Around 1977, the Boston punk scene began to sever its ties to the Glam Era, with its Lou Reed worshippers and also to the various 60's holdovers who aped like-minded national act retro-ists like the Flamin' Groovies. Most of the first wave in "punk" bands in Boston were just that: fans of pre-hippie rock and roll who couldn't bring themselves to serve up Eagles/Peter Frampton covers for BU students. They hid away in the confines of the Rat or the Club, in Cambridge, banging out music that bore a rather strong resemblance to the first great Boston rock and roll band, Barry and the Remains.

This was a wonderful development, but the younger fans and hanger-ons of this scene were a lot more revved-up by other possibilities and so there came a "second wave" of punk groups that had no fealty to the Beatles or Stones or to Aerosmith, but rather to the punk bands of CBGB's in New York or the 100 Club in London. Unlike Boston's pioneering pre-punks like Reddy Teddy or the Real Kids whose sound could be directly linked to the aforementioned dinosaurs, these second-wavers were mostly tyro musicians who thrived on the "anyone can do it" ethos of the punk era. Among these bands were La Peste, Unnatural Axe, the Girls, The Neighborhoods, and Thrills.

Thrills formed in late 1977, featuring Barbara Kitson (vocals), an Emerson College student who, as a college DJ, was the first to play "Anarchy in the UK" in the States. She was often featured on Boston television as a local "punk spokesperson." This pretentiousness attracted her soon-to-be partner in the band, John Carmen  -  Johnny Angel  -  a 20-year old stockbroker in training from Wellesley, whose life was changed/ruined by seeing the Ramones. After a wretched first jam session in which Barb and John saw one of their friends smash his guitar to bits, the two hooked up with the rhythm section and had a go. They named their band "Thrills" partially in homage to the Clash song "48 Hours" ("48 hours is 48 thrills"), but mostly because of Angel's love of the Lenny Bruce bit which climaxed in, "grab my thrillhammer, baby," and Kitson nixed "Thrillhammers."

Initially, Thrills was a Ramones/Dead Boys/Blondie-like goof band, with silly songs like "Nothing But a Two-Bit Whore" and odes to the joys of assaulting paraplegics. Finally they found a permanent rhythm section in Mike Collins on drums and Merle Allin on the bass. Merle was the brother of the notorious GG Allin, who'd been Thrills drummer briefly but had refused to move to Boston. With this duo in place, the band's songs became sharper and more original. Kitson's singing got stronger and Angel's stagemanship bordered on total mania, often flinging himself at full speed into the audience. (That was long before stage diving became acceptable behavior, and the antic was too much for most.)   Their debut single "Heartbreaker" b/w "Hey (Not Another Face In The Crowd)" sold out its 1,000 unit pressing in a month; but when the band, favored to easily win the 1979 Rumble lost,¹ their momentum dissipated.

More hard luck came about when Thrills lost the rights to the band's name because of a Long Island group who'd copywritten "Thrills" earlier. Boston's Thrills became City Thrills. (In an ironic twist, whenever Boston's City Thrills played Long Island, LI's Thrills loaned them gear.)   The band next expanded to five members, adding Connecticut's Sean McDonough on guitar,² and became much more poppy, releasing the City Thrills EP in 1981, which featured the popular song, "Sorry." But having lost their core punk following, the band finally figured they were toast as far as Boston was concerned, pulled up stakes, and relocated to Manhattan, where they RIP'd in January 1983.

During its rollercoaster-like career, Thrills was a mid-level headliner in Boston and Northern Massachusetts. The band opened shows all over the Northeast for acts like U2, the Cars, Madness, the Ramones, Stiff Little Fingers, Johnny Thunders, David Johansen (Thrills was the opener on the shows that became his "live" album; needless to say, most of it was recorded at soundcheck!), Penetration, and others.

In 1998, Kitson is MIA somewhere in New York, as is McDonough. Allin caretakes his late brother's estate and plays in punk bands, and Collins owns a small studio in Illinois, where he will crank out Thrills CDs upon request. (The material comes from band demos and live shows, circa 1978-79).)   Johnny Angel formed the more mainstream rock band, The Blackjacks in the 80's and then the parody act The Swinging Erudites, who had an international dance hit with "Walk With an Erection." He has lived in California since 1989 and writes feature stories for magazines, mostly on the Los Angeles' criminal life, the Hepatitis C epidemic, and the California prison system, as well as acerbic music commentary. After two development deals with Atlantic and A&M Records went into the shithouse [loosely translated, this means the deals did not work out to the mutual satisfaction of the parties], he's retired from music.

Copyright © 1998 by John Carmen.

All rights reserved.

Used with permission.

