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Kelly's Heroes, Cretin 66, Bickley
Review by Bryan Sowell
So I show up at the Grand Emporium to catch the latest
installment of the Zone sanctified Monday shows at the
Grand Emporium and I arrive right at 10:00 thinking I
am well ahead of the curve but there they are,
Kelly's Heroes, already on stage. There's nothing like
punctual punk.
I notice a lot of local musicians are here to check it out.
That's usually a good sign, kind of like going to an Asian
restaurant and noticing that most of the patrons are, well, Asian.
Another good sign is when the assorted patrons are paying
attention. A band that goes on at 10:00 at a local
music venue typically has a large selection of mostly friends
and family. No old people here, a good thing.
Maybe it was the skull pounding jackhammer punk of the oi boys on stage.
Kelly's Heroes' are oi oi to the nth degree with catchy ditties
reminiscent of Repo Man soundtrack era punk, the stuff you'd
listen to in your bedroom while your parents were blissfully
unaware of the goings on.
Or maybe it was the spontaneity of the tunes; one song "Drink or Die",
a tribute to the X-Files (ok not really but that's what they
said on stage) had lyrics completely made up on stage.
Lead singer Syko's stage presence was fairly riveting,
bald with tattoos on his head, he reminded me of
GG Allin, without the fecal matter. Or the nudity.
That's a good thing.
Look for these KC ambassadors to be spreading
punk goodwill on the east coast this summer.
Cretin 66 started off their set with a little bit of
technical difficulty, ear piercing screeches from
a guitar amp.
I have to admit, I didn't quite know what to expect
being the first time I had seen them;
with the exception of their drummer, they were a
HAIR band in full rawk regalia.
I half expected Aerosmith covers
to be next.
However what happened once the caravan got under
way was a high energy genre crossing trip into Shitkicking american RAWK
with a capital R and capital M for Marshall amps
They blended punk, classic rock, a veritable "time machine" into
recent rock history. (A "time machine" is a "machine" that
can travel back in "time".)
This "time machine" crossed such topical matter as:
a love song about their van blackie, a song about Evel
Knievel (how cool is that?) a song about MC5's lead singer
Most importantly they were funny and fun as hell with
humor sprinkled liberally throughout. It's nice to
see a band NOT take themselves too seriously.
No shoegazers here.
Cretin 66
Once Cretin 66's "time machine" ended, Bickley finished
off the night with their well orchestrated caffeinated
pogo brand of punk serving it straight, no cream or sugar.
Going on right after Cretin 66 is a fairly daunting
task but they managed to keep me awake well after
my bed time, like an iced mocha with extra.
Highlights included: a continously head bobbing
drummer, a contunously tongue wagging bass player
and a PERFECT rendition of Cheap Trick's
Surrender.
--Bryan Sowell
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