Beantown Boozehounds / The McGunks / Mickey Rickshaw / The Martians / Paid Vacation
Midway Cafe, Jamaica Plain, MA 12/13/15
I get to The Midway shortly after Paid Vacation, the first band has started their set. I first notice that they’re a fairly young band and sound very influenced by The Misfits.
I mention this to Chad Beantown and he says, “Yeah, this band is very good. The singer has a great voice. Yeah, Misfits with a little bit of Elvis in there, too.”
The singer does have a very good, melodious voice and the band knows how to kick ass. To tell you the truth, not a big Misfits fan here, but I like this band a lot. They’re a new band but they play very well with a lot of confidence and this is a great set to start off the show. I look forward to seeing them again.
The Martians are a band that I haven’t seen yet, also, but I’ve heard good things about them. I see Anthony from Taxi Driver up there and the lead singer is Jimmy Roastbeef (probably an even better moniker than Jim Slimedog).
This is Ramones style/early English punk music- four to the floor beats, buzzsaw guitar and I couldn’t be happier. The is punk with a capital pee (into the filthy, decrepit urinal). This band urinates upon the decaying morals of a society corrupt and overfed with malignant morals.
Eh, that last line was just a bunch of bull but what isn’t, is this band’s idea of fun and it’s a blast to see them.
Though, ironically, their last song (and my favorite) is called “I Don’t Wanna Party.”
Great song, great set and the title seems to be antithesis of what the crowd wants to do today.
This is my second time seeing Mickey Rickshaw and I count at least three of The Union Boys up there. They have one fellow playing bagpipes that switches to fife for the next song- can you guess what type of music these lads be playing?
Irish punk is about mine and Andy’s least favorite form of punk music. It was pretty prevalent when we getting back into the scene about 15 years ago and has seemed to wane, though the Dropkick Murphy’s are still going strong.
That being said, when a band is this tight, this exciting, that commands the stage as if they were the headliner and have the crowd eating out of their hands- who am I to differ?
They have great songs, a great frontman and great rapport with the crowd. My only complaint is with their excellent drummer who always plays so intensely that he cuts open his hands as he plays, did not do so tonight. But blood or not, this was a great set.
The McGunks are next, one of the best live bands we cover and they have Peter Martone, their old bass player, playing tonight and that can only mean greatness is about to commence.
Though, this almost didn’t happen as earlier when I was approaching the Midway I saw The McGunks were moving an amp cabinet across the busy street and the other side had stopped. I did as well but for a moment I thought, “Maybe I should just gun it and kill them all, wouldn’t that be the punk rock thing to do?”
Three or so songs in it’s “Three More Beers” (will make it seem better) and they’re a case of beer, at that. This is a band that never backs down, that always delivers, that always blows other bands off the stage at will. This is the spirit of punk, the spirit of rock’n’roll. It’s the spirit of guts, integrity and truth.
And if you think I’m being a little “over the top” then I think you’ve never seen them because then you would think that I’m being reserved with my praise.
The Beantown Boozehounds take the stage and decimate all living creatures, molest all livestock and pillage all ears. To no surprise they play a great, fun set and I love how Chad introduces most songs as “And this is a song about drinking,” as that’s, almost, all they sing about. I also love that them and The McGunks both play a version of Kenny Rogers “The Gambler.”
But at this point theirs two casualties of the festivities. Two fellows that have been shut off for awhile now but are trying to order again as they’ve forgotten they’ve already been shut off.
I’m not much of a midday drinker. I’m a second shift guy and usually, midnight is when I take my first drink.
But today I’m taking a shot so one of them, almost passed out, won’t take it (I think it was a fireball.) I’m being handed two beers so they won’t drink them. (I give one of those way). I buy drinks for folks that I really want to and find others coming my way. I end up having 2 or 3 shots and 4 or 5 beers and I’m drunk, but not like the two that I’m concerned about.
I say to the staff, “I know this is not the ideal of what you want to be happening but this brings back early memories of The Rat- when people would be passed out in front of loud speakers and half the crowd looked liked you might not see them alive the next week.”
You will not, you cannot- see a show like this that just happened in any other scene, any other place. This is the punk/hardcore community.
You can’t see the honesty, the passion, the integrity- the wildness, the recklessness combined with an over abundance of compassion and an artistry with a flaunting of the what is deemed “good art.”
This is fun and for the moment. This is true and real and art. And art is not, really, a fancy far-flung thing but real people’s lives and passions honestly expressed and enjoyed.
I saw the marvellous Monica today. I saw the Taxi Drive-ettes- Aye-me, Janelle, Sha-von, Jackie and Alyse- who, I found out today, are Boozehound-ettes as well.
I guess you could say today’s show was “sweet”, or maybe you would say it was “sick.”
I would say it was guts, passion, honesty and integrity. And fun loaded into a cannon spiked with dynamite… and shot clear through the center of my soul.
(Slimedog)
