The Venomous Pinks, The Complainiacs, The Whorchatas at Cruisin' 7th 6-1-10

The Venomous Pinks, Phoenix‘s newest female punk power trio, made their debut Tuesday night at the Cruisin’ 7th lounge near downtown Phoenix. I was a little apprehensive about attending this show at first, as Cruisin’ 7th just happens to be a venerable Phoenix-area gay/transgender bar.. not my usual scene, but I felt that any new project featuring Sue Trainwreck and Drea Doll (ex-Janitors of Anarchy) was worth a look, and it also happened that I was downtown that night anyway, just a few blocks away at Macayo’s on Central Avenue, having dinner with Annie Venom of Green Lady Killers.



Annie Venom: Zombified.



Enchiladas and lively conversation with Ms.Venom made for a most pleasant evening, as we discussed our favorite monster movies and Anne’s recent evening of bar hopping--in zombie makeup-- after participating in last weekend’s downtown Phoenix Zombie Walk. Her bloody costume was so convincing that as she and fellow ghoul Theresa “Nacho” Montiel (of AZ Derby Dames) waited at a light-rail stop near the George & Dragon pub, an alarmed police officer pulled over and asked the two if they had just been assaulted!



Since Anne’s new job has been limiting her late-night adventures to weekends recently, I would have to go solo at the Venomous Pinks show at the nearby Cruisin’ 7th bar. Passing through the somewhat fruity-smelling front room bar, I arrived in the backroom stage area, with its rotating disco-style lights straight out of Lady Marmalade and witnessed the Venomous Pinks launching into their maiden performance. With plenty of local band experience behind them, they tore through a set that was noticeably tighter than most bands would be able to muster on their first night.





To a surprisingly full room of well-wishers that included Kyle Rose Stokes of The Love Me Nots and 602 Radio’s Eric “Molusk” DeWolf (whose band The Complainiacs were next on the bill that night), along with more than a few transvestites, The Pinks made an admirable ruckus that included such high-velocity furballs as “Katie Couric”, “Little Slut” (a souvineer from Sue Trainwreck‘s earlier band, Breakfast of Champions), and an amped-up take on the Laverne & Shirley theme “Makin' Our Dreams Come True”.

In the spirit of sexual expression, and with more than a little old-fashioned promiscuity, bassist Sue and drummer Julie both wore breast-baring ensembles (strategically placed pink duct tape kept it PG-13), while guitarist Drea remained virtuous and kept herself suitably covered.



The Venomous Pinks at Cruisin' 7th



Next up were The Complainiacs, who announced themselves as “Phoenix’s worst band”, and spent a good part of their set trying their darndest to live up to the billing. Most of their songs sound like rewrites of “Kick Out the Jams” played 50% faster, and it got a little repetitive after a while. The belly-dancing monkey girl was a nice touch though.





The evening’s finale was The Whorchatas, and to put it mildly, they were disgusting, offensive, awful, and annoying, but also were downright hilarious. Their up-the-ass humor, nearly nude bandmembers, and outrageous onstage antics (which included a kinky female assistant in a corset who pulled what appeared to be a turd out of frontman Richie Tovar’s rear end) threatened to clear the room, but those who stayed were evenly divided between those who were laughing uproariously and those who were turning an unnatural color. Even I had to turn away when the tatooed female assistant appeared to eat the piece of poo she had retrieved from the Tovar’s posterior (it was likely slight of hand involving a Twix bar, ala the infamous swimming pool scene in the movie Caddyshack). Throughout most of the set, Sue Trainwreck and I were laughing our heads off, while Julie and Drea apparently didn’t consider The Whorchatas’ behavior to be a laughing matter, as both of them had very unamused looks on their faces. They eventually had to excuse themselves. I must say The Whorchatas’ version of “Surfin’ Bird” was a hoot, and I briefly considered dubbing these jokers geniuses.

The Venomous Pinks will have another go-round with The Whorchatas at Connelly’s on July 10th.

--Karl Wentzel



　















The Love Me Nots at Crescent Ballroom, Scorpion vs. Tarantula at Lost Leaf 11-12-11

2 of Phoenix’s most celebrated garage bands lit up separate downtown venues for a rainy night of rock and roll last Saturday evening, and those intrepid enough to brave the wet weather caught classic performances by both The Love Me Nots and Scorpion vs. Tarantula.

