Photos and Review by : Jeff Lasich
The torrential downpour, building shaking thunder and flooded roads didn’t keep people from filing up Mr. Smalls Theater in Pittsburgh on Thursday April 11 for the Koffin Kats/The Queers tour.
Starting things off for the night, hailing from the Pittsburgh area, or Crystal Lake, was The Jasons. Hailing from the Pittsburgh area, The masked four-piece brought their take on the pop-punk genre. Their earlier stuff was based mainly on Friday the 13th, but the song writing, and stage presence has moved beyond that. Front mongoloid, Jason V, worked the crowd, took a few shots at other bands, and had a certain arrogance about him, all with a sick New Jersey accent. There was nothing “local” about them or the set. There were people at the show just to see them. They finished their set with, “I Wanna Be an Asshole.” If you haven’t heard it, check out the video on YouTube.
Next up was New Hampshire’s, The Queers. There is no way on earth if you listen to this genre, that you don’t know who they are. I’ve been following their music for at least 30 years now. The current lineup consists of Joe Queer on vocals, Ginger Fanculo on bass and Alex Martin (Hoglog Rehab) on drums. With over ten records under their belt, they have a lot of songs to choose from. I have to say I was happy with the song selection. They played a ton off Love Songs for the Retarded and the standout tracks from Don’t Back Down. They even tossed in a few covers, including two from Screeching Weasel, including “Cindy’s on Methadone” from My Brain Hurts which is by far my favorite Weasel record. They ripped through songs non-stop with no frills and no banter for about 45 minutes. It was one of the best Queers sets I’ve seen.
Closing the night was The Koffin Kats. I’m not a huge psychobilly fan, because to be honest a lot of bands can’t really pull it off. I’ll admit prior to the show, I hadn’t heard their music. As soon as the set started, I knew I was going to enjoy the rest of the show. Although they are only a three-piece, they played tight and didn’t sound hollow. Since there is a stand-up bass, you know they had all the standard moves- stand on the bass while playing, lift and spin it, etc. At one point in the set, Vic Victor and Tommy Koffin switched their instruments and continued to play equally well. They did a cover of Hall and Oates- “Maneater.” The one song that really stood out to me and that I listened to as soon as I got home was “Witch in the Woods.”
A good night was had by all. The nice thing was although there were some similarities between the bands, they were different enough to keep the show interesting. There was something to appeal to everyone’s music taste.
