Cro-Mags – Outbreak – at Chain Reaction – Anahiem, CA

We arrived at the show long after it sold out and the venue was like a tropical rain forest during monsoon season. Outbreak were getting ready to go on and it was obvious that most of the people in the audience were totally stoked even though they were already drenched with sweat. Outbreak has come a long way since they first started. When they first started playing out in their home state of Maine, they were all still in high school and they would sometimes play their set twice since their songs were so short. Now they are a full on touring band with rabid fans all around the world. They certainly haven't ever slowed down and their sets always involve tons of stage dives from the audience and their singer, Ryan O'Connor alike. At this point they are a well oiled machine and they hardly ever even stop between songs. The music is still straight forward hardcore Punk played at a break neck speed.

The current version of the Cro-Mags (sometimes playing under the name Cro-Mag Jam), features John Joseph on vocals and Mackie on drums, both from the "Age Of Quarrel" lineup. They are joined by Craig Ahead (Sick Of It All/Straight Ahead) and AJ Novello from Leeway. To put it simply this band is a complete powerhouse made up of some of the best musicians in the history of hardcore.

Their current leg of shows is their second trip to Southern California within a year and so far they have never disappointed. John Joseph's energy level while on stage is through the roof, putting to shame almost any singer who is thirty years younger than him. Their set included every song off of "Age Of Quarrel," including "Seekers Of Truth," which they did not play the last time they came out. They also played two Bad Brains covers ("Right Brigade" and "Attitude") which were preceded by a short commentary on violence at Punk shows. When a member of the audience chanted "Skinhead!," J.J. responded, "I don't care if you're a skinhead; Just don't be an asshole. Doesn't matter if you have a shaved head, a mohawk, or whatever." The crowd was moving for the whole set and the band's performance was flawless.

 

-Ditch-
Big Wheel Asst. Editor

 

More photos of the show can be seen HERE

 
                                          Go HERE to see all the latest show reviews
 

 

 

Music play list for the week ending May 31, 2009

Top 25  - In no particular order -

Gaslight Anthem - Great Expectations
Descendents - Can't Go Back
Screeching Weasel - Surf Godess
Fucked up - Son the Father
Bad Brains - Rock For Light
Agression - Rich Kids
NOFX - Soul Doubt
Garbage - Special
The Raveonettes - The Great Love Sound
Too Short - Too Real
Youth Brigade - Sink with California
Danger's Close - Back to Hell
The A.G.s - I Like Boobs
No Doubt - Blue In The Face
Suicidal Tendencies - Cyco Vision
Sham 69 - Rip Off
The Briefs - Dolly Parton
Cock Sparrer - Don't Blame Us
Slaughter & the Dogs - Anthem for the Kids
Have Heart - The Worth
Jack Off Jill - My Cat
The Gonads - New Boots no Panties
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - Keep Coming To America
The Bananas - Gentrification for dummies
Tiltwheel - Another snappy song about hate
The Briggs - Maritime Tragedies
The Replacements - Swinging Party

The above list are some of the top played songs amongst our staff this week.

 

This weeks playlist brought to you by: Headline Records

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Shows and events calendar for Los Angeles, Orange County, Ventura, San Diego, San Bernardino, California and states all over the United States and the world. Complete and extended listing covering Punk, Indie, Rock, Psychobilly and more.

The Briggs – Time Again – Viva Hate – Majority Lost – at The Knitting Factory – Hollywood, CA

When summer rolls around, it means different things for a variety of people. For me, and I’m sure it’s the same for others, summer means going to shows regularly and having the time of your life, and the Time Again/Briggs show was a perfect way to start it.

I first arrived to the Knitting Factory in Hollywood, eager to hear the Rancid-esque style of Time Again and the sing-a-long anthems of the Briggs. Truth be told, I’m not usually a fan of opening bands, but Majority Lost and Viva Hate were surprising exceptions. Majority Lost came out looking youthful and casual, and riled up the crowd with their enthralling lyrics, up-beat rhythm, and catchy riffs. The fiery energy and passive vibe given off by the band warmed up the audience for the next band, Viva Hate.

Viva Hate was different from any band that played that night, in the sense that many of their songs were religious-based and written out of faith. Although this courageous act could have easily tuned the audience out from listening, Viva Hate’s fast and edgy sound, compiled of modern Psychobilly and early-80’s skate Punk, created some of the craziest pits of the night.

Before Time Again took the stage, the crowd began to grow, with a mix of different ages, genders, and even different scenes. Finally, around 9:30, Daniel Dart, Kris Idol, Oren Soffer, and Jake Margolis came out on stage as Time Again.

The raw sound of Daniel Dart’s voice took the crowd by storm, starting a massive pit and having people crowd-surf left and right. They played relatable songs about the trials and tribulations of life, such as “Outcast”, “Montreal (Street Kids)”, and “Broken Bodies”, which had the crowd singing along with their fists clenched in the air as they sang along. After firing up the audience, they closed with one of their more popular songs, originally recorded with Rancid’s Tim Armstrong, “The Stories Are True” and left the people hungry for more sweat-filled aggression.

