Lorry Doll and Tracks
New England Music Scrapbook
Tracks
| Lorry Doll | Vocals, rhythm guitar |
| Jeff Rey | Lead guitar |
| Paul "Kidd" Kross | Bass (1976-77) |
Drums (1976-78) | |
| John Shriver | Bass (former Bonjour Aviators, replaced Kross 1977) |
| Patrick O’Neill | Drums (former Robo & the North Side Booger Band, replaced Lewis 1978) |
| Bryan Brat | Drums (regular fill-in for O’Neill 1978-79) |
-- Mark Flicop in Bob Colby’s Boston fanzine Frenzy!, March, 1978
Tracks first public performance was on Saturday, August 28, 1976 to a packed house at the Rat in Boston. It couldn't have been more of a disaster.
Lorry Doll and Jeff Rey had met as students at the Art Institute of Boston in the early 70's. Sharing a similar artistic vision, they set up a studio loft in downtown Boston. In between painting large abstract canvases and directing figure drawing classes, they jammed on guitars to the songs of the Velvet Underground, the New York Dolls and Bob Dylan, throwing in one or two of their own compositions to keep things fresh. But the main thrust of their art changed dramatically in the Spring of 1976 when by chance they saw the Ramones at The Club in Cambridge. They went back for the next two nights of that
Poster Advertising Tracks
At the Rat, Kenmore Square, Boston
August 28, 1976
Richard Nolan put much effort into introducing Lorry Doll and Tracks to the key writers, DJs and musicians on Boston's emerging new music scene, making them the darlings of the underground before they had even played a single note in public. Nolan's relentless hype finally persuaded Jim Harold into agreeing to have the novice band appear on his planned Live at the Rat LP. He booked Tracks for a lucrative weekend night at the Rat for their premier. Since the band had never been together on a stage before, there was little chance they could live up to expectations. In addition, the headliner was a power pop suburban band with a strong following of avid fans that had zero interest in loud and obnoxious punk. Amid broken strings, shaky musicianship and an alcoholic daze, Tracks barely made it through the opening set. When the headliner took the stage their fanatic following went nuts for them. So did Lorry. Watching from the Rat's dressing room, she was frustrated with her own band's inadequacies, mad at Nolan for booking the gig with a pop band, herself for being so sloppy and also at what she perceived as a bad attitude from the headliner. She threw the main electric switch, plunging the Rat into total darkness and silence. Once power was restored (an excruciatingly long minute or two later), Jim Harold had his bouncers drag Doll and Rey through the club and tossed out the back door. Tracks' rhythm section quit on the spot deciding to associate with saner musicians--ones who might be able to still get gigs at the Rat. A month later Live at the Rat was recorded. Tracks weren't on it.
Banned from the Rat, Tracks plunged/stumbled forward, picking up a new rhythm section and getting regular gigs at The Club and whoever else would have them. More foul-ups, fights and free-for-alls marked the next few months, but the band started to get tight. While Jeff 'Mono Man' Connelly and JJ Rassler powered the high energy DMZ, and John Felice led the Real Kids on stripped down garage band rockers, Tracks represented the darker side of the scene. Lorry Doll viciously spewed out the lyrics to "Gang War Rumble", "I Don’t Need You" and "Love Is (Bondage and Leather)". These weren’t exactly pop tunes and Tracks served them up with the bitter angst and anger of urban existence. Arguably, Boston’s only pure punk band of that early era, Tracks did have the distinction of being the city’s first female fronted punk rockers.*
Despite the bad reputation that was starting to be tagged on her and the band, Lorry managed a reconciliation with Jim Harold in early 1977 (at a Ramones show, where else?). Tracks behaved themselves (for the most part) and became regulars at the Rat, getting the opportunity to open for a variety of international acts like the Police and the Jam when they passed through town. That May they recorded a live set at The Club funded by talking headliners the Atlantics into giving them a performance fee guarantee that would cover recording and pressing charges. This would become the single "Brakes On You" released in the Fall of 1977. DMZ's JJ Rassler, turned Greg Shaw on to Tracks and international distribution of the record on his Bomp label followed. Shaw would later offer a recording contract, as would Jim Harold with Rat Records. Doll and Rey passed on both, preferring the full creative freedom (and copyright ownership) of the D.I.Y. route. Led by heavy airplay from Oedipus on WTBS (later WMBR), other college stations began picking up the single and sales started to boom on the East Coast. In February of 1978, the band was driving home from a loft party given by fellow Boston rockers La Peste (who had just finished recording their own single "Better Off Dead") when a group of drunken teens ran a red light at high speed and crashed into them. Lorry Doll, her lip severed, was knocked out of commission for three months killing touring plans to support "Brakes On You".
The single summons images of the Exorcist demon, several centuries younger and backed by a churning rock 'n' roll band. She snarls, growls menacingly and occasionally spits out the lyrics, using her voice like a rivet gun. Love 'em or loathe 'em (and I am a fan), her vocals are as strictly personal as Captain Beefheart’s in his hey day.-- James Isaacs, the Boston Phoenix, January, 1978
When Tracks was finally able to fully get back into the swing of things, new wave as opposed to punk was dominating the interests of Boston's
Tracks faded into Boston music history, but Lorry Doll and Jeff Rey continued to carry the
Still passionately and actively involved with her lifelong love of art and music, Lorry died suddenly in 1999. Jeff continues to re-master the original Tracks, Doll-Reys and Wild Ones recordings into current technology and at the end of 2002 released a Tracks EP commemorating the 25th anniversary of "Brakes On You".
Bassist John Shriver joined with JJ Rassler in Bad Habits when Doll and Rey moved to New York. Prior to Tracks, drummer Pat O'Neill had teamed with Sev Grossman (Willie Alexander's Boom Boom Band) as the rhythm section of Robo & the North Side Booger Band (Live At Jack’s, compilation LP, 1974). Afterward, he continued to work with Aerosmith as Joey Kramer's drum tech until that band's management decided to remove all potentially bad influences from their inner circle.
For the full story on Tracks and the life and times of Lorry Doll visit www.lorrydoll.com.
* The second time it was my pleasure to write up
Live at the Rat (2 LPs, Rat, 1976), I became really curious about the absence of female names and faces on that seminal set. The closest I came to finding a woman punk rocker, from around that time, was Barb Kitson of Thrills, which outfit was organized in late 1977--a year later. So, I'm glad to have forerunner Lorry Doll and the band Tracks called to my attention. Since I somehow managed to miss this group, I consulted with Blowfish of Boston Groupie News Online; and I thank him for offering advice that helped lead to the posting of this page. And in the credit-where-credit-is-due department, garage-punk had an important early female advocate in the person of publisher/editor/writer/near-founder Miss Lyn of
Boston Groupie News.
Tracks:
Doll-Reys:
Lorry Doll 'n' the Wild Ones:
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