State Of The Union / The New Frustrations / The Stigmatics / The Only Things
Midway Cafe, Jamaica Plain, MA 4/1/17
This will be the last live review on TNB as Andy & I have decided to hang it up. The website will continue to be on-line but…April Fools! No, some folks just don’t know when to quit.
But we are having a slight format change. In order to be more in line with the bands that play the Rock N Roll Rumble each year, we will be focused on mainstream rock bands from now on. We hope that…April Fools! I would rather staple my scrotum to my laptop then to have to do that and Andy probably would do that to me if I tried to make that switch.
But no April Fools I’m here again at the Midway for what will, hopefully, as they say in Norway “a scrotum-ally good time.”
I walk in and The Only Things are a couple of songs into their set. I saw them play here just a couple of weeks ago for the first time and enjoyed them.
And I’m enjoying them today with their garage/punk music with maybe a hint of alternative/indi in their style. And until they mention it from the stage, I don’t realize that they’re playing without their lead singer/guitar player today. But the other guitar player and bassist are filling in quit nicely, singing the leads.
They play a great opening set, the high light for me is the same as the first time I saw them, and that’s playing their song “Let’s Go To THe Moon.” It’s really a terrific, emotion inducing song.
After they play I’m hanging with Mr.& Mrs. Grommet (from the great local punk band, The Grommets) who happen to know Tom, the drummer from The Only Things.
“So they told me you killed your lead singer?” I ask him.
“Well, actually he had to work today,” Tom replies.
“And that’s why you killed him?” And Tom agrees with me.
“I’d say that falls under “justifiable homicide”, I say to Tom. “You guys did the right thing.”
He nods, wiping away a tear from his eye.
And talk about eyes- well, The Stigmatics are ready to play. And once they do, I can tell they have the original Boston punk sound down. They sound a lot like how early Boston punk bands, like the ones who played the Rat, sounded such as The Real Kids and The Dogmatics.
I’d describe them as garage/rock with punk energy and they describe themselves as “garage rock, proto-punk” which is something I can agree upon. They have rock solid, loud drums, precise bass playing and raucous vocals along with rockin’ guitar leads.
Afterwards, I find out that Randall Gibson is the fellow playing the drums so well today. I knew him back in 1980 when he played for the local band 21-645. Some of their best songs have a rootsy, Stones feel to them including the last song they play, and my favorite of their great set, “Get Out Of Town.”
THe New Frustrations are next to take the stage and it’s an EP release party for them. Some of their lyrics have lines like, “not seventeen anymore” and like the previous band they’re “mature” players.
They describe themselves as punk rock/power pop and they do hearken back to the eighties where the term “power pop” was used a lot. I’ll go with that description adding that they sound influenced by some of the best new wave of that era like Joe Jackson, XTC and The Replacements.
They’re a trio and the guitarist and bassist have a lot of harmony singing parts between them. And there seems to be a lot of very young kids here today at this all-ages show- so instead of moshing going on in front of the stage, the kids are jumping up and down! (If only my daughter Lindsey was here.)
They play an energetic, fun set which includes a cover of The Clash song “Somebody Got Murdered” which they dedicate to the singer of The Only Ones. I only hope the police take full notice of this review.
State Of The Union is the last band ready to play today and they immediately start kicking ass. They’re a trio with an awesome female drummer and a guitar player and bassist who both sing and do pretty good for boys. They play punk with an eighties feel, seems like a theme today, and though nowhere near as experimental, do remind me of the great, Boston band Mission Of Burma. But I’m still a little surprised when I check their site and see that band mentioned as an influence.
Second song of the set is “Bloodstains” a cover of a song by Agent Orange and later, do what I believe is a cover of a song by The Neighborhoods (“I’ve been a boy I know what you’re going through.”)
But their originals are great, also, like “Bombs In Boston.” They play an intense, energetic set and my favorite one of the day.
They’re heading from here up north to the Thirsty Turtle in Nashua, New Hampshire to play another show. But before they go they encore with a nice version of “Beat On The Brat.”
No April Fool’s here, this was another great punk Midway matinee show. And though I’ll send condolences and flowers to the family of the singer who met with some “unfortunate circumstances” today. I’m glad to be somehow still alive to see another one.
(Slimedog)