Photo by Karen Walker

In the early show at the sumptuous new Crescent Ballroom, Love Me Nots singer and Farfisist extraordinaire Nicole Laurenne, clad in hot pants and a T-shirt, shared vocals with hot new bassist Sophie O for an hour of the spy-rock and retro go go that has made the band a staple of independent and internet radio from Bakersfield to Bordeaux (the band geared up for another tour of France, their 3^rd this year, with a French version of their international hit “The Girl Lights Up”, which will be featured on a soon-to-be-released album of Love Me Nots dance remixes). They kept the hits coming, with dancefloor favorites “Do What You Do”, “Lets Get Wrecked”, and “Give ‘Em What They Want” getting the crowd suitably shaken and stirred.

The Love Me Nots wrapped things up at The Crescent early enough for fans to catch the night’s other downtown garage extravaganza, in the nearby Roosevelt arts district.

There’s nothing quite like a Scorpion vs. Tarantula performance at the intimate Lost Leaf. With at least 60 crazed fans crammed into a living room-size space that wouldn’t comfortably fit 20, it wasn’t long before many spectators were sharing the stage with the band, and the 100 year-old floorboards were set to shakin’, as they were last August when SvT tore the roof off the venue in their Lost Leaf debut.

Babs the belly dancer, seen shimmying in a monkey mask at a Complaniacs show at Cruisin’ 7^th last year, was invited onstage by bassist Tana Satana to do her thing with SvT, and the decadence bar was raised to even more scandalous levels. Vocalist L Hotshot and guitar guy Louis Lashes got up close and personal with the crowd, wading into the sea of sweaty humanity and climbing onto the bartop as the band tore through a tight set of rabble-rousing garage punk that turned the area in front of the stage into a melee of pushing and shoving. At set’s end, overheated rockers were glad to step outside into the showery night air for a cooldown.

Scorpion vs. Tarantula will give the big stage at The Crescent a whirl on December 3^rd, and both SvT and The Love Me Nots will be opening for X at Club Red on December 9^th. Don’t miss it.

--Karl Wentzel

Scorpion vs Tarantula, The Pods at Lost Leaf 8-27-11

Scorpion vs. Tarantula unloaded a pile of sweaty, in-your-face punk rock & roll at the usually laid-back downtown drinkery The Lost Leaf Saturday night, and left some in the enthusiastic crowd wondering what hit them.. and most of them begging for more. In their debut at the trendy boutique in the heart of Phoenix’s arts district, SvT was firing on all 8 cylinders, with the usually wild antics of frontwoman L Hotshot and lead guitarman Louis Lashes propelled into overdrive by the furious drumming of guest timekeeper Ian Lee. Many of SvT’s frantic Stones/Stooges/ACDC-style mashups are local classics, with favorites “Short Leash”, “Don’t Waste My Rock and Roll”, and “Snake Coiled Up Inside His Heart" sending the fans into a frenzy.

A mosh pit may sound like a pretty bad idea to anyone familiar with The Lost Leaf’s cozy interior and relaxed atmosphere, but the maniacal shoving in front of the stage added to the already raucous proceedings, and a good time for all ensued. The energy reached feverish levels when Ms. Hotshot and Mr. Lashes ventured into the crowd, with both eventually climbing atop the bar. If there had been a chandelier overhead, L probably would have swung from it.

Originally a 3-piece garage band, Scorpion vs. Tarantula has added considerable firepower in recent years--Lashes, Lee, and bassist Tana Satana-- and rocks the house as hard as any band currently on the local scene. SvT’s 2-guitar attack seemed fierce enough to blister the paint on the Lost Leaf‘s walls, and the flimsy flooring of the converted 1920s-vintage house could barely withstand the strain of the mayhem above. The undulating floorboards at times felt on the verge of collapse, and the amplifiers swayed noticeably as the band rocked on.

Openers The Pods let loose a brisk barrage of fuzzed-out noisepunk reminiscent of seminal L.A. punks The Urinals or early Sonic Youth, with guitarist/vocalist Jackie Cruz coaxing some serious static from her Stratocaster and co-frontwoman Dusty Rose deftly switching between guitar and bass and sharing the shrieking lead vocals. Their set was billed as a farewell performance, with the band going on an extended hiatus that hopefully won’t be a full breakup-- this world, often filled with mediocrity, is in desperate need of a few good bands like The Pods.

--Karl Wentzel