Did I tell you the one about me walking into the Empty Bottle, Chicago's epicenter of low-rent healthy hell-raising, and getting assaulted by a blast of brisk, pure pop? No, its not a dirty joke about a breath mint but my first reaction to Pittsburgh's ultra-poppy, ultra-positive Donora.
After the overcomplicated nuanced pop of Imagine Dragons and the baroque bombast of fun., it was a shock to my system to hear some straight-up innocent pop without complexities or hidden textures.
The trio's latest EP, Play Nice (Rostrum Records) is a great place to get acquainted. Vocalist/guitarist Casey Hanner has a lilting waiflike voice that suggests irony, humor and innocent mischief while lithely twisting notes with ease and elegance. Jake Churton's bass parts give the music an uncluttered propulsion while Jake Hanner on drums and synthesizer fills out the sound like a rich and creamy confection.
"Play Nice"—the standout titular track on the EP, with its infectious hook, shuffling bass line and pristine vocal—has the buoyancy of a big bouncing beach ball and I have to admit that it pissed me off that summer is months away. But as yummy as Play Nice is I came to realize that there was more to this band then meets the ears by watching its videos. The clip for "Mancini's Dance Hall" betrays an infatuation with disco but the video for "The World Is Ours" is cheeky, bizarre and has a snarky playfulness that suggests an impish wickedness.
But really, who cares about defining aesthetic components or dissecting what Donora is all about? Casey Hanner has stated in interviews that Play Nice is about living in the moment, and the band's set at the Empty Bottle bore that out. Yes, Hanner smiled and bopped throughout the set like a woman who had never had a worry in her life. Yes, Churton kept dancing in place and smirking like a sanctified delinquent trying to contain a fit of giggles. And yes, the usually punked up or laid back Empty Bottle crowd got up and shook those asses. It's hard to believe that all that joy, sweetness and fun could come bounding out of Pittsburgh, but really who knew?
Joy and sweetness are two things that Boston punkers Dropkick Murphy couldn't be accused of serving up, and their idea of fun goes in an altogether different direction then what Donora would offer. With the recent release of the band's eighth album, Signed and Sealed in Blood (Born and Bred Records), and a recent near-sold-out blowout at the Aragon Ballroom, Dropkick Murphy demonstrated a whole new definition of the term "the fighting Irish." Fuck the lutes, barley, leprechauns and McDonald's noxious Shamrock Shake—this band is all about in-your-face pride and bare-knuckled rage delivered with a brazen lack of sentimentality.
It made sense that the first openers were a thudding hardcore punk quartet while the second, Old Man Markley, was a traditional Irish folk band complete with a fiddler and a washboard player. By the time Dropkick Murphy hit the stage raging through the new "The Boys Are Back," the juiced-up SRO crowd was besotted with blue-collar Celtic cheer. Between vocalist Al Barr's jagged bark, Ken Casey's more humane vocals and the bands electrified stinging bite, Dropkick Murphy was all about the passion.
You probably know Dropkick Murphy as that Irish band that you think you've never heard of but have been hearing for years. With eight members (including the aforementioned vocalists, four guitarists, a keyboardist, a drummer, an accordianist, and a bagpiper), the idea that it's a punk band may be a bit of a stretch but nothing else fits. (A mere "hard rock" label doesn't fit, either.) "The Boys are Back" is pretty much an instant party; The song is full-throttled rowdiness and pummels like a toppling brick wall. It's the kind of jolly, furious barroom song thats loads of fun to sing along with even if you get bruised listening to it. "Burn" is not nearly as anthemic but it shares the same sonic characteristics: hard and breathless, with an airtight wall of sound. "Rose Tattoo" is something else entirely; with its array of fleet string picking, a compelling melody and Casey's naked vocals, the song has a serrated beauty that you couldn't expect from this bunch.
If Signed and Sealed in Blood jumps off the grooves, Dropkick Murphy went for the throat while turning the cavernous confines of the Aragon Ballroom into a chummy South Side Irish pub. "The Gang's All Here" and "Sunday Hardcore Matinee" did something damn near impossible in overcoming the Aragons muddy acoustics but "Citizen CIA" and "Rose Tattoo" used that disadvantage to an altogether different effect. Those two songs, enhanced by the murky mix, literally intoxicated the room and the denser they got, the more surreal they became. As expected, "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" and the chestnut "Barroom Hero" turned up at the finish but what sealed the night was a raunchy free-for-all rip through AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap." Sorry, it was just too hard not to giggle through that last one.
