Underground punk favorites Musk play rare show at Thee Stork Club
Local underground noise-rock heroes Musk play headline an early show at Thee Stork Sunday, sharing the stage with East Bay experimentalists Antler Family and new band Florists.
Musk has been offering up their pungent mix of noise rock and bluesy punk injected with guitarist Chris Owen's corrosive six-string squall since first coming together in 2011. Inspired by Australian punk bands like the Scientists and feedtime -- Owen (ex-Killers Kiss) bonded with singer Rob Fletcher at a San Francisco reunion show by the latter band as both lamented the lack of real hostility in modern garage rock. Also nodding to the roots-focused sounds of the Chrome Cranks and the Cramps, the group was soon forging its uniquely malevolent sound.
The band's unhinged early demos featuring Fletcher's demented howling and Owens' hyper-distorted guitar abuse led to the debut Musk album coming out on Holy Mountain Records in 2014. A solid approximation of what the Jesus Lizard might have sounded like if iconic instrumental great Link Wray took over on guitar, the band's menacing self-titled effort produced by regular John Dwyer studio collaborator Chris Woodhouse earned a slew of rave reviews, as did their woolly, chaotic live performances at clubs on both coasts.
While it took some time for the band to get together a follow-up, in 2016 the even more caustic sequel entitled Musk 2: The Second Skumming finally surfaced on 12XU records. Introducing elements of downtown NYC jazz skronk reminiscent of John Zorn's Naked City, the band produced an even more baleful cacophony that balanced against woozy, Neil Young and Crazy Horse-style lament "Weathervane."
After a period of working in new members Warren Huegel (drums) and Jim Vail (of the band FNU Clones on bass), Musk ramped up its activity with several shows including an appearance at the 2019 edition of the Burger Boogaloo in Oakland. That same year, Musk also issued its first new music in ages with the ferocious "Animal Husbandry" 7-inch single for Total Punk Records. There has been an extended gap since the group's most recent performance (supporting soul-punk favorites the BellRays at the Kilowatt last summer), but the band returns to the stage with an expanded line-up including returning member John Laux, who will be trading off with Vail on bass and second guitar.
For this early show on Sunday at Thee Stork Club, the band will be joined by self-described "post-apocalyptic rock" Oakland supergroup Antler Family. Led by trained opera singer Mia Dean (who also fronts the noirish post-punk/stoner-metal project Blood Moon Wedding), the band also includes veteran guitarist Tom Flynn -- best known as a founding member of influential East Bay punks Fang as well as playing stints in Melvins and Duh and running Boner Records; he's currently also in experimental punk group Suboptics -- bassist/keyboard player Tom Dean (also Blood Moon Wedding, Code of the West) and noted drummer Stark Raving Brad (Marginal Prophets, Undercover S.K.A., Mutaytor, the Freak Accident). The band's eponymous debut album had a lengthy delay after it's completion in 2019, but was finally released last year, earning wide acclaim with its mix of stomping riff rockers and gothic, atmospheric balladry.
Opening the show is Florists. The latest project of a local crew of punk and metal veterans including singer Bob McDonald and guitarist Andy Oglesby of sadly defunct SF post-punk outfit Hank IV, ex-Acid King/Altamont drummer Joey Osbourne and bassist Jason Ricci, Florists is making its live debut after the players decided to continue as a quartet under a new name when former Lost Goat guitarist Eric Peterson left their earlier group Frisco. Expect a similar hard-swinging style of knotty noise punk topped by McDonald's tuneful, manic vocals as the musicians made on their sole album Love Songs for Phantom Limbs.
Musk with Antler Family and Florists
Sunday, Jan. 12, 6 p.m. $10
Thee Stork Club
