The Boston Phoenix
February 11 - 18, 1999

[Music Reviews]

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Concepts in rock

The Big Burrito compilation

Cellars by Starlight by Brett Milano

Joe Grillo It's not often that your initial reaction to a compilation of rock bands from Boston is: "I wouldn't mind buying a burrito from these guys." You can in fact get a plate o' tacos from just about everybody on the new compilation What We Do for a Living (Burrito Concepts) -- because every line-up includes a past or present employee of the Allston eatery Big Burrito and its Kenmore Square sister restaurant, Burrito Max. True, there are other local establishments that could probably manage a similar compilation -- the Tremont Brewery and the Mystery Train record stores come to mind -- but the Big Burrito folks thought of it first.

To head off an obvious joke: there are no salsa bands on the disc. From the 17 songs here, you'd figure that the Big Burrito is more a punk-rock kind of place. Dynamics range from a solo acoustic (but extremely nasty) track by Tom Bianchi to a full-tilt, Jesus Lizard overload by Nok, but loud and fast generally rules. The long-AWOL Doc Hopper (who won the Rumble in 1994, with a set including Gang Green's "Alcohol") open with the disc's catchiest number, "Porcelain," a punk-pop charmer in the Green Day/Buzzcocks mold. Other familiar names here include Honkeyball (with "Last Time," repeated from their own album) and Meaghan McLaughlin, appearing solo and with Garment District-associated Lint -- she's the one who's moved on to a different job.

Like most good local comps, this one serves as an intro to a few worthy bands who haven't released their own discs yet. Pick hits here include Piebald (whose track makes good use of about a half-dozen Ramones licks) the garage/bubblegum Shake 747, and the high-intensity pop band Garrison -- whose singer/guitarist Joe Grillo also produced the disc.

Each of the burrito joints has good proximity to the club scene: Burrito Max is just across the street from what used to be the Rat, and the Big Burrito is next door to Harpers Ferry. But how did so many bandmembers wind up at these places? "Because of the schedule, for one thing," Grillo explains. "I don't know any other job where you can literally take a month off to tour, then come home and still have a job. You can come back from the road broke and they'll bend over backwards to give you as many shifts as possible -- that's awesome. And you've got everyone being friends and talking about music a lot. We're all good workers because we appreciate the leniency they have in the schedule. Plus, you know, it's burritos -- they're cheap, they fill you up, and they're vegetarian."

Doc Hopper drummer Greg Hoffman was the first musician in the store three years ago. And Grillo says the idea for a CD was already kicking around when he arrived a year later. He admits he's lucky that the bands in the store wound up musically compatible -- one bad fusion band or sensitive folkie would have made for a weird patch in the CD. "We run enough of a gamut, but the store isn't separated into cliques or anything. We're all music fans, but sometimes there'll be little fights over who gets to put in the next CD. The biggest challenge was putting the disc together so it wouldn't shift gears all over the place. To me it sounds like it all belongs on the same record."

I can vouch for the food at the Big Burrito, having stopped in a bunch of times on the way to Harpers Ferry. But the store doesn't necessarily play up its rock-and-roll connections, and it doesn't play the CD non-stop. Most of the tracks are too raucous to be played during the lunch-hour rush in Kenmore Square, and a couple are too severe to get played at all. "We have to skip over the Nok song because that's just too heavy, but most of it's poppy enough. We generally play the radio, but we can have most of the disc in the store -- at least there's no profanity in any of the songs. We asked people to be careful about that, and fortunately it didn't come up in any of the songs they were intending to use. Whether or not it's their cup of tea, a lot of the regular businesspeople know what we do because they come in every day. The really cool part is that I've had a few of the older, business-type folk come in and buy a copy."

RADIO KINGS BREAK UP

By general consensus, the Radio Kings were one of the best R&B bands to break out of Boston in recent years. Sometimes compared to the Fabulous Thunderbirds and the Blasters, they played their blues fast and raucous enough to appeal to the rockers, and with two albums on the racks, they seemed ready for national attention -- the second, Money Road, was on Bullseye Blues/Rounder and had a liner-note endorsement from ex-Blasters leader Dave Alvin. So it comes as a surprise that the band are breaking up, with a final show scheduled for March 27 at Johnny D's.

