Show Time!

THE SPECIALS - NEWMATICS - Shed 10, Queens Wharf, Auckland, New Zealand - 10th April 2012

I thought I’d missed the boat; the boat being THE SPECIALS live experience. Among the very first records I bought back in 1980 at the tender age of 11, was the ‘Too Much Too Young’ EP, which remains a firm favourite of mine to this day. Obviously, I was too much too young to see the band then.

Move forward to 2009, I’m living in New Zealand and the band announces some reformation dates in the UK, but minus the band’s main creative force, Jerry Dammers. "Sad old tossers," I thought. "Milking the legend and boosting the bank balance." Snag is, many friends of mine saw the band on this tour and said they were smoking. "Well, it ain’t THE SPECIALS without Dammers," was my rather half-hearted conciliation.

But then a New Zealand show is announced! "OK, I’m going..." I thought. Second snag - it’s the very same night I was flying back to the UK to see my none-too-well Mum. Oh well, "It ain’t THE SPECIALS without Dammers...."

Soon after I saw the live DVD of the reunion tour and it was obvious: the gig was indeed out of this world - Dammers or not! More than a tad gutted, I resigned myself to never hearing ‘Too Much Too Young’ live by the band that recorded it.

Come 2012 and there is another NZ show announced and this time, no matter what (including a new job which didn’t really entitle me to any time off so soon after starting it), I was going. Chuffed. Prior to this Auckland show, the band had just done about five Australian gigs. The final night of a tour is always risky; while there is the possibility of watching THE show of the tour, there is also the greater possibility of a tired and jaded band, or one too intent on end-of-tour celebrations to give a shit about the music.

So, on a humid and surprising hot early April evening, I walked to the Auckland waterfront and entered what was basically a huge tin shed with a concrete floor - a venue that calls itself Shed 10. I had visions of the sound bouncing off all of these hard surfaces making just one big Rude Boy mash-up of noise. Thankfully, due to a rather low ceiling and heaps of wooden beams, somehow the reflections were absorbed, making the sound quality among the best I’ve heard.

So, with an over-priced beer in my hand, I awaited my debut experience of New Zealand’s own vintage Ska crew, NEWMATICS. The band played a more Funk-orientated take on Ska and while they were far from dull, they never really excited me as much as I had hoped. It was all rather polished and while vintage tunes like ‘Five Miseries’ and ‘Playing the Champion’ entertained, a lot of the remainder was filler. My fave song, ‘Walkie Talkies’, never made the show, but the closing ‘Riot Squad’ was certainly the band’s finest moment. After a mere 30 minute set, the band had gone.

And so THE SPECIALS. I’d read the band promised a different show from the 2009 tour (as seen on the aforementioned DVD) and it was instantly apparent with an almost acapella introduction to opener ‘Do The Dog’. Once the band kicked in, a non-stop celebration started up as the diverse crowd (and I mean young and old Punks, a few hippies, some old Skinheads, a good number of suited-and-booted Rude Boys and plenty of Joe Normals) skanked, grooved and sang along to every song.

Highlights were plenty: a stunningly pointed and graphic ‘Doesn’t Make It Alright’, the sublime quality of ‘Do Nothing’, a mega-up tempo ‘Monkey Man’, ‘Hey Little Rich Girl’ that got dedicated to the recently deceased Amy Winehouse, ‘A Message To You Rudy’ that received the biggest cheer of the night and the mass singalong set closer ‘Enjoy Yourself’.

The band clearly appeared to be having a good time. Lynval in particular seemed to be the heart of the band, constantly smiling and dancing, climbing the PA columns and being chatty with the crowd while Neville Staples was pretty much the voice of the band imploring the crowd to dance harder and sing louder. The famed sardonic wit of Terry Hall was in evidence too, suggesting that he was ‘bored’ and wanted a ‘nice cup of tea’ while also saying the venue needed ‘a good dust’. With Roddy Radiation pulling his rock ‘n’ roll poses at the front, it’s often easy to forget the duo that make THE SPECIALS such a formidable live at - Horace Panter and John Bradbury form an incredibly tight and effective rhythm section that allows the rest of the band a great deal of freedom. And as for Jerry Dammers replacement? Well... Jerry who???

As for surprises, well, there was no ‘Ghost Town’ nor ‘Guns Of Navarone’ this time around. In their place came ‘International Jet Set’, and ‘Too Hot’ (the entire first album was played in fact). I’d hoped ‘Why’ may make an appearance but no. The fact the venue had a low ceiling also created a bit of a surprise as there was no room for any over-head lighting. The massive SPECIALS backdrop was there again, but with stage and floor level lighting in front of it creating a more intimate yet slightly threatening and oppressive feel.

