Dave’s Photo Blog

David Minehan takes a break from singing to talk with the crowd of people in the audience at The Vixen in Provincetown.

“How many people are staying in Provincetown tonight,” he asks?

The audience cheers.

“How many people are staying in Wellfleet?”

A much smaller cheer.

“How many people are staying in Orleans?”

Barely a reaction.

“Well that’s too bad, because I was going to invite you all surfing tomorrow.”

Lee Harrington pipes in, “What street is that house of yours in Orleans on again, Dave?”

“That would be 12 nitrous oxide road, Lee”

Then they rip into another song to the delight of the crowd.

I imagine it was a relief for the Hoods to start playing. I’d heard about swirls of issues with the festival both before and during my time there. There were the obvious one, like when the Presidents of the United States of America dropped off the bill. But there was also talk of the venues being concerned about the volume of the bands and problems with the timing of the events. Many of these concerts were eight hour shows with as many bands playing, all limited to very specific time slots. Any band that ran late threw off the schedule and that’s hard to make up, especially if it happens late in the evening. They did end up starting a bit late, forcing them to cut some songs from the set they had planned on playing. It was also clear that ticket sales were sluggish, although The Hoods draw a crowd whenever they play and Saturday night was no exception. They came out rocking and looking totally pumped up for the show as they delivered another great high-energy performance on the main stage at The Vixen.

This is the second time I’ve had the pleasure of covering the Hoods and I can tell you David Minehan had another great performance. You know, for a trio, this band really makes you wonder why other bands need two guitarists. His guitar work was really on during this show, from the massive-sounding power chords he gets from that Les Paul to some great solos. And he’s a consummate pro. Not sure of the song order at the beginning part of the show, he simply leaned over the drums slightly and asked Johnny Rock. Johnny shouts, “Hanging” while he’s actually playing the lead-in rhythm with the sticks. By the time David turns around he’s playing the first chord of the song, and a moment later he’s at the microphone singing. No pause, no getting set, just playing.

And what’s more, he looked awesome – he just oozes charisma and his choice of attire this night was perfect, although he has to toss the jacket a few songs in because it got too hot. This is a guy who revels in having room to perform and the small stage just meant that he poured even more energy into what he was doing since he couldn’t run around as much. In fact, they Hoods played one mid-tempo song and I think David was the most energetic during that number!

Lee Harrington was frisky as well, and although the stage is quite small, he was still jumping in the air landing on the beat and laying down solid lines with that big, beautiful Rickenbacker bass. He was also thirsty, and so he asks for a beer from the stage. A few songs later, he hasn’t gotten it. So he says, “I’m serious, I really do need a beer.” Johnny Rock hands him a half-full bottle from behind the drum set. Lee takes it, and then realizes it’s not full and says, “oh great, I get Johnny Rock’s backwash.” Late in the set, he returns to the subject. “I just want to thank my new best friend for bringing me a beer. It’s an import, a Heineken. Which is a step up and appropriate for a man of my station.”

If you read my story on The New Frustrations, you know that Lee came out to sing a song with them. He brought up Mike Scag during the Hoods set as well. He said, “God bless you Mike Scag, wherever you are, you rock and roll motherfucker.” Lest that line be misinterpreted, there was no doubt in the room that it was high praise from Lee.

Johnny Rock had a great night too, but there is an amusing story from earlier in the evening that I should tell to show you what a great person Johnny is. During The New Alibis set a few hours prior to the Hoods, I was standing halfway back in the room. There were a few people on both sides sitting at some tables and maybe 20 people just in front of me. As I’m watching the band, I get that funny feeling when you pick up something in motion and you’re not sure quite what it is, but you know you should be careful. THUMP. A broken drumstick hits my chest and bounces onto the floor. I feel oddly embarrassed, although I’m not quite sure why. The only thing I can think to do is pick up the stick and place it on one of the side benches so that nobody trips over it. At the end of the song, I hear a voice on my right. “Did you get hit by a drumstick?” Sure enough, it’s Johnny Rock of the Hoods checking to see if I was OK. “Yup,” I say and then we discuss flying drumsticks (a subject which he is well acquainted with, I assure you) for a moment before the next song kicks in and it gets loud again.

But here’s Johnny in his element – behind the drums. In addition to that, he sings backup on some songs and generally seems to keep the show grounded. It seems like if David and Lee horse around too much, it’s Johnny Rock that keeps them in check, as you will see below. He’s mostly playing uptempo songs with great control. He wants to, “deliver the goods,” as he told me later, and he did on Saturday, not missing a beat and keeping those beats right on the tempo.

The set list for the Hoods went as follows:

Half Life
Hangin’
WUSA
Parasite
King Of Rats
Evil Knievel
Billy The Kid (Mid-Week Wake)
Arrogance
Pure And Easy
Gold
Mr. Reeves
Boys Keep Swinging
Think It Over

But they had to cut seven songs from the set they had planned to play: Goodbye Gone Era, The Pipe, Roxxanne, Innocence Lost, Just Head and No Place Like Home. They were scheduled to play for 90 minutes, but only got about an hour. The sound man at the Vixen in particular tried hard to keep the schedule on track, but with so many bands performing, it was probably inevitable that things would slip. And the band had to stop at 1AM due to Massachusetts blue laws. After finishing Boys Keep Swinging with a just a few minutes to go and seemingly out of time, it’s Johnny Rock in the back who is saying, “we’ve got two minutes – fuck it, man, let’s GO,” or something similar. David and Lee do not have to Think It Over very hard before they rip into a great version of that song to close the show.

You can see The Neighborhoods in Boston on Friday, August 21st at Boston GreenFest at 7PM. They don’t play that often and they always deliver. Seeing them in City Hall Plaza on a summer night, well, I think you can expect a fantastic show.