The Daily Tar Heel Thursday, February 4, 19881 1
-Md4
Hard punk, hard rock bands blast into Cat's Cradle
By ALLISON PIKE
Staff Writer
Just when you thought that there
was no other voice like Johnny
Rotten's and that heavy rock had
succumbed to makeup and leopard
skin pants, along comes Defenestra
tion and The Bags, who promise to
blast Cat's Cradle away on Feb. 9.
Webster's Dictionary defines defe
nestration as a throwing of a person
or thing out of a window. The name
sounds appropriate for a band whose
vocalist croons, critics say. in an
undeniably Johnny Rotten fashion. In
fact. Rockpool calls Tyson Todd
Meade "another graduate of the
Rotten School of Vocal Bombast."
Defenestration hails from Norman.
Okla.. and features vocalist Meade,
guitarist Todd Walker, bassist Joe
Kollman and drummer Page Royse.
Critics compare their punk-influenced
brand of rock to the Who. PIL
(Rotten's latest band) and the
American Music Club.
The band will stop at the Cradle
Tuesday in support of their latest LP.
Da Does Windows. The album
includes songs like "Tripping Drag
Queens," "Bedlam Revisited," and
"D.Y. Wanna (bubblegum)."
Johnny Rotten fans can judge for
themselves Tuesday whether or not
Meade is a vocalist after Johnny's
heart, but maybe a taste of Meade's
lyrics will help: "Precious stretches of
tenderloin. Chicken hanging from the
light. This is drag queens ladies
night"
Also blowing into the Cradle
Tuesday is a powerful trio from
Boston. The Bags. The band has only
been playing together for a little over
two years, but their energetic blend
of rocK is winning the favor of music
critics.
Bassist Jon Hardy, guitarist Crispin
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Wood and drummer Jim Janota don't
like to use any specific label for their
sound, which they call a "hard-rock,
garage-pop. heavy-metal-like blend."
The March issue of Playboy compares
The Bags' blend to the Ramones.
Husker Du. and early Kiss.
"You wouldn't believe how often
we're compared to Kiss." Hardy said,
laughing. "But I think we're musically
more sophisticated than Kiss. We go
for the pure hard rock 'n' roll sound."
Other critics have called them
Boston's next Aerosmith, and The
Bags don't mind.
"I'm all for it" said Hardy. "They
were the first band I was into when
I was a kid. I'd heard of them before
I'd ever heard of Led Zeppelin. They
were a big adolescent influence for
me. It's nice to see them doing so
well lately."
But The Bags don't like to be
lumped in with the commercialized
hard rock bands that prevail in the
media. The members admit that they
have a hard-core influence in their
music, and they make it plain that
they will never change their sound
to attract a huge commercial
audience. "We would never do that,"
says Hardy. "We're not in it to get
any audience beyond our musical
stylistic means.
"Our sound is more reminiscent of
the late 60s-early 70s psychedelic
sound than of the '80s soft-focused
rock. It's like old Black Sabbath. Led
Zeppelin and Aerosmith that's
what I call hard rock."
The Bags are now on the road
supporting their recently released
debut , LP. Rock Starve. The LP is
selling well in the Northeast and The
Bags hope that the added exposure
of their national tour will increase
their listeners. This is The Bags' first
t
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Defenestration will play Cat's Cradle
tour out of New England and Hardy Hardy says The Bags don't have any
says the band is looking forward to inhibitions about playing down South
coming South. But the Feb. 9 show jn R.E.M. territory. "We're just gonna
is their only stop in North Carolina, hope that people will like what we
Afterwards, they will be traveling to do." he says. "We hope that people
South Carolina and other spots east will open up to our blend of music."
of the Mississippi. In another month Hardy says that although the band
they will be heading out to the is aggressive, it is far from being the
California-Texas area and finally up to harshest band around.
Canada. "We play in an aggressive manner
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Feb. 9
like Htf$ker Du, the Ramones and Bad
Brains." Hardy adds. "We don't want
to alienate people. It just so happens
that we like distorted sounds and
raunchy vocals."
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