Stray Bullets / Uzuhi / Red Line Rebels / The Radicals / Loser’s Circle
Middle East (Up), Cambridge, MA 5/25/13
Sometimes you have to go to a place where you don’t want to. Where you have to search for a place in your soul where you’d rather not. Where remembrances bring up unpleasant memories. Where you have to revisit, no matter how painful, in order to resolve issues from previous plights.
But then sometimes it’s a club that’s not your favorite but you’re put on the guest list so Hurrah!- Let’s rave, okay?
So Loser’s Circle is mostly the remnants of one of Boston’s best hardcore bands of recent times, namely Refuse Resist. Reliable sources told me they recently kicked their singer, Shawn Refuse, unceremoniously to the curb and made him leave the state (through a restraining order) in order to pursue their desire to become more a pop/punk band than a straight ahead hardcore one.
Now they’re just a trio with Jaime, the diminutive bass player, making up in talent for his lack of size, sharing the vocals with Mike, the guitarist. They offer up a healthy stew of pop/punk rock casserole that I eagerly savor and devour without any concern for calories or cholesterol.
Jaime apologizes for playing a couple of covers (and yes, Phish and Dave Matthews were odd selections) but on what I believe is their first gig they turn in an awesome set that recalls to me the sound of the eighties Boston punk rock bands. And they get the night off to a great start.
Now it’s time for The Radicals to present their revolutionary hardcore/ street punk upon us. All three members sing but the often red-shirted (communist) bassist Aria, takes the helm the most often. Deprecatingly disconsolate but never downtrodden depressing though decisively decapitating heads; these Radicals invite us into their world of an unrelenting onslaught of bile, energy and good times. Always fun to see these lads pontificate their punk manifestos in public.
Now the Red Line Rebels approach the stage. From their first blast of sound I can sense the crowd is a bit taken back by them. People are losing control of their bodily functions, grown men are weeping, and rabid ocelots are attempting to chew their legs off, indeed.
Me, I just try to look nonchalant, nonplussed though I’m aware that the Rebels, one of Boston’s best punk bands, have put September as their expiration date. Sad to see them go, especially after witnessing such a ferocious set, but time to use them up before they all go bad is all I can recommend.
And then it’s Uzuhi time. It’s time for us all to suspend our frail grasp on reality and descend into madness, it’s time for reason to take a short respite, it’s time for logic to be detoured to another exit- Okay, enough already, it’s time for things to go fuckin’ nuts!
Uzuhi are an Asian show tune/hardcore band that performs Japanese pop songs while dressed as giraffes with their nostrils aflame and detect orange acorns with illuminated swords for the squirrels to hide.
Also, I’ve described them as Queen jamming with The Circle Jerks and I’ll stick with that.
I don’t think I like their music much but they are a blast to see live. Their first song starts with a waltz time sung by their female keyboardist and then alternates with a part that’s hardcore thrash; the songs just continue get weirder from that. Lizard Queen, Julia and Chris (Krystal) get to sit on stage during the song with an interlude. The front man/singer is very entertaining and a fun time was had by all.
And now it’s time for popular ska/punk band Stray Bullets and as they take the stage I’m making my way out the door. You see, I’ve seen them before and they’re quite good in their style but I’ve seen two shows already today and I must take my leave as free beer and Jager awaits me at home.
As I sail down the highway and the faint strains of their playing envelopes the inside of my vehicle and my brain; it only gives me pause to ponder- What are you tripping?
(Slimedog)
