ON_THE_ROCKS

The Worcester Phoenix
Dec. 21 - 28, 2000

[On The Rocks]

Old school all the way

Musclecah stays true to their punk rock roots

by Brian Goslow
"Musclecar?" "No. Musclecahhhhhh." "Musclecah?""Yeah, we're from Woostah." Musclecah bassist Chris Lillyman is setting the record straight for a NorthWorks waitress, who has inquired whether we're in a band after noticing a group photo sitting on top of my IceCats hat. Lillyman, along with rhythm guitarist Dave "Dutch" Duchnowski, have convened over steaks to discuss their de-
votion to the spirit of what they call "punkrockandrollcore."
Lillyman and drummer Jimmy Jones (who was at the Lucky Dog getting ready for a show with Ho Ka Ha, whose lineup includes former Musclecah vocalist John Gerard) first came to the attention of Worcester clubgoers as members of Jason James and the Bay State House Rockers, a band who worked their asses off to build a fan base large enough to earn them a Worcester Phoenix Best Music Poll 1999 Award for Best Local Blues Act. Then, after completing what would have been their first CD together -- the album is available for download at www.houserockers.com -- the group split over musical differences.
"The toughest part was we had to start from scratch where J pretty much was able to move ahead," Lillyman says. "We had to come up with something new." While James carried on with a new group of rockabilly rockers, Lillyman and Jones enlisted Girard and bassist Clint Mitchell, who had played with Jones in Civil Revenge. "He's as easy going and steady as any bass player," Lillyman says. "He's perfect for what we need -- a straight flat bottom end sound.
"We wrote a sets worth of originals in a couple months time and decided we wanted to fill out the sound," says Lillyman, who asked former co-worker Duchnowski ("Lately he's been doing construction site blasting -- workin' with dynamite baby!!") to join the group. "I knew he had the chops and could play as sloppy as I do." Dutch, who was initially inspired by Seven Seconds and the Cro-Mags, played guitar for Worcester hardcore act Backbone in the late `80s and early `90s. "I just make a bunch of noise and they either go thumbs up or thumbs down," says Dutch, explaining his contribution to the song writing process. "My playing's a train wreck, but it works."
It certainly works on the group's debut CD, Democah. Lillyman's musical roots are all over the disc. "I'm a really big fan of any old school punk in the form of the Damned, the Ramones, the Dead Boys, and the New York Dolls." The opening track, "Ugly Harley" is a love song to Lillyman's `71 Sportster. He sings as if he was heralding the return of a long lost high school girlfriend: "When I saw her in the cellar / Almost brought me to tears/covered with dust / It hadn't run for years." Like all of the group's songs, the lyrics to "Ugly Harley"are based on real-life experiences. "[The motorcycle] was sitting in this guy's basement for four years. These things have to be maintained." Just like any good relationship.
While Lillyman's pretty much a recent commodity on the Worcester music scene, he's a card-carrying member of punk rock's early era, having been a member of Boston's General Foods, who regularly performed with the likes of the Neighborhoods, Lou Miami and the Kozmetix, and the Nervous Eaters at such venues as the Rat, the Channel, and Cantone's in the early `80s. "Be So Funny/Love Potion #9" received lots of airplay on WBCN, and caused a Boston Globe reviewer to label them "chainsaw punk." After taking time off to start a family, he joined the PTL Klub, who had metamorphosed out of the remains of his former band. "It was around the time of the original Boston hardcore thrash movement, bands like the Freeze, Jerry's Kids, the FU's, and DYS. If you look up the PTL Klub on E-Bay you'll find our records -- they're collectibles now." That link to punk history has helped his latest project. "It's actually opening doors for Musclecah, because if there's anyone still into that scene in our age group, they're into us."
The reason behind the sabbatical is openly explained in "To the Bone," the true tale of a love affair at the age of 20 ("I met Ramona / She gave me a bona / And the baby came in the fall") that wreaked havoc on his rock and roll dream. In the long run, however, it gave him a counterpart in his rock and roll army -- Chris Jr., alias "Rat Bastard". "When he read the lyrics to `To the Bone,' he said, `Hey, this is about me.' He's 19 and selling merchandise at our gigs. He's got lots of personality and the ability to bullshit, so I know he'll go far in life," the proud pop says.
