_iBB PAGE 8 The Tech TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 1987 ~B~ab L~~~~~IL ~ ML-qP a LPIL - L--sPJI~ _ i ·IPPbr·-- - - - -, - Iqls lp--·9C-- L - - -p)L - - - _ IY--C- - L--L--. --. -- -- a e I b I-r - - mp - ----- IpePYPL-9 I·ls - L--U ---- --- ------- -I` ----- I L- c - I---- I- -- -- -- -- Y- A R T S -Y -- -- I- c - -- U --- Local Rock and Roll RRRRumbles into Boston's Spit WBCN ROCK and tiny stage, set the mood perfectly for band highly favored to make it to the rock show took the stage for the third act AND ROLL RUMBLE finals, of the evening. The biggest attraction Preliminaries, at Spit. the gritty, no nonsense, no flash .rock and with their tune "I Think She Likes of roll that is distinctly Me" getting a fair amount of airplay and Gotham City has to be its leggy lead singer Monday, June 15 to Saturday, June 20. Bostonian. And de- spite the fact that the semis atMetro were not excluding the fact that they are a senti- with the soaring voice, Lois Holcomb. The made 18+ age shows and the finals at the mental favorite since losing their equip- band's straight ahead hard rock seemed By PETER DUNN Orpheurm all ages, it still required a Mass. ment at the fire at. Jack's. The heavy blues mostly streamlined to show off Lois' pow- 1W1W ITH CRIES THAT THE LOCAL liquor ID to get into Spit, making the influence, intermingled with a hard rock erful vocals and. when the music took over rock scene in Boston is slow- week-long event a blissful reprieve from edge, shone through with David Champa- it seemed hollow. Lois, scantily clad in j ly dwindling in quality and the teeny-hopper crowds that populate any gne's wailing slide guitar and Jim Fitting's sequined dress, seemed dressed to kill with W ~ ~quantity,that perennial sum- major rock concert in the Boston area. crying harmonica. Confident and charis- Gotham City dressed to win. mer bastion of raw rock 'n roll exhube- matic, Treat Her Right drew wild yells Dr. Black's Combo's artful, very differ- rance -the nine nights that make up the Monday - Day I from the large, partisan crowd. ent tone closed the night in yet another annual WBCN Rock and Roll Rumble- The Catalinas finished off the night but musical style. The high pitched, wailing answered' those cries with a resounding Tom Keegan and the Language unfortu- could do little to follow up after the two lead guitar, combined with slow, deep bass "We ain't down for the count yet!" nately suffered from being the first band preceding acts ..Most of the crowd had al- and drums, and added to the twanging of While counting up the tallies at the of the first night of the Rumble, the most ready left and there were few to listen to a second guitar, all mixed to form Dr. Rumble contest recent setbacks in the Bos- unenviable spot in the 24 band lineup their straight ahead rock mixed with a Black's distinctive, stilted hard rock. De- ton local scene (such as the fire at Jack's since it unavoidably draws the smallest slight twang of country. Unfortunately, spite'the thinned out crowd that remained and the annoucement that the Conserva- crowd of the week. Despite a hard, layered The Catalinas showed little variety in their until almost 1 am to see Dr. Blacks, the tory would convert from live band to DJ- guitar sound and Keegan's strong lead songs. Treat Her Right took honors for band's unique style seemed to have im- only format) seemed far from anybody's vocals, the band's-songs showed only a the night, in large part because of pressed the judges who picked them as the mind. Hot rock on stage at Spit was the smattering of upbeat 'originality. Some charismatic stage presence. winners for the night. order of the day. tunes, such as "Watching Them Go" and Each year the rites of summer are initi- "Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy," started the audi- Tuesday - Day 2 -Thursday - Day 4 ated at Spit as 24 local (and nowadays not ence shaking with the music as Keegan so local) rock bands vie for the eight spots galavanted about the stage, but not until The lopsidedness of the WBCN selec- The first real synth/pop band of the open for the semi-finals of the WBCN half way through the set. The band's- big- tion process once again reared its ugly Rumble, Rapture of the Deep, opened the Rock and Roll Rumble contest. Four gest setback, however, was the stiff cormpe- head as the second night of the Rumble fourth day of competition at the Rumble. bands compete every night over a span of tition they had from 'the remaindeir