By Nicole Gluckstern
The Raincoats. All photos by Morlock E.
Punk rock will never die, but as the years go by, old school punks often do wind up slowing down a bit. They start families, work at software companies or film studios, pay for rent and food -- all acts of respectable members of society. But just because you get a full-time job doesn’t mean you have to give up rock forever, you just have to cut back to part-time. At least that’s the premise that LA’s Part Time Punks club night founders Michael Stock and Benjamin White might have begun with when they threw their first party of late '70s-early '80s post-punk music in 2005.
Savage Republic
With time-tested acts such as the Slits, the Avengers, and Savage Republic and an impressive collection of URGH!-era rekkids to spin, the Part Time Punks have gained an eager following among older fans who were there to begin with, and younger ones who just wish they’d been. Both versions of fan were in broad attendance Friday at the Mezzanine, when the PTP crew and an impressive slew of live acts, including Joy Division peers Section 25, and the elusive, influential Raincoats, stormed the stage for the first-ever Part Time Punks mini-fest away from home.
Viv Albertine
We get there just as San Francisco-based Magic Bullets are wrapping up their set, and are treated instead to a sharp DJ set which barrels down post-punk memory lane with fierce momentum. Viv Albertine, formerly of the Slits, armed with just her guitar and a slew of Sid Vicious stories, takes the stage next. Her often-confessional lyrics about the unwelcome passage of time, orgasmic dysfunction, heroin needles, and the lonely artist’s life were no less unflinching than any Slits ode to self-destructive boys and shoplifting, though the sheer ferocity of the delivery has been taken down a notch.
Savage Republic's Ethan Port
After another retro-grade DJ set, Savage Republic delivered a rock-solid, predominantly instrumental set, replete with occasional flourishes of oil drum percussion and the most maniacally-wielded set of maracas this far north of the border. SR have been making the most of their reentry to rocking over the last couple of years, touring in Europe and along the coast, recording new songs, and generally re-installing themselves in a scene that sorely lacked their presence.
Larry Cassidy of Section 25
Speaking of presence sorely-lacked, the seldom-seen Section 25, who last visited our Babylonby the Bay in the eighties, were next to grace the stage with a dryly minimal set which somehow managed to channel both William Burroughs and Warren Ellis at the same time. I wouldn’t normally forgive a second-billed band’s frontman for reading the lyrics off a strategically-placed music stand, but somehow in Larry Cassidy’s case, I didn’t mind it -- it was almost as if it were part of the schtick, a touch of human frailty amidst the drone.
The Raincoats' Ana Da Silva on harmonica
Last but certainly not least came the Raincoats, whose live presence is far more cohesive, not to mention more in tune than repeated listenings to “The Kitchen Tapes” would make one expect. In the best deconstructionist tradition, the Raincoats stirred folky instruments such as the violin and the harmonica into the jangling, yet ultimately beatific blend of old school feminism meets post-millennial mid-life rant. I don’t know how the promoters of the show felt, but for the audience, the Part Time Punks mini-fest offered a tangy taste of the real sounds of the eighties, almost effortlessly updated but no less compelling than the first time around. And since LA, not to mention London, is a little too far away to visit just for a party in these economically stringent times -- here’s hoping the PTP crew will bring the party back to us next year.
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