Rest In Pieces: Hunchback

Live, they would frighten you immediately, then melt your face off with a savage guitar solo. Or, they might first get your foot stomping in a solid grove, then rock your face off with a full band assault. Either way, your face was coming off, but that was the point. With your brain fully exposed and that layer of pretense stripped away you were better prepared to appreciate what they were doing.

Sadly, they won't be doing it much longer. Hunchback is calling it quits after almost ten years. They'll be playing three more shows in November, and that will be it. Their last show will be especially sad, since it will also be The Ergs' last show. That will be a sorry night for the Garden State, and when the last shriek of feedback fades the Jersey Devil will no doubt wail for hours before he passes out drunk on a pile of pine needles.

If you don't know who these bands are, you should find out. We were lucky to have them while we did.

I'll remember Mike pushing his glasses back into place in the middle of a guitar solo. I'll remember Miranda killing it with no toms. I'll remember Jay and Mike doing the intro to "Respect for the Dead" together at double speed. I'll remember Craig screaming, hitting his head on something, bleeding all over his keyboard, then blasting out the harmonica on their version of "Heart of Gold."

That's just me, though. Like any live show, you had to be there. Find a way to make it to one of their last three shows. If you absolutely can't, they came as close as anybody to recording it on "Step into My Parlor," the closing track of Ugly on the Outside. In a moment sure to make any punk (past or present) smile, the distinction between the band and the crowd breaks down near-perfectly into a screaming chorus of "I like spiders."

Sometimes other people say it better. Sometimes other people say it better and I can't remember exactly what they said, but I still know they said it better. I read an article about Hunchback where the writer said something like, "Music and art are not supposed to be all easy, and you can tell Hunchback gets that. You can tell they suffered for their music." I know for a fact that they did, too. But when I'd go to see them live, whatever might have been worrying me would get pushed aside. I hope playing live was as liberating for them as seeing them play was cathartic for me.

On a personal level, if there was no Hunchback, there'd be no Glad Hearts, and I'd still be very confused about what to do with my life. While I was croaking into a handheld tape recorder in my dorm room and piling up tapes I was sure no one else would ever hear, they were out playing shows, writing great songs, and making great records. When I'd get discouraged, their example would help me along. When I played some of my first demos to Craig, recordings which were definitely not "fucking awesome," he said they were anyway, and that kept me going and excited about writing more songs.

On an even more personal level, I consider Craig, Mike, Jay, and Miranda my friends. Craig and Mike took me to see Dawn of the Dead for the first time. Miranda and Jay were at my first vegan barbecue. I'm lucky to have such friends, I was lucky to get to see them play together, and I'm lucky I'll have their music for the rest of my life. Thank you all very much.

Hunchback is dead; Long live Hunchback!

http://www.myspace.com/hunchback