Show was a blast from Boston's underground past
CAMBRIDGE -- New Year's Eve came early to the Middle East's upstairs room Thursday night, when, at a Volcano Suns performance, an audience member was moved to shout out, ''We'll party like it's 1991." Indeed, with local rock veterans Kudgel and Neptune in the support slots, this show harked back to Boston's underground past. Yet three stunning performances made for an inspiring present.
There are reunions, and in rock 'n' roll currently there are plenty of them. Then there are fleeting glimpses into the past. This re-emergence of the '80s-formed Boston trio Volcano Suns is likely to fall into the latter category.
Perfect timing allowed for a mini-reunion of the band's later, but still classic, lineup: drummer and vocalist Peter Prescott (better known as the cofounder of Mission of Burma); guitarist Dave Kleiler, an indie music video director who now lives in Los Angeles; and bassist Bob Weston, who resides in Chicago, playing bass in Shellac and manning Burma's tape loops. The band was invited to play Yo La Tengo's annual Hanukkah fest in Hoboken, N.J., and with Kleiler and Weston home for the holidays, regrouping for a Boston-area show made sense.
Self-consciousness was in the air a bit as the three opened with the manic, punky ''Jak." But that was fleeting. The trio united to sing and soar through ''Barricade," before Prescott led the proto-alt-rock romps ''Room With a View" and ''Commune" and then pounded out the tribal beat to the punk stomp ''Bumper Crop." As Thursday became Friday, Weston took the mike to end the performance with an epic, swampy ''Testify."
Kudgel took the middle spot, beginning with growly thrash metal sounds that belied its obvious strength, which is a keen, catchy melodicism that gives the burly quartet a beguiling pop edge.
Singer and guitarist Mark Erdody asked the audience what it liked about opening trio Neptune. ''Originality," came one astute answer. The much-overlooked veteran band was all that and more, with a tight mix of art rock and industrial grind, performed on homemade instruments and mind-boggling gadgets.
