Rock Gods #135: Adventures in Our Little Music Scene

Folks, Wednesday’s bill at the Bull was the kind of thing that never happens in real life. Because in real life, rock bands worth even the tiniest dose of respect might be informed by club managers that their former bassist’s new band would be opening for them on a night when a guy who works at a label in a big city has been specially invited. In real life, the leader of the older band might even have heard that his old bandmate and former friend-since-birth had even started a band of his own. But it’s a Wednesday in a small city, and all bets are off. A band was needed mid-week for no pay, the drummer was drinking at the bar and mentioned they might be ready, and history was made. Yes, somebody walked off with a record contract last night. And no, it wasn’t The Blats!

The artist formerly known as Bloody Stink now goes by his birth name of Robert Stankus. The rap on Bobby was that he couldn’t play bass well enough to be a Blat, but it turns out—to these ecstatic ears at least—that he was really meant to play guitar, and to play a much more prepared sort of music that his ex-friend Scott’s rangy blues-punk-rock. Out of eight songs in the debut set—first gig anywhere, remember—I deem four good and two great. (I’m still hummin’ one of ‘em, the one with the chorus that says something like “You’re smart,” or maybe “you’ll smart” or maybe both. It’s the kind of pop/rock that’s unfairly gone out of style. Which befits the band’s name (which I’m guessing is also a complex pun on Bloody Stink’s transformation): Extinct.

Some (presumably more comfortable) multi-bills at area clubs, all tomorrow: The Warm-Blooded, Egg-Laying Feathered Vertebrates with Rhamphor Hynchus and Middle Awash at The Bullfinch… Ancient history (i.e. lots of “classic” covers) with Cabbage Palmetto and Audax at Hamilton’s… Family night at D’ollaire’s with The Leakeys, The Huxleys and (sorry, can’t stretch the theme any further) Poison Dart Frogs…