Live review: Electric Frankenstein at The Pyramid Scheme

Grand Rapids MI – 03 Jun 2023

Bringing their highly charged punk and roll to Grand Rapids.

Another one off the bucket list, and this time they came to me! Electric Frankenstein made their first visit to Grand Rapids on Saturday June 3rd, and I was fortunate enough to be there to take in the spectacle. The show was at the Pyramid Scheme in downtown GR, and incorporated an art show featuring rock and roll poster artists “Dirty” Donnie Gillies, Don “Friend Prices” Picton and Jim “Print Destroyer” Madison. 

Three local bands opened the show. Apostles were a fixture in the local scene a decade ago, but this was their first gig in something like seven years. Their sound was heavy. It reminded me a bit of early Helmet or Unsane. It was also excruciatingly loud, which was a running theme for the evening. Hillbilly Nightmare played a greasy but heavy style of biker rock, and more than likely accounted for the Harleys parked out front. 

Between bands there was an insane amount of artwork to check out. Lots of edgy, cool stuff to hang on the wall. Horror and rock and roll prints were the order of the day, but there were also lots of T-shirts, stickers and even a whole section of blacklight posters. Slumlord Radio were one of the organizers of the event, and played their brand of fuzzed out grunge right before EF. They mixed a couple of well chosen covers in with their originals. Mudhoney’s “Touch Me I’m Sick” came early on, and The Stooges’ crowd pleasing “I Wanna Be Your Dog” closed their set. 

Electric Frankenstein took the stage with little fanfare, and started tearing through a set of their greatest hits. For those unfamiliar with the band, they formed in New Jersey way back in 1990 and were a major player in the garage and classic punk revival of that decade. Lots of members have come and gone over the last three decades, but they’ve continued to crank out high quality punk and roll. They’ve been a critical and fan favorite and have well over 100 releases under their studded belt. 

Founding brothers Sal (rhythm guitar) and Dan (bass) Canzonieri relocated to North Carolina a couple years back, and put together an updated southern version of the band. New members Ed Warner (lead guitar) and Wheez Von Klaw (drums) both did a bang up job. New singer Johnny Flude gives the aging band a youth injection. The energetic and personable Flude was rarely on the stage, and instead spent the vast majority of his time mixing it up with the crowd down front. Most importantly, vocally he does a good job filling the big shoes of long time singer Steve Miller.

The local openers had done a good job bringing in a crowd, and the audience had shrunk a bit by the time Electric Frankenstein came on. Anyone who left early missed out. The quintet blasted out favorites like “It’s All Moving Faster”, “Blackout”, “Action High”, “Listen Up, Baby!”, “Speed Girl” and “Annie’s Grave”. The raw energy and simplicity reminded me of the punk shows that got me hooked on this music as a kid. It was great fun and let us feel young again, if only for a few minutes. 

Confessions of a merch whore: I bought three CD era Electric Frankenstein albums on vinyl – 1997’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Monster (black), 1999’s How to Make a Monster (yellow and green marbled) and 2005’s Burn Bright, Burn Fast (translucent green). I also got a 12”x12” EF flat signed by all five current members and the artist, Dirty Donnie. I got an EF patch that my wife will probably sew on my vest. I even got a copy of the show poster (off the door). I regret not buying the really cool soft cover comic/lyric book, but I needed to save a little money for next time.