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Melissa Ferrick
Thursday · Southgate House
Singer/songwriter Melissa Ferrick’s early résumé was a publicist’s dream. The Massachusetts native received a traditional music education at Boston’s Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music, which led somewhat improbably to her career as a coffeehouse performer. In 1991, she momentously filled in at the last minute as the opening act for former Smiths frontman Morrissey on his Boston appearance. Moz was so impressed with Ferrick, he had her finish the remainder of his U.S. tour, then took her home to open his UK tour as well.
Upon her return, labels lined up to sign her, and she went with Atlantic for her astonishing debut album, 1993’s Massive Blur, leading to the oft-told tale of her consternation over laying down electric guitar parts for the album; she’d never touched an electric and didn’t really know how to play one. She learned quickly, and Massive Blur was a brief sensation, but Atlantic was ineffective in promoting the album. Her next album, the acoustic Willing to Wait, fell even farther between the cracks and Ferrick was ultimately dropped, an event that sparked her downward spiral into drinking, drugs and depression.
When Ferrick’s haze finally cleared, she inked a contract with Rob Gordon’s What Are Records (Gordon had seen her with Morrissey in Boston) and did a couple of well-received indie albums with them (including 1997’s live Melissa Ferrick + 1 and 1999’s Everything I Need, which earned her Album of the Year honors from the Gay and Lesbian American Music Association; she’s been out to her fans since 1995). In 2000, she established her own label, Right On Records, and began releasing her own albums to an expanding and extremely loyal fan base who are drawn in by her amazingly confessional and intimate lyrics and her almost supernatural command of the guitar.
Ferrick’s imminent new album, In the Eyes of Strangers, was partially funded by the sale of downloads of acoustic versions of the album’s songs, yet another example of her going her own way and finding success on her terms.
(Brian Baker)
Be Your Own Pet with The Black Lips and Get Sweaty
Tuesday · Southgate House
Last time Nashville’s spastic Punk foursome Be Your Own Pet came through Newport’s Southgate House, it was the first date on their first extended tour of the U.S. Already favorites of DJs, journalists and fans in England, the band’s early June local date was on the eve of their debut full-length, released on Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace label (with distribution through Universal). Just as the band prepared to go on stage at the Southgate (which was shockingly light on attendance, despite being a free show celebrating CityBeat‘s Hot Issue), they milled around their equipment on stage like the bored, jaded teenagers they were/are. Twenty minutes before they started, drummer Jamin Orrall was literally flopping around on the floor of the stage, looking like an ADD-riddled tot who just took a triple dose of his meds.
Then they started playing, and from the first note they resembled — sonically and visually — the Tazmanian Devil from those old Bugs Bunny cartoons. A break-neck blur of hyperkinetic Punk, the sound was like a full-speed Tilt-a-Whirl, with even the band members grappling to just stay onboard. Singer Jemina Pearl was the natural focal point, a swirling haze of blond hair and gut-ripping shrieks, but the boys in the band were no shrinking violets. Each band member was thrown off the stage at one point or another by the sheer physics of their aerobic performance. Orrall even managed to keep playing drums while being launched audience-ward, banging mercilessly on his hi-hat while writhing around at the fans’ feet.
It was an electrifying display, recalling the early days of American Punk Rock in its freedom, abandon and ability to make a live show ignite with a power that could never be fully captured on tape. The band’s self-titled CD is a different beast, a bit more “Art Punk” than what they show on stage; Pearl recalls Karen O on a few cuts, and the precision and creativity of the guitar and rhythm parts cuts through much more clearly.
Since their last visit, BYOP has built up more domestic buzz, playing huge fests like Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza and making their network TV debut on Conan O’Brien’s show. Unfortunately, Orrall has just left the fold to work with his brother on the PsychPunk duo project Jeff and to consider college options. His position will be a tough one to replace, but BYOP doesn’t seem the kind of band to let an M.I.A. drummer kill their momentum. (Mike Breen)
Strike Anywhere with Ignite, A Global Threat and Modern Life Is War
Tuesday · Top Cat’s
When the subject of musical militancy and activism is raised, Strike Anywhere’s name won’t be far behind. The Richmond, Va. Pop/Punk quintet coalesced in 1999 in the wake of the dissolution of vocalist Thomas Barnett’s previous band, Inquisition; he christened the new band with the name of the Inquisition song “Strike Anywhere.” The band signed almost immediately to Fat Wreck Chords for their 2000 debut EP, Bread or Revolution, where they put their political ideology front and center, singing about social and cultural ills and the issues of the day with Punk urgency and abandon.
Since Strike Anywhere’s debut, the band has label-hopped from Scene Police and No Idea (for a pair of 2001 EPs) to Jade Tree (for their full-length debut and follow-up albums, 2001’s Change Is a Sound and 2003’s Exit English) and back to Fat Wreck again for their latest album, Dead FM. Strike Anywhere’s songs have also appeared on a number of Punk compilations, including the memorial album for New York shooting victim Amadou Diallo and the Punk Goes Acoustic set.
Strike Anywhere’s political activism ramped up to the next level when they contributed a track to the Rock Against Bush Vol. 1 compilation and hooked up with the subsequent tour in 2004. The band has had a high profile on the past few Warped tours as well, playing visceral, high-energy sets while raising their audiences’ awareness about corporate globalization, political and social subterfuge and institutional animal cruelty (they’re devout vegans), all issues that are addressed on the new SA track, “You Are Not Collateral Damage,” available only through iTunes. Strike Anywhere are also notorious road warriors, typically spending at least half the year on tour around the world, and with Dead FM hitting stores earlier this month the band is once again on the circuit to entertain and educate. (BB)
This article appears in Sep 13-19, 2006.