Yeah, yeah, I was among the poor unfortunate souls who missed out on Tom Waits' first Michigan date in almost two decades this August, and you can bet I spent that night sobbing into my pork pie hat. But for me and every other garage rockin', jean jacket wearin', PBR swillin' scum of the Metro Detroit area, consolation was on the horizon... because we knew that the real show of the summer, the way for all the cool kids to rock into September with a bang, was taking place over Labor Day weekend, in the comfortably dingy environs of the Majestic Theater Complex. And while I'm sure those who scraped together the $90 necessary to see Waits in all his posture-mangling splendor would argue with me, I don't think any of us who were there the night of September 3 doubted we were getting more bang for our buck. The lineup was rock-solid: Mudhoney, the alt-rock institution who brought Stooges grit and grind to late-'80s Seattle. Radio Birdman, the seminal Michigan/Australia (proto-)punks who reformed beyond all odds in 1996 and just issued their first album since 1981, Zeno Beach, in August. And just to ice the cake, hometown heroes the Dirtbombs. In short, this was going to be a show to remember.

First up, though, was a band I'd never had the pleasure of seeing before: Easy Action, the most recent project by Detroit hardcore stalwart John Brannon. Not being too familiar with Brannon's work, Detroit hardcore, or indeed any kind of hardcore at all, before the house lights went down I was taking Easy Action's name at face value (as in "Solid Gold Easy Action") and expecting a choogling glam-rock boogie act in the vein of T. Rex. But once Brannon himself stalked onto the stage, looking like he'd sooner choke an audience member than prance and pout like Marc Bolan, I knew my first impressions had been way off the mark. And once the band tore into their first number, a three-chord amphetamine rush of a song that sounded like the Dead Boys as played by Motorhead, I knew just how far off I'd been.

To be honest, I was a little surprised that I liked Easy Action as much as I did: if I was gonna look at it objectively, their music was a little too traditionally "punk" for my tastes, with much of the stage presence copped straight from the Ramones circa '76; from splay-legged, Dee Dee-aping bassist Tony Romeo to guitarist Harold Richardson's trick of playing directly into his amp a la Johnny. As for Brannon himself, he "sang" with the kind of throat-rending, spleen-distending howl from hell that can either raise the hairs on the back of your neck (see: Black Francis in "Tame") or raise your eyes to the heavens in exasperation (see: most modern metal), all depending on the savviness of the particular screamer.