fotos from City Club gig
Dr Green, City Club in St Petersburg, 1 December
(taken from: http://notlih.topcities.com/gigs.html#drgreen)
Looked in St Petersburg Times and found a ska-punk band playing. I had bought their tape the day before, so I thought itd be good to rock up. Me, Tara and Anouska headed to the Money Honey Bar (Money is Honey, apparently! They said the same thing in Turkey...) which had the City Bar upstairs. Downstairs it was a rockabilly bar - cowboy boots and slick hair the whole way. Rocked upstairs to the City Bar and a Dr Green were already playing (I think they started at 8:20pm - we got there around 8:45?). They are really goddamn good. The dudes in the CD shop told me they were Estonian, I think. Had a bit of a skank. They played mainly originals, plus a Rancid cover and a great version of The Clash's Guns of Brixton. At half time the band went off to get a drink and trashy eurodance music came on. The club was chokkas with little drunken girls - the table behind us had 5 young girls with their heads on the table. So much bumpin and grindin I thought I was at a dancehall bashment. They were bumpin and grindin through the ska-punk music, too, which I found very odd and disconcerting, given that the ska-punk I am used to has all of the sexuality and gender division as an Irish Cocktail. A few metal heads in the crowd too. At the back near the bar I spied a couple of refugees from downstairs twisting the night away to while the band was playing. Very odd...
Anyway, the band went off and the eurodance started. Tara and Anouska jumped up. Something I have noticed about eurodance is that they like to talk about sex quite a lot. The classic of the evening for me was a version of a song I have heard that uses a whistle in it, and they say "blow your whistle" a lot. Its shit, so I don't know what its called or who its by. This version used the same riffs, but the lyrics were all about lollypops - "I want to lick your lollypop", "yeah, lick my lollypop", "I want to taste it", "I want to feel it", etc- You get the idea. I thought it were funny...
Of course, this lead to The Bad Touch by The Bloodhound Gang. As the song finished the band came back on stage well rested. The bass player (a crazy fiend with a big arse beard, glasses and dreads) started playing the song, told the guitarist (another crazy fiend with a smaller beard and a bald head with a little bit of hair at the back) what to play, and they broke into a ska version. Oh, by the way, the band had the bass and guitar, plus a drummer I didn't see much of, plus two saxes, and a singer. They looked like a ska-punk band should look - punk guitarist, hardcore singer, dready bass-player, and two saxes and a drummer that looked like normal people but probably weren't.
They were a fantastic gig, and after the show I met a couple of people into the P-Burg punk scene and they gave me tapes and stuff. Got a CD off the guitarist too. Lots of fun. Another ska band were going to get going at 1am (St Petersburg rocks!) but we had to catch a metro home so we had to leave before midnight. Bummer. In retrospect, should have stuck around. Would have been a long, cold walk home though...
(taken from: www.angelfire.com/tx2/ditchdiggin/rev.html)
Dr Green
I'm not usually a big ska fan,but I must admit that I was positively surprised when i stuck this in my tape deck.They have some what of a two tone sound,but more up to date,and they mix a little rock with it.It reminds me of Madness on speed,if you know what I mean...They are from Lithuania and sing in their native tongue(Polish?),Spanish and English.The singer 's voice is pretty damn rowdy too.Ranking:***1/2
(taken from http://www.seanchai.dircon.co.uk/reviews/revlistd.html)
DR GREEN / INVAZIJA split cassette.
Two bands from Lithuana on one tape, showcasing two very different sounds. Invazija play great quality heavy duty, fast as fuck crustcore. It rips from start to finish and is very powerful. The quality is amazing. DR GREEN on the other hand play upbeat reggaepunk and again are very good quality. The cover of the tape folds out and we get lyrics and contact addresses for both bands. Lots of interesting views expressed from both bands. It is only £1 post paid, now that is value for money. (MH)
MUT/TAPES ARE COOL, PO Box 152, Burton-On-Trent, Staffs, DE14 1XX, UK.
