Unlisted / Grenades In The Archives / Adam Femino (OC45)
Midway Cafe, Jamaica Plain, MA 9/13/15
So Johnny and I are talking about health and people dying young. Johnny is a singer/guitarist and also, a doorman/soundman at the Midway Cafe which is where we are talking. He’s working and so am I, in a way.
He starts to tell me, “And you don’t even want to know what they put in beer. You’ll never drink again.”
I say, “I’m alright with that- I’ve had so much of it. I’m like someone who takes a little bit of arsenic everyday and keeps increasing the dose until he can gulp down a full glass of the stuff with no ill effects.”
Johnny is laughing, this is not scientifically true, but then neither is life and we’re off on another Midway midday punk matinee cruise.
“You’re not gonna review this are you?” Adam yells at me as he enters the Midway.
“Why else would I be here?” I say, “You’re hear to play and I’m here to write.”
“You can’t write about my set. I didn’t have any time to rehearse.”
“Okay, I’ll just write that you threatened to harm me if I wrote about your performance.”
So Adam does his solo acoustic set. If you don’t know him he happens to be one of the two guitarist/singers/songwriters for OC45. And, in fact, he plays a lot of their songs today.
He explains, during his set, that he got blackout drunk on Friday and was too hungover on Saturday to hold his guitar and remembering words is not his forte.
His partner in crime, Derek Rossi, is in the crowd and is singing along with him. He seems to know more of the lyrics than Adam. I ask Derek if he should be credited with the set instead.
In between a song Adam says, “My memory brain doesn’t work too good.”
Lenny Lashley, working the bar, quips, “Looks like your regular brain ain’t working too good either, buddy.”
The first song he does is “So Faraway” and it’s a nice version, he does a duet with Derek on “Waiting For The Bullet” (my favorite OC45 song) and the song that Adam really shines on is “My Best Friends Makes Bombs.”
And Adam might think I’m picking on him but actually, I really enjoy the set. When I see most serious acoustic acts they come off a little boring and dry. His set is fun and funny, honest and true (like punk is supposed to be) and enjoyable to me.
And Adam might think I’m just being supportive but true art takes all the faults and blemishes in stride, part of the total expression and that’s what true punk is about as well.
Next is a band I’ve never seen before called Grenades In The Archives. This is not a hardcore band and they have a very adept rhythm section. (One part of a song is in 13/4!). This often makes the music veer toward prog rock (which bores me to tears) but they are also abrasive, brash and full of energy.
And the singer’s vocals are not slick but more in the realm of Black Francis (The Pixies) or David Byrne (Talking Heads)- expressive, yelping vocals which I really like.
The Grenades are like punk with a creative edge with a sound looking back to non-commercial new wave of the eighties.
I definitely enjoyed their set and would like to see them again.
Unlisted is the last band to play and my second time seeing them. They’re one of my favorite new bands so I was looking forward to seeing them again. And I’m not disappointed at all as they sound even better than before.
They play a style of music called “no wave” a somewhat obscure music played in New York City in the eighties. It contains lots of dissonance- hard, jerky rhythms and lots of angry, yelling vocals.
Though modern folks might want to classify this band as “noise” I feel there’s two much punk energy and aggression here for me not to claim them as our own.
Led by Dana, who looks a bit like a female version of a young Mick Jagger and sings a bit like Patti Smith at her most violent- this band plays an awesome set.
My favorite song has a kind of Peter Gunn bass-line along with a high clanging guitar. After the set I ask for it’s name and the only name it has of now is “New Song.”
This is a new band with new sounds and new songs that I recommend highly.
I am an old dog, trying to listen with new ears, enjoying the hell out of seeing new bands and wouldn’t trade places with anybody in the world.
(Slimedog)
