A good scare You're not Paranoid if you're Covered in Bees BY SAM PFEIFLE
	PARANOID SOCIAL CLUB Releasing their self-titled national debut at the State Theatre | with Zox and Headstart! | Saturday, Sept 10 | 207.775.3331 | www.pscmusic.com COVERED IN BEES Releasing Portland Death Punk, Vol. 1: Portland Is for Lovers at Geno’s | with Vertigo Moon | Saturday, Sept 17 | www.coveredinbees.net

Two local bands release new records this week. One is signed to a semi-major label, has years of experience in the national arena, and will be playing the State Theatre. The other is indie through and through, hasn’t played much outside of Maine, and will be playing Geno’s. Now, which one do you think hosted a special listening party last week for their new disc at a local club that included press availabilities and kits, even frosted band-themed cookies?

Obviously, it was Covered in Bees, those same punks who probably poured beer on your head the last time you saw them. Yep, there I was, munching on homemade black-and-yellow-frosted peanut-butter cookies, listening to (albeit, one channel of) the debut Bees album, Portland Death Punk, Vol. 1: Portland Is for Lovers, thinking to myself, "You know, these guys must be really excited about their new album." That kind of excitement can rub off on a person.

Which is not to say I’m not excited about the national release of Paranoid Social Club’s self-titled debut for ON Entertainment (or actually Element Records, formerly a death-metal label, for reasons that are unclear). Sure, I’ve said in the past that I didn’t have much to say about an album that’s largely a patchwork of PSC’s first two local albums, but the more I listen to it, the more I like it, and I’m also excited about the prospect of a national audience embracing our local psychopaths.

That’s right. I’m actually excited about a nation of teenage girls singing along to lyrics like, "I wanna burn your house down and kill your whole family/ I want to tie you up to a chair and pour gasoline down over your hair," just like local punks shoutalong with Bees frontman Boo when he plays vampire: "If I may suggest a treat, a feast/ I enjoy the taste of Catholic priest." Cuz that’s what’s likely to happen thanks to "Lunatic," one of two songs newly written for PSC’s national release. I love the implied logic: "Hmmm, we can only add a new song or two — let’s make sure we put on a new one that shows how crazy we are!"

"We wanted to do something that would get people’s attention," admits PSC frontman Dave Gutter, from the comfiness of my couch, "but it’s also boldfacedly ignorant, and to create a character that’s so obviously over the top puts the actual issue under a light without someone actually being on the news for doing something like that." I wonder if the general radio-music public is discerning enough to see Paranoid’s painted portraits, their heavy sarcasm, for the social commentary they’re meant to convey. Or will the public merely drink along to "Wasted" and think about what a bunch of sociopaths PSC are?

"If a woman sees, ‘my favorite song is "Lunatic" ’ in a personal ad," laughs Gutter, "they should stay away — I think the best way to make fun of something is by getting in that character and making a parody of it."

I mention at the Bees listening party that the Paranoid and Bees albums are coming out at the same week. One of the hangers on who fill out the sparse Geno’s crowd makes a retching sound. "Paranoid Social Club?" He drips contempt. "I think I’m going to puke." He might not quite get the social commentary. He might not have ever actually heard more than "Two Girls," PSC’s popular local radio single. He might just be a knee-jerk dickhead.

The Bees guys pretend they don’t hear the retching. Fans are far more likely to split into camps than musicians. Punk fans don’t like the establishment bands. Radio music fans think death metal and punk are scary. There is jealousy and classism, envy and superiority in that. But most musicians can simply appreciate good playing.

You’ll find that in spades on both Paranoid’s and Covered in Bees’ new albums. Both bands build from the rhythm section, both recording those baseline tracks in their home studios. Of course, Paranoid gave their raw material to whiz-kid mixer Jon Kaplan, who spit-shined it a bit, but what punk album would want a spit-shine anyway? Plus, at some point, there’s only so much fancy-pants mixers can do.

"Jon was mixing the album," says Gutter, "and he’s like, ‘Hey, I can only find one drum track for this song, where’s the rest of them?’ But that’s all we had. We just recorded the drums with one mic." There isn’t much that’s Hollywood about Paranoid Social Club. They play busted-up hand-me-down instruments (reportedly walking into Daddy’s and announcing, "Show me to your cheapest amp"), are on the run from the IRS (from the old Rustic days — the feds just nabbed Tony McNaboe), and Gutter still puts in plenty of hours at his dad’s famous Windham meat market.

It’s clear they’re still doing this for the same reason guitarist Doug Porter says he’s playing in Covered in Bees, despite the relative success of his other band, Confusatron. "I’ve never had so much fun playing with a band," he says. Drummer Tristan Gallagher has similar reasons for splitting time with his other projects (Eggbot, the Pontiffs). "The Pontiffs are going to kill me for saying this, but I just wanted something that really rocked." He’s got that in the Bees — loud, fast, straight-ahead, and even a bit prog when you consider some of the lyrics. A death punk band to be proud of.

Just as, I’m guessing, Portland will be proud of their local Paranoid boys made good.

Sam Pfeifle can be reached at sam@phx.com