I’ve Got My Friends

Boston/San Francisco Punk Split (Flat Records)
by Mark Phinney

If the masses don’t know it by now, punk and Boston are alive and well and pissing in the corner at the Rat. It always has been here, it never left, and I’m not playing faves here just because I’m from here, but we do rule as far as fun, fast, city boy punk rock. Hangin’ at the Rat on any given night, with the downstairs thumpin’ underneath your feet, watching as local boys muddle about, it’s tradition, it’s comfortable, much the same way the lower east side of Manhatten was going on in the mid to late ’70s down at CBGB’s. The young fun, the all ages show are the most real, honest and in your face shows out there nowadays, just check out the Runt of The Litter comps and this new teamup with the San Fran scene. I can truly see why this is comp split, the West Coast sound has the same type of comradery as the DIYers in Beantown do.

Heavy hitters The Swingin Utters take of from the starting with two down home roots quickies that lay the ground work for this 32 song CD, giving each band two cents to say what they need to scream. I come from the Lookout! school of punk with The Queers, Riverdales, and just faggy girl songs like The Cretins, but this stuff has a more working class flare to it, it’s here, right now. The differances in the Frisco bands is a lot more noise and more grunted vox, while the Ratsters are more raw and stripped down, like my picks here, The Ducky Boys and Dropkick Murphys, it’s all too Boston. It’s also great to here was more Showcase Showdown and Bastard Squad.

As much as the left coast stuff is great, I feel Boston dominating here, all the way down to the clever cover art of The Rat, and The Trocadero, and even Mr. Butch sweeping up. Now that’s punk, that’s Boston. But props to The Streets of San Fransisco.