What has already been an active year on the local scene only ramps up for summer, as big spring releases by As Fast As, Seekonk, and Harpswell Sound, to name just three, will be followed by discs from this year’s Best Local Act, Best Female Vocalist, and Best Indie Rock Band over the next three months. First though, one of Portland’s favorite live and punk acts kicks off the season just a few days before the Solstice, tonight (assuming you’re reading this June 15) at Geno’s.
The Hi-Fivin’ White Guys have certainly put in their time, playing the clubs and all-ages shows virtually non-stop for the past three years. They feature former Taxis frontman Josh Malia on the lead vocals, everybody’s favorite long-haired bassist Leon Sampson (formerly of the Skatistics), and one of the best drummers in town in Adam Cogswell, whom they share with Confusatron, along with a sensibility for interesting twists on punk, rock, and metal.
Not that the White Guys go in for all that technical stuff that Confusatron have made their name with. Rather, Ate Songs (which is, of course, eight songs) features a good deal of straight-ahead punk, with a dash of their ska heritage and a good deal of mean-spirited sneering — not that I’d have it any other way. The White Guys are one of the few bands in town (Covered in Bees also come to mind) who prefer to have things thrown at them and epithets hurled while they’re on stage, and they give as good as they receive. You’ve got to love the album’s packaging, for example, featuring all three band members in different states of intestinal distress, quarter-inch tape taking the place of various bodily fluids.
Plus, they can play their instruments. Cogswell, particularly, shines on “Empty Bottles,” where he features a delicate touch on the cymbals, and “Living Re-Run (fastfastpunkypunk),” which is basically what you might expect, except that where sometimes this brand of punk can seem a little like planned chaos, Cogswell barely seems taxed and one wonders if he could go twice as fast without missing a beat. In fact, throughout the album the White Guys are way tighter than you might expect of a band known for throwing their instruments through their amps on stage. “Squirrel Song” has a really great bridge where all three instruments pop a crisp melody line.
The best tune on the album is likely “Camouflage,” a great Dead Kennedys throwback protest song. “Freedom isn’t free/Unless you were born fortunate,” Malia sings, sounding genuinely angry. “We’re not trained monkeys in your zoo.” Then they go after those troops we all support: “You shoot at people you never knew/Camouflage is wearing you/I’m not a GI Joe/You’re not the real American hero/I’m not a GI Joe/Cuz I’m a real American.” It’s ballsy, I’ll give them that.
