The Brilliant Chaos of The Coathangers

Rob Zombie once said that the greatest thing about The Ramones is that they were always around and that they were always great.  I think a similar sentiment applies...

Rob Zombie once said that the greatest thing about The Ramones is that they were always around and that they were always great.  I think a similar sentiment applies to all-female Atlanta punk rockers The Coathangers.  In the past half dozen years they’ve played at least a dozen shows in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection, each of which was brilliantly chaotic.  They have a habit of showing up to gigs well after they’re underway and always seem to pull it together in a wonderfully punk way at a moment’s notice… usually in a manner that has them making my year-end top-ten lists.  I remember one time they showed up to a gig at the Church twenty minutes after they were supposed to have gone on, unloading all of their gear in about five minutes, and barreling down the stairs to the church basement, literally dragging me into a show that began about 10 minutes after their arrival.  And once a friend of mine said that they looked as though they’d simply stepped onstage to have someone hand them their instruments (to which they were thus-far unacquainted).  He meant it as a criticism, but I think the fact that they can maintain the purity of the classic punk aesthetic is the most beautiful thing about them.  They often resemble postmodern cavewomen: abrasive, a little bit scary, but fun-as-fuck.  Like The Ramones, they also manage to churn out classically infectious pop songs… but in a manner that’s the farthest thing from sugar-coated or label-constructed.  I maintain that their post-riot-grrrl-garage sophomore effort, 2009’s Scramble, is one of the greatest records of the century.  Since then, they’ve released two more LPs, most recently Suck My Shirt, which dropped last month on Suicide Squeeze (as their three previous LPs).  The album is another installment of their brand of Southern, grrrly sass… a sound that is a little too rambunctious for a John Waters movie, but a little too catchy to have gotten them a slot opening for Teenage Jesus and the Jerks.  The Coathangers likely have a plethora of area appearances to come in the next few years, but that doesn’t mean that any of them are worth missing.  This Saturday, April 19th, they’ll be hitting up Kung Fu Necktie, the 215’s Mecca for the “brilliantly chaotic” and it’s likely to be the most legitimately “punk” thing Philthy has seen in 2014.

[youtube http://youtu.be/TfiBjK3K6tU]

Download_on_iTunes_Badge_US-UK_110x40_1004

Categories
Live EventsMusic

During the day Izzy Cihak teaches transgression, subversion, and revolution at Temple University. At night he haunts Philthy's best venues to cover worthwhile acts for Philthy Mag. Morrissey is everything to him and, in their own heads, all of his friends see themselves as Zooey Deschanel.

RELATED BY