and Johnie 3, DeeCRACKS, The New 45 at Geno's, July 2
By DAN CLARK | July 8, 2009
Lost Cause Desperados have kept a low profile over the last few months, with gigs few and far between. None of that downtime has gone to waste, however, as Portland's kings of warp-speed garage-punk have been hard at work on their upcoming album, Desert of Broken Glass. And Clashes of the Titans have kept them from developing studio tans, as members Kris Lavallee (guitar, vocals), Stu Mahan (bass), Nick Scala (guitar, vocals), and Brian Higgins (drums) have shown off their considerable chops in face-offs too numerous to mention. Both this show and a performance at last week's Zombie Kickball after-party prove there's no ring rust on these punk-rock prizefighters.
Offering a set of blistering, country-tinged, hook-laden rock, LCD's sound fits in nicely with Maine bands like Covered In Bees and Ghosthunter that push the boundaries of punk beyond the bare-bones "three chords and the truth" ethos with clever songwriting and diverse influences. The opening acts, Youngstown, Ohio's Johnie 3, Maine's own The New 45 and, all the way from Austria, DeeCRACKS, however, fit squarely within punk's sometimes-narrow confines. Both The New 45 and Johnie 3 brought tuneful pop-punk in the post-Green Day vein, while DeeCRACKS (formerly a Ramones cover band called the Cretins) partied (and dressed) like it was New York 1977. All three played with intensity and had a good time doing so, but none could hold a candle to Lost Cause Desperados' Category 5 power.
myspace.com/tlcd
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, Entertainment, Music, New Music Releases, Pop and Rock Music, Punk Rock, Green Day, Nick Scala, Brian Higgins, Stu Mahan, Geno's, Less
