“Johnny Puke’s Birthday Bash”
Wed. Aug. 16 — Sun. Aug. 20
Various times (evenings)
$5 — $10 ($3 surcharge under 21)
Cumberland’s
301 King St.
577-9469
www.myspace.com/johnnypukebirthdaybash
www.hopeline.com
www.cumberlands.net
He’s older and perhaps wiser, but he’s showing no signs of slowing down or getting cranky. Johnny Puke, the decent-minded punk rock enthusiast of the Charleston scene, has been throwing himself wild rock ‘n’ roll birthday parties for the past four years. This year’s event has expanded to five nights in a row of local and national rock, punk, metal, and experimental acts at Cumberland’s.
“Thursday, August 17 is my actual birthday,” says Puke, speaking from his desk at Cumberlands, where he’s booked shows for years. “I’ll be turning 40. Dude, I can’t believe it. I was up at the Warped Tour in Charlotte last week and all my friends in NOFX were turning 40. We’re all the same age! We had a barbecue party for the guitarist, El Hefe, with ‘tri-tip’ beef and an inflatable pool … all in the parking lot of the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater [laughs]. Turning 40 … it’s really weird.”
The rowdy shenanigans are not all about Puke and his amusingly sick fun, though. Since his first big bash in 2001 at the old Johnny Ola’s in West Ashley, the annual celebration has actually raised money and awareness for various charities and organizations.
A major portion of the proceeds from this year’s Johnny Puke Birthday Bash will go to support The Kristin Brooks Hope Center (1-800-SUICIDE, www.hopeline.com).
“This is obviously the most ambitious year,” Puke adds. “As always, a lot of people come in from out of town, from New York and Jersey, Florida, and Boston … they all meet up and have a good time. It’s almost like a punk rock summer camp where you say good-bye and know you’ll see each other next time.”
Dedicated to the punk underground as a youngster, Puke became more and more active in the East Coast punk rock scene, performing as a singer with various bands and as a spoken word performer, writing for fanzines, and booking and promoting shows.
One of the expected highlights of this week’s vent is the Saturday night reunion of Puke’s notorious band Cletus, the beer-swillin’, sharp-minded punk act he sang with for a number of years through the mid-’90s.
Puke formed Cletus with guitarist Kevin Lewey in 1994, playing mostly in West Virginia and the Knoxville/Johnson City scene before relocating to Charleston in ’96. Throughout their career, they toured the US and Canada numerous times and established a following in New York City and other major cities along the east Coast. Cletus’ 1996 full-length, Grease, Grits & Gravy, released on Johann’s Face Records, was considered to be a “power-punk” masterpiece.
“The whole cause was originally chosen to honor our first guitarist, Kevin Lewey, who committed suicide in 1997,” says Puke. “We haven’t played in about seven years or so. The Queers were supposed to play that night, but had to commit to a tour in South America. Our drummer, Scott Price, has been with the band since the beginning. Chris Lewey, Kevin’s brother, joined the band as bassist in 1997. Our guitarist is Murf. He used to be in The Queers. He’s flyin’ in from Boston.”
This year’s bash actually kicked off on Tues. Aug. 15 with a (semi) “Locals Night” featuring Harloe, Battle, The Explorers Club, The Specs, Big Gospel Fuselage, and Lowercase Thieves. Things pick back up on Wednesday night with a full evening of funky rock and soul from popular local band The Secrets.
“The Secrets show is presented by me and Cumberland’s,” Puke says. “It’s really nice that a band that plays all year long and enjoys our club would come in and kick back a bit. It’s very generous of them to do this. They’re all about party music, so it will be a blast.”
Thursday’s lineup features the heavy sounds of Tides, Giant and local act Alswel, arranged by Holy City Booking and Cumberland’s.
“Brad Simmons from Holy City Booking is presenting the line-up on Thursday and donating a good portion of the proceeds to charity,” says Puke. “These are very slow, trancey bands, but they’re very loud.”
On Friday and Saturday, Chicago-based yokel/emcee Rory Lake emcees the biggest events of the Johnny Puke’s Fifth Annual Birthday Bash. The doors open at 6 p.m., and the first bands go on around 7 p.m.
The lineup for Fri. Aug. 18 features The Draft with Genrevolta, In the Red, Thunderlip, and Thank God. The bill for Sat. Aug. 19 features the Cletus reunion set with support from The Cryptkeeper Five, The Ergs, Horace Pinker, J. Page, and Colossus.
On Sun. Aug. 20, “Johnny Puke’s Metal Night” will showcase some hard-rock, punk, and metallic sounds from Children’s Choir, Shaman Mary, Monsters of Japan, Handgun Sonata, Steve Hit Mike, and Josephine.
“This whole bash is about getting a lot of people to support the cause,” says Puke. “It’s a perfect way to honor Kevin and to get people to come out.”
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