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Thee Fightin' Fish, Jones Creek, KOTO, Salem January 4, 2019
I took a ride up to Koto in Salem after the Leica Punk Photo show and talk I went to with Miss Lyn, She reviewed on the News Page. Koto is a funky, mid-size red room with an Asian menu, cheapish drinks, and decent sound. Might want to rethink the endless dark red lights on the bands. There are some regulars at the bar and the cheap eats diners create an early crowd.
I catch a couple Thee Fightin’ Fish fish tunes. Catchy, ground up indie Elvis on punk. Disk on Bandcamp is worth a listen. The bill gets a bit off its line with Jones Creek. They take their hard rock cues from Skynyrd with a twist of metal on the lead guitar. Good riffs, you know a slide will show up. With a like-minded crowd, they’d rock a room.
61 Ghost is always on the road paying dues. It keeps paying off. There guitar and drums Thundered up blues are getting broader and deeper. The interplay on these tunes is raw but, on drummer Dixie’s fills, and the stutter stops and starts, they keep your ear’s attention. "No One at the Door" is downright catchy, Mazzari’s poetic lyrics are worth the time it takes to sing them. A cover of "Hey Joe" works in a twist of Psych and Peter Gunn into the mix.
Little Billy Lost take the last set. The crowd has dwindled - pity. This group of Boston luminaries knows their rock. With Fred Pineau and Jim Melanson on guitars and vocals, Smitty on baby blue drums and Pat Moynihan on big melodic bass and backing vocals the band is killer. The kind of band that, if you just happened to walk into Koto at the end of a Seven Gables tour you’d be blown away. They kept the focus on their new ep - Cocks of the Walk. Pineau and crew get Crampified on the growling "Tailpipe Drag". Melanson tells us why he’s a rocker on "Made in the USA" with its “can’t be afraid to leave blood on the stage” lyric. Talk about ringing true - he just got out of the hospital a month ago for a serious operation. Don’t know how he managed to rip out the crackled vocals and howling solo on "St. Vitus Dance". You have to have a couple of monsters in the backline with all that firepower up front. Smitty and Moynihan push as hard as they pull. Moynihan gets a couple of Entwhistle breaks that absolutely sing. Smitty propels the band into an explosive last chorus on Words. Add ‘em to your list.
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