Pissing off Scenesters Since 1995
Love Cinema Vol. 6, Sasquatch and the Sickabillies, Brine and the Bastards, Johnny Thursday and the Friday Nights at Connections, NJ: December 23, 2005
Passaic, NJ was the place to be on the eve of Christmas Eve as the Garden States best up-and-coming rockers tore the place apart until 3am. Johnny Thursday and the Friday Knights started it off with some high octane rock ‘n’ roll. Every time these guys play Connections, you have to wonder why they aren’t the biggest band in the world, because they rock twice as hard as anything on the radio today.
Brine and the Bastards ramped up the cool factor, performing a much better set than their recent Loop Lounge show. It must of been the packed house that sang along to many of their punk-inspired sea chanteys. The sound was a bit bass heavy at the beginning, but the band came together about three songs in and just rocked the house. Pirate gimmick aside, there is no punk band out there than can rock this hard with both an accordion and a banjo player. The latter of the two cranked (or is it plucked) out some pretty cool riffs, complementing the guitar player’s shredding. Bassist Hambone even swapped his bass for the six-string on a handful of tunes, making for an outstanding set by these young swashbucklers.
In the last few years, Connections has become a breeding ground for bad to mediocre psychobilly bands. Most come off as aging skinheads who still can’t tell the difference between hardcore and rockabilly. The same can’t be said for Sasquatch and the Sickabillies, who proceeded to school the crowd of aging punks on how rockabilly is really done. For 45-minutes the three-piece rocked out tunes from their latest release and gave the audience a break from overly loud music that permeated the night. Not that The Sickabillies don’t crank it up, but compared to most metal-billy popular today, S&S could actually be danced to.
As you entered the front door, the bouncer in the leather vest asked politely, “What band are you here to see.†Judging by the dozens of slash marks next to Love Cinema Vol. 6’s name, the crowd was here for Chuck Nasty and his band of merry men. For over an hour, this quartet of lunatics pounded through every song off their masterful self-titled record as well as a handful of covers and Christmas tunes. Guitarist George pulled double duty after having already played with The Bastards, and didn’t look remotely tired, pulling off crazy solo after crazy solo. The crowd overcame the band on a few occasions crying along to their cult classics “Local 69,†“Aurora Snow,†and “Andre.†For some reason, Connections decided at 2am to give out free PBR to everyone causing one of the craziest beer baths ever witnessed at a show. Singer Chuck Nasty, drunk as a motherfucker and sporting a recently-pressed cop uniform, took it all and never missed a beat as he plowed through GG Allin’s “I Kill Everything I Fuck.†With the sound guy ready to cut off the show. Nasty dove head first into “Slots and Maethers,†capping off one helluva night of beer baths, moshpits, and cheap sex.