Gramercy Theater, New York, NY, 13 April 2013
Let the Glam Times Roll
“Holy Swedish meatballs,” I thought upon reading that CrashDiet, the glam rock revivalists from the Land of the Midnight Sun, were coming to NYC to promote their new album ‘Savage Playground’. But coming they were, along with a roll call of support acts—including Wildstreet, Snakeskyn Whiskey and Nasty Habit—that reads like a Saturday night on the Sunset Strip of twenty-five years ago. It being 2013 and not 1988, shows like this do not come along nearly often enough, and I waited impatiently to party like the bygone big hair nights of long ago, when dens of Aqua Net-scented iniquity like Cat Club, Scrap Bar and L’Amours were the place to be if you liked your rock and roll served with a shot of sleaze, if you pleaze.
Come show night, I sauntered into the Gramercy Theater swathed in my finest Big ‘80s regalia: snakeskin boots, leather pants, Hanoi Rocks T-shirt, motorcycle jacket and even a bit of smudged eyeliner for that look of deep-set, haunted glamour. Granted, the eyeliner looked more like Alice Cooper’s by the night’s end, but hey that’s half the fun.
And what did I find upon entering the Gramercy but a crowd of denim and leather-attired Hell drinkers and beer raisers singing along to a rousing chorus of Metallica’s “Creeping Death.”
“Yep,” I thought. “This is the place,” as I made my way to the nearest bar for the first of several rounds of Budweiser and an evil cinnamon bourbon shot called Fireball. Clearly this was not a night to go single-fisted. Drinks in hands, I made my way to the lower lounge, which was set up like a glam rock mini mall with merchandise tables helmed by friendly metal maidens eager to tempt you with the T-shirts, CDs and various sordid souvenirs of the evening’s entertainers. Hell, never mind the live bands; between the crowd, the drinks and the rocking vibe, I’d pay $20 just to hang out here.
Nevertheless, the real action was back upstairs where PUI, the last of the evening’s support acts, was finishing up their industrial, polyrhythmic war dance. Considering the crowd’s response (or lack thereof), “MEH” would have been a better name for the group, whose music didn’t exactly inspire downing shots of Jack Daniels, but did motivate a few shouts of unprintable derision from an audience that was clearly ready to rock to a simpler but harder hitting beat.
And at last, hours after the Gramercy’s doors had opened for this night of big-haired, ozone depleting abandon, the lights dimmed, the volume doubled and following an apocalyptic spoken word introduction reminiscent of Motley Crue’s “Shout At The Devil” and David Bowie’s “Diamond Dogs,” CrashDiet hit the stage to “Change the World,” the opening salvo from ‘Savage Playground’. For the next hour-plus, the fierce-haired foursome, including singer Simon Cruz, whose spiked powder blue Mohawk stood tall throughout the night, rocked out a thirteen song set that whipped the crowd into a fist pumping, “devil-sign” raising, head banging mania, which recalled the glory days of Motley Crue, Twisted Sister and Cliff Burton-era Metallica.
What the near-capacity audience may have lacked in numbers, owing to CrashDiet’s “underground” status, now that the radio airwaves have been taken over by interchangeable pop tarts rather than bands who make actual live music, was more than made up for by the crowd’s sheer intensity and whiplash-inducing enthusiasm. Had this been the mid-80’s, CrashDiet would have played farther uptown in a little place called Madison Square Garden. Regardless, the night rocked on, with spike-haired Simon leading the fray, aided by Martin Sweet on guitars both electric and acoustic, Peter London on badass bass and Eric Young behind drums, which were capable of urban demolition.
CrashDiet’s set list preened heavily on the new ‘Savage Playground’ album including such bootstrap boppers as “Cocaine Cowboys,” “Anarchy” and “Licking Dog” and ended with the title cut of their 2010 album “Generation Wild.” Not to be confused with Motley Crue’s “Generation of Swine” or Skid Row’s “Youth Gone Wild.”
Granted, it’s almost too easy to dismiss CrashDiet and the bevy of bands they brought with them as derivative, out of date, and aggressively poor spellers. But you can bet your bottom umlaut that somebody’s gonna keep the glam metal forge aflame, especially judging by the success of summer tours by original Headbangers’ Ball-era acts like Poison, Cinderella, Lita Ford and multi-day festivals like the Rocklahoma extravaganza. Clearly, there is still a demand for groups who want to rock and roll all night with hair spiked high and in the anarchic ‘Savage Playground’ that is 2013, no one rocks harder and spikes it higher than CrashDiet.
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For More Information Visit:
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http://www.crashdiet.org
