Tour Dates

Photos

Lyrics

Reviews

ONLINE: JOHNNY'S NO ANGEL

Judging from the fans' notes posted at www.getangry.com, people seek the Web company of Angry Johnny & The Killbillies, the Easthampton-based band, for information. When will you tour California, one asks, adding, "Bring Killville to the 'innocent' folks out west." Another message on the site's Angry Board suitably gets a little testy: "How many times do I have to tell you to cover 'Death of a Clown' ... Now just do it." And a lonesome listener wants another show down south, with this entreaty: "p.s. Ryan can break into your van again if you need his services again."

Between tour dates, there's plenty of Angry Johnny & The Killbillies arcana at this site to mollify the angry. They can take a walk through the Killville section and soak up the dark, Appalachian, "white trash" murder and misfortune that this band's songs chronicle, in a mix that's been likened to punk-country. Angry Johnny is a master of a rustic black comedy that steeps in a growing medium of Pabst Blue Ribbon and Jack Daniels.

A Lyrics section offers all the unsteady words from "Hankenstein," the band's 1996 release. "Mr. Undertaker" begins

Hey Mr. Undertaker do me a big favor

Make me look good because I'm going for a ride

Hey Mr. Embalmer I did a number with my revolver

Can you put my head together, cause I'm going for a ride

Four years later, the band is making two free songs available by download at the site, "If You Buy Me a Jack Daniels" and "Ain't What It Used To Be."

Along with making music, Angry Johnny wields a paintbrush quite well and you can see (and offer to buy) many of his works on the site's Angry Art section, including pieces created for the band Dinosaur Jr. I especially like his "Pale Dude Laughing at the Sun," which he's offering for, and don't take this at face value, $1,800.

See if you can find one biological oddity - the carnivorous Berkshire Mountain Monkey, a skeletal photo of which is provided along with text and what's reputed to be a Nonotuck Indian saying: "If you meet the little devil of the hills, put aside your spear and your bow. You cannot defeat the beast with fire for eyes. Kneel and sing your death song." Yes, people have been dying in Angry Johnny's world for centuries. Like every great band site, this one's soaked in myth and never breaks character.