A lot of bands like to say that the main reason they play music is to have a good time, but many of them, if you peel back the onion skin of personas, don’t really exemplify this motivation. Some believe themselves to be deep, introspective artists that the world is simply too unenlightened to understand. Some believe themselves to be God’s gift to women (or men), hipster culture or rock ‘n’ roll. Some are just plain assholes with no redeeming qualities.
The members of Disorderly Conduct are none of these things. They’re not overly young or beautiful, they don’t know Sean Lennon, and they’re definitely not about to write the next Top 40 radio hit.
What Disorderly Conduct does seem to be is a no-nonsense, hard-working cover band with professional chops and (evidently) a sizeable and loyal following. Drummer Mike Kies (formerly of Hour Eleven) and bassist Dave DelVecchio lay down a solid groove while guitarists Rick Kostanski and “Lon Moore” rip up some decently executed Jimmy Page licks, and singer Cathy Barnes adds a vocal feel that seems to combine Chrissy Hynde and Janis Joplin, despite the fact that half the time she’s emulating hair band dudes like Bon Scott or Jon Bon Jovi. Both Barnes and Moore are veterans of the band Factory Defect, and managed to grow Disorderly Conduct in the last year from a Petri dish culture that started (probably in a not-quite-empty shotglass of Jagermeister) as an acoustic duo.
These guys aren’t your typical Best New Band winners. Historically, a number of bands have won this title seemingly out of thin air, with grumblings from other area musicians, who scratch their heads going, “Who?” and complain that the virtual ballot boxes have been filled with the votes of hundreds of high school students. And maybe they were; having a huge high school audience certainly isn’t against the rules. But Disorderly Conduct looks to be well beyond high school age, and so their popularity must come from some totally different place.
The Red Sox Nation? They do have a song called “Red Sox Woman,” (a parody of Gretchen Wilson’s country single “Redneck Woman”), which already sounds anthemic. You can find photos of the band in Red Sox hats; and they seem “smaht” enough to know that one of the most loyal fan bases in the world is the one that loves to curse the New York Yankees and tipsily shout, “So good! So good! So good!” along to Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline.” And they do cover the 1966 Standells song “Dirty Water,” as well as the Woody Guthrie/Dropkick Murphys tune “Shipping up to Boston,” both popular at Fenway inning change-overs.
Barnes, a very personable lady who definitely doesn’t take herself too seriously, chalks the band’s win up to having a sense of humor. “It’s all we got, man… it sure as hell can’t be the talent!” The band seems equally jovial, championing Jager Bombs as almost an art form and even trailing a quasi-official fan club called “The Bomb Squad” as a result. They’re calling their fall engagements the “Sex is a Contact Sport” tour, closing their latest Facebook post with “May the brain cells lose!”
Really, it’s no wonder these guys have a lot of friends; they just seem, well, friendly.
Check out Disorderly Conduct’s stats, show schedule and a taste of the song list as well as video clips at http://www.dctheband.com.
