[from
London UK] Apparently the boy band of punk bands. I was pretty excited for this
show for no good reason except I adore “Baby, Baby” and their general take on
punk – popped up in the friendly hard rock way – melodified – complexified - hate
the emo. When the frat boys’ girlfriends started yelling for “Baby, Baby” I was
shamed and had to tame my clapping. But in truth, they were definitively solid
and had a wide range of styles. I was surprised at first at how hard they were
– but they do have a history of opening for a variety of 70s punk bands, such
as Sex Pistols, etc., etc. Plus they’ve been a band for as long as I’ve been
alive, just exactly, which is unimaginable: impressive, worrisome. So being a
band for 32 years results in impeccable tightness, record-quality polish, and
the problem of having to not look bored to death with playing the same songs
you’ve played for 30 plus years. They did good. They were enthusiastic and
obviously chose the right career path for themselves. The drummer was ignorant
and sticking his tongue out at the crowd like a pervert – original member of
the band. The lead guitarist was not an original member – he was technically
good but had a suburban-man-mowing-the-lawn outfit on – fine fine. The lead
singer/guitarist was the core of the band but when I realized he was a walking
skeleton, I was torn between oh-this-is-real and oh-poor-man. He’s clearly a
man easily persuaded by fads – he might as well have been Scott Weiland in his
overwrought attempt to stay current and punk. They went from hardcore punk to
Oi-ish punk to just hard rock. The crowd was insane but it was basically a pack
of extremely drunk cotton-t-shirt boys. Oh, and they were thoroughly British
which is always charming. Austin is undergoing the mini punk festival, Chaos in
Tejas, and these classic fellows were not included, which made me wary of them,
but I think I was lucky to see them, even if they don’t discriminate against
melody. Highlights were "Baby, Baby" AND when they covered The
Members' "The Sound of the Suburbs." (Photo courtesy of
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