Pegboy
at Mama Kin
by Charles R. Terhune
Pegboy was formed from the remains of the late, great Naked Raygun. Pegboy have all of Raygun’s stronger elements and have used them very well. But one gets the sense that Pegboy was formed á la fIREHOSE, with Larry Damore pestering John Haggerty and Pierre Kezdy to come out of punk-rock retirement and form this band that would be just as cool as Naked Raygun. Just as cool… Almost.
Earwig, the new album by Pegboy, is weak compared to their debut, Strong Reaction. Strong Reaction was straight ahead, hard music, fueled by Haggerty’s immense guitar sound. Earwig is tired and pale next to its predecessor; music to walk away from. Complacency and formula wallow around it as much as Damore does. Earwig‘s most outstanding cut is a cover of “Revolver” by Mission of Burma, written by someone else and done better fourteen years ago.
Live, Damore sings and looks like a frat jock. Sounding on album like a big boor, onstage he looks like a big hog. Damore struts around the tiny stage of Mama Kin like a deranged B.U. football player asked at the last moment to sing for his friends’ band. Nobody can sing like Jeff Pezzatti, whose powerful voice matched Haggerty’s powerful guitar work. And Pezzatti is about half Damore’s size! Damore is a big, well-fed boy, and that’s coming from a guy who’s 6’6″ and could afford to eat a few more salads. The rest of the band looks bored, with Kezdy weakly plunking his bass and Haggerty lazily strumming his guitar as if thinking about Mazzy Star.
Pegboy is no more punk rock than Duran Duran. It’s ’90s homogenized rock, filtering out all the rough parts to bring you something sterile. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: If a band makes it to a major, count me out. Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Horton Heat, etc. They will begin to suck in no time. Quarter Stick Records isn’t exactly Geffen, but it gave these guys enough time and money to iron out any of the urgency that made Strong Reaction absolutely slammin’ times ten. And acoustic guitars?!?! How punk rock is that?!?!
An all-female quartet called Jale opened up for Pegboy. While they were weak, they’ll be great when they tune up and learn to play those instruments. As opposed to Pegboy, they can only get better, not fall any further down. Good luck, ladies!
In closing, I’ll just say seeing Pegboy at Mama Kin was so appropriate. A monument to Boston’s smack-ridden bad boys turned local heroes. Like watching the revolution be televised. Now you can go somewhere and watch great bands be transformed into corporate rock. That’s so cool! Where’s my Green Day credit card?
