Fleshtones - Babylon, Ottawa, 16/11/2005

  by Andrew Carver

published: 30 / 11 / 2005

intro

New York punks the Fleshtones are closing in on their 30th anniversary. Andrew Carver watches them play a hard-hitting and athletic show of souped-up garage rock which would put bands with members half their age to shame

New York’s the Fleshtones formed in 1976. Although sometimes regarded as kindred to the city’s punk rock scene, the bands’ real peers were bands like the Lyres and Real Kids, two other groups influenced by garage fuzz and 50's rock’n’roll. Though the band is closing in on their 30th anniversary, and the current lineup is 75% original (longtime bass player Keith Fox joined vocalist Pete Zaremba, guitarist Keith Streng and drummer Bill Milhizer for 1992's 'Powerstance'), time doesn’t seem to have slowed the quartet’s penchant for rambunctious shows. Support act the Glads made their debut at The Fleshtones’ last Ottawa club date and once again delivered a hard-hitting show full of punchy, souped up garage rock. As for the headliners, the Fleshtones almost comically athletic show puts bands with members half the age to shame: Streng and Fox stay linked to their amps with radio units, leaving them free to run into the audience, jump up on the bar and challenge audience members to pushup contests during their song 'Push Up Man'. Streng particularly is a jumping, high-kicking dynamo, regularly leaping from drum risers, the PA system, and anything else handy. Zaremba led the band over to the bar – and on to it – twice, also playing his Farfisa organ while kicking on the beat. The band does all this while delivering a tight set of their own sturdy originals – influenced by the gamut of 1950's and 1960's American rock’n’roll, with some 1970's hard rock thrown in. - and the occasional cover: Led Zeppelin's 'Communication Breakdown' as well as the Troggs' 'Feels Like A Woman' made an appearance. The audience was fairly small – about 75 people – but made up of hard core local rock’n’roll fans who were well into the show. It was a great night from a band that really knows how to pull out the stops.

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