Album Review
Crunch. That's what happens when you mix two parts Slade with one part Rolling Stones and feature the future frontman for the final incarnation of The Joe Perry Project. Teenage Suicide by Thundertrain is a rare look at rock & roll attitude which slugged it out in the trenches of Boston with the likes of Charlie Farren's Balloon, Ralph Mormon's Daddy Warbux, the Real Kids, mainstream rockers Susan, Willie Loco Alexander's Boom Boom Band, and so many others. Thundertrain were not punks, but they were more accepted in the punk environment than the Beams and the Dead End Kids, probably because Mach Bell's stage antics were proof that they acted like underground rockers, despite the band's music being so slick, tight, and hard edged. The album starts off with "Hot for Teacher," their second 45, and college radio hit. The presence of ex-Velvet Underground pianist Willie "Loco" Alexander gives the disc an authentic rock & roll feel, and it is a great opening track. The bulk of the material is written by lead guitarist Steven Silva, and features creative, sludgey riffs which give Bell's "I just gargled with Draino" voice a board with which to ride the electric surf. Rhythm guitarist Gene Provost contributes three songs to this debut: "Love the Way," the anthem-like "Hell Tonite," which kicks off side two, and "Forever & Ever." He's no mere rhythm guitarist; like Keith Richards, he can make the instrument snarl as Steve Silva goes off on a tangent. Produced by Earthquake Morton and Nighthawk Jackson, engineered by George Lilly, one gets the feeling the Duke & the Drivers guys were behind this project — the Drivers being one of Boston's major blues-rock outfits. Eight of the nine tracks were recorded at Northern Studios, while the final cut, their showstopper "I Gotta Rock," was tracked live at the Rat nightclub in Boston — the song is one of their two tracks on the legendary Live at the Rat album. Teenage Suicide can't show you Mach Bell's enormous stage presence, and that was a big part of their appeal — we can only hope videos from the time have survived. It also doesn't have the polish a major label might have afforded them, but it does capture the energy and creative spark of a major Boston personality who would go on to work with a member of Aerosmith, and his bandmates who were a formidable and powerful bunch on stage.
