The Skunks
Hometown: Austin, Tx.
http://www.myspace.com/theskunkstx
The Skunks Concert Photos
Friday, December 15th, 2006
The Continental Club (Austin, Texas)
Geez, from the title of this review you'd think it was 1979 all over again.
Back in the day when being a punk literally meant getting your ass kicked just for walking down the street in Austin, there was the scene, and it was small, and it was tight, and it was centered on this tiny little bar on the drag called Raul's. Mostly college kids with a few outcast high schoolers, just hanging out being goth, or thrash, or wave, or hard core, before any of those words were invented or began to divide the culture. We didn't know what we were, but we called ourselves punks. We didn't fit in with the jocks or the hippies, the future farmers or the guys in the marching band. We didn't fit in anywhere.
Raul's was kind of the "Island of Unwanted Toys" for all the lost souls looking for a direction. Raul's was Austin's counter-cultural home to disparate artists, musicians, poets, and writers from the University of Texas's fringiest of fringes.
Sprouting from Raul's beer soaked floors, like noxious weeds after a rain, Austin's punk scene grew in fits and starts. The genesis of so much to come later, it was a struggling little dive. It was also, almost as a last gasp, an album of live performances from local Austin punk bands released just before the club met its end. Named fittingly
Live At Raul's, it was a now-legendary sampler that included two songs by a band called The Skunks. This review is about that band.
Back then, when I first saw them opening for The Ramones back at the 'dillo, it was what's considered now the "classic" Skunks trio, the second iteration of the band after "Fast Eddy" Muñoz, the original guitarist, went west to start The Plimsouls. The band I saw was Jesse Sublett on bass, John Dee Graham on guitars, and Billy Blackmon on drums. A power trio, their music was basic, clean, loud and fast. A great band to slam dance to for its time. (you youngsters now refer to it as "moshing.") I saw them another 25 or 30 times afterwards, in both the classic trio and the later versions as well, at places like Duke's Royal Coach, The Continental Club, and Club Foot. In 1983 the Skunks broke up, but they left a legacy that stretches to this day in Austin (Jon Dee Graham was honored as "Musician of the Year" at the Austin Music Awards in 2006).
On Friday December 15, the "classic" trio got together for a special one-off "reunion" concert at Austin's Continental Club, and I was lucky enough to make it to the show.
Packed stem to stern, just like the old days, the Continental Club evoked strong memories of Christmas past as I worked my way to the front of the stage. I arrived just after midnight and the Skunks were already onstage and had just finished their first song, "All Tied Up," and were launching into "Something About You Scares Me." I hurriedly unpacked my camera bag, brought the cameras up to my face and started snapping away at the band. About 30 frames into the shoot I felt a tug on my elbow, turned and came face to face with my sister-in-law. Beyond her was my brother, an old friend from high school and her husband, and even an ex-boss.
Waving and going back to shooting I was only able to manage 30 or 40 more frames before my friends forced me to put the cameras away and dance. And dance we did, but seemingly only us and a few other people at the front. I don't know if it was the age of the attendees or what, but there was only a handful of us at the front, bouncing around. The Skunks plowed through their set as we bopped away, Jesse introducing songs with a story from back in the day to give them context and perspective. Old nuggets like "Gimme Some" and "Earthquake Shake" were a joy to hear live again, as were "Telewoman" and "Push Me Around." They even covered Iggy Pop's "Now I Wanna Be Your Dog" and The Velvet Underground's "Waiting For My Man." While my brother and friends were frustrated when they didn't play "Cheap Girl" as their encore, I myself was satisfied.
The only problems the whole night turned out to be a lecherous, rotund, dancing dwarf who was playing grab-ass with the women at the front. After the Skunks' set my brother and I attempted to track him down but he escaped into the night up South Congress Avenue. After taking the time to thank Jesse, Billy, and Jon for the performance, so did I.
If you want to read more about the Skunks there is an excellent article in this month's
Austin Chronicle.