mighty spanking.
Worm is the last band up and they have some serious cross-pollination going on with Bad Movies. Mikke Worm, the bassist of Bad Movies, sings lead and plays guitar here while Bad Movies guitarist, Colman, switches to drums.
And first I want to mention that Worm are now on their first tour. Going to Las Vegas to Austin to Antarctica and back.
Like Bad Movies they are a potent punk band with a bit more garage rock thrown in and a lot of covers. Today they do “Stepping Stone” by The Monkees/ Sex Pistols, “Me & The Boys” which I thought was a Beantown Boozehounds original but actually, some band from New Jersey did it first. And they also play, “Bite It You Scum” by the former singer of Foreigner, G.G. Allin.
They play a fun, wild set- a good end to a fun, wild show.
I was telling Linn the mermaid how my favorite movies are the early sixties beach movies. You know- those silly movies with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello where they play surf music on the beach using unplugged guitars ( I think, the first use of solar energy) along with bongos, bonfires, bikinis- surfboards, sun and sand.
And in one I saw recently the big dumb guy (they always have one in these pictures) actually befriends a mermaid but unfortunately, in the end, she slips back into the sea.
But mermaids are a fanciful creature though the boys and girls who made the music today are real and passionate and true.
And if you think your life seems like a bad movie at times or you can live your life only remembering moments of your past…
Let me tell ya- The fun, the meaning, the excitement is right here. Not in the past, not in some dream of tomorrow.
But in this moment……Now.
(Slimedog)
