Saturday, May 27, Chain Reaction

The Von Steins, Joe and the Chicken Heads, Rosemary’s Billygoat, and Green Jelly

Chain Reaction’s flyer read: "Wear a costume and get free stuff." It seemed a little less than half the crowd, of maybe one-hundred, came in Hallow’s Eve drab. There were, of course, a few typical punk attendees dressed in "I’m a punk rocker look at my hair and shitty clothes" costumes too. I think they were pissed because they weren’t perceived to be in costume and missed out on the door prizes.

Rosemary’s Billygoat began their set and the singer walked through the crowd to the stage bearing a furry six-foot foam cross on his back and a demonic look in his eyes. Next it was onto time machines, medieval torture devices, pentagrams, Barbie Dolls, GI Joes, drills, dildos, an electric chair, smoke, fire, 665 ½, swords, and more fire.

From what I gathered Rosemary’s Billygoat is a satanic spoof just having fun. That is until a few of the aforementioned "look-at-me I’m a punker" dumb assess started giving them a hard time and spitting on the front man because they seemed too authentic and too metal for their liking. Or perhaps they were scared of the fat riffs, cool satanic props, pyrotechnics and the singers HR like shrills, long hair, beard, fire spitting, and foaming mouth.

Despite a few nay sayers, some trouble putting fires out and second degree burns, heads were bobbing to their infectious acid rock/metal thing because Rosemary’s Billygoat rocked.

Enter Joe and the Chicken Heads, seven chicken heads, a carrot head, and a head of cheese melting away at the synthesizer. It was standing room only on stage. Two of the members of The Von Steins also played in the Chicken Heads. There may have been more, I’m not sure. They were the only two I caught without their heads on while setting up. The Von Steins had only one costumed individual in a Peter Pan/Fred Flintstone outfit sporting a Mexican wrestling mask.

The Von Steins were similar to the Chicken Heads stripped down punk with a Ramones/Groovie Ghoulies flair, a synthesized twist, and lyrics I couldn’t make out. The Chicken heads were a little less polished and neither seemed to captivate the audience. Not enough to convince me to check out the cd they hatched for this costume release party.

After seeing the show I realized the egg came before the chicken, but the egg-fixated band McRackins definitely didn’t give rise to this brood which has some maturing to do. Two masked rappers with a bullhorn and lots of "Cluck You" from the crowd kept us entertained during the Chicken Heads set up.

The sax and trumpet duo fit the sound nicely, but were barely audible and seemed off on several occasions. I have to commend all nine of them for keeping their heads on during the entire set. It couldn’t have been easy or comfortable playing cooped up in a giant chicken head, but then again the music was pretty straightforward and loose.

Wrapping up the night with a ryhthmic infection similar to Billygoat was Green Jelly. They introduced themselves as the shittiest band in the world and the kids yelled Green Jelly sucks (or was it Primus sucks). I’ve heard shittier bands, like the one that preceded them, but a valiant effort with three guitars collaborating. I was expecting a guitar sound as phat as the bass was. Maybe they just needed to turn up?

Green Jelly’s singer also changed costumes for every song. The rest of the band were plain clothed with the exception of two wigs. The costumes went from a police officer, to a big brown pile of poop, to an old ugly preacher spending his water bottle wad all over the stage and audience. I thought for a second Gwar hit the stage when the singer came out with awesome two-foot high skull shoes and a look that reminded me of the movie Predator. Of course the Big Bad Wolf and Three Little Pigs made an appearance as well and the crowd huffed and puffed into the mic on que.

Overall it was an entertaining night of long set up times, paper mattche, foam, cardboard, and fun.

M. Kire