Jones is up to the challenge of duplicating Rat Scabies's manic drumwork on Musclecah's cover of the Damned's "New Rose," the first British punk single. "If I drop dead tomorrow, I'll die happy knowing I did that song justice," Lillyman says. "Diesel" is a painfully raw, dragged-against-the-sidewalk Stooges Fun House-period salute to driving drunk ("Fuckin' rocket powered / Goin' 90 miles an hour/See those blue lights in the mirror / They ain' gettin' any nearer"). Yep, it's another true life story, but not wanting to give the West Boylston Police any more work then they already have, I don't press the issue.
"Burned" wouldn't be out of place on the Damned's ground-breaking Damned, Damned, Damned or the Dead Boys' Young, Loud and Snotty. Lillyman growls about a cute girl's come-on look with such conviction -- "Weary of the promises you make / Tired of all the fuckin' games you play / Easy to read as a child's pop-up story / I've see it all before and it don't do nothin' for me" -- that it's hard to believe he's a happy recently-married man. "It's not a wonderful love song," he laughs, "but it is a love song. Getting burned is part of the learning experience."
Wife Patty has had to endure six years of Lillyman's ear-splitting, house-vibrating practices. "She's so tolerant," he says," I've practice with Musclecah twice this week and PTL once -- they're a barrage of noises." She'll be getting a belated Christmas present -- their garage is being transformed into a recording studio. "She wants us out of the basement -- yet she still comes to all our gigs."
She may even join in with audience members singing along with the anthemic "Stupid," a song which Joey Ramone would have been proud to have on a Ramones album: "No excuses I'm always late...and no one cares about my feelings/no one seems to understand my accidents are never planned." Few bands capture the Brudders from Queens' sarcastic-but-sweet-tongued-humour as well as Musclecah.
"To have a rock and roll song, you must have something people can relate to and identify with," says Lillyman, who's also looking to create a community of like-minded acts to bring to Worcester on a regular basis. He contacted over 40 bands to put together a bill for their appearance at the Alley this Saturday, when Musclecah will be joined by soulmates Smackin' Isaiah, Orange Island, and the Black Market Medallions.
Return to Ralph's
Young Neal and the Vipers are one of the few bands playing the local circuit who are just as much at home among the pool players and video game masters at Jillian's as they are at the Plantation Club Drafthouse (where they return on January 12) or the Firehouse Cafe. When Buzz Tubert returned to Ralph's earlier this fall, he made bringing the Rhode Island blues trio back to the club a main priority. "He's been a great supporter of the band," Neal says from his Rhode Island home.
The Vipers, who return to Ralph's this Saturday, have had a great 2000, which included a visit overseas. "We spent a month in Germany and Belgium," says Neal. "I was surprised by fact that the majority of people who came out knew of me by the Internet. They asked me in broken English when fishing season started and asked me to sign my CDs which they already had."
Early next year, they'll be releasing the follow-up to 1998's One's Enough (King Snake). It's tentatively entitled Two for One. "I have 12 new tracks," says Neal, "and I'm going to put things from the Big Noise releases that went out of print that people request regularly at gigs." The disc will also include selections from the previously released, I'm Finally Alone.
"It's definitely more rock and roll -- on the rock side at that," Neal says. "There's no medium tempo slow blues on this one. It wasn't intentional, it's just the way it came out."
Neal is one of those lucky musicians who stay true to themselves, yet manage to survive. "I've been make a good living at this for 19 years, it's my only job," he says. "I know that I'm lucky and I thank the people who've supported the band."

Brian Goslow can be reached at bgoslow[a]phx.com.