Why is that every band in the history of rock music hasn't wanted to be
pigeonholed? Why is that every time I talk to a band, or read of a band in an
interview, they're chuffed about what they've been called, or how they've been
labeled in the press? OK, so maybe it's understandable occasionally. In some
cases the General Public really does get it all wrong . . . But for the
most part bands get stamped with a tag for a reason. People associate a band
with a certain style -- it helps them keep their mental music scene catalogued
and orderly. Whether that band likes it or not, and most often they don't, that
association goes a long way to help unfamiliar people identify with them.
If you're a rap-rock band, why insist on separating yourself from other
rap-rock bands and risk not enjoying the benefits of being heard by the many
that like rap-rock? If you play grunge, just say it (or at least admit it). Who
cares if those terms have been stigmatized lately? Johnny Maguire, who I saw
rip up the Met stage last weekend, plays all kinds of music, of which
rockabilly is one. The band also evokes the spirit of Bill Haley and the Comets
and Buddy Holly and the Crickets. But you could also call them country -- their
blazing guitar duets recall Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant. Realistically, you
could call them rockabilly, rock 'n' roll, roots-rock, or C&W. All
terms apply. We know that rockabilly is a brand slightly out of favor these
days, with only a few honest purveyors attracting any kind of crowd. But
because Maguire played in the Crowns, he may forever be pigeonholed as a
rockabilly dude.
Dave from Sasquatch and the Sick-A-Billys is sitting at the bar in a
wide-shouldered zoot-suit, Regis Philbin dark dress shirt, and a snazzy tie.
He's working a bit of a duck's ass and two-inch 'burns. He looks like a
rockabilly cat and plays a vintage Gibson hollow-body. But with its elements of
punk and metal, the band's sound recalls the eerie post-rockabilly icons 999
and the Gun Club. They just played the Met and the guy's sweating profusely.
His guitar chores are demanding, without question. "It comes more out of anger
and emptiness than anything," he says, wiping the sweat off his brow. But if
people call it rockabilly, let it be OK, right?
Skipping to the car, I see the Donnybrook guys packing their van. They filled
in at Lupo's when nü-metal upstarts 3rd Strike and Gravity Kills cancelled
their dates. Josh, the band's crazed crucible of vocal sound, beams. Even
though the show was last-minute, without much time to call in the Donnybrook
legions, and in front of a skeptical crowd who had come to see the mediocre
American Head Charge, they rocked formidably. Equal parts Pantera and System of
a Down, their lurching, crashing sound will, with luck, soon be heard across
the country. Their now-standard percussion gang-bang to end the set is a
beautiful thing to watch, precise and powerful. Lots of people will call the
band nü-metal; they'll be pigeonholed like the others in categories that
don't make sense, 'cuz they're so much more than all that. The fact is, there
are a limited number of music tags consumers have on hand.
People will always have misconceptions about a band or a style of music. To
paraphrase Earth Wind & Fire, who'll somehow be headlining the Donut Center
next week, "That's the way of the world, yeow."
So I guess what I'm saying is that it's time for bands to 'fess up, to stop
dancing around the pigeonhole and be glad that people care enough to even talk
about them and the music they're making. From here on, be unburdened by your
tag -- embrace it, wear it proudly. It may be the only way that open-minded
audiences will discover the true musician underneath.
THE DINO CLUB. It has been a while since we've talked about Mark Cutler
in this column, and, well, that's just plain wrong. Ignoring Cutler on the
local scene is like forgetting to take a visiting friend from outta state to
the beach. He's been doing his thing for more than two decades now and hasn't
lost an ounce of the charm and panache that has made him one of the area's best
songwriters, period. Anyway, this weekend Mark's busy with the Dino Club, a
straight-up, Westerberg-style project featuring local luminaries Bob Giusti,
Mike Tanaka, Emerson Torrey, and Scott Duhamel. The band, modeled in spirit
after such hip cabals as the Ale and Quail Club, the Woman Haters Club, and the
Rat Pack, celebrate the release of Hey! Drink Up. According to the Web
site (www.mcutler.com), "The wide variety of drinking songs (exultant,
besotted, contemplative, sorrowful and in yer face) contained on the new CD are
the result of multiple decades of hardscrabble research, all of it verified."
Indeed, with the band doing the likes of "High Song," the disc's centerpiece,
you too may feel "doomed to a life of perpetual dry throats and aching minds."
Be forewarned. Enter at your own risk, and enjoy the hell out of it.And buy 'em
a round at Jake's on Saturday, where you can get the CD and make it the
soundtrack for your happy hours.
WANDERING EYE. Planet Groove has a busy weekend as they try to
take their act to the next level. On Friday, they're at the Ocean Mist, and on
Saturday they let it bleed at the New Wave Café in New Bedford.
Over at White Electric there will be a screening of a documentary called
D.I.Y. or DIE on Saturday at 8 p.m. According to the good folks
there, it's a sharp film that focuses on how independent artists manage to
remain independent and their opinions/ideas on how to make that happen for
others. Interview subjects include Lydia Lunch, Ian MacKaye (Fugazi), j mascis
(Dinosaur jr.), J.G.Thirlwell (Foetus), and Mike Watt (Minutemen), plus a bunch
of others. The filmmaker, Michael Dean, is doing an East Coast tour to promote
the film, so he'll be on hand as well.
On Sunday at the Blackstone, you'll find the intimidatingly monikered
Experimental Noise Incinerator (ENI), billed as an all-instrumental,
sometimes hard rock, sometimes avant bunch, with all sorts of interesting
noises. Hear for yourself if getting out on the brink of the work week sounds
OK to you.
E-mail me with music news at big.daddy1@cox.net.
E-mail me with music news at big.daddy1@cox.net.
Issue Date: May 17 - 23, 2002
