Oh, the stories we could tell about Our Man in Hong Kong. Hank. Hank Shalabi, that is. International Man of Mystery, Suavitee and Relentless Pursuit of Delicious Cocktails. Yep-- And sometimes you miss that lil' bastard more than others. The attached cuts provide ample examples. First off is "Lorraine", our favorite song by the early '80's UK ska band Bad Manners (and who among us would not love an overweight, bald, sweaty, belly-rubbing, crowd-mooning lead stomper named "Fatty Buster Bloodvessel"?). Anyways, the Buttsteaks long had a love of the genre and (I just have to add) were surprisingly good at playing ska tunes. The typical Buttsteak version of "Lorraine" featured some excellent faux-Brit vocal stylings from Scotty and some brassy keyboards from Hani approximating a horn section. Here we imitate but don't manage to duplicate.
Second is "Punk Rock Girl", the piece-de-resistance of Philly's snot-punk Dead Milkmen. Blistering little guitar lead part, accordion accompaniment, flat and whiny vocal part--- check, check check! During Buttsteak's stint in '89-'90 following Fitz's decampment for NY, Hani took over lead vocals on quite a few songs, and ended up really owning some. This was one that was his from the start, with cig in one hand, beer in the other, and air guitar in both. This is not to shortchange Road and New Guy, who nailed the crap outta this one, by the way!
Let us give thanks for the ska, the punk, the Hank, the goddarn Pilgrims and the trying for years to nail down a cover song!
Lorraine:
Punk Rock Girl:
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