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PUNK Magazine Presents: Mud City Manglers The Bullys Meat Depressed 1/11/03 By John Holmstrom Photos Copyright © 2003 by Respective Photographers. January 11th has always been a special day for me. For instance, 25 years ago I threw my 25th birthday party at a hotel room in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This was right after the Sex Pistols gig at Cain's Ballroom. It was sort of like the peak of 1970s punk rock. The tour had seemingly been a smashing success up until that point. There was a feeling that we had nowhere to go but up. The party was just a few of us on the tour - photogs Joe Stevens, Bob Gruen and Roberta Bayley, Sex Pistols Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Sid Vicious (who had picked up a transsexual after the gig) and a few roadies. It was the only time on the tour that we were all able to hang out together and try to have a good time. Just a few days later, when the Sex Pistols broke up after their next gig in San Francisco, punk started to "die." By the time Sid was charged with Nancy's murder in October 1978, it seemed to a lot of people that punk was over with - even though it was just beginning. Now, 25 years later, punk rock is the hottest trend in music (according to the New York Times and MTV - the same kind of morons who have ignored it and pretended it didn't exist for so long). When my girlfriend Mare Idol suggested that we throw a birthday party at NY Decay, I figured we should celebrate the 25th Anniversary of my 25th birthday and have the best punk rock bands in the world on the bill. We spoke with Polina, the promoter for NY Decay (a punk rock/goth event at the Pyramid Club where Mare was deejaying in New York City) about having it there. It seemed like a natural. Piece of cake. So we set the date and promoted it with millions of cool postcards that my friend Frank Black (postcard500.com) printed for me. The party began downstairs at The Pyramid Club. Mare Idol opened things by playing the Mighty Mouse theme song and people started joining the cartoon jam - a huge piece of paper on the wall next to the dance floor. Punk rock blared, the beer started to flow and the party people began to show up. PUNK Magazine regulars like Jolly and The General were there of course, as well as Tina from Charm School and cartoonists like Mort Todd + Cliff Mott, Fly, Joe the Artist, John Terhost, Mark Poutenis, who drew The Bullys' "Tonite We Fight" CD cover, James Romberger, Rick Trembles, and Danny Hellman. There were lots of cool giveaways all night. Meat Depressed gave away 100 copies of their "Scene of The Crime" CD, Polina gave away PUNK and Bosko buttons, and there were free copies of PUNK #0 as well as free toys and free candy downstairs. Before the first band went on, Polina, Mare Idol and I decided to have a bit of fun so we went onstage and held a PUNK Magazine trivia contest. We gave away some Mud City Manglers and PUNK Magazine merchandise as "prizes" to people. We asked stuff like "What is Legs McNeil's real first name?" (no one knew it is "Roderick Edward McNeil" until we posted it on the PUNK message board and "Who produced the first Ramones record?" (someone knew that Craig Leon produced it with Tom Erdelyi). The Mud City Manglers were on first. I knew they'd be good because their CD, "Heart Full of Hate," was the best-received record we ever heard at a Listening Party. (This is one reason why we have these Listening Parties - anyone who has a band who thinks they're great should send us their CDs and we'll try to review them!) The Manglers lived up to their CD and more. They're a three-piece band, in the hippie tradition of the power trio - and they even have long hair. They remind me a little bit of Blue Cheer. But the Manglers make fun of hippies! And play a raw, blistering, pissed-off punk that's as insane as anything since the original Stooges. Anyone who lives on the east coast should check their website for upcoming shows and see them live ASAP. The Bullys, the best punk rock band in the world right now, were up next. Every regular punkmagazine.com visitor knows how much I like this band by now, so for those who don't know about them and want to know what else I've said, just check them out with a website search. Even though they lost master motivator/badass rhythm guitar player/RNR hero Johnny Heff, they're still fueled by his inspiration and more determined than ever to take over the world by being everything that Johnny dreamed the band could be. They even put up The Bullys' official stage banner for this show, which they hadn't used since before Johnny left this world for a better place. The Bullys pulled out all the stops - in fact, they put on the best show I ever saw from them. I'd have to put it in my personal list of the Top Ten Best Live Shows of All Time - probably around number four or five! FYI, that list is:
