Rocket From The Crypt
with Rancid, The Showcase Showdown at Avalon
by J. Lianna Ness
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Sex Pistols Re-Unite! Hey Johnny, remember Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, 1978? “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” Didn’t the Pistols break up when the media turned them into a circus sideshow? Hey kids, the circus is coming back to town!
The Showcase Showdown are Boston’s best punk band, sounding like a hyper-kinetic cross between the Dickies and the Dead Kennedys. Although they played at a pace that exceeds the legal speed limit, the audience just sort of stood around throughout their set. When guitarist Tom Cloherty broke a string and had to re-tune, the crowd heckled him. He retorted, “I saw Sonic Youth do this for an entire set.” TouchĂ©! Of course, the joke went over everyone’s head. Yeah, where were you in 1991?
Rocket From The Crypt, an astounding six-piece ensemble (seven, if you count the backup-singer/go-go guy who came out and displayed a prowess for funky white-boy ’80s new wave dance moves) from San Diego, played next. With matching black western shirts, they came out and just fuckin’ rocked. The two-man horn section fit right into place alongside the heavy percussion, loud guitars and pounding bass. Festive, frat party psychobilly punk – the musical equivalent of a sugar rush.
Rancid blasted right into “Roots Radicals” and mass hysteria ensued. Although I didn’t want to like Rancid (I’m old, set in my ways, and I’ve already listened to my Clash, Exploited, and Stiff Little Fingers records a hundred times), I have to admit they were really fun and energetic. There was a huge pit, but I just don’t know about these kids today. Why, back in my day, everyone stagedived, regardless of the rules. I remember a time when rules were meant to be broken. “Punks” today seem so passive, polite and complacent in comparison.
Tick, tick, tick…