Close on to two hours after hitting the stage, the encores of ‘Little Bitch’ and ‘You’re Wondering Now’ signalled showtime was over and all that remained in Shed 10 was a lot of smiling, sweaty people all proclaiming that it had been a great night.

And yes, I did finally get to hear ‘Too Much Too Young’ live and it lived up to each and every expectation I had.
More photos here.

Obituary - Michael Davis

On Friday 17 February, Michael Davis, bassist with legendary proto-punks, MC5, passed away due to liver failure at the age of 68. His wife, Angela, confirmed that after a month of hospitalizaton for liver disease at Enloe Medical Center in Chico, CA, Davis passed at on Friday afternoon.
Born on 5 June 1943, Davis studied fine arts at Wayne State University in Michigan but dropped out of the course in 1964. It was then that he came to prominence as the bassist (replacing original member, Pat Burrows) in the infamous Detroit band, MC5. With revolutionary politics, combustible unhinged musical chops and a decidedly anti-establishment polemics, the band is often cited as one of the forerunners of Punk Rock with their debut album, 1969’s seminal ‘Kick Out The Jams’ causing as much controversy in its time as any Punk album has done since 1977.

Succeeding albums, ‘Back In the USA’ and ‘High Time’ continued to set a template for Punk bands of the future and continue to cast their shadow over every Punk Rocking, Garage shaking band of today.
By 1972, Davis had a Heroin habit and was kicked out of the band. This drug habit lead him to a prison term - one that saw him reunite behind bars in Kentucky with MC5 guitarist, Wayne Kramer who was also incarcerated on drug charges.
Upon his release he joined DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (that also featured fellow Detroit Punk icon, ex-STOOGE Ron Asheton) for a term of seven years and played with BLOOD ORANGE and RICH HOPKINS AND THE LUMINARIOS.
Even though MC5’s vocalist Rob Tyner and guitarist Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith had already passed away, Davis - along with original MC5 band mates Wayne Kramer and Dennis Thompson - resurrected the band in 2003 under the moniker of DKT-MC5 that toured extensively.
In 2006, Davis had a major scare when, due to a motorcycle accident, he injured his back on a Southern California freeway. He later co-founded the non-profit Music Is Revolution Foundation, dedicated to supporting music education programs in public schools. Around this time, he also joined Garage rockers LORD OF ALTAMONT.
During his latter years, Davis became a record producer and returned to his love of art. Recently, he had studied in both Oregon and California with the ultimate intention of completing a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts.
As a musician to the end, Davis had been planning a recording session in Belgium with Sonny Vincent (best known for his roll as frontman for early NYC Punks, THE TESTORS) just a week after he passed away.
Davis is survived by his wife, their three sons, and a daughter from a previous marriage. At the time of writing, memorial plans are pending.

Year-end recommendations - 2011

Everyone else seems to do a year-end best of list, so here are mine. Have to say, the musical highlight for me (and many others it seems) was the Steve Ignorant Crass Songs tour that arrived here in New Zealand in back in July. It really was something I never expected to see - and I certainly didn’t expect it to be executed with such aplomb.

Here goes....

ALBUMS

1. FUCKED UP - David Comes To Life {Matador}

2. STEVE ADAMYK BAND - Forever Won’t Wait {Dirtnap}

3. VISIONS OF CHANGE/ THE DEPRAVED - s/t {Boss Tuneage}

4. CUTE LEPERS - Adventure Time {Damaged Goods}

5. NIGHT BIRDS - The Other Side Of Darkness {Grave Mistake}

6. SECTION 13 - Burning Bridges {Boss Tuneage}

7. GENERATORS - Last Of The Pariahs {DC-Jam}

8. CULTURE SHOCK - Everything {Blurrg!}

9. DWARVES - Are Born Again {MVD}

10. SCREECHING WEASEL - First World Manifesto {Fat Wreck}

Notable mentions: ZOUNDS - Redemption Of Zounds {Overground}, STANDOUT RIOT - Gentlemen Bandits {TNS}, TIM BARRY - 28th And Stonewall {Suburban Home}, MEASURE (SA) - Notes {No Idea}, DIRECT HIT! - Domesplitter {Kind Of Like}, FAITH - Subject To Change + First Demo {Dischord}, BANGERS - Small Pleasures (Kiss Of Death}, DOPAMINES - Expect The Worst {Paper And Plastick}, DEEP SLEEP - Turn Me Off {Grave Mistake}, HDQ - Hung, Drawn And Quartered + You Suck {Boss Tuneage}.

