The Phoenix Network:
 
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
CD Reviews  |  Classical  |  Live Reviews  |  Music Features
50bands-gif

On my way to the club, I walked hunched in the drizzle behind a fellow in a leather jacket with white paint on the back: "Punks not dead." I pondered this idea and assumed we were heading to the same place, only to watch him pass by Geno's without a glance.

The statement stuck with me as the opening band began to play. Their vocals were right on — a raspy snarl bantered over fuzzy distorted, wailing guitars, and precisely militant drum beats. They covered obscure old-school punk bands, and praised punk legend GG Allin. But ideologically something bothered me about them. Here were a band playing subversive music, but making tasteless jokes about knocking girls up, cancer, and the AIDS epidemic. It struck me that there is a boundary a band should not cross when trying to make statements; "offensive" and "subversive" are certainly not the same thing. I began to doubt the dude's leather jacket's claim. But then, Big Meat Hammer played.

When BMH got on stage a certain energy gathered in the room. It's the kind of feeling you get at a show when you watch a band with strong senses of self and purpose. The crowd and I gathered at the foot of the stage, most knocking back Schlitz and singing along. Since 1989, BMH have been shaking up notions of conformity in a small city where it's easy to get lost in the flow of the next-most-talked-about commodity/band. These types of shows should be unifying, not alienating, and that's exactly what the set got across. You could call them classic, true to their scene, old-school punk rock. Their performance Sunday (my first time seeing them) reaffirmed for me the idea that there is a timelessness to punk rock's original ideologies, and that they are still very much alive. 

Related: 'Please kill me', Shirts off their backs, Post-masters, More more >
  Topics: New England Music News , Entertainment, Music, Pop and Rock Music,  More more >
  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • RSS feed
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article
Comments

--> -->
ARTICLES BY CHAD CHAMBERLAIN
Share this entry with Delicious

 See all articles by: CHAD CHAMBERLAIN

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group