Pinkerton Thugs

The Pinkerton Thugs were a punk band from Kennebunk, Maine. While the band officially became the Pinkerton Thugs in March of 1996 (taking their name from the infamous Pinkerton National Detective Agency), the band had been together since July of 1994 under a number of different names. The band, which consisted of vocalist/guitarist Micah Smaldone, drummer/vocalist Paul Russo, and bassist James Whitten drew influence from punk bands such as Sham 69, the Clash, Conflict, and Crass as well as Woody Guthrie's political ballads. They were known for their spirited live performances as well as their radical anarchist political views. Attempting to put their ideas to action, members of the band formed a now-defunct collective called the Anarchist Liberty Union which set out to distribute anarchist literature for free and establish better communication between activists. During most of the band's existence, Paul Russo was also a member of Boston band The Unseen, who the Thugs band played with often. Their recorded debut was a 7" E.P. titled "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit Of Shit" that was self-released on the band's own Police Records in the U.S. in August of 1996 and re-released by Nefer Records in Canada. In addition to that record, The Pinkerton Thugs released two full albums ("The Pain and..." on V.M.L. in 1997 and "End Of an Era" on Go-Kart in 2000) a split seven inch with the Ducky Boys, and a 7" on Go-Kart Records titled "The Times." The bands later recordings saw Paul Russo playing both drums and guitar in the studio while Tommy "Von" Gatton, who joined the band in late 1998, played drums live. Shortly after the recording of "End Of An Era" Smaldone left the band to concentrate on playing rockabilly with The Racketeers. The band played a handful of live gigs with Scott from The Unseen and Bill Brown of Crash and Burn filling in before James Lynch of The Ducky Boys joined as a permanent member. He only played one show with the band before he left to join The Dropkick Murphys and the band fizzled out, playing its last show in February of 2000 at the Karma Club in Boston, Massachusetts. "End of an Era" was released posthumously in June 2000, some 18 months after it was recorded. Following the band's demise Micah Smaldone and Tommy Von formed a hardcore band called Cops and Robbers which broke up in 2001. Smaldone has subseqeuntly released two solo folk/blues albums and played guitar with Out Cold, the Shods, and The Racketeers. Tommy Von went on to play in Cut the Shit and The Prowl. Paul Russo continued to play with The Unseen before recording his own solo music under the name Paul and The Strings.