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Back in black
‘Blackout Bar,’ Regeneration rock, Frank Smith
BY WILL SPITZ
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"We’re a little drunk, but hopefully, so are you," offered Loved Ones frontman Dave Hause before their set at Great Scott a week ago Wednesday. Anyone who wasn’t sufficiently sauced by that point would’ve been wise to flag down the nearest bartender and order a double, if only to make the visitors’ prosaic pop-punk retreads more bearable. The band’s set was an inauspicious kickoff to what had been billed as an after-party for Social Distortion’s gig down Commonwealth Avenue at Avalon; and certainly no event in town was more appropriate for such a purpose than Mark Vieira’s weekly "Blackout Bar," a hard-drinking, hard-rocking night that recently relocated to Great Scott from the Paradise Lounge. But though Allston Rock City seems to be living up to its nickname again, the Loved Ones — a Philly trio whose line-up includes former Kid Dynamite bassist Michael Cotterman — failed to live up to theirs. So it was a relief when Sweden’s answer to Johnny Thunders stepped behind the DJ booth. Backyard Babies guitarist Dregen, who’d come straight from his band’s opening set at Avalon, promptly cranked the Sonics’ 1966 scorcher "Shot Down" up to 11, turning the burnt-out bar into a barn burner even before a spin of AC/DC’s "Hard As a Rock" sealed the deal. The following night, a block away on Harvard Avenue, Allston’s Regeneration Records cleared all the merchandise from its cramped, one-room storefront, transforming the punk-rock shop into a serviceable venue for Memphis’s Lost Sounds and local hardcore vets Crash and Burn. The crowd that packed the room sported attire that matched the black-and-white-and-red-all-over æsthetic of the store, and it respectfully complied with the requests of a flyer handed out at the door. (No drinking, smoke outside without crowding the sidewalk, "don’t be a jerk.") "Punk is only what you make of it, and you’ll only get back what you put in, so have some fucking fun," the mini-manifesto concluded. C&B singer/guitarist Billy Brown seconded that response, thanking the crowd and the fiercely independent vinyl emporium/DIY venue, which opened three months ago, for supporting local music and observing, "The city really needs this." Often-less-than-ebullient frontman Aaron Sinclair was in an uncharacteristically good mood later that night back at Great Scott, and his folksy, alt-acoustic outfit Frank Smith fed off that energy for a more-raucous-than-usual set. With Sinclair’s acoustic guitar overdriving his amp, they played a few songs from their forthcoming Think Farms, a terrific marriage of the band’s more rock-influenced first album, Laguardia, and the more country-inflected follow-up, Burn This House Down. The show also marked the first live appearance of Marc Flynn, who along with Sinclair headed the cultishly popular proto-punk outfit Drexel. Flynn, who recorded the new album at his Quincy basement studio 202 Lions, took over for Sinclair’s Lot Six band mate Julian Cassanetti on keys. Keep your eyes peeled for Think Farms, which will be out this spring on Vieira’s Lonesome Recordings. Will Spitz can be reached at wspitz[a]phx.com.
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