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THE FLYING SIXTY-NINE |
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Very few metal bands from New Hampshire played the
Boston ‘circuit’ in the 1980’s. The only one I remember actively making
the 45 minute run south with any regularity was surly, burly
biker-doomsters Knightmare, a boozy disaster of creaky punks-gone-rock who
(very) eventually morphed into LA speed metal band Tearabyte. Like the
Flying Sixty Nine, Knightmare spent some time backing “rock n’ roll
terrorist” GG Allin; unlike ‘em, the Knightmare-GG collaborations were
strictly studio-bound. The Flying Sixty-Nine actually performed as
surrogate Scumfucs when GG’s band was in jail or rehab. They were also his
studio band for the infamous “Live Fast Die Fast” (Black and
Blue records) single from 1984, and
recorded a Steppenwolf cover with him. He was their kinda public animal
No. 1, apparently. GG split New Hampshire in 1985 to make mincemeat outta
rock n’ roll on the endless road, leaving the Flying 69 to carve out their
own bloody trail of decadence and debauchery. |
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| Although not as outrageous-looking as the Kiss-meets- the-Road-Warrior comic-book Frankenstein drawings of ‘em on the cover of their single, The Flying 69 still glammed it up plenty onstage, aping the lipstick n’ spandex flash-gladiator look of Twisted Sister and “Shout at the Devil” era Motley Crue. Except they were from New Hampshire, a state of berserk, gun-toting Yankee rednecks, so they looked more like transvestite serial killers than glitter rockers. Collectively, the band were total sleaze-beasts, obsessed with 70’s porn, horror movies, shock rock and comic books, the perfect junk-culture influences for a kill-for-thrills trash-glam band from the rowdiest, boy-howdy-est state on the East Coast. Again, this all should’ve made them legendary, but something obviously went wrong along the way. |
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Dunno if the 1986 “Scream Queen” single was their only contribution to the downfall of society, but it’s the only one I’ve ever seen, and it’s probably plenty. The b-side, “On With the Show”, already showed their lack of musical ideas; it sounds like a ragged, overlong Keel out-take. The a-side is a shit-storm of flash metal mayhem, however, and might even be a classic. Check it out for yourself, and if you happen to be at the Purgatory Road strip mall sometime soon, ask around, you can probably score a copy for yourself. Listen: Scream Queen _________________________________________________________________________________________ -Sleazegrinder |
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The Flying Sixty-Nine was a sex monster freak
metal band from Manchester, New Hampshire, who probably should’ve been
legendary, but ended up hopelessly obscure. So obscure, in fact, that I
have nothing left to even prove they existed, except for this single.
Sure, every time I mention them in public, some aging local degenerate in a
grubby Spiked Raven t-shirt tells me that their cousin was the drummer, or
the guy that owns the drycleaner at the strip mall off of Purgatory Road
ran their fan club, but hearsay is no longer acceptable in this court of
rock n’ roll. So we’re gonna stick with conjecture and wild allegations.
