Punk-o-rama

Emily Grogan and Darkbuster

Cellars by Starlight by Brett Milano

Something about Emily Grogan's debut album, False-o-Meter, leads you to think, "sensitive singer/songwriter." Blame that on dated preconceptions about female solo artists, or on the packaging: soft colors on the cover, coy album title, waifish photo of the singer on the back. None of which suggests the blast of guitars that opens the album, or the punkish energy level throughout. Instead of a sweet acoustic set, this is one of the scrappier singer/songwriter albums since Jen Trynin's debut.

False-o-Meter is also a rough and raw debut. Its 15 songs are the first Grogan's written. But it's got a great sound, with some ambitious numbers handled by a garage-style three-piece (Grogan does the guitars and keys, husband David Grogan plays bass, ex-Malachite member Gay Hathaway is on drums). She's still developing as a writer but her voice is a grabber, with a brassy and slightly theatrical quality. And her songwriting hits the mark when she fixes on a recognizable topic and lets the band loosen up. "Blind Drunk," a clubland slice-of-life, sounds funny and accurate, with a neat shout-along chorus thrown into the bargain. "Cold Cold Ground" begins as a piano-led memory of a deceased friend, but just when you expect it to get sentimental, it shifts into a defiantly Stonesy guitar shuffle. The singer's tone is alternately affectionate and pissed-off; by the end she's decided, "I don't want anything under the cold cold ground." Yep, she's just pulled off an anti-suicide song -- and done it without sounding laughably well-intentioned (remember the "Teenage Suicide" song in the movie Heathers?) or striking a false note.

"I worried a lot about being cheesy on that one," she admits over coffee at Somerville's Diesel Café. "I've never been a good writer, and I can't visualize what comes out of my head. I've always had verbal difficulties, so I can only write when the songs want to come. There have been times when I've sat down and said, `What can I write about now?' Those are the ones that really suck."

The punk/pop format was also something she didn't necessarily aim for. "I'd love to write peaceful and calm songs, but I don't feel that way. There's a lack of freedom in the society I live in, and if I'm going to see people struggling because of greed, I'm going to sound pissed-off."

Grogan's been on the local-rock periphery for some time. As a teenager in the late '80s, she worked in the kitchen at the now defunct Rat in Kenmore Square and thus can confirm the longstanding rumor that there was pot in the chili ("But not that often, just when we wanted to have a special evening"). She played guitar in a few short-lived bands, then moved to New York, switched to drums, and worked in a band with ex-Boston figure Jeri Cain Rossi. But she never did any writing until four years ago, when her first daughter was being born, at which time she came down with Kristin Hersh Syndrome, hearing fully formed songs that would ring in her ears and wake her up in the middle of the night.

That experience unsettled Hersh when it first happened to her. But Grogan figures she's got a handle on it. "I'm very interested in physics. Some people would think this sounds like hoky new-age stuff, but there are waves of vibrations out there in nature on a level that our senses can't pick up. The artist is transmitting their perception of the universe -- painters pick up things in a more visual way, and musicians respond to aural frequencies. I don't want to deromanticize things like feelings or art. It's all beautiful, but it can all be described by equation."

So far, her one brush with the big time left her unimpressed. She had a song in the movie Jawbreaker, alongside tracks by Letters to Cleo and the Donnas. Her track "No Hitch" (also on her album) was spotted by the film's music director after it appeared on Curve of the Earth's Girls, Girls, Girls compilation. But Grogan's involvement extends to one phone call from Sony and one check for $500. She narrowly missed the cut for the soundtrack album. "They asked if I had ASCAP or BMI or a label, and I said no. The last thing they said was, `We'll get back to you.' "

So far she hasn't seen the movie, for the same reason nobody else has. "I heard it was the worst piece of crap ever made. I was amazed that Rolling Stone and MTV were both raving about it -- seems they have some sort of pact to support the teen-culture movement and get behind whatever's hip."

Grogan played a CD-release show at the Lizard Lounge last month, and she's due to appear there again next Saturday, July 10. Meanwhile she's selling the CD through her site at www.iaction.com/egrogan.

DARKBUSTER

The good thing about proudly stoopid, post-Ramones punk rock is that you can tell from the song titles whether you'll like the music. So it is with the Norwood band Darkbuster, whose debut CD bears the title Songs You'll Never Want To Hear Again. Among those tunes are "Amazing Royal Shaft," "Pippi Longstocking (Is a Redheaded Bitch)," and a trilogy of sorts: "Jerk," "You Jerk," and "You Fucking Jerk" (combined length of the above: 16 seconds). Either you're thinking it's really dumb or you're cracking up -- me, I'm doing both.

