ON_THE_ROCKS

The Worcester Phoenix
Feb. 1 - 8, 2001

[On The Rocks]

Chelsea grrrls

Chelseaonfire's sonic attack defies easy categorization

by Brian Goslow
When Boston's Chelseaonfire made their first Worcester appearance at the Espresso Bar back in 1995, any rock band that featured a female vocalist in her teens or early 20s was usually segmented into the Riot Grrrl genre, and depending on your level of interest, they either rocked your world or left you cold. "We had a lot of people talking to us about Riot Grrrl at the time," says vocalist
and guitarist Josey Packard. "We found they were political in their motivation, but they really couldn't play that well so we asked them if [the comparisons were] because we couldn't play." Afterwards, they were tied to the "Women in Rock" genre so easily packaged by the mass-media. "I guess they let us grow up," Packard says. "It was much more of an accepted trope that you could really go out and do it. We don't feel a lot of the `we can rock -- for a girl' anymore."
Chelseaonfire were always closer to Fugazi than Sleater-Kinney, a point made clear on "Sticky," the opening track of their fourth CD, middlesex county (slo-bus). It travels in an atmospheric territory more associated with P.J. Harvey than their original hardcore sound. Amy Di Sciullo's bass rumbles underneath, while drummer Rachel Fuhrer kicks the tune into overdrive when Packard belts out, "The girl is down/She'll put the lid back on/And she said/She'll stand in the way of time." It's a great introduction to the roller coaster of sound to follow.
"We're looking to make music that's exciting to us, and makes us want to go to rehearsal," says Packard.
Just to prove they're just expanding their ammunition rather than discarding old favorites, "Short-Sighted" is pure thrash. "Biter," which harks back to early Black Sabbath, when the music was more important than the singer's bite, is the song that gets the biggest reaction at their performances. Packard says that's because, "it sounds the closest to the boy hardcore popular on the radio."
Unlike many bands who are content to beat their audiences into submission with their voices, Chelseaonfire control the emotional peak of their performances through their instruments, easily shifting from oceanic sounds to a full-on sonic attack, never sticking with one option long enough for the listener to get bored.
"Just to Prove It" is pure pop, with Packard's guitar playing reminiscent of Europop bands of the 1980s while "The Wool" could have easily been included on the final Belly CD. Chelsea on Fire have lots of musical weapons at their disposal in creating a sound experience which tends to drain the listener over the distance of a live performance.
Last fall, the band went on a two-month tour of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. It was their second visit overseas. "It may have been a fluke or fate," Packard explains, "but there was a German girl who caught us in New York City who was looking for an American act and after she saw us she said she didn't have to look anymore."
"We just went back and did a second tour. They still treat musicians like they're doing something worthy of respect, where here you're lucky to get paid. They put you up, they feed you, and they're willing to give you a guarantee before they even see you play."
Packard says the Germans have a huge underground scene based in squats set up in abandoned buildings. "They use the little auditoriums and basement areas and turn it into a nightclub. It's really wild. They [the audience] look like a German version of a hippie with dreadlocks -- they're definitely on the underside of society -- and they cook really well."
Chelseaonfire join Second Class Citizen this Thursday, February 1, at Liquid, and perform on Saturday, February 3 at the Alley.
Blues in your face
Some bands can never duplicate in a live setting the sound they get in the studio, while others need audience interaction to fully deliver the goods. Somewhere in-between sits the Wildcats, who've just released their second full-length CD, Live at Gilrein's!, which captures them last November at Worcester's Home of the Blues.
When vocalist Fay Shugrue sings, "I thought I had exemption from the misery of love" on "Wildcat," there's little doubt she's singing to partner and guitarist Jeff Adams. The challenge, when she sings, "Now here I am, my heart is beating strong/Prove me baby that everything I thought is wrong," is not to entice him, but her audience. Judging by their growing performance schedule, Wildcat fever is spreading.
