The Manglers / Jason Bennett & The Resistance / Less Than A Felony / The Grommets
Midway Cafe, Jamaica Plain, MA 2/7/16
When I walk into the Midway, I’m immediately hit with a punch of volume, an avalanche of sound. It’s nice after working in a quiet area all week, living in a quiet (nursing) home all week to be suddenly, pleasantly blasted by a wave of sound that feels like the top of your head is being knocked off its hinges.
The Grommets, whose name sounds like some kind of knick knack you’d stick on a piece of wood in an alcove, are basically an old-school punk trio. And a very good one at that.
And when I say “good” I mean they’re “bad”, meaning like James Brown bad, meaning sick in a good way, meaning lively and not slick, meaning truly embodying the spirit of punk and to hell with hardcore, meaning a load of good fun.
They have a girl drummer, a girl singer/guitarist and someone who, presumably, has male genitalia on bass.
And when they cover The Ramones “Blitzkreig Bop” the under ten crowd, (it is all-ages) in front of the stage- go wild! As do I, dancing across the top of the bar. The Grommetts are a fun, fun, fun, punk, punk, punk band that just played a wonderful set.
Less Than A Felony is the next band to take the stage. And because they do not play the type of music that TNB covers, why, I look down my pointed nose at them in utter disdain. After I make my displeasure known by shrieking like a spoiled little girl, I come to my senses and I come to peace with the fact, that as a traditional rock band these guys are not half-bad.
This band is closer to Blue Oyster Cult than Black Flag and more power to them.
Jason Bennett & The Resistance are next to take their place on stage. Jason has recently kidnapped the rhythm section of the now defunct “The Radicals” and has brainwashed and deprogrammed them to now play new wave/pop/punk.
Jason has a low, gruff voice and with the energetic, punky playing of his band, they most remind me of Elvis Costello & The Attractions at their earliest and best. Drummer Matt slaps the drums with a grin on his face and a swing in his wrists, while bassist Aria plays fluid bass, eight notes alternating with walking bass lines and touches of reggae and ska creeping in.
And what this all causes in me is an emphatic thumbs up, no nose turned down and a set well played.
Now, to take out is the mighty Manglers! The Manglers are a cover band who play, strickly, ninties boy bands like NSYNC and Boys To Men.
(Ah, sorry. Mr. Bang has just entered my office and instructed me that truth in journalism is what we must strive for.)
The Manglers, actually, cover classic punk like The Dictators, Dead Boys, Johnny Thunders and The Ramones.
And singer, Brian, surprisingly doesn’t drink anymore! (He actually used to drink as much as Slimedog) And it’s apparent, today, that his talent has seem to faded along with his lack of returnable alcoholic bottles and cans.
(Ah, sorry. Mr. Bang has entered, once again, and instructed me that transparent honesty is our goal here in photo-realism and is what we must reach toward, much like a baby bird reaching for a worm from his mothers beak. And to keep in mind that when we lie, baby Jesus cries.)
Brian sounds great as do the band. Their set really takes off when they do “One Track Mind” by Johnny Thunders followed by a perfect rendition of “Be My Lover” by Alice Cooper. And what continues, after that, is a lot of great tunes by the aforementioned artists; ending with “Sonic Reducer” by The Dead Boys and “Search And Destroy” by Iggy & The Stooges.
At this point I’m rapidly losing control of my bodily functions. Rivers of piss, feces, mucous and earwax and forming rivlets of streams trough the crowd. The Midway has to be evacuated as the Hazmat (hazard waste) crew arrives on the scene. And worst of all, Denver is winning the Super Bowl!
And I’ve got to make a mad dash out of here as I hear Mr. Bang’s footsteps approaching down the hall.
(Slimedog)
