Feb 13 Concert Review: Cinecyde CD Release @ Paychecks

For those of you who missed the return of Cinecyde last Saturday night at Paycheck’s, I have to say that I feel sorry for you. It was one of those rare moments where you got to look into Detroit’s musical past while staring right into its future.

Upon arrival, it was clear that the turnout was going to be mild at best, but with so many things going on around the D that weekend, it was expected. Then I noticed several legendary Detroit rockers in the crowd (Bootsy X, Hiawatha Bailey of Cult Heroes fame, Dave Hanna of The Ramrods, and Mick Collins of The Dirtbombs) and I knew I was in the right place.

After witnessing openers Circus Boy trash through their set with authentic punk attitude; which included originals as well as covers from Detroit icons The Stooges and The Torpedoes, the mood was set for Cinecyde’s psycho, horror b-movie fueled style of punk rock.

With over 30 years of punk under their belts, Cinecyde played a well proportioned set of classic and new material. This included personal favorites “Don’t Come Cryin’ To Me” (mp3), “Don’t Push Me” (music video) and “Radium” while dropping the two minute title track blitz from their current release “Lezbo Vampires vs Al Qaida,” as well as “Vic Police” and “Your Graves Are Already Dug.” They also preformed a cover of the The Ramrods powerhouse “Here It Comes” (youtube), which was in honor of Bootsy and Hanna being in attendance.

Because of the small crowd that had gathered at Paychecks, the show seemed more like a well-polished rehearsal with little thrills between songs. At one point, you could even hear Cinecyde’s bass player Chris Girard point out to the rest of his mates that they were finally jellin’. The comment became clearer after lead singer Gary Reichel pointed out that their session drummer Ewolf, was sitting in for regular Diane Schroeder who’s on temporary leave.

After such a show, I just had to pick up a copy of the CD Release, Lezbo Vampires vs. Al-Qaida Check back tomorrow for my review of the album. Until then, for those of you who need a history lesson on who exactly Cinecyde is, was and are, you can read Michael Murphy’s 2004 Metro Times article on Cinecyde here.