It has been more than a year since Kennebunk-based punkers The Pinkerton Thugs reunited, and yet there still seems to be a resonant buzz around their return. And seeing them live, you get the sense that the band are more relevant now than ever.
For some in the Geno's crowd it was their first time seeing the band; for others, myself included, their performance was accompanied by nostalgic for the band's late-'90s gigs at grange halls with shoddy PA systems (if there was a PA system). One notable absence is former frontman Micah Smaldone, who has been replaced by Paul Russo (who has had stints as a bassist with Anti-Flag since the Pinkertons' demise in 2000). Energetic, angry, and youthful, the band established a connection with the crowd. For a moment, a circle pit broke out.
A lot has changed on the surface in the nine years since they originally split up, but the band seems to strike a chord of social unease in the shaky economic times we now find ourselves in. Perhaps the reason public interest in the Pinkerton Thugs remains strong is their embodiment of a socio-philosophical awareness that holds growing importance, as the days get darker for the American dream.
Related:
Covered in Bees, Good riddance, New England Music News: March 6, 2009, More 
- Covered in Bees
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- Good riddance
Kennebunk activist Jamilla El-Shafei is at it again.
- New England Music News: March 6, 2009
Sorry we didn't have time to give you the heads-up before the show, but the BALTIC SEA debuted a new five-man lineup Sunday night at the Big Easy.
- Portland Music News: May 1, 2009
SEAN MORIN will perform his senior composition recital at UMaine Augusta's Jewett Hall on May 6.
- Portland Music News: April 10, 2009
We have a tentative street date for cheek-metal purveyors PIGBOAT 's new album, Float: April 21, with a release show later that week, April 25, at Geno's
- Music Seen: Rosetta and Cryptic Overcast
Local stalwarts Cryptic Overcast have carved out a niche for themselves as an almost-instrumental band with a sound as informed by heavy metal as it is by psychedelic and progressive rock.
- Last call
One of the big topics of social conversation in Portland last week was the anonymous Portland Point blog's ruthless, somewhat self-negating takedown of the Honey Clouds' May 23 CD-release show.
- Music Seen: Lost Cause Desperados
Lost Cause Desperados have kept a low profile over the last few months, with gigs few and far between. None of that downtime has gone to waste, however, as Portland's kings of warp-speed garage-punk have been hard at work on their upcoming album, Desert of Broken Glass.
- Music Seen: Man-Witch CD-release at Geno's
Anyone who doesn't like Man-Witch either didn't watch enough Saturday-morning TV as a kid, or is an incurable sourpuss.
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OGRE 's ROSS MARKONISH checked in this week with some bad news: The band have decided that their 10th anniversary show, September 12 at Geno's, will be their last in Portland.
- Rock'n'Roll birthday party!
While you're out celebrating MARK BELANGER 's birthday August 21 — at Geno's, of course — make sure to catch the set by WHITCOMB , who are shaping up to be the next supergroup of sorts.
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Topics:
Live Reviews
, Anti-Flag, Kennebunk, Geno's, More
, Anti-Flag, Kennebunk, Geno's, Portland music scene, Less
