Drago’s Annual Weekend Reunion
Drago / 007 Hundred Club / The Warning Shots / Spectre Hawk / BDSX
The Beach Comber, Quincy, MA 5/30/14
This is the annual Drago reunion show, a weekend at the beautiful, bodacious Beach Comber on the wondrous, wonderful Wollaston Beach where all is decadent, delightful and wild! This is their tenth anniversary as a band, or sometimes not as a band, as well.
BDSX (Bad Sex) is the first band of the night. They’re one of my favorite bands though this is only my third time seeing them. You may ask, “What style of music do they play, Slimedog? You’re great at making things up.”
Well, beats me. It’s too slow for hardcore, too garage/raw for metal, punk in spirit but not in style. Somewhat experimental and at one point you could’ve called them alternative until that name was dragged down into the gutter of blandness.
They’re a loud band that actually needs to be loud to be appreciated because their style is so hard and raw and strong. They have two guitarists who trade off lead vocals and a female drummer.
They pulverize your balls to the walls, staple your scrotum to the stratosphere and exceed all reasonable expectations.
I go in thinking this will be the set of the night. I went in thinking right.
Spectre Hawk is next and seeing them a few times before I know what to expect and that is something wonderful, indeed.
Is this because they’re awesome punk and hardcore?
No, sorry homey- they don’t play that way.
This is a garage rock band very ably manned by man about town Tommy Somerville- who tonight dons a cape and a hawk mask. They never fail to do a great cover. I’ve seen them cover Generation X’s “Ready, Steady, Go” before and tonight it’s “Under My Wheels” by Alice Cooper (one of my favorite artists).
They do a great version, even have a sax player come up to play it, do a great set and as always, put a smile on my face.
The Warning Shots are next. They are a new pop/punk band led by the very able Mark Lind of Ducky Boys fame. I know Mark as a kind of unassuming, quiet lad much like I imagine G.G. Allin was in his early days. I’m unaccustomed to seeing him perform without a guitar and he affirms after the set that this is the first situation in which he sings without the singers “security blanket.”
He does a great job and the band does as well. This is pop/punk at its finest and they start the set with my favorite song by them “Holiday” off their new CD.
The drummer does a great job and is a large man adding credence to my theory that the best drummers live large. He’s great and so is his band.
007 Hundred Club play next and this is a band I’ve missed since they’ve ended. They were closing down operations just as TNB was starting our road to fame and glory (sideswiped by the scandals and public meltdowns we are finally making our well deserved comeback).
This band has several guys I recognize-Dennis on guitar (now with Goddamn Draculas,) Chris Brat on bass from Duck And Cover and Dan on drums, former drummer of Darkbuster and now the leader of The Black Cheers.
They play high energy pop/punk much more abrasive than the originators of this style. They’re making me think of Salacious Crumb, another reunion of a great band, I recently saw. They kick my ass more than a mule high on meth and they deliver great tunes more than the mailman delivers mail-a great, fun set.
Now is the time for whence we all are gathered. Can I point out that Rice, the drummer, is not very large but is certainly one of the best drummers in Boston? And he’s wearing an actual Britney Spears jacket tonight that has him jettisoned to the top of the list.
They have a great front man, Kristen on guitar rocks, their bass player- well, who cares about the bass player (I was one for 32 years) is as solid as my cock, I mean a rock.
Can I also mention that every band tonight has distinctly different styles and that this band, Drago, plays heavy hardcore with humorous lyrics?
They play their usual hilarious and musically fulfilling set. They do a snippet of “Red Dawn” early in the set but have to play it again because of audience demand.
And I’m sure they’ll be back next year though not at the Beach Comber as it would appear that after this summer, sadly, The Beach Comber will be no more.
In the meantime, as one of their song lyrics go, “You kids get off my lawn.”
(Slimedog)