Last, but definitely, not least, the Briggs came out onto the stage, with their powerful guitar attacks and vocals from brothers Joey and Jason LaRocca. Their Clash-inspired style blended in with a style similar to the
 
Street Dog’s has created a new, revolutionary genre of Punk, but the fans still kept the old-school Punk spirit alive and well. I can vouch for this with my broken camera lens, which was destroyed in the insane mosh pits and people stage diving like there was no tomorrow (it also explains the lack of and bad quality of my Briggs photographs - taken from a cell phone due to the camera taking it's own dive to the floor). I’m not complaining though because I loved hearing the intense riffs of songs such as, “Mad Men,” “These Ships of Sorrow”, and “I Love L.A.”, which are all off their latest album, “Come All You Madmen” and older songs with profound choruses such as “My Own Enemy”. All in all, the night began promising with Majority Lost’s fresh, youthful sound and ended well with the Brigg’s vigorous and fantastic set.

-Sarah K.-
Big Wheel Music Scene Reporter
 

More photos of the show can be seen HERE

 
                                          Go HERE to see all the latest show reviews
 

 

 

Is Twitter a big threat to newspapers

With newspspers quickly becoming known as "history papers", online media in many forms is challenging the way people get their news and information. Now they are pondering if Twitter can become and even bigger threat. Granted in 140 letters it may be hard to tell a detailed story, BUT it still is enough to cause an effect and spoil a newspspers scoop. You can even get the items we publish on this site right as they are published by following Big Wheel on Twitter  twitter.com/bigwheelmag

Social Task – Demo

Social Task follows their 7" with an eighteen song demo CD. This band that formed in the late 1970's from the Huntington Beach punk scene, reunited about three years ago and have since been creating a new legacy for themselves as one of the most active bands in Orange County. Most of these songs are from the band's original catalog, and although this may be the only release of 2009 with lyrics referencing "President Jimmy" [Carter], somehow the music still sounds fresh.

At times the band's music takes influence from early Oi, particularly in the Upstarts style sing alongs featured in "Hangin' Around" and the mid tempo approach in "Dangerous." At other points the sound is almost proto hardcore with faster songs like "Full Circle" and "Can't Stop." For the most part the guitar and vocals are melodic, but "Bomb Iran" is more heavy and angry. Also featured are worthy covers of the Eyes ("Disneyland"), Generation X ("Day By Day," "100 Punks"), and a dubbed out reworking of PiL's "Not A Love Song," which Social Task calls "Anti Love Song." This is certainly another great release from Task and anticipation is running high for their full length coming out on Dr. Strange.

Band website: socialtask.com

 

-Ditch-

 

Punk Rock Academy Fight Song – When It Began

Once you’ve arrived somewhere its always a good idea to see how you got there. I remember reading an article somewhere where Lars Frederiksen from Rancid says that nobody was born with a mohawk. This is a pretty succinct way of calling out those people who seem to think they have some kind of cooler than thou status on being Punk and have never listened to any other kind of music. None of us has any native claims to this music we love we are all immigrants to it. We all had to start somewhere until that one defining moment when we realize that everything else that we had heard blaring from our stereo or headphones was completely irrelevant.

For me it was always good old rock and roll- Chuck Berry, Elvis, the Beach Boys-that’s right that Beach Boys but that’s a discussion for another time. But being a kid in the 80’s I was also exposed/subjected to new wave and mainstream pop-and if you remember 80’s pop then you know subjected is the right word. In elementary school I loved Billy Joel and Huey Lewis and The News. To this day I still love “Uptown Girl” and “The Longest Time.” However I also realized early on that I was different from most my friends back then and that the music and fashion that they were into did nothing for me. Hell, I was the one kid in my class who didn’t like Michael Jackson’s Thriller. This wasn’t me being pretentious- in elementary and middle school its called being weird. However the moment everything changed was when i was thirteen and my older brother Dave lent me his tape of Social Distortion’s “Mommy’s little monster”. Nothing I had ever heard up until then could even compare to the blast of unfiltered raw energy that exploded out of my walkman that afternoon. At thirteen my life was changed forever, I knew that this was the music for me and I realized that it was okay to be an outsider and have your own opinion.

I realized there were other people out there who didn’t care about what the popular kids were wearing. Even if I didn’t know what the hell methadrine was back then, I did know that this music spoke to me and that I didn’t want to be “a doctor or a lawyer and get fat and rich”. At that instant I knew that this sound was going to be the blueprint for the rest of my life. A friend of mine in college once asked me what specifically it was about punk that I liked over other types of music and I couldn’t answer him because sometimes you cant explain a thirteen year olds feelings.  Now the whole point of this is not to establish my cred but instead I just hope that people realize why they got into the music in the first place and what it means them. I hope people remember how they got to where they are at today. I hope people remember who they were before the mohawk. So give someday a copy of your favorite album and don’t forget to thank your big brother. Thanks Dave. Here endeth the lesson.
 

-Daniel N-

 

 

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