Cru Jones Society

After spending last Saturday cowboying it up with Buffalo Bill, small children, and as many hicks as the town of Golden could produce; I desperately needed to get back into my element. My solution? A punk rock show. Luckily for me there were two that evening. The Offspring, Dropkick Murphys, Paramore, and several other bands were playing a large venue show put on by the local alternative rock station. On the other side of town, in a smaller locale, Rancid, MxPx, Murphy’s Law, and I Am Ghost were set to rock out. While I do enjoy Dropkick Murphys and a Few Offspring tunes, my heart will always belong to Rancid, so I made my way to that show. And I do not regret it at all!

I’m not writing a review of the show mainly because I think would be about 12 pages long, and 11 of those would consist of verbal fellatio given to the members of Rancid. What I would like to talk about is the band Murphy’s Law.

Murphy’s Law hails from New York City and has been making records since the early 80s. Although they have been around my entire life this was the first time I ever heard of them. Sure there are tons of bands I have never heard of, but these guys seemed like a band that I would have seen open for somebody in the past ten years I have been going to punk rock shows.

Murphy’s Law first intrigued me as soon as they took the stage. There was the drummer, and the guitarist, and the bassist. Nothing special there. But between the guitarist and the bassist there stood a saxophone player, not a single other horn, just the lone saxophone. Next to the drummer sat a chap who appeared to be doing man-shots of Jagermeister. It was unclear who this guy was. Could be the singer, could be drum tech, or could be a bum.

The first song they played was an instrumental, but as soon as that ended the chap revealed himself to in fact be the singer. He burst to the front of the stage and his voice exploded into the mic. Despite having a horn the band played straight, aggressive, 3 chord punk rock. There was none of that inka inka inka ska guitar sound. More importantly they were fun. Which was needed after the boring first band, I Am Ghost. The only ghosts more boring were Adam and Barbara before they met Betelgeuse.

Murphy’s Law appeared to be having fun themselves, whereas I Am Ghost was way to serious. Murphy’s Law engaged the crowd, often the singer jumped down amongst them to sing and the saxophone player spent one song playing his horn in the crowd. The singer also mocked I Am Ghost’s vocalist a great deal. Clearly the only thing this band cared about was rocking hard.

They did that well, and I enjoyed them.

That evening I became a fan of the band, which means that while wasting time at work Monday morning I looked up Murphy’s Law on Wikipedia. What I got first was the history on the old adage that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. After clarifying my search I got the page I was looking for.

What I was really surprised to learn was the sheer number of band members that have been a part of Murphy’s Law. Wikipedia list 43 different members since the band’s first release in 1983. The only person to be a founding member, and still a part of the band is the singer. CJS reader Keithage, who also attended the show, hypothesized that the singer must be a hard fellow to work with.

Some former members have gone on to other bands that have shown more success such as the Bouncing Souls, Danzig, and the Stubborn All-Stars. The fact that some members went onto join the Stubborn All-Stars gives an impression that Murphy’s Law at one point had a more prominent horn section. I don’t know when the Wikipedia page was last updated, but Murphy’s told a story that their current bass player had only been with them a couple of days. It seems that the bassist before him stole the band’s money and then bailed about three days before the Denver show. This constant rotation of band members, and the inability to get the recognition a 25-year-old band should have makes me think that Murphy’s Law just might be the most suitable name for this band.

Often I just write off an opening band that I have never heard of. This time though I will give Murphy’s Law a chance. Mostly because I found their music enjoyable, but also because they remind me of the Oakland A’s. They both have players who are good while they’re with them, but eventually leave and become great players with a more prestigious squad, and then hit three home runs in the World Series (no I’m not bitter. Why do you ask?)

I wish all the luck to Murphy’s Law, regardless of what the line up is. It seems odd to wish luck to a band that has been around for so long.

Oh well, they need it.

See ya in the pit . . .

lee.s.hart@crujonessociety.com