(taken from http://www.silencesux.ru/drgreen.shtml)
Dr. Green - The Sounds Of Black & White Radio
1998, стиль : punk
Info : Dr. Green - литовская группа, играющая ска-кор с середины 90-х. Интересно, что группа строит свой успех не на завоевывании российского музыкального рынка (как многие прибалтийские группы) и практически неизвестна у нас, а на ярко выраженном прозападном ориентировании. Весьма смелый шаг, так как групп, играющих подобную музыку, хватает не только в Западной Европе, их множество и в Польше, и в Венгрии, и в Чехии. Опять же "конкуренция" со стороны экс-россиян Spitfire. Хотя уровень Dr. Green позволяет надеяться, что группа не пропадет в Европе. Действительно, класс музыкантов очень высок. Причем им удается играть оригинальную музыку, получая за это смешные деньги и выпуская свои альбом на почти любительских студиях. "The Sounds Of Black & White Music" - второй альбом группы и первое CD-издание, которое явно демонстрирует огромный потенциал музыкантов Dr. Green. Ясно, что группа уже "переросла" локальную популярность у себя дома, хотя стоит заметить, что Литва не особенно богата именно ска-кор коллективами, большиство групп делает ставку на хардкор или панк-рока, а также же нео-металл. Поэтому стоит признать вполне закономерным желание музыкантов выбраться в центр музыкальной Европы и показать там, как говорится, "who is who". Мне кажется, что это у Dr. Green получится очень убедительно.
Rating : 
(taken from http://www.marast.unas.cz/5.html)
Dr.Green -
he perdido?! EP7"
Tahle SKA! Banda je z Litvy z Vilniusu. Desku, kterį je jak jinak ne zelenį, sem si koupil na Papirne, kdy tam hrįli Harum Scarum. Na tżhle desce je jest pisniček z jejich kazety SKAN“GO, kterou sem si stįhnul celou z netu (haha), take sem vģdģl do čeho si to du. Tģhle est pķsniček je podle mģ jejich typickej Ska-punk podobnej jako jsou praskż Fast food ale trochu jinačķ tķm, e zpķvaj vģtinu v jejich rodnżm jazyce. Booklet je udģlanej černobķle, na pųednķ stranģ obrįzek jak ze edesįtej let. Nģkdo mi dokonce tvrdil, e ta motorka je Jawa. Na zadnķ stranģ kontakt na kapelu, label, netovż odkazy a emaily a samozųejmģ dģkovačka ( napų Nikt nic nie wie apod d.i.y. ) + obrįzek Smash fascism!. Uvnitų jsou texty jak v litevtinģ tak v angličtinģ doplnģnż o obrįzky a fotky. Textłm fakt nerozumķm (ach ty jazyky), ale jeden mģ zaujal byl toti krįtkej : S.K.A.T.A. : I refuse to serve in army (odmķtįm slouit v armadģ?). Hodnģ kvalitnķ je obal z fólie, ten se fakt trhat nebude. Desku vydali finové z Brew Records.
Crust Heil Havran
(translation)
This SKA band comes from Lithuania - Vilnius. This vinyl, which is green
normaly, I bough on Papírna squat, where they have played with Harum Scarum. On this EP there are 6 songs from their tape SKAN“GO, which i have in MP3 from ineternet (haha). That 6 songs are typical ska, something like czech band Fast Food, but there are little differents, because they are singing in their mother-language. Booklet is black and white, on the front side is a picture like from the 60ties. Somebody told me, that on the front side is Czech motorcycle Jawa. On the back side is kontakt, label, net adress and thanks + picture Smash fascism! In the booklet there are lyrics in Lituanian and English. I can't understand the lyrics, but one is very short and easy: I refuse to serve in army. The booklet is very quality. This vinyl is produced by Finnish label Brew
records!!!
(translated by Marticek Houba)