SINGLES/ EPS

1. THE SHIRKS - Cry Cry Cry {Grave Mistake}

2. THE MAGNIFICENT - 1981 {Drunken Sailor}

3. JELLO BIAFRA AND THE GUANTANAMO SCHOOL OF MEDICINE - Enhanced Methods Of Questioning {Alternative Tentacles}

4. JD AND THE FDCS - Burn This City Down {Delerict Records}

5. COBRA SKULLS - Bringing The War Home {Fat Wreck}

I should mention a couple of books that have impressed me this year also. The first was ALICE BAG’s autobiography ‘Violence Girl’ and the other was ‘Taking Punk To The Masses’. Both are well worth your time.

For further info on all of the above, check the appropriate reviews on the Scanner site.

Show Time!

OFF! - CHAINSAW HOOKERS - PROJECT MAYHEM - Amplifier Bar, Perth, Australia - 3rd December 2011

I'd never been to Amplifier Bar before, but heard plenty of shitty things about it from other people. It seemed like a completely average venue-cum-club to me. Apparently it turns into a townie disco at the stroke of midnight, curtailing any gigs that inexplicably want to run on later than that. Personally, if the bands around here actually shared backlines (like a community) then changeovers would be 5-10 minutes instead of 25 minutes, and a four-band show could be done in under three hours instead of dragging on all bloody night. But I digress.. The stage was a sensible height, with no barrier (something a lot of these places seem to love sticking up) and kinda diagonal in a corner. Overall, the setting seemed good for a band like OFF! to get people moving.

OFF! came on shortly after we got there - having intentionally sat out the first two (rubbish, local) bands in the pub around the corner - but considering the pedigree of the main band, the venue seemed barely half-full - we were able to stand front and center without any problems. Keith Morris fitted the cliché of "seeming shorter in person", and compared to the majority of spare-tired early-Eighties hardcore dudes I've seen still playing in recent years, he looked in pretty great shape for a geezer of fifty-five.

From the live sound on two of their three "videos", and the 'Live At Generation Records' 7" I knew they'd be good, but as soon as they crashed into 'Black Thoughts' everyone went nuts. I can't remember the last time I saw/dodged quite so many stage-divers. The band barely stopped, aside from a brief explanation behind the eulogising song 'Jeffery Lee Peirce', (who was the singer of THE GUN CLUB, and one of Keith's closest friends), The set was something like 16 songs long, which simultaneously seemed to last forever while it was happening, and then seemed to end horribly quickly. The band were tight and energetic, and despite the vocals being a bit low, sounded altogether incredible. After the last notes rang out, the sweaty masses began demanding "ONE MORE SONG! ONE MORE SONG!" (I wanted at least a dozen!), before the band re-appeared. Keith explained that when BLACK FLAG were starting out and they didn't have enough songs for a full-set, they'd do what they were about to do tonight, and start over. So then we got the first two songs over again ('Black Thoughts' and 'Darkness'), I was half hoping they would do the entire lot - but even that pair made the room go mad. All in all, it was an awesome show and clearly they're a band doing it for the love of it, not to make a quick buck. (Their shirts and merch were cheaper than the local bands'.)
Alex Leech (Jerk Store zine)

Obituary - Kevin Mahoney

On Friday 14th October, Kevin J Mahoney, former vocalist in American Hardcore band SIEGE, passed away. The cause of death is not clear, but his obituary states it was sudden while other sources suggests he passed away in his sleep.

Mahoney was born on 6th September 1965 and came to Punk Rock prominence in 1983 when - as vocalist and saxophonist - he joined Kurt Habelt, Henry McNamee and Rob Williams to complete the line-up of Weymouth, Massachusetts band, SIEGE. Although Mahoney was from Braintree, MA (closer to Boston and home to both JERRY'S KIDS and GANG GREEN), SIEGE was never truly accepted by Boston's XClaim scene.

In 1984, the band recorded it's hyper-speed, brutal Hardcore sound at Radiobeat Studios with Lou Giordano. The six track demo, 'Drop Dead', won SIEGE the support of Pushead who, in 1985, put three of the band's songs on his compilation, 'Cleanse The Bacteria'. These three tracks were the only 'official' release the band released, although a number of compilations have since come to the surface.

The same year, the band was set to play its first New York City show at the legendary CBGBS, supporting THE NECROS. Mahoney failed to show up and the band split-up soon after. They did reform briefly in the early 1990s, but this was without Mahoney's inclusion.

At the time of his passing, Kevin was working in the IT department at Children’s Hospital Boston, where he had served in many capacities in his several years there. Prior to Children’s, Kevin worked for many years - beginning in 1992 - in the IT department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston.

Donations in memory of Kevin may be made to Juvenile Diabetes Reseach Foundation 60 Walnut Street #102, Wellesley,Ma 02581. To leave online condolences please go to the McDonald Funeral Home web site at www.McDonald-FuneralHomes.com