Grievers Club

As a 1990s teenager I fell head-over-heels for Sweden's Refused. Their politics deeply resonated with my younger self, with words practically stamped on my heart. Their music wasn't alpha male driven, but rather rested in this wild place that felt like my spirit animal. In my 20s I had some of their lyrics spray painted across my coffee table. To see them all these years later, with my fifteen-year-old son Zeph beside me, was such a touching gift. Dennis Lyxzen was a wonder. Special mention: Opener Help from here in Portland was brilliantly good. Their singer doesn't know this, but he and I were involved in the same band at different points on our journey.

When I was fifteen a gang of Canadians befriended me. There seemed to be more of them than I could count and they all were much more rock and roll than anyone from Portland. One of them had recently shaved off his mohawk and had a green strip down his head, and the two of us sat in the back of an old VW van with the seats removed while another fellow drove around doing figure 8s as we discussed love, loss, and life in all its teenage angst. Turns out his name was Billy Bones and he had a band called Thee Pirates.

His current band is , a garage punk group all about moto bikes and rock and roll. A few years back they released this Motorcycho album and it is like an instant good mood switch. It’ll make your knees gyrate and have you doing wheelies off the coffee table. My favorite is the song Hot Dogs In The City. The music video for this has cameos from Nardwuar and Isaac Rother and put a serious smile on my face. You should go check that out.

That summer in 1996 I met another of Vancouver, BC's finest, a kind dude who went by the name Norman and had a zine called Motorcycho. That’s right, just like this record. He gave me loads of stickers which I slapped on surfaces throughout high school. Norm plays in The Vicious Cycles as well. I’m sure most of them have forgot about me by now, but it left a lifelong impression with me.

I’ve kept up with Billy all these decades and I can’t recommend getting behind anything he does enough. He's always been the master of punk sing-a-long numbers and I respect his tenacity in continually making music. So go get your face blasted off, throw some things out a window, and give The Vicious Cycles a listen on their Motorcycho release.