There's also something beautiful about a cheap shot that hits its target. And Darkbuster have theirs in "Lilith Fair," a song that some testosterone-laced band were bound to write sooner or later. Like most of their tracks, it sets a sing-along tune to the requisite Ramonesy power-chording, and the words aim jabs at the festival's stars: "They got Suzanne Vega and Sheryl Crow, but that's still not enough to make me wanna go/Even if these women were all in their underwear, I wouldn't want to go to see the Lilith Fair." True, it's nowhere as nasty as Jerry Falwell's recent attack on the same event -- but it's a lot catchier, and goofy enough to give even the Lilith fans a giggle.

This isn't an outfit that shies away from crude yuks. On the back of their CD cover -- right below the shot of the guy hurling beer -- is a fake bar code that spells out "Fuck You." Then there's their logo, which looks a lot like that of a well-known video-rental chain. "Hell, I'm looking forward to the day that Blockbuster comes after us," singer Lenny Lashley notes from his Norwood home. "Right now I've got my beer-bottle collection and a couple of guitars, so they can sue me for that."

The band's name came in a burst of divine inspiration when Lashley was returning a video one night. "I noticed that the people working there all looked like Revenge of the Nerds -- they were all wicked happy and I was fuckin' miserable. That's what I wanted to see, a miserable video chain, where you'd ask for something and they'd say, `Fuck you, get outta here.' "

What makes these guys run? "I was class clown in high school, and it probably stems from that," Lashley admits. "But the beer songs are sincere. Drinking is probably number two on my list, right behind playing in the band. Eating falls a miserable third. Mike Ness says that he doesn't call himself a punk rocker because he's 40 years old, but I'm 34 and proud to say it. I live an unconventional lifestyle, to say the least -- for one thing I still live with my mother and I'm not ashamed."

Lashley is now working on a multi-band Joe Jackson tribute that will cover the Look Sharp! album in its entirety -- more evidence that his heart is in '70s punk and new wave. "But the Queers already did the Ramones ripoff to a tee, and I'd like to think we put a little twist on it."

How so? "Well, Joey Ramone always sang about sniffing glue, and I'm always singing about drinking beer. That's a good little curveball, isn't it?" Darkbuster play the Linwood Grille this Friday (July 2), opening for the notorious Punch Drunk Monkeys and a reunited Johnny & the Jumper Cables.

FLO LEAVES JOHNNY D'S

When Irma Thomas played at Johnny D's last weekend it marked the end of an era. It was the last show for Flo Murdock, the club's star booking agent, who's helped solidify its base as a roots stronghold over the past decade. After 18 years in Boston she's following her heart and moving to Little Rock, where she's struck up a relationship.

"I don't have a gig yet, but I'll find one," she said last Friday, during her last day in the club's basement office. "People have always said I should start my own agency, so maybe this is the time."

Always a Southerner at heart, Murdock helped make Johnny D's a haven for lovers of music from Texas, Memphis, and especially New Orleans. Although the club has shows booked through September and no drastic changes are likely, her replacement hasn't yet been named; she says that the club may rent out more to outside promoters in the future.

COMING UP

Star Ghost Dog are at the Lizard Lounge tonight (Thursday), the Fly Seville and Cananes are at the Middle East, the Swing Doctors are at the Plough & Stars . . . The annual Battle of the Blues Bands starts at Harpers Ferry tomorrow (Friday), Eric Martin & the Illyrians are at the Milky Way, Seks Bomba are at the Lizard, the Swans spinoff Angels of Light are at the Middle East, and Chapter in Verse are at Johnny D's . . . A pop extravaganza at T.T. the Bear's Place Saturday with the Figgs, Boy Wonder, Cash, and the Boy Joys. Toni Lynn Washington is at the House of Blues, Beatle Juice are at Johnny D's, and Steady Earnest do a CD-release gig at the Middle East . . . The Shyness Clinic play the Middle East Monday . . . Austin's contribution to the lounge trend, 8-1/2 Souvenirs, hit the Middle East Tuesday; Mr. Airplane Man are at the Milky Way . . . Neo-proggers Ozric Tentacles are at the Paradise Wednesday, and a roomful of familiar local faces appear in a night of short duo sets at the Lizard Lounge.