Sun- Sep 28, 2008 – T.S.O.L. w/ Hollowpoints & Gonzo Fiction – Karma – Victorville, CA

TSOL live at the Casbah in San Diego

In general punk rock reunion shows are often a crap shoot. It seems that a lot of bands get back together in order to make money or resolve some sort of collective mid life crisis. However over the years it has become clear that seeing TSOL is always a good bet. Their success can be attributed to two factors; the first being that they don't try to recreate their chaotic past and the second being that they never take themselves too seriously. If they were to try to be what they were in the 1980's the members of TSOL would either be dead or simply embarrass themselves. If they were to revel in their own egos they would ultimately become a horrible self parody. Instead they do what they are capable of- playing songs that every one loves (whether or not they can completely remember how to play them) and laughing at themselves the whole way through. None of this is said to discount their musicianship as TSOL still have their chops and for the most part they are a tight unit. It just means that if they do have a musical "blooper" they don't freak out or even try to cover it up. In true punk rock fashion they make fun of themselves and if anyone gives them attitude about it vocalist Jack Grisham will make sure to berate them for everyone to see.

On Saturday night the band played a familiar set list of songs like "Abolish Government," "Superficial Love," and "Dance With Me." They also threw in a few more obscure tunes like "Wash Away" and a cover of the Damned's "Politics," which has always seemed like the most appropriate cover that TSOL could do. Of course the club, which was packed despite the lack of fanfare, erupted in slam dancing through most of the set. In between songs every moron in the audience requested "Code Blue" despite the fact that they were promised that the band would play the song at the end of the set as they always do. After fulfilling their promise to play their anthem Grisham stormed off stage and walked a few blocks away before returning to play "Man and Machine" as an encore.

Despite the band's threats to break up we are lucky to have TSOL still doing things the right way- playing their music the way that they want to and keeping their egos in check. As they demonstrated at the Casbah they are not afraid to play small clubs and bars where they have to be close enough to smell the crowd and answer hecklers in the audience. They thrive on this energy and still never disappoint. As long as there is a TSOL punk rock will always be fun.  TSOL MySpace:  www.myspace.com/tsol


-Ditch-

For a photo gallery of past TSOL shows go HERE

 

What went down at the Biacci’s show with Narcoleptic Youth w/ Tone Junkies, Disguster, Noise Attack & Slow Children

This report comes to us from Joey Bondage of  Narcoleptic Youth on what happened last night.


haha. Strange night. Total bummer for some. And then...ended up being cool for SOME others.

As I was driving out there, I got a call from Nick saying that the door guy was giving him hassles about putting his brother on as a band member. His brother was selling merch for us...WORKING for us, and the door guy was insisting that we put him on as a "GUEST". Totally lame. We only had a whopping 5 guests to begin with. As soon as I heard this, I said, "Oh boy. Here we go. It's one of 'THOSE' clubs that don't know what the hell they're doing." I've seen it a million times before. It equals PROBLEMS. Usually including bouncers that beat the shit out of kids for slam dancing although in their defense, I didn't see that on this particular occasion. But it was that kind of "we don't know what the hell we're doing" vibe. Not good.

I got there a little late, maybe 8:30 or so. I missed Slow Children, but I was talking to them in the parking lot. They informed me that the club owner was tripping out on the slam dancing that was going on and making the kids stop. I guess they said, "Fuck Biacci's" or something like that up on the stage and they cut their sound off and kicked them off. haha Hats off to ya Slow Children!

So while Noise Attack was playing, I was outside talking to some friends, while still enjoying their tunes. They sounded great. I didn't see what was going on inside at that point, but didn't appear to be any fights or anything. I had heard something about some bit of a fight or something at some point during the night, but I didn't witness anything. It all looked pretty mellow to me. At that point, we heard the owner come over to the door guy and tell him to STOP taking money! We were like, "HUH?". Kind of pissed me off a bit too, because part of our payment that night was supposed to be based on the door count! I couldn't figure out WHY the owner would want to STOP taking money, but we put it all together later.

