Pressure Boys Reunion

There are rare opportunities to go back in time and revisit the past. This past Friday night I got one of those opportunities. The Pressure Boys reunited for a pair of gigs at the Cradle to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis foundation and it was truly a great show.

The evening started with Greg Humphreys doing a solo acoustic set. I used to go see Dillon Fence while I was in high school and maybe a time or two while in college. I always enjoyed those shows, and my wish would have been for Greg to bring Dillon Fence back together for the opener. Even though that particular band had a reunion tour not long ago it would have continued the reunion theme for the cause. He started out doing a few songs strictly by himself and it was unfortunate that the crowd showed that they were there for the other bands. Plenty of loud conversation all through his first 3 or 4 songs, but people did applaud and show their appreciation. Greg was later joined by his sister Ann on guitar / vocals, Elizabeth Melvin on bass (Sweet By and By), and John Garris on fiddle (Big Fat Gap). Despite a few tuning delays the four came together with a great sound that eventually won the crowd over. Greg even got the crowd to break that imaginary force field that tends to form when as a collective the audience resists moving closer to the opening act. Almost as if they have a fear of contracting some opening band disease that will adversely impact their ears. But they moved forward and it was a perfect lead into for the Sneakers.

As someone who missed out on the dB’s / Let’s Active era in the triangle (I’m not sure how it happened – it just passed me by) it was a treat to see these local legends perform together on stage as the Sneakers. I kept relating it to the degree of separation these musicians had from some of my own favorite musicians that I have followed. There is Mitch Easter who along with Don Dixon produced one of my favorite R.E.M. albums Reckoning. There is Chris Stamey who has produced and played with tons of cool people, including as a touring guitarist for Bob Mould during one of his first solo tours. And finally drummer Will Rigby has toured and recorded with one of my heroes Steve Earle. The Sneakers were so solid on stage, Mitch’s guitar playing and solos just blew me away. I’ll have to go back in time through their recordings and see if I can make up for lost time.

Now technically I didn’t miss out on the Pressure Boys way back when. I started high school toward the end of the Pressure Boys career and I can’t quite remember if I had seen them live before Friday night. It was over twenty years ago and the details are usually a bit blurry. BUT I’ve always been very familiar with their music. Friends taped Jump! Jump! Jump!, and Rangledoon for me and we would listen to those recordings as much as possible. Much later I would doggedly pursue and eventually buy a copy of the 2-disc complete recordings CD. Those discs are usually in constant rotation at home and in the car.

The band I was in in high school (Rat Nuts) used to cover Fakin’ Dub, complete with band members switching to trombone and having a special guest trumpet player join us on stage. As a bass player the bass lines on the P-Boy recordings were always an interesting challenge to try and learn. We also followed the post P-Boy bands like Sex Police, and Johnny Quest both of which would put on live shows that were more like wild parties than club shows.

The show on Friday was simply great. The band seemed to be having so much fun being back at it again and all of that came through in the performance. As the rhythm section, Rob Ladd and Jack Campbell provided such a strong foundation. I have to admit I spent most of the time coveting Jack’s “flame decorated” bass. But I digress. Guitarist Bryon Settle played and soloed with such natural ease, while frontman / trombone player John Plymale covered every inch of the stage seamlessly going from vocalist to horn player and back again.

The reunited group attacked every song with energy and with a fervor that seems to be lacking in a lot of today’s music and live performances. They entertained the crowd with a full sound, and the intermittent off-the-cuff humor that people have grown to expect from this cast of characters. In a show of support for their “follically challenged” brethren in the band Jay Widenhouse and Greg Stafford revealed that they had shaved the tops of their heads to provide the appearance that they had also lost their hair. And the P-Boys had a great crowd to feed off of too. For me it was great to see an audience dance again. No one stood around looking cool or gazing at their feet - the whole place was pogo-ing, sweating, stage diving, and slam dancing. Well, as much slam dancing and stage diving allowable for folks in their late 30s to late 40s. As Plymale pointed out the band didn’t want anyone breaking a hip.

The best thing about the whole night was the fact that 100% of the proceeds go to a great cause and with the venue sold out - CDs and T-shirts selling rather fast – my hope is that they surpassed last year’s total of $30,000 raised. If you missed the shows you can still support the cause. The Pressure Boys the Incomplete Recordings is a newly re-mastered greatest hits compilation that is now available via iTunes. All of the proceeds go to Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. If you don’t currently own any of their music or you don’t have all of these songs, do yourself a favor - buy it now.

http://www.songsforsixtyfiveroses.com/

http://www.cff.org/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeUp9k2J2gc