"It was time for me to do something different," guitarist Michael Dinallo explains. "Brian [Templeton, singer] and I had been together for eight years, and I had things I wanted to do that wouldn't work with the band. I'd hate to say I'm becoming a singer/songwriter, but I want to work more toward rootsy, folky stuff. There's a demo that I'm working on now, and we want to take that high lonesome sound of mountain music and cross it with that low Delta moan." In other words, he's making the same kind of departure that Dave Alvin made as a solo artist. "Yeah, a couple people have mentioned that to me, and I guess it's the case. We've been friends for a few years and he's had a huge impact on me."

Dinallo hasn't sworn off guitar-slinging altogether: next month in Memphis, he'll be playing the Beale Street Blues festival in a pick-up band behind Billy Lee Riley, the Sun Records rockabilly guy who wrote the gonzo classic "Flying Saucers Rock 'n' Roll." But he's going for a subtler sound on the solo demos, which include the old Radio Kings rhythm section along with Paula Cole guitarist Kevin Barry. Meanwhile the Radio Kings have a last month of gigs to play, starting with a European tour. One assumes it feels weird to play with a band you've decided to leave. "Yeah, the first couple of gigs were strange, but it's coming back together now. I think we're going out on a real high note."

JOHNNY BLACK TRIO

Sometimes it ain't easy being an old-school punk rocker, especially if you've been leading the same band through a decade-plus of inglorious gigs. Singer/guitarist Johnny Black addresses that question head-on during "Tell Me the Truth," the best track on the Johnny Black Trio's just-released debut, Basic Black -- "You say you've got problems, I got a few of my own/I got my bass player whining on the telephone/I got the world's oldest drummer, I wish he'd leave me alone!" At least the song has a happy ending when he falls in love at the Midway.

Such is the lifestyle conjured up on Basic Black, which will please anyone who's ever been a sucker for this sort of thing -- everyone who packed the Dogmatics reunion three weeks ago (and for that matter, anyone who remembers that the Blackjacks once released an album with a similar title) should especially feel at home. Black can proudly claim to have been a member of one of the most-banned bands in Boston history (that would be Johnny & the Jumper Cables, who became persona non grata in at least three clubs when singer Kenne Highland lost his kilt). And it's no surprise that he was involved last year in bringing the Dictators to the Middle East. But his own stuff is a little more polished lately. There are solid hooks in each of the songs; there's a bit of rockabilly here and a touch of harmony there, and a ballad, "She's the Type," that could have easily come from one of the old David Johansen albums.

SKEETER JOHNSON

Cambridge's Lizard Lounge has lately been a hotbed of theme nights, including Rick Berlin's Marlene cabaret (on hiatus since Christmas) and drummer Mike Rivard's acid-jazz Club d'Elf. A new Tuesday-night series makes its debut this week: the "Grassroots Revival" hosted by Skeeter Johnson, an alleged "Southern singer, songwriter, farmer, artist and all-around wit." Skeeter's true identity is a closely guarded secret, but he likely bears a resemblance to Billy Beard, the Nashville/Boston drummer (now in Patty Griffin's band) who's organizing the series along with Slide stickman Ken Schopf. Expect the freewheeling atmosphere of the Marlene nights with more of a rootsy slant. There'll be medicine-show presentations between the bands, and they've even dreamed up a drink for the occasion, the "Drunkard's Dream," which gets served in mason jars. This week's inaugural line-up looks especially strong, with Erin Harp (of the band Lovewhip) doing Delta blues, the Tarbox Ramblers, and Wooden Leg's Jimmy Ryan and Morphine's Mark Sandman in their duo guise as the Pale Brothers.

COMING UP

Ska legend Laurel Aitken stops into the Middle East tonight (Thursday); the Ghost of Tony Gold are at the House of Blues, the Runt of the Litter compilation has a release party with Purrr and Chris Ware at the Linwood, the Binary System are at Johnny D's, the Speed Devils are at Bill's Bar, and the Red Telephone continue their Lansdowne Street Music Hall residency . . . Pop heroes Sloan are at the Middle East with the Sheila Divine tomorrow (Friday); Bo Diddley is at Harpers Ferry, Ivan Neville begins two nights at the House of Blues, and Slide headline their annual pre-Mardi Gras shindig at Club Bohemia . . . Amy Rigby and Warren Zevon share a strong but unlikely double bill at the Paradise Saturday; meanwhile Gravel Pit and Quick Fix are at T.T. the Bear's Place and Fuzzy, Brilliantine (with Dave Derby), and the Tuffskins (with Skeggie Kendall) are all at the Middle East . . . Just out of hot water for tussling with bouncers in Austin, the Afghan Whigs are at the Paradise Sunday; Traffic alumni Dave Mason and Jim Capaldi play the Copley Theatre, and Babaloo play the Middle East.
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