Tugboat Annie

at The Middle East
by Austin Nash

I spoke with Mike Bethman (vocals, guitar) outside The Middle East in Boston about a year ago. It was spring and Bethman looked down at his shoes and said quietly that the band had moved to Boston from Buffalo in the Fall and wasn’t really getting any press or breaks of any kind. I happened to catch the Tugboat Annie show that night by mistake, waiting for the band I was supposed to be there for. I was blown away by the show and couldn’t imagine ruining the experience with a suck band follow up, I wasn’t going to take that chance, so I left.

I picked up their disc that night, Superfriends (Sonic Bubblegum), and I have since grown together with it, it being a consistent companion to my CD player. They didn’t get any press that month either as the motherfuckers let a rep from the Noise one-up me, saying something about an “arena of fair competition.” I’ve gotten over that since then, and am not taking nearly so much medication now, though my balls are still strapped and I still can’t shit right. Last night I saw Tugboat Annie play the Middle East again, and I could barely get in the dang door. I sat at the bar, of course, waiting on the show and this long line of people kept filing into the upstairs stage and not coming out. When I finally wised up, I was sucking hind tit at the back of the room.

My fascination with Tugboat Annie comes from a coincidental combination of charisma, melody, musicianship, and an extraordinary adeptness at effectively combining these qualities, resulting in that “one in a thousand” breed of unpretentious honesty that I can fall in love with. Vocalist/guitarist Mike Bethman, tall, thin, humble, pointedly featured, and larynxly (is that a word?) gifted with that smoker scratchy quality, secretes a completely likable, believable Mid-Western pickup truck fella aura that leaves me able to identify with him and the performance. At one point in the set, Bethman stands in front of the microphone and projects out to the crowd without it, simply and effectively lending a very personal touch to the show. I took something with me when I left and I still have it.

These four guys, Bethman, Tim Barrett (drums), Jay Celeste (guitar), and Jon Sulkow (bass) make a solid wall of sound like no other band I have heard. I imagine it like pouring sand by the metric ton into a DC-3 turboprop , or having 10 million glass marbles shot across a mile wide cheese grater. The bands typical song format involves slow tempo, clean guitar lead into a radiation blast of melody and angst, revealing a slightly dejected and introspective tone. The show was sweaty and claustrophobic. I think we will see this band in the larger venues soon.

The gig was an introduction to the new Tugboat Annie disc, Wake Up And Disappear (Kimchee/Big Top), which after just a few listens, I can already say that I will probably play the plastic right off of it. The production is slightly dull and during quiet parts, the bonus reverb on the snare makes it sound like an empty wash basin, but this is barely an issue. If you are a typically and perpetually sorry son-of-a-bitch, pick up Wake Up And Disappear and you won’t be anymore. You’ll be cool from then on. And I can feel like I have finally done mankind a service.