I love the Hentchmen !!! Let me repeat that in case you missed it – I love the Hentchmen. How can you not like a band that plays so hard and so well every time out? It’s hard to believe but the Hentchmen have been around for 10 years now and Halloween night at the Magic Stick was the culmination of all that work. It was Halloween and I spent my usual 47 seconds dressing and came as the second cousin of the Ramones – the guy that couldn’t afford the leather jacket. It’s amazing how many years jeans and sweatshirts can survive without needing replacement. Well enough about my lack of taste in wearing clothes – it’s time to talk about the show.
The
place was rightfully packed and the Hentchmen provided an evening’s full of
entertainment. First up were the
artfully disguised and cleverly named “Night Moves”. You have not lived until you hear Bob Seger covers done on
Halloween. It wasn’t the Silver
Bullet Band, but it was as close as I ever want to be to a Seger concert again.
Next
up was a “Ten High” reunion. This
was a serious reunion – everybody that was ever in the band seemed to be on
stage – two drummers and 6 other people.
Luckily this was the Magic Stick and not the Lager House, so there was
enough room on the stage. “Ten
High” had not played in a while, but it sure didn’t sound like it. The crowd
was clamoring for more, but this evening belonged to the Hentchmen.
We
were first treated to something that I had not seen before – a Hentchmen movie
before the set. This is impossible
to describe but I remember seeing glimpses of the following:
classic cars from the 50’s, not-so-classic cars like the Gremlin from
the70s, commercials from gun shops in Indiana, clips of Hentchmen rehearsals and
shows throughout their history, more old commercials and finally a new Hentchmen
video for “Lasabre Radar” from the new album.
One of the old clips show a former member of the band playing with them
at the Magic Bag – Jack didn’t stick with the Hentchmen and I really hope
that things worked out for him anyway. These
descriptions do not justice to the whole video, but I could see it ten more
times and still not be able to describe it correctly.
Finally
it was time to repay the Hentchmen for their 10 years of hard work.
With all of the hoopla and hype surrounding the “Detroit garage”
scene it’s easy to forget the bands like the Hentchmen, (along with the Gories
and Demolition Doll Rods) had been doing this for years before anybody had even
realized that there was something really going on.
I’m also not going to describe the whole Hentchmen set – they’ve
got about 4 albums and a ton of singles that show exactly why they’re so good
and have lasted so long. There were even a some
special guests on stage - Wendy from the Paybacks (pulling double duty after the
Ten High set), Chris, the original drummer and that mysterious Jack again.
The new album just might be the best of the bunch.
I hoped that the show would never end – it was one of those awesome
moments in rock & roll that can never be properly described.
The
Hentchmen have a new album and they’re going to be touring England in early
December with the Paybacks. They
also have a great new website (www.hentchmen.com) with all of this info
available there – so do yourself a big favor and check it out.