New wave and hardcore were both born out of punk, more or less, but the two genres existed in completely separate worlds in the '80s. Their paths simply did not intersect, except in the form of weird little fun facts, like the story about how Belinda Carlisle was the original drummer for the Germs but she quit the band before they played any shows because she caught mono. But time has a way of erasing distinctions, and that's how we end up with a charming spectacle like Tommy Tutone frontman Tommy Heath joining Gorilla Biscuits to sing "867-5309/Jenny."
Late-'80s New York hardcore greats Gorilla Biscuits released a grand total of one 7" and one album before breaking up. For years now, they've been playing a whole lot of extremely fun reunion shows. I saw them a few years ago, and I had a blast. (Guitarist Walter Schreifels balances out those Gorilla Biscuits shows with reunion shows from his other bands Quicksand, Youth Of Today, and Rival Schools; I don't know how he does it.) This past weekend, Gorilla Biscuits played a quick run of Pacific Northwest gigs. During their Portland show, a wild Tommy Tutone appeared.
Now: Technically Tommy Tutone is a band, not a guy. But Gorilla Biscuits frontman Anthony "Civ" Civarelli, who led the band CIV after GB broke up, knows how blurry those distinctions can be. Maybe that's why Civ introduced Tommy Heath as "Tommy Tutone" when he walked out onstage with Gorilla Biscuits at Portland's Hawthorne Theatre on Sunday night. The band backed Heath up on Tommy Tutone's one big hit, the 1981 classic "867-5309/Jenny."
Look: This is just fun. It's fun to see Civ bouncing around at the side of the stage and singing harmonies. It's fun to see Schreifels nail the guitar solo. It's fun to watch the crowd shout the phone number. It's a great relief to see that no stagedivers accidentally took Heath out. According to Setlist.fm, Gorilla Biscuits proceeded directly from that song into their Minor Threat cover, which is beautiful. Watch the footage below.
