The Slickee Boys - The Factory - Nunchucks -- 9:30 Club - July 3 2011

Nunchucks - This two-guitar four piece hits the stage playing full out straight forward garage rock/pop and proceeds to unplug their lead guitar, drop the drumsticks and start the wrong song in the course of the first half hour of their 40 minute set. They are young and quite green with the giveaway being the stage patter (always the easiest way of detecting newer bands). But did I have a problem with any of this? Not at all, as these guys were good. This is a Slickee Boys show after all and its about fun and good rocking music. And these kids delivered both. The drums were solid and the lead guitarist played cool little runs all over the place including during the verses which added some life to the clean pop rock hook laden songs. Good solid set and a great opportunity for these guys. I will be seeing them again, I am sure. And they learned a lot as they noted... "Man, this is like gym class, but I decided to dress up."

The Factory - This cannot be the same band I saw at the old 9:30 club location in the spring/summer of 1987? I have not heard a thing about them since. But when they hit the stage, yes, it is them. They have a couple of guitarists (one of them looking too young), drummer, singer, a bassist I recognize and the same hulk of a saxophonist who looks to be wearing the same black leather vest he wore at the previous show. God, I hate my memory some times. Their signature old rock'n'roll as through the New York Dolls style is as evident as ever with these guys. I swear I even recognize their song "Where Have all the People Gone?" For one song, the young lead guitarist gave way to an older guy who looked like he needed to get back to his Point Blank show, so maybe there was another original member lurking. Anyway, this was creepy fun and it delivered well enough. There is something that did not quite transcend with this band then and is still there now as the audience reaction was a bit more polite than I thought. But hey, they screwed with my memory and I like being put to the test on occasion. Welcome back, I think.

December, 2006; from left: Kim Kane, Mark Noone, Marshall Keith

The Slickee Boys - The Boys are back for their annual or semi-annual show as they have not played too many more shows than that in a long long time. I have always looked forward to these shows as they are one of the more important bands that not too many people have heard of, aside from us locals and real musical sharpshooters around the globe. They have the same line-up they have had in recent years featuring original guitarists, Marshall Keith and Kim Kane. Singer Mark Noone is near original and the rhythm section has been around a while, although the two live in Florida and California. They did bring out a couple of their old bass players from the 70s for a song each and drummer Dan Palenski for several cuts. Seth Hurwitz started the show with the introduction and said that the rumor that the band had played the 9:30 Club 50 times was wrong. This night would be their 81st and final appearance. Amazing, to say the least. They still had it in them to deliver a great rocking show. Noone can still belt out the original classics as well as the many sharp Nuggets covers, all in his trademark fez. Marshall Keith wore pink and black with a guitar and cord striped in those sharp colors. Kim Kane looks ever the scurvy pirate and despite what Johnny Depp says, he just had to have been the true inspiration for Jack Sparrow. The guitarists are roaring away as always while the rhythm section lays down the foundation. This band can't help but being a lot of fun with their abilities and musical choices. The great Nuggets covers were there... The Squires "Going All the Way", Chocolate Watchband "Are You Gonna Be There?", The Balloon Farm "A Question of Temperature" and at least one other whose title escapes me (yet its on my IPOD). They asked the question they always do to see how many newcomers are seeing them for the first time. And there still were some virgin young and old music lovers who came to see what these guys were all about. The crowd was cooking and they had quite a safe pogo mosh pit going for an original, the cover of Status Quo's "Pictures of Matchstick Men". They closed with "This Party Sucks", but of course came back for a round of encores. They switched around instruments and did a fun "I'm Eighteen" before launching into an obviously unrehearsed "(Mis)stepping Stone", the only mistake of the night. But no one cared at that point, least of all me, as the 100 minutes had enough fun rock'n'roll that could be enjoyed even ignoring the essential history that was the foundation of this show. Well done, guys. Thanks for everything.

Quote of the Night: Noone... "Marshall tunes because he cares. You know, he was saying before that we were going to do the best show we've ever done."
Marshall... "No, no, no. I said, man, we gotta do another show? Come on, we're old!"