Tracks Brakes On You

Mid-seventies Boston and a new local music scene was being forged in defiant opposition to tired arena acts and disco. Jeff (Mono Man) Connolly and JJ Rassler powered DMZ, while John Felice led the Real Kids on stripped down rockers inspired by 60s garage bands. On the darker side, Tracks’ Lorry Doll growled and spit out the lyrics to “Gang War Rumble,” “I Don’t Need You” and “Love Is (Bondage and Leather).” Co-founded with fellow art student/guitarist Jeff Rey, Lorry and Tracks joined a handful of other bands at the infamous Rat igniting Boston’s new music scene; just as Television, the Ramones, Talking Heads and others were doing the same in New York. Some called it punk or new wave, but it really was the birth of an alternative form of original expression that not only influenced and inspired subsequent bands coming out of these two cities, but also impacted all music that was to follow. In 1976 Tracks recorded a live set at the Club in Cambridge and released “Brakes on You” as a single on Blue Door Records. Picked up by Bomp for international distribution, it garnered Tracks worldwide notoriety. By the end of 1978, bolstered by airplay for the single, Tracks were playing most of their gigs in New York at legendary punk venues like CBGB’s and Max’s Kansas City. Sharing the bill with renown acts like the Police and the Jam and every other ‘hot new act’ that was coming through the East Coast, Doll and Rey knew they would have to make the move to NYC sooner or later. It came on Christmas day in December of that year. They returned to Boston for one final raucous gig with