2018: Blue Ray, Bat House, mtvh1 n1, porco – The ER

2017: BJ Snowden, Life Partners, Dyke Mite – Jeannie Johnston

2014: PHAZE, Soft Eyes, Shame Thugs, John Flannelly – Charlie’s Kitchen [REVIEW]

2011: Nobunny, TRiPle THick, The Tampoffs, Party Pigs – Church [REVIEW]

Let’s start with 2019. TONIGHT. This Day. June 29. We’re throwing what’s being billed as an “Allston All-Star Revue” haus party. Ted’s House. Ask someone, get there. Not all locals though. This rock ‘n roller also features short ‘n sweet Nova Scotian garage poppers Booji Boys who just put out an outstanding LP on Drunken Sailor records. Seriously check out that LP. Sticker Shock, Idiot Genes, and Johnnie and the Foodmasters round out the billing. ONE. NIGHT. ONLY.

Now, let’s take a wild adventure back to 2010. NOBUNNY, MAINE COONS, REPORTS, and RAT CITY THREE. We wrote a review of the show. But let’s play a game where Chris and I reminisce, nine strong years later, to that infamous night.

Chris: We were drinking Rolling Rocks that night. Probably not the first rolling rock in my life. I think that was the first time I ever drank at a bar. Actually, that’s not true. I wasn’t really at a bar but I ordered a drink from a weenie hut bar in Mexico. So it was the first time I was at an actual bar. Drinking. My brother Justin and Gritty’s sister Holly went with us. Neither knew who NOBUNNY was. I hadn’t really been to Somerville. Papagiorgio (Gritty’s dad) let us out and we walked to Union to PA’s. We got there and Jerry was there all surly. “How old are you guys?” You (Gritty) messaged NOBUNNY on TERMBO to get us in. Papagiorgio had a mutual friend with the place. Even though $8 was the cover, we got in for free. And since it was 21+ we weren’t supposed to get in. Almost immediately we broke our promise to not drink. There was a wall at the time dividing the bar and the space. We also had vodka before in the car. We were anticipating that drinking might be an issue. I remember seeing a dude from a lot of the shows. He had a Charles Mansion pin on his coat. Holly said, why don’t you hit on those emo girls. I said it’s not emo. Anyway, Jerry was probably working the bar, so he never really saw us drink the beers that were bought for us. Rat City Three felt a little stale at the time. Quick hardcore. Sometimes I like. I remember feeling eh.

Then we get to Maine Coons. Completely fucking blown away by them. To this day, I consider the Maine Coons to be one of my favorite bands and people are like, ‘what, really?’ It was a two piece. At least that night. I didn’t know who they were. He [Matt Spent] was playing guitar and working the drums with his feet. Reminded me a lot of garage, The King Khan & BBQ Show. All of the songs stood out immediately. “How Long Does It Take For You To Find God?” Damn. He said “here is a song about how you don’t deserve health care” and then played “Pulled The Plug On Grandma.” And then he did “I’m A Motherfucker.” and “Hey Dickhead.” So good. I didn’t realize at the time that it was Maine Coons’ flexi release show. Justin was like “what are they on mushrooms or something?” At one point, Matt said “I can’t handle this stadium setting.” It’s remarkable how much I remember. After their set I remember going up to Matt and told him it was fucking awesome and reminded me of The King Khan & BBQ Show. He said “uhh,  I guess.”

Reports, even at the time, I don’t remember too well. Liking it, but I was drunk. We may have smoked. It was a little hazy so I don’t have much to say. So apparently, the man behind the mask had said hi to Gritty, but Gritty didn’t recognize him. Hang on a sec, some shit just came back to me. We met The Roaches that night. Eric was wearing his classic Sun Records shirt. Joe was talking about how they had seen Oblivians in New York. I had only dipped a little into Oblivians at the time. We were talking about a lot of shit we enjoyed. Alright, so I remember everyone gathered and looking at the “stage,” but the band (NOBUNNY) wasn’t up there. My brother said he saw NOBUNNY put The Mask on. That was like seeing Santa for us. Wow. I look up and there is Nobunny and the other two guys pushing their way through the crowd. They start to play. Nobunny said “the last time we were here, we almost burned the place down.” In reference to the October 2009 Harper’s Ferry show (opening for Jay Reatard) where they set off a firecracker. Pretty sure they opened with “Boneyard.” And played a bunch of hits. Whatever’s in the review. This was a big deal. Crazy mosh pits. My brother was like “you guys are about to fly into the drum set.” He was overprotective, but it was fun and rowdy. This was our first small, comparable to a local show kind of thing. We had seen Black Lips and Jay at bigger venues. We do this all the time now. In retrospect, it was one of the best shows I’ve ever went to. I don’t know what I wrote at the time, but I was stacking it up to the other 5 greatest shows I had been to.

There is a picture of a Ryan Major look-a-like chugging a beer. We’d have to confirm with him.

Is this what seeing Black Flag in ’84 would have been like? At a small bar? I remember my brother Justin going up to Elvis. He liked Elvis’ drumming. I heard Elvis say we’re going to New Haven, you guys should come out tomorrow night. Then Justin asked him if he ever tossed salad before.

Gritty mentioned something about covering “I Am A Girlfriend,” messaging Nobunny, all that. Touchy Tony – Rest In Peace -said that the man behind the mask said hi to us earlier. But we didn’t realize it was him. One thing leads to another. We got another post-show beer. My brother Justin walks over with a beer to me. Jerry said, are you 21? I said uhm, he said get out of here and I ran off. Holly was laughing and Jerry was like “it’s not funny.” Then we’re all in the car about to pull away. A man comes up to the truck. He goes “I like your internet work, here’s a bunch of pins.” We said “ARE YOU NOBUNNY?!?!?!” and he said “Nobunny is everything. Nobunny is nothing.” We drove off into the summer. I remember coming home.