8-Sep-2007: Hoodoo Gurus, Downbeat 5
I am normally not one to wax nostalgic, but when I saw that the Hoodoo Gurus were playing at the Middle East, I had to go. They were one of the few major label pop bands in the 80s that sounded remotely like “garage rock” (I suppose the other example would be the Fleshtones, but far less prominent, though in the long run a better band), and always represented fresh air on the radio. Plus, Aussie rock . . . it can be great, as were the last two Boston shows by Radio Birdman. In any case . . .
The opener was the Downbeat 5, who are sublime. Jen D’Angora is a bad girl who manages to channel Johnny Thunders and a very roughed-up Patsy Cline at the same time: I don’t know how she does it. She plays with real abandon with her chin jutted out, attitude rolling off. She’s cool, the band sweats. The guitarist is the incomparable JJ Rassler, of DMZ, the Queers, etc. Her ex-husband? As always I’m sort of wondering what their day jobs are. I think at one time D’Angora was in marketing at Berklee, and maybe Rassler worked at Rounder. It would be interesting to have such colleagues. As always I wonder about generational things. Rassler would seem to be a 60s guy who had some kind of anglophilic band in his teens and then was there for punk. D’Angora: Hmm, 35? 30? Hard to say. She probably started seeing bands in Boston in the early 90s. That’s my bet. So if one was 18 in 1993 you’d be, um, 32.
The Hoodoo Gurus were about what you’d expect: They played their songs well. They were too loud. But I have to say that it was sweet to hear “Bittersweet,” one of the best songs of the 1980s.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment