GV30: TSOL, Bad Religion and Youth Brigade @ Santa Monica Civic

TSOL, Bad Religion, Youth Brigade and three opening acts played at Day II of the Golden Voice 30th Anniversary show. A full capacity crowd at the legendary venue, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, for a night reminiscent of an old school SoCal punk rock bill. Several generations of punk enthusiasts gathered for this larger-than-life event presented by legendary rocknroll show producer, Gary Tovar.

The first act was a lousy band called A Pretty Mess. Female-led generic punk that left everyone wanting the headliners as soon as possible. The second worse thing, aside of this, was hearing a Ramones-only soundtrack between bands. A lack of variety that reminded us that definitely, the best was yet to come.

Mystic Records 80s outfit, The Grim, hit the stage for their blend of hardcore surf punk that set the tone for the rest of the night. Fast songs with potent guitar riffs that initiated circle pitters to wreck shit up. Things to highlight were the tallest bass player ever and the lead singer throwing out their entire merch to the crowd.

Sin 34, the female-fronted 80s hc band, came next. Led by singer Julie Lanfeld and drummer Dave Markey (from We Got Power Films fame), they blasted songs from their classic "Do You Feel Safe". It was so good to hear live, a sort of underrated band from that era.

After this, arrived one of the main dishes of the feast, Youth Brigade. 2/3 of The Stern Bros, Shawn and Mark, accompanied by two young guns to play all their classics. "Blown Away", "Modest Proposal", "Men in Blue", "Fight to Unite", "Violence" and they ended their set with singalong classic "Sink with Kalifornja"(in the latter, the remaining Stern brother Adam as well as producer Gary Tovar, join them on stage for the encore).

The main reason for our attendance, TSOL, brought mayhem to the stage with their presence. Lead singer Jack Grisham with a full-face of make up and a suit joined by the other original members: guitar extraordinaire Ron Emory and pounding bass player Mike Roche. Keyboard-player (Greg Kuehn) included, they passed through their classic discography with great taste. Fast punky stuff like "Superficial Love", "World War 3" and "Abolish Government" and horror punk anthems as "Sounds of Laughter", "Silent Scream" and "Wash Away" kick some major ass. Grisham's witty and irreverent talk between songs stand them out as great punkrock performers, a thing musicians in general lack. Their classic necrophiliac tune "Code Blue" ended their round set like a bomb.

Bad Religion closed the fest with an hour-long wall of sound full of their 3 decades repertoire. "Fuck Armageddon, This is Hell", "Do What You Want", "You Are the Government" heated up thousands of kids, old timers and walk ins. Their 3 guitar attack of Hetson (Circle Jerks), Baker (Minor Threat) and Gurewitz (Epitaph Records) was outstanding. Graffin (UCLA professor) and Bentley (original bassist) completed the full five-man front row performance. Songs like "I want to conquer the World", "Modern Man" and "Supersonic" continued the singalong extravaganza. Finally, to time travel to the eighties decade, they played never-before stuff from their first album. This was a great way to end this show because it completely fulfilled the purpose of showing the attendees how was punk rock back in the day. As Gary Tovar said: "Don't ever underestimate the power of Bad Religion".

Post Scriptum: This fest started on Friday with X, Adolescents and Social D. and ends on Sunday with Descendents, Dickies and Vandals.

Filmage: The Story of the DESCENDENTS

Very stoked for a documentary about the DESCENDENTS.

Julieta Venegas @ Bakersfield, CA

Mexican indie pop icon, Julieta Venegas, played at the Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield, CA. We made a 2 hour road trip from Los Angeles with our good friends Carlos and Zoey to watch some catchy pop tunes sung in Spanish.

We arrived at 8:00 pm to the venue where Korn (actually, they hail from this city) launched there 2006 World Tour [sounds random but we acknowledge it because they had a commemorative plaque outside the venue].

This convention center had several events at the same time (like Disney on Ice) but our venue was a medium-sized theater with seats. It was kind of empty but Julieta's performance was well worth it. She was accompanied by 6 all-around musicians (two kick ass chicks included) who changed guitars, keyboards, trumpets and other instruments between themselves.

They delivered a very warm and intimate set which reminded me of Belle and Sebastian's DC gig back in Oct 2010. The comparison came to my mind because it was a lot of musicians and instruments on-stage delivering beautiful music. The difference was that it was done with a very mexican flavor to it. In addition, the drummer played with only one stick during the entire set, which was very cool. The interaction between the band and the public was very good.

Julieta sang hits such as Canciones de Amor, Eres para mí (in which she rapped Anita Tijoux's verses), Lento, Amores Perros Me Van A Matar (from the classic Iñarritu film soundtrack), Debajo de mi lengua, Me Voy, Ya Conocerán (which she announced will have a music video soon), Algo Está Cambiando and a cover of La Jaula de Oro by Los Tigres del Norte.

After an hour and a half, the band left the stage but returned to sang their last three songs Revolución, Sin Documentos and Andar Conmigo. Overall it was a great show, full of her hits. Even though it was a very small audience, Julieta and his backing band played with tons of energy. Definitely would see Julieta Venegas again but never going back to Korn's hometown.

Early 80s gems

Here's some rare videos from early 80s bands.

JFA-Little Big Man, 1983 at The Mad Gardens in Phoenix, AZ


Agression-Money Machine, 1984 L.A. Olympic Auditorium


Descendents-Catalina, Hey Hey, Bikeage and Jean is Dead, Early 80s. Milo with a Bad Brains shirt. Same footage as Flipside Video Fanzine Vol. 1 but with more songs.

2011 Eagle Rock Music Festival

The 13th Annual Eagle Rock Music Festival was held at the infamous Colorado Boulevard featuring music acts from electronica to rock, passing through hip hop and singer/songwriters. Upcoming and established groups from L.A. and beyond for all musical tastes. Rooney, the indie rock band featuring the youngest Schwartzman-Coppola, was headlining and were joined by other eclectic acts like Fuxedos or Barrio Tiger.

Since we live in the same neighborhood, we made a half hour walk to where the action was happening. After some oinkster pastrami fix, we head to the Razorcake stage to see the almighty Fuxedos.

This band is no joke in terms of their genius (although, any normal-type person can see them as a "joke band"). One of the most entertaining acts I have seen in my lifetime (with the permission of The Adicts or Belle and Sebastian). Theatrics combined with almost every prop unimaginable, accompany the sonic delivery which crosses boundaries so diverse as punk, jazz, country, opera, metal and any kind of sound from the musical spectrum. Their encore of The Beatles "I wanna hold your hand" fits perfectly the latter description.

Musicians followed singer Diabolical Danny Shorago like an orchestra follows a director. This says much of a band that changes from city to city (L.A. and S.F., different bands with same singer). After their jaw-dropping performance rock, we saw just a couple of tunes by Barrio Tiger and walked to the farthest stages to catch Rooney.

At the Kingsize stage, we awaited for Robert Coppola Schwartzman's band. A lot of underage girls began filling nearby the stage as if it was a Backstreet Boys concert circa 1999. The peak was their new upbeat single "Holdin On" and their hit "When Did Your Heart Go Missing", this one shortened because of the 11:00 pm curfew.

The highlights were Rooney, Fuxedos, the $1 cupcakes, free good clean fun for all the family and the closeness to my crib. The downgrades were Rooney's set cut off and annoying drunk teenagers hanging out instead of seeing the bands. 7/10 stars for the ERMF.

Drive: Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn

Drive is the new film of danish director Nicolas Winding Refn. Starring are Ryan Gosling as a movie stunt driver, Carey Mulligan as his love interest, Bryan Cranston as Gosling's boss and Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman as the L.A. crime bosses.

Driver lives a quiet life between his two jobs as a movie stunt driver and a mechanic in a car repair shop. Because of his badass driving skills, sometimes at night, he works as a getaway driver in heists.

In his apartment building lives Irene with his son Benicio, both with whom Driver has began a heartfelt friendship that adds spice to his apparently boring life existence.
When Benicio's dad comes back from jail and needs to do a last roobery in order to pay for a crime debt, Driver helps him but things get out of hand and everything goes downward spiral after this. A bloodshed tour de force that can only be stop by Driver's love for Irene.

The film builds up with an intensity that at the end seems like a whole different movie. The main character who at the beginning speaks in monosyllables and smiles at the end becomes a bad-ass vigilante type, so cold-blooded that scares his love interest away. Gosling's performance is marvelous. He perfectly incarnates an oxymoron (an almost innocent cold blooded slasher).

A movie that combines gore and romance in a non-formulaic way can't go wrong. It is a very entertaining flick which will probably earn Gosling an Oscar nomination. Movie and TV stars like Cranston (Breaking Bad) , Brooks (Weeds) and Perlman (Sons of Anarchy) make a great supporting cast with badass performances as well. Go see it if you are into ironic-type characters, gore or action-packed films. Avoid it, if you are looking for a romantic happy ending type. 4 out of 5 stars.

2011 FYF Fest=DESCENDENTS

DESCENDENTS headlined the 2011 FYF Fest at the L.A. Historic Park in downtown Los Angeles. The SoCal kings of hardcore-punk-pop played for the second time in their hometown after more than a decade. In addition, other great acts such as OFF, Dead Milkmen, Kid Dynamite, Weakerthans, Guided by Voices and Cults played across the four stages named after our four favorite famous painters.

