Dec. 16: Jonee Earthquake headlines a ‘Punk Rock Xmas’ party at The Shaskeen

MANCHESTER, NH – The holidays always bring an assortment of festive gatherings. It’s the prime time to go out with friends, have a few drinks and catch up over friendly conversation. It’s also a great time to experience some live music and there’s going to be quite a show happening at The Shaskeen Pub & Restaurant in Manchester on December 16. It’s the Jonee Earthquake Punk Rock Xmas with him and his band being joined by The Graniteers, Presidential Disgrace, Kermit’s Finger and Ragz To Stitchez. It’s also free admission, so if you’re looking for a night on the town without breaking the bank then this is ideal.

Earthquake and I had a talk ahead of the show about his unique fashion sense, performing on the beach this past summer, what people can expect when they show up to The Shaskeen this Saturday night and his plans for the start of next year.

If You Go

Venue: Shaskeen Pub (shaskeenirishpub.com)

Address: 909 Elm Street  Manchester, NH 03101

Follow Jonee Earthquake on Facebook

Rob Duguay: While performing, you sing and play guitar while wearing a pirate hat and a pair of Chuck Taylors with one shoe colored green and the other colored red. What initially gave you the idea to start wearing a pirate hat and do you have a collection of them or do you just own one?

Jonee Earthquake: I do have several pirate hats, I wear them all the time and I’ve been wearing them since the late ‘90s. I like the style and I’ve been wearing the two-tone Chucks since the ‘70s. One time I happened to be in Venice and the gondoliers switched over to wearing tricorn hats for the festival and carnival season. A lot of the shops there sold tricorn hats so I tried one on, I liked it and I got addicted.

RD: When it comes to your shoes and when you need to get a new pair, do you buy a separate pair of green Chucks and a separate pair of red ones or do you get them custom-made?

JE: Red Chucks are very easy to find while green Chucks always come in and out of popularity. They don’t make them all the time, but every once in a while they’ll come up with a new shade of green. The green color will change but the red always stays the same, and I always make sure that I have a steady supply of green and red Chucks.

RD: This past summer, you and your band performed right on North Hampton Beach during a hot day in August. I saw a clip from it where you guys were performing “Perseverance On Mars,” so how did you make that happen? Did you have to file for a permit before setting up your instruments and playing some tunes?

JE: We’ve been doing it for a couple years, sometimes we just show up and start playing. We often play up in Rye Beach, there’s this organization called the Surfrider Foundation who hire us to perform at their beach cleanup events. When we perform in North Hampton, that’s sort of our practice run before we go do our thing at the beach cleanup.

RD: Very cool. What can people expect from the “Punk Rock XMas” when they show up at The Shaskeen? Is there anything taking place outside of the music in terms of contests or anything like that?

JE: Around a decade or two ago, we used to always play these punk rock shows in VFWs, Elks lodges and places like that. There were these 10 band shows where each band would play a 20-minute set while alternating on two stages. We’re trying to recapture that all-ages aspect of punk rock, which is hard to do in a club. We’re squeezing in five bands, which isn’t the usual when it comes to a club atmosphere. There are usually four at the most, so there will be short sets and folks will get to hear five different bands throughout the course of the night.

It’s also free. Not all the shows at The Shaskeen are free, but we definitely wanted to make this a free show. It’s a great opportunity for people to check out a bunch of bands from around the area, not just in Manchester. Ragz To Stitchez are from Boston and Presidential Disgrace are from Bangor, Maine, so there’s going to be a bit of variety rather than a few local bands.

RD: That’s awesome. After the show, what are some of your plans for 2024? Are you going to be working on any new recordings or do you have any gigs lined up over the next few months?

JE: We do have around four or five gigs already lined up, but I think January and February will probably tend to be fairly quiet. Bands are usually afraid to book shows during that time because of snow and things getting canceled, so I expect the rest of the winter to be a little bit quiet. As far as recordings, earlier this year we put out a full-length record of 21 songs on vinyl and we also put out a Christmas 45 on vinyl so I’m not sure if we’re going to be releasing anything else in the near future. We’re probably going to be stockpiling tracks for the next release, whenever that is, maybe later in 2024 or sometime in 2025. We’ll see what happens.