Bouncing Souls – 7 Seconds – Street Dogs at The El Rey

Got to say that we had been looking forward to this show. For one we have been huge 7 Seconds fans...and damm, we were gonna see them. The other thing is that the band Street Dogs has been growing on us, and then to see Bouncing Souls for the first time. Opening up the show was a new band to us out of Philadelphia called The Loved Ones. Really good band, kinda poppy, yet not to where it was ridiculous and found their set pretty contagious. They were like finding a cool toy in a box of Cracker Jack...nice surprise.

Yea, Street Dogs are up. We have been out to see these guys many times and this band puts on a no BS show and fully gets into it. You know when you see a band and they are rockin hard and putting their heart and soul into it just gets the blood moving more and quickly you find yourself caught up in the same fun the band is having...that is what Street Dogs are to us. They are out playing on their new 12 track record titled "Back To The World", this Boston Mass band filled this record with great tracks with our favorite being the title track, "Back To The World". We got rolled a few times trying to capture photos of these guys, the crowd never let up -but why should they...this band is bitchen!

So now we are even more stoked, just got a huge dose of Street Dogs in the ears and now it was 7 Seconds who were up...wholly Sh*t. No secret, we love this band. Been seeing these guys play since the 80's at some very epic shows back then. Hell, back in the 80's our crew made a 7 Seconds stencil that we spray painted our own shirts with and everything else. We got so carried away that we started spray painting this stencil all over town, sidewalks, bus benches, cars, walls...bad kids we were. There was even a time when being a Punk was regarded by the police as being in a gang, well one day during the usually police harassment stops the cops were asking us what we knew about a gang called 7 Seconds...haa haa haa. It was a good thing that we were facing the cop that he did not see the 7 Seconds stenciled on the back leg of your editors jeans.

7 Seconds has a new record out on SideOneDummy Records called, "Take It Back, Take It On, Take It Over!". Some of the new songs were played with plenty of the older staple tracks that included our favorite and Team Goon anthem song, "I'm Gonna Stay Young Until I Die". Their set is going down and we are just beyond stoked...ohh we already said that...but hell...we floored by the performance. We had missed these guys the last few times they came through with our crazy schedules, so this was the rebate we wanted. Just look at the photos and see for yourself. Throughout the set kids were all over the place going off....not much has changed since the 80's.

First off we have to say that we have not been the biggest fans of Bouncing Souls...not sure why...we have listened to them a bit, just never really gelled with us...maybe we are just idiots. We have been listening to their one records Maniacal Laughter for some time and then would hear some of their other recordings here and there just to break up all the music we were listening to. Like we said in the opening, this was our first time seeing these guys play live.

OK, so the set is half way though and we are feeling like idiots...this bands kicks major ass. Maybe it is something about seeing the people live, their passion and the radd show that they can throw down that can change you -and it did for us. At this point we were so glad that we did not leave after 7 Seconds. When they busted out the song "True Believers" that is from their What I Did On My Summer Vacation album...we were...DAMM...that is a powerful song...listen to it and the lyrics...that is a great Punk rock anthem.

So the show is over now and we are milling around talking with the many friends we saw at the show. Out front of the El Rey we ran into Kevin Seconds and got to chat a bit and really thank him for all the good times past and present with their music and message. We all load back into the car we parked in the alley and look for some warm half drank waters in the back seat. As we are driving down Wilshire Blvd the conversation to a big extent was about Bouncing Souls and how seeing them play live really changed our opinion of them and we felt so energized that we perhaps learned something...none of us were sure what we learned, but it was something. All we could think of was that some jerk must have gave us some half cocked thought on them and we mistakenly bought into that. Well, we are idiots for that. In closing let us share with you the lyrics from the Bouncing Souls song "True Believers" that was luckily all typed out on their website so all we had to do is cut and paste them. Kick ass song with a great message...Thanks Bouncing Souls. True Believers I've met some people along the way, some of them split some of them stay, some of them walk some walk on by, I've got a few friends I'll love till I die From all of these people I try to learn, some of them shine some of them burn, some of them rise some of them fall, for good or bad I've known them all, We live our life in our own way, never really listened to what they say, the kind of faith that doesn't fade away we are the true believers well you can fight or you can run, hide under a rock till the war is won, play it safe and don't make a sound, but not us we won't back down, true believers all the way, you and I