THE PIPES OF PUNK Cara Decarlo 8-27-08
Don’t chew your beer. This band isn’t the Sex Pistols, Her Majesty’s punks screaming on and on about Parliament. No Fuego’s sound is plus-charged, bagpipe lines twisting through punk rock intensity. Just listen to “Following Skylines,” from their new album Dropping Expectations. Then sometimes the pipes step up and scream their own anthem like “4 am Lullaby”. True, any safety-pinned ear will hear a Dropkick Murphys influence, but No Fuego thickens their drive with plenty of emotion. A mathematical convergence of guitars, bass, drums, and bagpipe will first win over the head; then No Fuego’s spirit defibrillates the heart.
Brothers, storm, love, grit, whiskey-that’s No Fuego.
A second home, Northgate Tavern is the band’s venue of choice. The crowd it draws could be anyone from your intern to your dentist. The crowd is also No Fuego, who doesn’t separate being a band from being a friend. So un-pop your collar and go talk to them. Then get another beer.
I’m sipping mine and talking to Marshall Pounds (bagpipes) and Remy Barthe (guitar/vocals). “What I was saying,” explains Pounds, “is that we’re like brothers”.
The only thing stouter is Barthes reply: “Like brothers?” And he’s right. Who says families need genes? This punk rock feels like one, and a talented group, too. www.myspace.com/nofuego
Cara Decarlo - 225 (Aug 27, 2008)