of the rolled around. While Monday had seen Drawing the smallest crowd to date, the six days with the winner of each night and lineup for the night. two top contenders come head to head in band was not very impressive in its many two "wild card', bands moving on to the Big Dipper, favored as a strong con- an exciting night of music, Tuesday's li- attempts to mix the sweet sounds of its semis. The semis take place over two tender to make it to the finals, played the neup did not show as much promise. keyboard with a steady drumbeat and the nights at Metro with the winners facing off second set of the night. Bassist Steve T. H. and the Wreckage opened the gritty, soaring voice of lead singer David for the finals at the Orpheum. The only Michener defined clearly the band's inten- night in a style which had proven favor- Wildman. Displaying little energy on prerequisite to enter the contest is that the tions when he announced up front, "We're able to Treat Her Right. With the drums stage, Rapture's lyrics could not carry the band have had airplay on WBCN, have no tickled punk to be here!" Dressed in pastel at stage front setting the hard, driving lack of innovative music. Only towards the national recording contract, and be good dress shirts and dress pants, the band tempo, the band settled into breakneck end of its set did Rapture finally get some enough to be chosen by the WBCN members looked more the part of clean- speed rockabilly and boogiewoogie tunes. of the crowd moving with harder rocking screening committee. cut nerds than hard rockers. But looks can The group showed some of the same blues tunes. The preliminaries of the Rumble took be'deceiving - on top of a slow, hard influence as Treat Her Right, with more Viasco Da Gamma, another synth/pop place last Monday to Saturday with the backbeat, guitarists Bill Goffrier and Gary drive and more guitar harmony, but was band, soon followed with' a slower, more semis tonight and tomorrow at Metro and Waleik created a wall of sound up front, less charismatic on stage. measured beat and more originality in the finals on Friday at the Orpheum. In not so much playing their instruments as Al Halliday and the Hurricanes fol- musical arrangement: with two drum sets keeping with the history of the Rumble, attacking them (they went through an lowed, a group made up largely of Berklee and a lead violin instead of a lead guitar, the prelims were held at Spit, a spot re- average of about one guitar string per students. Despite the most vocal fans in the band looked set to produce original markably similar in atmosphere to the song), while flailing about on stage. the Rumble so far, the Hurricanes' at- music. Quite the contrary, Iasco Da Gam- dark, claustrophobic Rat in Kenmore The injustice of WBCN's random meth- tempts to mix synth music and hard rock ma seemed arty and self-conscious, prime Square where the Rumble, at its inception, od of choosing who meets whom in the fell dismally flat - turn down the volume candidates for teeny-bopper heaven. Their first took place. Spit, with its stark black preliminaries made itself clear as Treat and the music was nothing more than Neil sound was buried beneath the drum line, walls, minimal lighting, anti-conservative Her Right took the stage for the third set Diamond. One could only wonder what all making it difficult to make out the melody dress code ("When in doubt wear black"), of the night. Treat Her Right is another the whooping and yelling was about. and lyrics. Still, they displayed more origi- Following along the same lines came nality than Rapture of the Deep, although The Rain, another mainstream hard rock that might have been more show than sub- DarioFo s "Pinball" only at band but with more speed and less pomp stance. than the Hurricanes.With better harmony All this soon gave way to The Cavedogs, times lights up spectacularily and a faster beat, The Rain clearly out- who lived up to the images brought to shone the Hurricanes, but failed along the mind from their name with gritty power ARCHANGELS DON'T PLAY But while the play remains stylistically same lines: blandness and repetitiveness of rock. Starting off from a hard rock version PINBALL in the fifties, the political humor has been their music. It seemed that the judges of "Fame," the band pushed onward with Written by Dario Fo. updated with references to Chernobyl, would not have much of a choice from the a sound somewhere between heavy metal Directed by Dario Fo and Franca Rame.