We can never leave you, Massachusetts

Joe Pernice is a talented man. He is a swooning crooner with a rumpled blanket tone that warms every bitten & bitter word he sings. His crushed velvet voice delivers the hurt in his lyrics like a third beer – you’re still down but it starts to feel familiar and soothing. He has released 11 or so proper albums since 1995, starting with Massachusetts based alt-country band Scud Mountain Boys for a couple and in 1998 shifting to lush pop with The Pernice Brothers. He also put out two superb, stripped down (emotionally and in terms of arrangement) fine solo albums in 2000 - "Chappaquiddick Skyline" and "Big Tobacco" (which features one of his absolute finest songs, the killer “Bum Leg”).

Man of Talent: Joe Pernice at
Toronto's Dakota Tavern
(500 miles from Massachusetts)

Yes, Joe Pernice moved from Massachusetts to Toronto a few years ago, but you can’t ever leave Mass behind. My father was born in small town Massachusetts and left for school when he was 17. That was well over 50 years ago, and he is still a die hard New Englander; from sports to politics to food, his regional loyalties/biases are indelible and serve to somewhat define him. Joe has found a good fit in our fair city to raise his family and pursue his arts, but his sharp, cynical sense of humour and his die hard Red Sox fandom have made the trip. To me, the Sox thing lends vital poison ink to Pernice’s pen. His songs are brutal love letters from a pre-bloody sock Sox fan, stuck in a weird defeatist swagger that says see, I knew this would end badly and you would fuck me over again, but I can take solace in the comfort of a shot of Jameson’s and the prevailing truth - I care too much. Seriously, it only makes sense that a man who's brethren clung to a storied home run in a series that that his team ultimately lost (yes, unfortunately there was a game 7 in that series) can draw from a deep well of ceaseless heartbreak and disappointment. It’s inextricable. Bad love is just love if it’s all you know. Joe Pernice’s characters suffer so eloquently in his expert tragicomedies, and like the Sox pre-October 2004, they never quite win it all.

Joe Reads, Writes, Sings, Swoons!

Joe Pernice is a funny man. His books Meat is Murder and It Feels So Good When I Stop are like his bittersweet pop songs: tight, cringingly honest, sad and hilarious tales of malformed men trying to find, and hold on to, self-defining love. And to bridge the gap between his two mediums, each book has a suggested soundtrack. Meat is Murder is set against The Smith’s underappreciated second proper album of the same name and for Feels So Good, Joe recorded a companion album of mostly cover songs that help frame the mood of the novel.

Most importantly to me, Joe Pernice writes catchy songs. He packs them with lush melodies, whether in the brighter power pop tunes like “Lightheaded”, “Monkey Suit”, “Somerville” and “Flaming Wreck” or the quieter heartbreakers “Crestfallen”, “High as a Kite”, “Blinded by the Stars”. There are so many highlights throughout his career, but if I had to recommend only one album as a must-have I would say “Overcome by Happiness”, The Pernice Brothers debut on Sub Pop. It’s a great batch of songs with beautiful orchestration and it just never lets you up. It also does what a great debut does – it sets up the listener for the following records which are all good and deftly explore all of what is hinted at here – the somber but not necessarily sober title track and standout “Chicken Wire” and the nudging powder pop of “Clear Spot” are touchstones for the work to come in later years albums as Pernice’s smooth voice gained confidence and his music gained (albeit slender) muscle. In an interview, Sub Pop founder Jonathan Poneman said he thought it deserved to have sold much more, but you know, you can’t ever quite win it all.

Scud Mountain Boys in Toronto
February 25, 2012 

Let’s get to why I am writing about Joe Pernice, other than that he fits my new blogs premise of underdoggedness. Last week he played the last date of a brief reunion tour with his original band Scud Mountain Boys at Lee’s Palace. It was fantastic. From almost the outset, Joe made a point of saying how this unexpected reunion (apparently they hadn’t spoken in 15+ years) was less about getting the old band back together and more about reconnecting with friends he had fallen out of touch with. Speaking with him briefly after the show, he was much prouder of that fact than of their performance. Part of growing up is getting free of the bullshit that comes between friends. For whatever reason (pride), the tough part isn’t letting go, it’s the act of picking up the phone & calling/texting that is difficult to initiate. Well, the Scuds proved on this tour that it’s worth it.

Classic

For a band with a slight catalog (three albums and the first two overlap a couple of songs) they didn’t need to stretch to make it a solid 1.5 hour show (though Joe did have trouble singing the encore closing cover of Cher's “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves” because he received a funny text and couldn’t stop laughing). Early songs “Freight of Fire”, “Peter Graves’ Anatomy” and the creepy “Silo” sounded great, especially with the full throat of Pernice’s voice as it’s evolved since those early recordings. Bruce Tull’s guitar playing was a big highlight for me as they dug into the landmark “Massachusetts” album with the woozy licks of the hopelessly hammered “Lift Me Up” and the slide work on “Holy Ghost”. It was a real pleasure for me to hear these songs come to life for the first time. I’ve seen Joe play solo and with Pernice Bros a few times, but there is something special about these claustrophobic, nowhere-to-hide-from-yourself, single room cottage songs. This is the batch that originally introduced me to this guy’s work. I’ll drink to it anytime. Check it out, it’s a classic and yes, it’s a winner.