It’s been a tough couple of years for James Dewees.
The front man and keyboardist for the Kansas City-based punk band Reggie and the Full Effect has gone through a divorce as well as a stint in rehab for substance abuse. Still, Dewees proved that he hasn’t lost his sense of humor when he took the stage Tuesday night at the Triple Rock Social Club, sporting a black and pink Hannah Montana t-shirt.
“I was in Walmart the other day when I saw this shirt and thought to myself, ‘Fuck yes. A 15-year-old skank-in-training—that’s my shirt right there,’” Dewees explained of the fashion statement.
The show, part of what many have speculated is the band’s final outing (probably due in part to the fact that they named the tour, “The Farewell Tour”) was in support of the band’s first new album in nearly three years, Last Stop: Crappy Town. The record has a noticeably darker, more serious feel than past albums, as it chronicles Dewees’ journey through rehab, using the New York City subway system as a metaphor for his road to recovery.
Still, the band chose to keep things light, pulling material from every album in their collection with a performance full of crowd-pleasing hits including “Congratulations Smack & Katie,” “Girl, Why’d You Run Away?” and “Get Well Soon.” Dewees even took the time to sprinkle in a few tracks from his musical alter-egos Fluxuation (a British techno-pop outfit) as well as Common Denominator (a Finnish industrial metal band, complete with ‘80s-style rocker wigs and bad accents).
In addition to the band’s blistering 60-minute set, Dewees maintained a tight rapport with the small yet passionate crowd, taking time out to discuss everything from Steven Seagal’s hair, cocaine and some of his favorite memories from past shows at the Triple Rock.
“I played here with the Get Up Kids a few years back, and I ate like four chili dogs before we went on, and then I spent the rest of the night doing cocaine and drinking Jack Daniels. It was like a bomb went off in my asshole and I was totally wired up and felt it explode.”
As the night came to a close (at a very all-ages friendly time of 9:30), the crowd filtered out into the streets, having experienced the entire 10-year history of Reggie in one evening. Whether or not this truly is the final stop for the band, Dewees can take comfort in knowing that he gave his hardcore Minneapolis fans a fitting curtain call to a career that can be summed up in one word—awesome. (And a little weird. But mostly awesome.)
