12 Hours of Punk Rock – at The Piratical Warehouse – Santa Ana, CA

Having practiced from ten to midnight the night before with my band, Thought Process, it was a bit painful to get up in the morning in order to get to the venue early to help prepare for the show, but when I got there I was happy to see that a decent amount of other people showed up to help the Piratical folks out. It was going to be a long day, but the show, that all of the bands volunteered their services for free of charge, was important to all of us.

After a few hours of preparation the first few bands started playing. Joe’s Garage played early in the day and it was great to see them back at the Warehouse. Their set was tight and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. The next few hours kind of blurred together. Most of the bands were pretty good, and things were running smoothly with all one band setting up on one stage while another was playing in the other room. Everyone was getting along and the ego games were minimal. It was nice and cool outside so it was a good time to hang out with friends outside and then go inside to check out a few songs from each band.

By around five or six things started getting a little more hectic. A lot more people were showing up, some of the adults who had been hanging out all day were getting a bit intoxicated, and a rowdier element was starting to mix in with the regulars. However around this time Circle One played, and they were the first band of the day to really blow me away. They have a new singer named Omar and his vocals sound pretty similar to John Macias’s in the early days of the band. He has a lot of energy and a very dominating stage presence. The band themselves were tighter than I had ever seen them play before and they played a lot of classics like "Highway Patrolman," and "Destroy Exxon." Their signature guitar sound with muscular leads and innovative tempo changes still makes the audience go crazy. It was clear that they were there because they still love punk rock and not to get their egos stroked.

Unfortunately for the rest of the night there did seem to be some people who were getting rock star complexes, but for the most part everything was still fun and people in the audience were getting along and supporting the bands despite how long the show was. Shattered Faith played a killer set as always and they got a pretty decent response from the audience. At one point during their set Ryan from Tipper’s Gore turned to me and said "Shattered Faith still rules" and I think everyone in the audience agreed. Their melodic punk rock songs sounded brilliant and it was great to see them playing to both old fans and new fans.

Knocked Out Cold kicked the energy up and rightfully got the full attention of their audience with their street Punk sound. By this time their had been a few minor altercations between audience members but there were no major problems. We played our set in the small room and were grateful to see that a good amount of people had stuck around. We were all having fun playing and in the middle of one of our songs I turned around to face the band and all of my band mates stopped playing. I turned around again and almost everyone was outside. Apparently a fight had broken out. I was bummed but after a few minutes it was broken up and we played the rest of our set with some technical difficulties but we still managed to have fun.

After our set the Deadbeats, who feature Paul Roessler of the Screamers on keyboards, played the last set of the night. Their music is pretty off the beaten path and even today sounds avant garde, but most of the people who stuck around were pretty impressed. It was cool to see a part of L.A. Punk rock history and at the end of the night I think everyone involved in putting the show together was proud to say that the show ran pretty smoothly for such a big event. It had been a great showcase of several generations of Southern California Punk rock and it was great to see young and old punks hanging out together and supporting a movement that is clearly as vibrant as ever.

Stage A (Big room)
Joe’s Garage – Knocked Out Cold – Love Canal – Strangers – Shattered Faith
Dischords – Circle 0ne – Deadbeats

Stage B (Small room)
Life On the Bang Bus – Leash Kids – Time Bombs – Dead Lazlos’s Place
Mad Parade – Le Face – Thought Process

-Ditch.-
Big Wheel Asst. Editor

 

More photos of the show can be seen HERE

 
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