When Disgustor was playing I went in to catch a few songs. They were great. I'd never seen them before, solid, rockin' Punk band. They had a little bit of a slam pit going. Nothing out of control. I guess the owner came in again and tried to stop the slam action...didn't work. Started up again. So I was back outside, this is around 10:30pm or so while Disgustor was still playing.

SO we're out in the parking lot, and Johnny Cat says to me, "Look over there." at the Aamco parking lot across the street. We see massive amounts of cop cars rolling in. Our first thought was, "hmmmmmmmmm. I wonder if somebody is robbing the Aamco?" haha We had NO idea what was about to happen! When we saw them assemble and begin walking across the street TOWARD the club with their paintball (pepperspray) guns and riot gear, then we knew that WE were the guests of honor at the Upland Policeman's Ball! Everybody was in COMPLETE disbelief because the show was TOTALLY under control. There weren't any major brawls that I saw. No meat-heads, just bands and kids. There wasn't even any drinking in the parking lot, no loitering, nothing. Everybody was either inside or chillin' on the outdoor patio area having a good time. Doors were shut, no noise level problems...nuthin!

So immediately, the owner walks out there and talks to them and comes back, gets up on a table on the outdoor patio and announces that the show is over and everybody has to leave or get arrested. Meanwhile, Disgustor was still playing inside and the inside patrons had no idea what was going on outside. So the people slowly begin to filter out of the patio area. Once the patio area was cleared, the police moved up to the doors of the building. I split right about then, not feeling like getting the pepper treatment. So they cleared out the inside of the building without force as far as I could tell. People were on their way out...very SLOWLY kind of wondering what the hell happened and wanting their money back since they didn't even get to see us. Cops shot off a few pepperballs at the ground as a warning to get people to "move" a little faster.

Turns out though.... it wasn't really the "cops fault" as everybody there suspected. We later put 2 and 2 together. Nick heard the OWNER MAKE THE CALL HIMSELF to have the cops come down and shut down the show! Then the rest of us saw the owner come over and tell the door guy to stop taking money (either for fear of dance club permit / citation or because he knew those people just walking up would be ULTRA pissed to pay and not see a SINGLE band). Either way, we put 2 and 2 together and found out that the OWNER was the real reason the show was shut down...not the cops. They just got the call and were doing their job. ...Giving major "attitude", but then again, when you've got to clear out a couple hundred people from a building in a short amount of time, asking sweetly doesn't really do the trick.

So I'm walking down the sidewalk toward my car...feeling like crap that our fans had to deal with this shit AGAIN (same thing happened at Fender in Fullerton) and I start talking to these kids who invite me / us to their pad to hang out. Turns out, they're in a NARCOLEPTIC YOUTH COVER BAND and know all our songs! haha So I call up the guys and we went over to their place down the street. They made some phone calls and got a PA system down there for us and we jammed out some songs in their living room. One of the guys in the cover band sat in on guitar for MiniVan Soccer Mom and did great. It was fun. We even played songs we haven't done in years, "PC 415"...very fitting for the night, and "Michael Joined the Navy".

The CRAZIEST part though.... Narcoleptic Youth has a "secret handshake"... As I was leaving, I noticed the guys in the cover band do their "secret" handshake. It was EXACTLY the same! Trip out!

 

 

Sat- Sep 27, 2008 – *** Whole Show is CANCELLED ***
The Wreck w/ Dead End Stiffs & The Outskirts – Anarchy Library – Downey, CA

Sat- Sep 27, 2008 – Million Kids w/ The Mormons,
The Thingz, Joyhnny Sixpack & Bastidas – American Legion Hall – Los Angeles, CA

Sat- Sep 27, 2008 – T.S.O.L. w/ The Hollowpoints,
Authentic Sellout & The Whiskey Dicks – The Casbah – San Diego, CA

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