So, you want to be like Axl Rose?

"No. No I fucking don’t."

Bill is El Honcho Grande in Crash and Burn, the band that every would-be Lester Bangs in town is scrambling to call "The Punk Gunsn’Roses" first, and with good reason. Their recently released, self-titled album on hardcore label Rodent Popsicle sounds like Motley Crue’s ‘Too Fast For Love’ as performed by alcoholic serial killers, a vicious squall of sleazy, black hearted razor punk and roll. Their live shows have a riot-baiting intensity that borders on sheer chaos, the band pacing the stage like hungry pitbulls outside of a day care, with triple-speed, Satanic Chuck Berry riffs shooting out of the speakers like machine gun fire. And then there’s the Flying -V guitar, the headbands, and a hearty recommendation from Ian Adams, the dark prince of Lower Allston himself. Crash and Burn are rock stars, alright. The kind we used to have, back when rock and roll was still dangerous. "Rock and roll used to be a lot like punk rock", Bill says. "It used to be slutty and mean, not primped and manicured. The problem with most rock bands is that they’re soft as shit, they’re predictable, every song sounds the same. " Predictability is not a problem in the Crash and Burn camp. Staying alive is. "We’re not GG Allin dangerous", Bill says. "I mean, I’m not going to sexually assualt anybody, but I think we’re more dangerous than most of the rock bands around here. Most of these bands have never had to hold up a promoter to get their money, because they need it to get to the next fucking town. A lot of these bands haven’t had instances where there were people with guns who weren’t very happy with you in the middle of Indiana. Bad shit just follows us around."

As you’ve probably already guessed, Crash and Burn have spent some time crusting out in the hardcore circles. "We’re recovering punk rockers", Bill laughs. " I mean, I like some current stuff, like the new Weedeater and Rock City Crimewave records, but when I get home, I listen to Grand Funk Railroad and Blue Cheer. I’ll never get the Black Flag out of me, though." He rolls up his sleeve to show the bars logo on his forearm. "Three of us played together in a band called the Wife Beaters a few years back", he says, recounting the origins of Crash and Burn. "We were a drunk-punk band. We wanted to be the Doors, basically. The kind of punk we played was more in tune with the 80’s Californian style. I never really jibed with the east coast ‘tough guy’ hardcore scene, that’s not my thing. I don’t want to see guys hitting each other, I want to see tits." After that band dissolved, Bill went on to play in the more politically bent Shoot the Hostages, as well as street punkers the Pinkerton Thugs, but he quickly grew tired of shifting gears in transient punk bands. "Shoot the Hostages got back from a US tour, and broke up. I didn’t want to get burned again. I said, ‘Fuck it’, I’m forming my own band. I’m going to write all the songs, I’m going to pick my own people. If there’s a problem, I’ll kick their ass out and keep going. I’ve been playing for 12 years, and I’m sick of changing band names every 6 months, getting things going good, and then falling apart. I’m not letting that happen again." He pauses to light another cigarette. "So I started to write these songs, like Chuck Berry meets Black Flag. I don’t know if I’ve accomplished that, but that’s what I was going for. So I called it Crash and Burn, because that’s what it’s all about, going all the fucking way."

Although they formed in ’99, Crash and Burn have only recently warmed up to the idea of joining the Allston Rock Mafia. "When our album first came out, we got great reviews everywhere but here. The press in Boston ripped us to shreds. The Noise, Northeast Performer, they gave us terrible reviews. So we said, ‘Fuck Boston’, and we hit the road, because we’ve always done great everywhere but here. It’s only been in the past couple of months that we’ve discovered that there was a nasty underbelly in the Boston rock scene, bands like Cracktorch and Rock City Crimewave that are down and dirty like us." It was, in fact, their recent hell-raising display of full throttle danger rock at RC Crimewave’s record release party that ignited the Crash and Burn buzz. "After playing that show, things have gone surprisingly well for us. We’ve done a bunch of interviews, we’re talking to a couple of labels about releasing the next record, and all these bands in town are talking to us about playing with them. " Not bad for a gig that ended with the band threatening to kill the soundman for shutting them off too early. But that’s just the kind of loose cannon behavior Crash and Burn thrive on. "We’re too rock for the punks, and too fucking punk for the rockers, but I don’t really care what anybody thinks", Bill tells me. "All I care about is that people actually cut loose at our shows. Not to the point we’re they’re hurting each other, I don’t want people doing karate moves in front of me, but when they’re really getting into it, and you can tell that it’s making their night, that’s what I like. Giving them a night to remember. Or maybe not remember at all, which is even better, sometimes."