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PUNK'S

HOLY LAND

Phillips Head makes pilgrimage to CBGB

 

By Darrin Youker

The Post Star

NEW YORK CITY

Two minutes after exiting the stage at CBGB, Phillips Head’s lead singer Jason Irwin announced his departure from music.

 

He wasn’t serious. But for Phillips Head, or any band on the punk circuit, playing at CBGB is like reaching nirvana. And after the high of playing at the Mecca of punk, Irwin felt musically spent.

 

Phillips Head played its first gig at the club on Columbus Day. For the band’s members – Irwin, drummer Benny, and bassist John Redding, playing CBGB was a longtime dream come true.

 

The club is dirty but full of 25 years of punk history. The Ramones built the stage; Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious locked himself in the bathroom during a heroin binge. Talking Heads, Blondie and Patti Smith all called the club home.

 

Phillips Head has been around the local punk scene for a few years, and has played clubs in New York City before, but this was different. And, for this special gig, the band members decided to load up a charter bus with 20 of their family and friends and take an all-night trip to the city.

 

“My favorite group played here,” said Benny, who insists on being known just as Benny. “It’s amazing to be on the same stage.”

 

ON THE BOWERY

CBGB sits on The Bowery, a long road that runs north up Manhattan from Chinatown. Its blocks are filled with restaurant supply stores and flophouses.

 

The bar itself looks like a roadhouse, long and dark with years worth of grime. The floor is kept together, at points, with metal plates. Every square inch of wall is plastered with stickers of bands who have come before. The insulation above the stage is falling down. The bathroom makes you nostalgic for an outhouse.

 

Behind the stage are two plywood-sided dressing rooms, also plastered with band stickers. Musicians have covered the gritty furniture with autographs. Fans can wander through the backstage area and anyone wanting to get downstairs to the dark bathrooms has to walk past there.

 

“It’s crazy to know how many bands played here,” said Redding, hanging out backstage. “It’s almost like a shrine.”

 

Phillips Head was among a half-dozen bands playing at the club for an audition night, which gives up-and-coming bands the chance to get on the club’s rotation. For a few years, Irwin had sent press kits to the club looking to get in for an audition night. Persistence paid off, and Phillips Head got its half-hour set Columbus Day.

 

“Honestly I thought we’d never play at CBGB,” Irwin said.

 

When Irwin learned the band got a gig, he decided to bring his fans with him. The folks on the bus have been fans of Phillips Head for years, but they wanted to come along to hear the band played this legendary club.

 

“This is a huge accomplishment… this is a foot in the door,” said Jaclyn Stedman, Irwin’s girlfriend, who filmed the trip.

 

It was a mellow four-hour trip to the city, last Monday afternoon. Once there, the band unloaded the gear, piled into the club and waited. The fans hung back, drank some beers, soaked up the atmosphere. Some were, admittedly, out of their element.

Debbie Feeney, a friend of Irwin’s family, lamented her appearance. For one night, she could have dyed her hair blue, spiked it, and worn chains and no one would have looked twice, she said.

“When would I ever get to do that again?” she said.

 

HALF-HOUR OF FAME

Phillips Head went on at 10 p.m., blasting through eight songs in 30 minutes. They had the loudest fans in the club.

 

"We do it just like this up in the North Country," Irwin said to the crowd. "We're Phillips Head from Glens Falls...thank you, CBGB."

 

After the set, the guys stayed in the club until it closed at midnight. They hung around and drank beer with their fans. Irwin took the time to network, handing out Phillips Head CDs to the other bands and talking with the bouncers and sound technicians at the club.

 

The last band on the bill was an all-female trio, with a lead singer whose pink outfit and lithe frame held the rapt attention of most of the men in the club.

 

At the end of the set, the singer turned her back to the crowd and lifted her plaid skirt, showing off pink satin panties. The name of her band was printed on the panties in black marker. Welcome to the New York punk scene.

 

AFTERGLOW

Irwin's infectious post-concert bliss stretched all through the trip home. Inside the dark bus, the crew drank beer and sang along to 80's pop music and rock-n-roll.

 

Irwin sang and pumped his fist to the Beastie Boy's classic "No Sleep 'till Brooklyn." Benny got wound up as "Born to be Wild" played.

 

Somewhere on the northbound lane of the New York State Thruway, Phillips Head lead the entire bus in a chorus of "New York, New York."

 

For most of the night, much of the bus partied on. A few people tried to sleep. The stock of beer had diminished by early morning. The band kept yelling for the bus driver to turn up the music.

 

Benny talked about the thrill of playing CBGB. It was a moment of pure satisfaction, he said. But it was a long night, coming back from punk's dirty little corner of heaven, and reality was starting to set in.

 

Somewhere along the Malta exit of the Northway, Benny fished his hand into the icy cooler and pulled out another Coors Light. It was approaching 5 a.m.

 

"Yeah," he said checking his watch, "I've got to work in two hours."

Reprinted from The Scene, The Post Star, Sunday, October 20, 2002

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