Black Fag – The Inoculators – Noise Attack – Pussy Cow – At 14 Below

I arrived to the venue late so unfortunately, I missed the Hard to Get’s set but the rest my band, Pu$$y-cow, told me they were a pretty good two piece. I was just happy I made it in time.

We had to set up almost as soon as I got there. Pu$$y-Cow’s set had some jokes sprinkled throughout the set. I can never remember all of them the next day. We did a funk version of our song “Disqualified for Life”. We pulled out a few old ones like “27” and “I used to be Punk but I forgot the handshake”. We don’t do those too often but people like them. The last section of our set was a tad sloppy but it was still fun. We ended with the Pu$$y-Cow theme and our bassist, Flaco, carried it into a funky ass “Na Na Na Goodbye” jam. I finally had the last word of the set and screamed the awesome Kate Pierson from the B-52s line, “Why won’t you dance with me! I’m not that Limburger!” We made a lot of new fans that evening.

Noise Attack came on next and ripped it up. I kept spilling beer on myself as I jumped up and down for their set. If you’re going to a Black Fag show, you may as well have a Huntington Beach band rocking your face off. They were celebrating their new split 7 inch with the next band, The Inoculators.

I have not seen the Inoculators perform since a Halloween show a few years back so maybe it makes sense that I half expected to see singer and guitarist, Murphy, wearing his Flash costume again. The Inoculators had a whole different line up back then. This new line up is pretty phenomenal. We’ve seen them practice a few times. I am pretty sure one of my favorite songs of the night was “A Fleeting Thought”. Gustavo’s drumming was so impressive.

The new bassist and vocalist, Christina, used to be in a Misfits cover band and I may have heard them wrong that night but I think they said new guitarist Melissa also played with the same Misfits cover band. They covered the Misfits’ song, “Astro Zombies” and the Police song, “Message in a Bottle”. The crowd went nuts. I think it is safe to say that the new line up gets an A plus. I hope to see the Inoculators play more in 2009.

Black Fag has stepped up their game 37 times since the last time I saw them. They have more schtick, more fun, and more fabulousness. Their version of White Minority (changed to Dyke Minority) has been in my head ever since. I know the real names of their dancers but not their alias so I’ll just refer to them as Sailor and Bear. Bear was jumping into the crowd and trying to grab men and kiss them on the mouth. Sailor was thrusting his threadbare ruffle panty clad crotch at anyone who wanted it (even Cher Dykowski, who most certainly did not want it.) Black Fag started the only mosh pit of the night. That music is Pavlovian violence even with Liberace Morris’ Fred Schneider like vocals (That is the second B52s reference in this review).

Black Fag have a few more dates on their “I saw Henry Kissing Santa Claus” tour. Catch it while you can.

 

-Joe Dana-

 

For more photos of the show go  HERE