After watching a couple of decent bands such as Tijuana Panthers and Ty Segall in "Michaelangelo" and "Donatello", came one of the most anticipated bands by ourselves, OFF. This kick-ass band features legendary Black Flag and Circle Jerks lead singer, Mr. Keith Morris, and Steven McDonald from Red Kross. Hardcore Punk with an early 80s sound that provoked a couple of fights and broken noses at the ferocious circle pit. Songs like "Fuck People", "Peace in Hermosa" and "Jeffrey Lee Pierce", the latter dedicated to Gun Club's lead singer with whom Keith used to hang out at Chinatown's Hong Kong Cafe in the early 80s.

Then we went to the main stage aka "Leonardo" to see Cults, an indie band, who for my surprise sounded very neat. Catchy vocal harmonies and mellow songs that invited to chill out after OFF's energetic set. During their repertoire, a huge California Republic flag waved as the sunset started to go down.

We continued across the other side of the park to the isolated "Raphael" stage to see the Weakerthans and Kid Dynamite. After passing the merch booths of Amoeba Music, RevHQ and LA Weekly, we sat down to see Canadian folksy punks The Weakerthans. Good overall set with no major anecdotes.

The highlight of this stage came next with Philly Hardcore Punk legends Kid Dynamite. Old school hardcore anthems interpolated with melodic punk songs that invited to circle pit and stage dive. Almost during their entire set, lead vocalist Jason was singing at the space between the stage and the pit. Their sound sent me back through time to the late 90s hardcore punk scene. At this point: sun, fun and Raybans were gone and a kinda cold night was awaiting us.

After that, headed back to the main stage to prepare for the almighty fucking Descendents which was the main reason we were in this fest (our last one being 2008's Cultura Urbana). We sat down to see Broken Social Scene through the giant screens. Their set was ok and then it was the turn of 80s Ohio indie rockers Guided by Voices.

We took advantage and saw their entire set in the first row. They played some good punk-sounding stuff. Neither great nor bad, but served to see first hand, Bill Stevenson setting up his drum set. The excitement was reaching its highest point.

The clock ticked at 9:40 pm when Milo Aukerman, Bill Stevenson, Stephen Egerton and Karl Alvarez a.k.a. DESCENDENTS came on stage. They began with the song "Descendents" who excited thousands of screaming fans who were there to see history in the making. Milo put on a Dodgers cap that the crowd threw at him and sang the hymns of every album (the song selection was perfect).

Songs like "Pervert", "I like food", "Silly Girl", I'm not a looser", "Sour Grapes", "Bikeage", "Hope", "Rotting Out", "I'm the One", "Coffee Mug", "I don't wanna grow up", "Suburban Home", "Van", "Clean Sheets", among others completed their 1 hour set.

At the stage you could see Matt Skiba, Fat Mike or Fletcher from Pennywise singing as every other fan who was there. One of the highlights was during "All-O-Gistics" that a couple of young kids (I supposed some of their sons) recited some funny-as-hell postulates made for the occasion. In "Hope", Dr. Milo Aukerman went down to the pit to sang with his fans.

The constant stage diving and singalongs helped the South Bay legends make the best set of live-music I have ever seen. I waited 15 years for this and it was all worth it. It was perfection defined.

As good as it gets, we went back to the tiny isolated stage for the Dead Milkmen performance. They opened with their classic "Tiny Town" and continue with a couple more, such as "Punk Rock Girl". Good set but we were tired as fuck and needed to walk almost 2 miles through downtown to get back to our vehicle. After 12 hours of sun, fun, good music, organic food, attention-whore hipsters, punk rock and DESCENDENTS, I slept with a big smile on my face.

Hardcore Punk Pioneers: Rhino 39

Long Beach's Rhino 39 are definitely one of the first hardcore punk bands ever. They formed in 1976 and released their classic EP "Prolixin Stomp/No Compromise" in 1979. Shortly after, lead singer Dave Dacron died in a car crash.

Some might say is The Middle Class, the Bad Brains or even The Neos from Canada but Rhino 39 were one of the first punks to began playing faster drum beats and guitar rhythms. Enjoy the vid!

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.

Lewd Conduct in L.A.

The Lewd, a legendary 77' punk outfit from San Francisco (via Seattle), has played at The Redwood Bar & Grill in Downtown Los Angeles. The bill was completed by Old School L.A. punkers RF7 and two relatively new bands called Rough Kids and Neon Maniacs.

