Mean Jeans – Whammy Bar: September 7, 2022

Mean Jeans made their NZ concert debut last night at Auckland’s Whammy Bar, bringing their brand of goofy punk rock direct from Portland, Oregon.

It may have been a quiet Wednesday night where you were, but at Whammy the music was loud, fast and hard!.

Before the headliners took the stage there were a couple of local acts on hand ready to rattle a few bones.

Cootie Cuties

Up first were the Cootie Cuties. The self-described “poppy punky queer super rad band” started with a squeal of feedback and a dose of Sexy Grrls In Your Area with help from Jordan Marsom of Shotgun The Couch! Front person Annie (only first names please) commanded the stage and drummer Alex played like it was his last gig…actually it was…he’s leaving the band.

The band’s 20-minute set laid down the gauntlet as they played tunes from both of their EPs. I Miss You, But I Hate You from their Freebleeder EP closed things nicely.

Cindy

Next up was Cindy and they were louder and faster. Frontman Scot Brown (ex-DHDFDs) is always one to watch and he didn’t disappoint. Dressed in what looked like his undies, he climbed the monitors and threw himself around the stage. We got a couple of new tunes…Ripoff and Nothing Left and an ace version of Two Star Restaurant.  Mission accomplished.

Now, time for the main event.

Mean Jeans are a trio from Portland with an obvious love of The Ramones. In something of a tribute to ‘da brudders’, they have renamed themselves Billy Jeans (guitar), Jeans Wilder (drums) and Junior Jeans (bass). All three sing, or at least scream, into a microphone. And in true Ramones fashion they whipped through about 17 tunes in 45 minutes.

Their set began with a tune called Croozin, or as Billy Jean said, “This song is called Croozin!!! (screaming the song title to distortion).

This little gimmick was part of their shtick as was playing a series of short ‘corporate jingles’. Unfortunately songs about Sizzler, Totinos and Coors Light did not resonate with the NZ fans.

“This is really falling apart”, noted Billy as they were urged to learn a song about Lion Red.

But, they continued on, undaunted playing such ‘classics’ as I Fell Into A Bog, Stoned To The Bone and Let’s Pogo B4 U Gogo.

Alright, this isn’t sophisticated stuff, but then it doesn’t pretend to be…just good old punk rock played loud, fast and hard. And on those terms all three bands succeeded.

Marty Duda

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Leonie Moreland:

Mean Jeans:

 

Cindy:

 

Cootie Cuties:

Mean Jeans setlist:

1. Croozin
2. Party Line
3. Born On A Saturday Night
4. Night Vision
5. Sizzler
6. Totinos
7. Slime Time
8. RU Mental?
9. Today (Smashing Pumpkins cover)
10. Coors Light
11. I Fell Into A Bog
12. Turing Green
13. Case Race
14. Anybody Out There?
15. Let’s Pogo B4 U Gogo
16. Party Animal
17. Stoned To The Bone