There were a lot of shows happening this night. Like 5 of them. But THIS was the one I wanted to be at more than anything else. Nico Bones came back to San Diego and brought the legendary Junkyard with him! And at the Tower Bar!
Nico Bones has a new single out called “Rock & Roll Trash” which is a New York Dolls type of sleazy stomping rock ‘n roll number that Javier Escovedo from the Zeros cowrote and plays guitar on. I was expecting Javier to be at this show, but he couldn’t be in two places at once, as the Zeros were playing in Ocean Beach this night. Like I said, there were a lot of shows going on tonight.
Nico Bones and his crew are just great. They just keep getting better and better. And louder and louder. I knew it was going to be loud when the keyboard player was setting up and the keyboards were deafening (don’t worry, these are rock ‘n roll keyboards, not Flock Of Seagulls keyboards). And then everyone else plugged in and I couldn’t even hear the keyboards! I had earplugs in and my ears felt like they did after seeing Motorhead at Canes or Van Halen at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse in ’82 or a Manowar rehearsal I attended in ’82. It was THAT LOUD! Part of the fact was that I was right next to the PA, but I got some good pictures.
Here they are:
And then Junkyard. They’re one of those bands that were kind of lost in the shuffle when Guns & Roses hit mega stardom in the late ’80s, which is a shame, because Junkyard was better than a lot of what GnR did post Appetite For Destruction. Along with the Hangmen, they all had deals Geffen. Geffen stuck with Junkyard (dumping the Hangmen, who had a lost album called Suicide Doors that was recorded but never released), but they got overlooked once Nirvana broke the underground scene wide open. Junkyard, despite videos on MTV and regular play on KNAC radio (Riki Rachtman would always play some deep tracks), never quite made the big time. And they should have. They were excellent and played top quality blues based high energy rock ‘n roll and had some great songs. And don’t forget their punk roots! Brian Baker from Minor Threat was in the band during their formative years. Jimmy James from the Hangmen has also been playing with them for almost 10 years now too. Tim Mosher joined the band 25 years ago and is helping carry on their legacy with core members Patrick Muzingo on the drums and Todd Muscat on bass.
So having never seen them before (despite them playing Raji’s every now and then), I HAD to be at this show at the Tower Bar. Billed as “Tim Mosher And His Junkyard Friends” (as Junkyard’s singer David Roach passed away last year and he was irreplaceable), they played a bunch of Junkyard songs (both hits and deep cuts) and sprinkled in some of Tim’s other projects (Suckerpunch and Broken Glass) which fit right in. And holy crap, do I have some homework to do, as the song “Suckerpunch” was just amazing! It was great seeing them and great to see that they are playing around and they are highly recommended any time they come to your town!
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