Over-dose sensation

It’s only rock and roll, but you’ll like it

By Sam Pfeifle

Novadose play with Quitter and Rock City Crime Wave, at the Skinny, July 1. Call (207) 871-8983.

NOVADOSE: Riley Shryock, Greg Conley, Tony D’Agostino, Tony Francis, and John Lennon.

Come together Novadose’s show at the Skinny July 1 doubles as a birthday party for Griffen Meara, who sort of organized the show as a gift to herself. The bill is a good one, with Rock City Crimewave and Quitter, two of the city’s more progressive rock acts, making the trip up from Boston. Quitter, in particular, is a band to keep and eye on. Their rock roots run deep, see if you can follow. Guitarist Ian Ross (a Portland local coming home having made good) played bass with Rumford (told you he was from Maine), then stepped up to guitar duties with both Boston rock acts Roadsaw and Bloodshot, when he wasn’t jamming on the zither with those wacky Blueman Group guys. As principal songwriter for the new Quitter, Ross brought along his Blueman friends, drummers Hari Hassin and Ramsey Roustom, taking on vocal and drumming duties, respectively. Hassin also worked with Ross as keyboardist for Bloodshot and drummer for Roadsaw, while Roustom played drums for the now-defunct Chauncey. Finally, there’s bassist Bob Maloney, who left Milligram — a band that played a couple local shows with Twitchboy and others and has continued on with a new bassist — in September. “Quitter pretty much came to be as an outlet for Ian,” says Maloney, after relaying the above information. He “had a collection of songs that weren’t quite right for Roadsaw.” Maloney goes on to say that they’ve already got four songs in the recording bank and should be doing a limited release on the Boston-based Tortuga Records. “You can definitely hear a lot of Milligram and Roadsaw in Quitter,” says Maloney, “but we’re a lot more melodic and soulful, with lots of backup vocals. Definitely a little bit of ’70s influence in there.” —SP

Sometimes a band just seems to come out of nowhere. You’re glancing through the club listings and suddenly there’s this band, playing Geno’s, the Free Street Taverna, and Club Subterra (the Basement/Leo’s), all in the next two weeks. What happened? They drop out of the sky from Mars?

Such is the case with Novadose, and, in keeping with the band-out-of-nowhere paradigm, these guys have been around plenty. It’s just the band that’s new.

For instance, you’ve probably seen lead-singer Greg Conley moseying around Amigo’s, if you’ve ever been in the place. Six days of scruff on his face and a grimy ball cap on his head, Conley is a fixture in the local rock scene. He just never had a band to call his own. So . . .

“I was just sitting in Amigo’s with [guitarist] Tony [D’Agostino], talking about starting a band,” says Conley. “He was in Swampwitch Revival.”

“I started Swampwitch,” interjects D’Agostino, “but I don’t play with them anymore.”

“Dirtnap had just broken up,” continues Conley. “Tony ran into [former Dirtnap guitarist] John [Lennon] (yep, great name for a guitarist), then John came into Amigo’s and saw me. That’s how the band got together. Nice and simple.” That’s how Conley seems to like things, nice and simple.

They pulled in Dirtnap drummer Tony Francis and bassist Riley Shryock (no word on where he came from, he could be the one from Mars, but he looks pretty normal), and there you have it, instant band. And from the initial reaction, instantly popular.

Just four months in, their first show at Geno’s, back in April, was a resonating success, perhaps because Norm Jabar had asked them to open up for his band, The Tumors. The popular band only plays here about once every six months. “That was probably our best show,” says Shryock, “our best playing, anyway.”

Turnout hasn’t been a problem at any of the gigs, but Lennon notes there have been some problems with “naked guys on stage,” and that dreaded show stealer: alcohol. But, hey, that’s part of the appeal here.

Novadose, with Lennon writing the bulk of the music and Conley penning lyrics that “are based on the sound that comes out and the energy of the song,” aren’t out there to be pretty. The roughly 30-minute set they’ve got together right now relies heavily on straight-ahead, crunching guitars; fast-paced, double-bass-pounding drums from Francis; and no-nonsense lyrics from Conley.

For example, the tune “Whiskey Drinking, Bar Fighting” runs something like this: “Wipe that smile off your face. You don’t want to step on my toes. If you want to mess with the bull, you’ll get the horns.” The last lyric repeated quite a bit.

It’s fun and head-banging in the tradition of Jane’s Addiction’s “go-fuck-yourself” guitar solos, and the early-grunge approach of Bleach-era Nirvana and Mother Love Bone. It may be best to say they’re grunge without the woe-is-me sentimentality. They’d never write a tune like “Polly,” for instance, but they might be caught with a touch of “Teen Spirit.”

Sam Pfeifle can be reached at spfeifle@phx.com.