The Oblivians

at Maxwell’s, Hoboken, New Jersey
by Ben Sisario

Forty-five minutes into their Valentine’s Day show, having ostensibly completed their set, Crypt Records vagrants the Oblivians put down their instruments, stood their ground, and made a single demand of the house: More beer.

That met, Eric Oblivian, Greg Oblivian, and Jack Oblivian each traded instruments and went back at it, not stopping until the plug was pulled an hour (and two more rounds) later.

The Oblivians could be the least original band in the world, covering Bo Diddley tunes and rockabilly standards in a stripped down three-piece strongly reminiscent of Jon Spencer or the Cramps. It doesn’t matter much to them though, nor to the fifty-odd folks who showed up to get their asses whupped, and stayed for every second of the night’s rock and roll debauchery, even for Greg Oblivian’s ten-minute “This right here is the rock and roll beat” drum performance (I can’t really call it a “solo”). Their redundancy mattered to me for about ten minutes, but then I got the idea and dropped ten or twenty at the bar; before long, I was pumping my fist and shouting the chorus to “Kick Your Ass.” They didn’t hear me, though, because they were busy arguing with the bar staff for more liquor.