June 20 - June 27, 1 9 9 6

Guitarslinger

Kid Bangham heads out sans the Thunderbirds

by Brett Milano

People leave famous bands for all sorts of reasons, but Kid Bangham's excuse for his recent exit from the Fabulous Thunderbirds may well be a first. "They were paying me too much money," says the Providence-bred guitarist over the phone from Arlington. "I'm not sure I can be a great musician if I'm in a fancy hotel room. If I'm going to write a song, I'd rather go down to a train station and sit with some homeless people or something. My personal life is a wreck right now, but that's how I want it to be. It fares well for the music."

For the past year, Bangham's been stockpiling material for a solo album that will come out on Tone-Cool, featuring singer Amyl Justian. "I don't sing on the record. You don't want me to sing on it. The sound will be blues-oriented stuff, not a great departure from what I've done. A lot of the songs were recorded before I knew they were intended for the album. I'd find myself in a certain mood, go to the studio and rip off on something."

After a decade in the clubs, Bangham hit the big time fast when he joined the Thunderbirds. He and fellow Providence guitar-slinger Duke Robillard joined the band together to fill the big shoes of Jimmie Vaughan (who was planning to work full-time with his brother Stevie Ray). The two guitarists played on the band's last major-label album, Walk That Walk, Talk That Talk (Epic, 1992), then Bangham remained as sole guitarist for a time after Robillard left -- though the next T-Birds album, Roll of the Dice, was recorded a mere two months after Bangham left the band. Given how flashy Bangham and Robillard can be, the Walk That Walk album featured a surprising lack of guitar pyrotechnics, something I took issue with when I reviewed it in these pages.

"I remember; you wanted to hear shootouts," Bangham says. "And I don't blame you. The only thing I can tell you is that I'd been doing guitar shootouts all my life, and at that point I was excited about the idea of actually getting into the songs. It was a refreshing change for me, but it didn't really represent what would happen live."

Bangham played his share of high-profile gigs with the Thunderbirds, including President Clinton's inaugural. "I liked the Thunderbirds because you weren't playing to blues freaks or blues cult people; you were playing to people from all walks of life, and I liked playing for the masses. The inaugural show? I had a good time, but the people who were guarding the president got a little nervous about the way I was always pointing the guitar at him. They thought it was some kind of weapon. I don't remember spending much time by the stage. I think I was trying to track down some beers."

Just about a year ago, the name "Johnny Angel" suddenly appeared on a local club listing and a few eyebrows got raised over that one. Was Johnny Angel finally back in town? The guy who led the Blackjacks and wrote the local hit "(That's Why I Always) Dress in Black," the guy who quietly hightailed it to Los Angeles after playing the Rat one Saturday night and said he had no plans to set foot in Boston again?

As it turned out, the answer was no. That "Johnny Angel" was a one-act play the Middle East was putting on. But this time it's for real: Johnny Angel -- former local hotshot, current rock critic (based at San Francisco's Bay Guardian), occasional Phoenix contributor, and unrepentant punk -- will play T.T. the Bear's Place tomorrow (Friday) night with his new band Creeps in Exile, whose line-up includes two other renegade Bostonians, bassist Sticks de Santis (from Lou Miami and King Moon Razer) and Peter Sisco (from Hotbox). It's the first time Angel has seen Boston since that fateful night seven years ago at the Rat. A sentimental journey, right? Not quite.

"My feelings run the gamut, from total excitement to total terror," he says from his current Bay Area home. "Boston was great for what it is. I had a great time sometimes and bad times sometimes, but I never had any bad feelings about the bands I was in, including the silly one [the Swinging Erudites, who made some national waves with the Bangles parody "Walk with an Erection"]. You do find that when you're a big deal in New England you start thinking you're king of the world, then you go out in the world and nobody's heard of you."

As for his sudden exit seven years ago, "I just wanted to go quietly. Everybody I knew that broke up their bands or moved away was making a big production out of it. I figured my leaving was a big deal for me but not for anybody else, so why pretend?"

Angel lasted six years in Los Angeles -- outlasting many Bostonians who've moved there -- but finally moved north after the last batch of earthquakes. "Los Angeles definitely has major drawbacks, but you have to live there to find out what they are. It's like a beautiful woman beckoning you, but after a while you start saying, `Jeez, you're a bitch.' "

In some ways Angel has changed a bit since his Boston heyday. Once known for excessive behavior, he's been sober for 10 years and a bodybuilder to boot. In other ways he's changed very little. The 16-song Creeps in Exile album How 'Bout a Kiss, Baby? -- which Angel recorded in four days and released on his own Perversely Cheerful label, after a big-production demo deal with A&M fizzled -- is farther up the Blackjacks' alley, sporting a punk-with-real-tunes approach that harks back to the MC5 and Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers, plus Angel's usual flair for smart/smart-ass lyrics. Pick hits: the highly enlightened break-up song "I Love Myself for Hating You" and the topical "Suzie's on Prozac," which harks back musically to Alice Cooper's insanity ditty "Ballad of Dwight Fry" but has a happier ending: "Suzie got Prozac from a hip psychiatrist/Now she's so happy, she's gassed . . . And now she's not a pain in the ass."

Angel will be playing mostly new material at T.T.'s, though he does promise to dig up "Dress in Black" for the occasion. "This is not a comeback or a reunion gig," he insists. "Boston's a good place to play and get paid. I mean, I don't want to write it off dismissively; there's a lot of emotion attached, and I'm looking forward to seeing people I haven't seen in years. But I'd be just as happy if the audience is all people who liked us without knowing about the old stuff. It's like bands always say [affecting an English accent], `We do it all for the kids, man. We're only in it for the fans.' Er, why does the expression `lying sack of shit' come to mind?"

COMING UP

The Derangers and Bald Guys headline Surf Night at Bill's Bar tonight (Thursday), Johnny Copeland's at House of Blues, and Lumen headline the Rat. Meanwhile, the Middle East has a Safe & Sound benefit with Tree headlining downstairs, Gravel Pit and Trona upstairs . . . Hippie-rock rulers Groovasaurus play Mama Kin tomorrow (Friday), the Bee Charmers are at the Tam, Dublin's Harvest Ministers are at Phoenix Landing, and the Middle East has a Piano Factory benefit with Curious Ritual and Chainsuck upstairs, One of Us and Pooka Stew downstairs . . . Carol Noonan plays Johnny D's on Saturday, Expanding Man and Talking to Animals are at T.T.'s, and the Toasters are at Mama Kin . . . Mono Puff, featuring John (They Might Be Giants) Flansburgh, debut Tuesday night at the Middle East . . . Sub Pop's cuddliest band, Jale, hit T.T.' s on Wednesday.