Sons Of Death Rough Francis Headline Middle East Up Friday

For the last few decades the phrase "The Sons Of Death" has meant one thing and one thing only here at Clicky Clicky HQ. That was the name of the group of street toughs that escorted Arthur Fonzarelli, a/k/a "The Fonz," to a dental appointment in this episode of the popular American television series "Happy Days." The dentist, incidentally, may have been played by the great Joe Don Baker, if our memory serves. But we digress. The same year "Happy Days" was introduced to the idiot box, the Detroit-based proto-punk act Death recorded a demo tape and thereafter developed a cult following that has now exploded in the wake of Drafthouse Films' excellent 2012 rockumentary "A Band Called Death." It's an amazing story about a punk act that couldn't get a break, that couldn't get the respect they deserved, because the industry just wouldn't support a band called Death comprised of black men playing heavy, raw guitar music. If you haven't seen the film, we recommend you do.

But we're still one step removed from where we're going with this blog post, because, you see, one of the guys in Death, Bobby Hackney, had three sons -- the literal sons of Death. And they, along with some associates, have got a garage-punk band of their own called Rough Francis. And they rock. Rough Francis operates out of Burlington, Vermont and play brawlers like "Not A Nice Guy" and the more swinging "Black And Red." And, as the title of this blog post suggests, the band will topline a late bill (10PM doors) upstairs at the Middle East in Cambridge, MA this Friday. Our operatives report that Rough Francis was amazing at their last area appearance at Charlestown's Tavern At The End Of The World, when the act was out supporting the release of its debut long-player Maximum Soul Power. After the Middle East date the Vermonters head to Brooklyn to play an all-ages CMJ show at Klub Europa. Maximum Soul Power is available as an LP or compact disc right here, and as a digital download via Bandcamp. Stream the record via the embed below -- we strongly advise going straight to track two, the blinder "I-90 East" -- and click through to purchase.

Rough Francis: Internerds | Facebook