Show Review – Scratch Acid At The Paradise (11.9.2011)

You can never keep a good man down. Case in point – David Yow, madman/poet/drunk behind both Scratch Acid and Jesus Lizard.
While it seemed like he was out of business music for a while, Yow came back and in a fairly big way – first with Qui, then with (temporarily) reunited Scratch Acid and then with (fully) reunited Jesus Lizard. Now Scratch Acid are doing a full-blown “re-enactment” tour – their first since the band dissolved in the late 80s.
Do they still have it? Read on…
Kill The Chillwaver With Postpunk – who, at the closer inspection, turned out to be Girlfriends. (so don’t believe anything that’s written on the amps).
Short and sweet (if occasionally generic) dose of indie/surf/post-punk was served by this Boston trio.
Scratch Acid – “Oh look at that bunch of geezers trying to act like they’re 20 years old”
That was the response that I received after showing a video of Jesus Lizard reunion show in Boston to someone who was completely unfamiliar with any of band’s work.
While, perhaps, this is a bit harsh of an assessment, the truth is – time doesn’t make anyone younger and that applies to rock bands/musicians as well as anybody else.
That aside, the show that Scratch Acid did at the Paradise last night was fabulous – with all the yelling and screaming and light crowd-surfing highly reminscent of that seen at the Jesus Lizard show (not surprising, perhaps, given that Yow and David Wm. Sims are/were in both bands).
As Yow blurted out after an encore – “Older guys doing young guys thing – its not as easy as it apparently looks” and the man certainly embodies those words. So kudos to Yow and Co. for rocking well into the old age.