Events

[TRIBUTE] Talk about an enthusiastic fan base—Turbojugend, which spans a two evening celebration at Mohawk Place on Friday, September 1 and Saturday, September 2, is a tribute to the Norwegian band Turbonegro, a self-proclaimed “deathpunk” outfit whose career reaches back to the late 1980’s. With an unapologetic political bent and a glammy tweak that nods to both the Stones and Bowie while also channeling the Stooges’ delightful sloppiness, Turbonegro (Turboneger in Norway) has managed the rare feat of being a singular entity in punk. While other bands may dabble in mixing similar ingredients, they’ve sustained a career of almost three decades with devoted throngs of enthusiasts all the world over — each with registered local chapters — and Buffalo is no exception. Celebrating four years of our local Turbo-lot, like-minded bands from the Northeast and Canada will perform, including Pittsburgh’s The Cheats, a hoard of bands from New Jersey (Girl, JAWS, Hot Blood, Battery Electric, Dirty), Ontario’s Wasted Potential, plus locals Governess and Pure Hell. A local one-off Turbonegro cover outfit, Turbosexual, tops Friday’s lineup. It’s a celebration befitting a band with album titles like Ass Cobra (which Jello Biafria of the Dead Kennedys has said was one of the best punk albums of the 1990’s) and Hot Cars and Spent Contraceptives. Once criticized by audiences expecting something harder from a so-called “deathpunk” band, Turbonegro responded by camping it up even harder, taking their already gay-referencing mustache-and-denim look (which earned them a Levis endorsement overseas, by the way) to the next level, upping the innuendo factor with nautical-themed outfits and a Tom of Finland motif. Too bad they can’t be here themselves, but the two-day blowout will have to suffice – bring the lube. $5 each night, festivities get going at 8pm.