Bassist Steve Stavropoulos, a recent recruit to the band's line-up who's been playing in area clubs since the early 1970s, says Shugrue's and Adams's devotion to their music is contagious. "Fay and Jeff share a love for the blues and a love for playing music, and I see nothing but an unstoppable perseverance, and vision to keep going through all the difficulties of being in a band, to carry their love and style of music to the public."
The group's first release, 1998's Blue in the Face, was a mixed bag that showed great potential. It too was recorded live during a radio broadcast at WJUL in Lowell; however, it didn't have the support of a live audience prodding Adams to squeeze out an extra note of heaven from his guitar.
"The live show is in many ways truer to the blues -- so we feel good about capturing that," says Shugrue. "We have a new rhythm section since Blue in the Face. We've added Steve on bass and backup vocals and Bob Tula on drums. We can't say enough about their talent -- Steve is steeped in the blues; Bob has the back-beat, power and energy. They are definitely just what The Wildcats needed -- groovier grooves and bluesier blues." Organist Danny Lavin, who previously wheeled his Hammond B-3 to shows with Tumbleweed, rounds out the quintet.
On "All for Me," Shugrue sings, "You've got the shake that makes me bake." In a music famous for its use of slang in describing the joys of sexual attraction, you'd think that every possible hidden pseudonym for being attracted, engaged with, or over someone has been used, but the Wildcats manage to make their love sound fresh. "As a songwriter, I don't worry about or care whether a love story has been said before," Shugrue says. "If I'm true to myself lyrically and musically, then my own individuality will inevitably come through. No two people have exactly the same experience; there are new eyes to see through. Each person's heart feels its own individual, and therefore, original way."
While Adams may be her number one fan, you could call Stavropoulos the Fay Shugrue Fan Club's president. "She has a powerful voice that cuts through, and a sassy, catchy spirit in her songwriting that is original and so infectious. I find myself singing her stuff all week, every time she brings out a new tune, it's my favorite for weeks to come."
On the Kinsey Report's "One Too Many Women," Adams sounds like the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir when he sings, "They keep me coming and going `round in circles with the blues." And, you can feel the lights go down at the start of "I Must Be Crazy," which the guitarist, who sharpened his playing skills with Dennis Brennan, Al Valentino, and the Dirty Rye Band, wrote and sings. You can tell that he and Fay have spent many late night hours listening to the blues. "Our favorite things to put on the CD player usually fall into the roots -- R & B, roots -- blues categories from Doo Wop to Etta James, Wynonie Harris to Albert Collins, we love and listen to all of the greats. And we thrill to discovering unknown, yet great B-sides and `lost artists' as well. If you ever get a chance to listen to Skippy White's [Friday night] Roots of Rhythm and Blues show on WUMB [91.9 FM] from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. -- that pretty much sums it up."
The Wildcats play John Stone's Inn in Ashland this Friday. They open for Mighty Sam McClain at the Bull Run Restaurant in Shirley on February 10, and return to Gilrein's on March 9. For now, the best way to purchase a copy of Live at Gilreins! is at a live show or via their web site at wildcatblues.com.
Power pop now
If you're always on the look out for high energy power pop in the style of the Neighborhoods, a well-behaved Replacements, Game Theory, or the Offspring without the trappings of a major label, you'll probably be an easy sell on Bully Pulpit's snow tonight grateful, which was produced by John Barber Jr. at Boston's Fort Apache Studio.
Bully Pulpit, who appear with Chelseaonfire at the Alley on Saturday, are fronted by vocalist and guitarist Matt Dalton, who sings with a touch of an English accent that has earned him comparisons to Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong; he trades power chords with Brian Fitzpatrick over the driving backbeat of drummer Matt Kelly while Mike Olson's bass "quietly" guides each track into the hall of fame of great rock and roll.
Brian Goslow can be reached at bgoslow[a]phx.com.

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