Everything was unpredictable for many reasons. Starting with the venue, a tiny restaurant/bar near the LA Times building, who improvised a stage putting out some dinning tables. Continued by the arrival of dozens of punks from the oldest, not-so-new or new scene, as the entire Rhino Records "No Thanks" served as prelude.

Around 10:00 pm, The Rough Kids started blasting their upbeat 77' punk. They probably rip off stage every other band that follow them. Catchy songs, tight drumming and in-your-face guitar rhythm that even included the Simpletones tune "I Like Drugs". Their sound remind me of a cross between The Stitches and The Crowd, so definitely worth checking out.

Neon Manics came up next. Their sound was very lo-fi garage punk with raunchy backing vocals and loud guitars. It was a very energetic set with tons of attitude. They somehow reminded me of The Webelos from Spain with their out of tune vocals. So far, so good.

Then, RF7 entered the stage with original vocalist Felix and guitarrist Nick. SoCal early hardcore punk with heartfelt songs. They played hits such as "Raised on Heroin" and "Fuck Money", in during which the vocalist burned a one dollar bill. Their set was one of the highlights of the show.

Past midnight, The Lewd appeared featuring vocalist J. Satz Baret and guitarrist Blobbo. Satz, who looked very old and fucked-up, babbled the songs while the band played sloppier versions of their classics "Climate of Fear", "Trash Can Baby", "Mobile Home", "(Go To Hell In) Hollywood" and "Fight".

For $8 dollars, it was a good show but definitely expected to hear The Lewd classics' better performed. Anyway is punk rock, so fuck it.

NOFX pays tribute to 80s hardcore punk

In the vein of great covers' albums such as Slayer's Undisputed attitude, Ratos de Porão's Feijoada acidente? (International), Guns N' Roses' Spaghetti Incident and The Hives' Tarred and Feathered Ep, NOFX has released an 80s hardcore punk cover's album with classic songs from Battalion of Saints, Stretch Marks (Canada), Necros, D.O.A, Agnostic Front, Urban Waste, Rebel Truth, Sin 34 and Social Unrest. This 9-song ep is only on vynil.

Also, NYHC outfit H2O will release a punk covers album called "Don't Forget Your Roots" with songs from Ramones, Dag Nasty, Madball, Rancid, Circle Jerks, Descendents, Cro-Mags, Bad Brains, The Clash, Government Issue, Verbal Assault, Gorilla Biscuits, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, 7 Seconds, Embrace, Social Distortion, Sick of it All and Warzone.

Get NOFX's Hardcore covers Ep and be on the look for H2O's release this fall.

Agent Orange at Madrid

Agent Orange, the surf-punk legends from Orange County, played at the Wurlitzer Ballroom in the spanish capital. The opening act was The Shitty Limits from the United Kingdom who played energetic hardcore-punk ala Surf Nazis Must Die. Their singer was within the crowd roaring the fast skate-punk blasts as the rest of the band lay on stage to play rapid fire guitar riffs and out-of-control drums. Very impressive band. After this good set, came the spanish heavy rock/punk band Zero 5 who played a couple of tunes reminiscent of Motorhead, but not that good.

At last, came the southern california power trio lead by vocalist/guitarist Mike Palm. They sounded tight and powerful even though the venue's sound is not the best. Their usual instrumental surf tunes were between the faster punk songs. Some of the songs played were "Bloodstains", "Too young too die" (dedicated to the late Lux Interior of The Cramps), "The Last Goodbye", "No Such Thing", "Living in darkness", "Pipeline" and "I kill spies". Also they played two covers: "Police Truck" by the Dead Kennedys and "Message from the Underworld" by The Weirdos. Great set overall, energetic as it gets but with some chill out surf tunes to listen.

Picture by MCJ Photography (c).

Adolescents regresan a Madrid

The Adolescents se presentaron por segundo año consecutivo en la capital española como parte de su gira europea de invierno. El escenario fue la pequeña sala, Wurlitzer Ballroom, en el mismo centro de Madrid. Como acto de apertura tocó la banda local, Muletrain, (que también le abrieron el concierto del año pasado) que tocaron por casi una hora un punk-trash con letras en inglés; el sonido se escuchaba bastante mal y no se pudo apreciar muy bien su música. Después entraron los Adolescents con Tony en las voces y Steve en el bajo, con un nuevo baterista, un guitarrista que tocó en Joyride y el guitarrista jovencito. Empezaron con “No Way”, “Monsanto”, “Who is who” y tocaron los clásicos “Amoeba”, “Creatures”, “Word Attack”, “Rip it Up”, “Democracy”, “Wrecking Crew”, “Kids of the Blackhole”, “California Sun” , “I hate children” y algunas más. La mayoría del público tarareaba las letras pero se les veía motivados con estas leyendas del punk californiano.

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.