TBCWRA@aol.com

City Thrills

• Merle Allin
• Johnny Angel
• Mike Collins
• Barb Kitson
• Sean McDonough

Discography

• "Heartbreaker" b/w "Hey (Not Another Face in the Crowd)" (45, Modern Method, 1979)
• City Thrills (EP, Star Rhythm, 1981)
• "Don't Come Back" and "Last To Know" (Comp cuts, Press-A-Dent, 1982) on Live at the Metro
• "Hey (Not Another Face in the Crowd)" (Comp cut, Rhino, 1993), from the "DiY" Series Mass. Ave. (The Boston Scene)
• "Thrills Live at Cantones" (CD, Mike Collins Music, 1997)
• Barb Kitson, "Light of Love" (Comp cut, VAR R&R #9, 1987)   T-Rex tune produced by Willie Loco Alexander

Johnny Angel met Barb Kitson, through mutual friends, in 1977. "[W]hen we first met," said Kitson, "we kind of hated each other."³ But the two liked many of the same bands, particularly New York punk outfits. Kitson had been hosting a punk-rock broadcast on WERS. "Just before we met," she recalled, "I had come back from a trip to England. Things were really happening there  -  and I was really into the punk idea that anybody could start their own band." By that time, Kitson was running a little record store in one corner at the Rat and Johnny Angel was doing some playing out, including a single performance on bass with a Boston group, Tracks (Lorry Doll, Jeff Rey, Wild Johnny Lewis, and departing bassist Kidd Kross). After that, Angel, Kitson, and some friends played a show in place of the old band at the Combat Zone bar, the Bird Cage. A bit later, Thrills  -  including Mike Collins  -  made its official debut at Cantones.

"[W]e really used to be a punk band," said Angel. "But that couldn't last forever. Now I like to think of us as more of a pop band  -  only a gutsy pop band. I really believe we're much more suited to that  -  especially since Barb has such a good voice."   "We like to think of ourselves as what the Crystals or Ronettes would sound like if they were now instead of 1963."   "As far as I'm concerned," added Kitson, "I'm a rock 'n' roll fan. That's the most important thing. When I go see a band that I really like I get so excited and feel so good. And I would like to give that feeling to other people."⁴

I really liked Thrills/City Thrills and particularly the band's recording, "Hey! (Not Another Face in the Crowd)." The song has its share of rock and roll repetition, and the burden of the lyrics is that the singer is not just another face in the crowd. It's really great stripped-down rock. The City Thrills tracks were not unlike the pop-rock that played on American radio stations for many years to come, causing us to wonder what might have happened if this band had received greater exposure before a national audience. Perhaps the timing wasn't right. Yet another day, it seems to me that "Last To Know" on Live at the Metro (LP, Press-A-Dent, 1982) and "I Want You Back" on City Thrills (10" EP, Star-Rhythm, 1981) could have been the songs to turn these musicians into rock stars. I think it was Doug Simmons, writing about the City Thrills EP, who said, "The song I keep playing is 'I Want You Back,' which rides a galloping riff. While Kitson defiantly admits her vulnerability, Angel's guitar oozes high, pretty notes that fall like teardrops."⁵ Once again, I'm impressed by how imperfect is the system to help musicians find their audience.

In May 1982, Merle Allin stayed in New England while the other band members moved on to try their luck in New York City as the Untouchables.

Alan Lewis,  January 25, 2002

1.   James Isaacs, in his July 10, 1979, Boston Phoenix coverage of the WBCN Rock and Roll Rumble, described Thrills as "on the decidedly punkish side of the local pond."

Our files concerning the 1979 WBCN Rock and Roll Rumble--the "Rumble at the Rat"--are meager, so we simply take Johnny Angel at his word that the band Thrills was favored by many to easily win that year's Rumble. Thrills was quite popular and very good. We take that to be a testimonial to the high regard Bostonians showed Thrills in those days. Other contestants included three of our all-time favorites, the Dawgs, the Neighborhoods, and the Rings. La Peste, another personal favorite that competed in 1979, actually had won the Rumble the previous year. 1978 was the first year for the Rumble. 1979 was the first year the Rumble was sponsored by WBCN and thus the first year it received a lot of attention.

2.   In January 1980, according to Barb Kitson in Boston Rock, 9/3/1981, Issue 21.

3.   Boston Rock, 11/15/1980, Issue 6.

4.   Boston Rock, 11/15/1980, Issue 6.

5.   Cellars by Starlight column, Boston Phoenix, 7/21/1981. I believe Doug Simmons wrote this column, and I apologize for not being able to credit him with certainty.

6.   See previous note.

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Copyright © 2002, 2004 by Alan Lewis.
All rights reserved. Used with permission.