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Thursday, January 31, 2019

The Fleshtones at the Bowery Electric

In 1976, two twenty-somethings rented a house in Queens, New York, and found some musical instruments in the basement. That was reason enough to learn to play music and form a rock and roll band. They rehearsed while hosting frequent parties in that basement until the Fleshtones publicly debuted at CBGB's on May 19, 1976, and rather quickly became a headliner on the local circuit. The Fleshtones became among the first bands to perform at several iconic music clubs, including Irving Plaza and Danceteria in Manhattan, Maxwell’s in Hoboken, New Jersey, and the original 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. The band was also one of the last bands to play Windows on the World on top of the World Trade Center. In between, the Fleshtones had many adventures, including opening for James Brown and Chuck Berry, backing actor Ian McKellen as he recited a sonnet on Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes, and helping to inaugurate the first Wigstock drag queen street festival. The Fleshtones survived many musical trends and remains the only band from the CBGBs days that never broke up. Since 1990, original vocalist Peter Zaremba and guitarist Keith Streng have been joined by drummer Bill Milhizer and bassist Ken Fox. The Fleshtones' 19th and most recent studio album is 2016's The Band Drinks for Free.

Forty-three years after the band first played on the Bowery, the Fleshtones returned to headline at the Bowery Electric, one block north of the band's old CBGB's stomping grounds. Not much has changed with the band's musical style over that time period, except that the band is playing better than ever. The Fleshtones stuck to its patented garage rock formula of high-energy, nearly manic express-rock, with Zaremba and especially Streng charging into the audience frequently to electrify the crowd. To establish a light-hearted attitude early on, the musicians did a few silly antics like twirling in circles and then encouraging audience members to do the same. Beyond that, it was all about a rowdy rock and roll party, and few bands do this better than the Fleshtones.

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