A bill from the early 80s

JFA and Angry Samoans presented their punk rock classics at the House of Blues in the Sunset Strip. A bill reminiscent of the early 80s California hardcore punk scene with the addition of newer bands such as Death Punch and The Casualties.

At 7:00 p.m., the doors opened to hundreds of youngsters attire in classic punk bands shirts and spiky hairs. While waiting in line, Metal Mike, lead singer of The Angry Samoans, approached some of the attendees with a punk rock game to give out some free Samoans shirts.

In the background, some well-known punk bands sounded as fans continue to filled up the venue. Around 8:00 pm, local band Death Punch appeared. They looked sort of like The Casualties but sounded like generic punk with emo vocals and breakdowns. Their highlight was the Operation Ivy standard "Knowledge".

The main dish were definitely Arizona's skate-punk pioneers JFA. Dozens of kids circle pitted to classics such as "Out of School", "Jodie Foster's Army", "Beach Blanket Bongout" and "Preppy". Brian Brannon, the lead singer, played some keyboards during their surf tunes that slowed down the atmosphere quite a bit after several skate punk songs. Their mythical guitar player, Don Redondo, sponsored by "Independent trucks" clothing blasted that guitar like it was an early 80s show. Pure surf, skate and hardcore punk.

After the highlight of the show, came one of the true power houses of the L.A. punk scene, The Angry "Motherfuckin" Samoans. Metal Mike, Bill Vockeroth and cia rocked all their hits "Gas Chambers", "Todd Killings", "Light's Out", "Homosexual", "Hot Cars" and "Right Side of my mind" to hundreds of cheering punkers. Mike and Bill switch between drums and vocals as usual. And to add more greatness, they played two covers: "Slave to my dick" (Canadian Subhumans) and "Wasted" (Black Flag). Punk Rock as its finest.

We left after that and did not saw the "headliners", The Casualties. I have seen them in other occasions and didn't want to hear the same song for an entire hour. Anyhow, great punk show with JFA and Angry Samoans sets.

Professional Punks

Y no me refiero a la canción de los legendarios hc-punks canadienses Stretch Marks sino a varios personajes que han formado parte de la historia del punk rock y hoy en día son profesionales en diversos campos como el derecho, la contabilidad o profesores catedráticos en universidades:


Joe Escalante-baterista fundador de The Vandals en 1981 y después bajista y único miembro original de los reformados Vandals. Se graduó de Loyola Law School y fungió por varios años como abogado del entertainment business.










Greg Graffin-cantante y fundador de Bad Religion en 1980.Tiene un PhD de Cornell University y actualmente da clases de ciencias en UCLA.














Metal Mike Saunders-guitarrista/cantante fundador de Angry Samoans y baterista de VOM y Fried Abortions, entre otros grupos. Graduado de la Universidad de Arkansas en contabilidad ,hoy en día trabaja como contable y sigue tocando en los reformados Samoans con Bill Vockeroth (baterista) como únicos miembros originales.








Lyle Preslar-guitarrista principal de Minor Threat. Fue director de Caroline Records y alto ejecutivo de Elektra y Sire Records. En el 2007, se graduó de Rutgers School of Law en Newark.













Milo Aukerman-cantante principal de los Descendents. Tiene un PhD en bio-química de la Universidad de Wisconsin-Madison. Actualmente se dedica a experimentar en el laboratorio.







Mugger-roadie de Black Flag y cantante del Nig Heist. Se graduó de Master's Degree con 3.95 de GPA y trabaja como CPA en una gran firma. Imparte clases universitarias a tiempo parcial.









Estos son algunos ,pero debe haber muchos más en la comunidad internacional de punks. El estereotipo del punk no future y que muere de sobredosis de heroína cada vez esta más lejos de ser la norma , porque hoy en día los old punks estudian y se hacen de carreras y los new punks van a la universidad a estudiar y hacerse de trabajos profesionales. Ya Milo lo dijo en Suburban Home del Milo Goes to College del 82' de los Descendents : "I don't want no hippie pad ,I want a house just like mom and dad".

Some random memories...

Angry Samoans en directo@ Pomona ,California.Octubre 2005.Pic by YGC."Metal" Mike Saunders(lead singer) y Bill Vockeroth(batero/vocales) de los Angry Samoans con moi.Pomona,California.Oct 2005.Pic by MCJT.V. Smith (leader de los legendarios Adverts)en directo @ Pomona,California.Octubre 2005.Pic by YGC
Io y Greg Hetson (guitarra de Bad Religion/Circle Jerks/Red Cross) en Orlando,FL.Julio 2004.Pic by PA
7 seconds en directo @ Ft.Lauderdale,FL.Julio 1999.Pic by YGC
Los miembros originales de los Panty Sniffers@Deep River.Fall 2001.Pic courtesy of Andrew Nieto.