They started the set with some classic Bullys songs like "Famous" (which has stuck in my head ever since), "Still My Home" (a song about however fucked up your home/family is, it's still... you know), "Pop Is For Fags" (as politically incorrect as you can get, but what else can you say about The Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears and N'Sync?), and "P.M.S." When they brought out Sean Crusher from Jones Crusher, another awesome local punk rock band, things were kicked up ten notches. The Bullys have refused to permanently replace Johnny Heff but often have "guest" guitarists play rhythm guitar in place of him - he was the best of all time, but you can sometimes hear where the band would be if Johnny was still here when the right person is playing. And this time, he was. It was just amazing. The best song they did with Sean was "Tonight We Fight Again" which is probably The Bullys' best song - it's about getting drunk and kicking ass... Yeah, I know. A lot of bands play stuff like that. "We're bad" and all that shit. Thing is, when the Bullys play this song, you know they mean it. Johnny was the kind of guy who really did get drunk and kick ass! He was one bad motherfucker! (Just like my man Shaft, can you dig it?) "Against All Authority" is another song The Bullys played that kicks ass - who can't relate to a song title like that? Soon after that, The Bullys invited the many attractive females in the audience to join them onstage for their now-classic song "SLUTS!" (You have to love women who have a sense of humor - back in the 1970s The Bullys would have been crucified by Women Against Pornography for singing a song like this, thankfully women have come a long way since then!) This was one great live show, let me tell you! The next guest performer was Mickey Leigh - from The Rattlers and Stop - who joined The Bullys for a few Ramones songs. In fact the last time I saw The Bullys was at The Continental for the annual Joey Ramone Christmas Party where bands play Ramones songs in tribute to everyone's favorite lead singer. This is becoming kind of an interesting collaboration - Mickey is now almost like the fifth Bully. (BTW, the next Joey Birthday Bash is being planned now for May 19th - be sure to buy tickets early: it sounds like it will be a good one! Also, here's another free plug: Mickey Leigh is writing a book about growing up with Joey Ramone with Legs McNeil - the "Please Kill Me" guy. So you heard it here first!) In the meantime, Polina's excellent crew of DJs kept the party going all night long: Charlie The Slut, Todd Prozac, Mare Idol and Mange all did a great job. (Mange even told me during the show he's also from the Cheshire, CT area - where Legs, Ged and I first came up with the idea for PUNK Magazine!) There's nothing to keep a good party going than great punk rock all night long! (Even though Mange blew it by playing The Cure - well, since he's from Connecticut, I guess he's just another fuckup like me and Legs!) Finally, at the end of this night of classic punk rock, Meat Depressed came onstage. They played at our 25th Anniversary party at CBGBs two years ago and did a good show, but I gotta say they've taken their sound to a new level. Walt from The Bullys told me they're one of his favorite punk bands in the country! They put on a great set, and I can see why Pete Depressed is one of the leaders of the punk scene in the Boston area. (He organizes shows and compilation CDs - I've contributed artwork to many of them so check out his website and buy something!). They played a bunch of great songs, then played a couple of Ramones songs with Jolly Prochnik (the reigning Resident Punk after all these years): "It's a Long Way Back to Germany" and "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend." (Jolly fell on his ass during "Germany;" he was kind of drunk!). Then Pete Depressed called me up onstage. I figured I was going to be honored or something. But instead he and Mare Idol had cooked up a plan to give me a birthday spanking! So she invited all the women in the audience to take a whack at my behind! Mare even tried to get me to drop my pants for it but I really didn't want the few remaining drunks in the audience to toss their cookies and leave, so I left them on. Then The General attempted to recreate the pie-in-the-face incident from my last party, but he failed miserably and hit the Meat Depressed drummer instead. This is the way the night ended. Not with a bang, but with a thud. There will be another PUNK Magazine party when we announce our next issue - or our demise. There's no telling when that will be. But it will happen. So stay tuned! |
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