The Billy Bones No. 1

The Billy Bones (Billy Bones) / The Complexity of Stupidity : Dr. Strange Records

With deft and alluring bombastic urges, Billy Bones (Steven Fortuna) picks up where his iconic band The Skulls left off: the punk packed in here is raw-boned, swift, and lean, a homage to the Buzzcocks’ fast’n’furious gimmicks (try “All Excess”), the U.K. Subs’ soaring salivating singalongs, and tightly coiled but ratty West Coast surf punk prowess, especially on “Cool Girl with the Vinyl Collection.” Similar to The Crowd and Channel 3, Billy ages with classic churlish punk veneers – his anger is bottled up into potent songs that feel like no-time, like immersions in the ever present now.

At an age when many rockers reached for a change of musical pace and style, leaning towards rootsy retroism or adultish and moody Indie, The Skulls’ irascibly irate Therapy For the Sky was a punch in the face of middle-age trifles. Like then, Billy feels like a captain of cool-as-shit three cord chaos, out-howling The Briefs, outsizing the pretenders, and outliving the warped, stupid, and suicidal. He asked the tough questions like, “Can Punk Rock Pay the Bills?” Hell, no. He wasn’t about to wear the guise of a professional punk. “Be punk rock to the grave,” he avowed, and listeners knew this intimation was inked in blood, passion, and honest assessment.

For the full review, please visit Left of the Dial here.