Decry – Millions of Dead Comps – Broken Needle – Marriot Hotel – Long Beach, CA

I found myself over at the Marriot Hotel in beautiful Long Beach California. I wasn’t there to attend a nerdy sci-fi convention or to lodge for the night, but rather to rock for a good cause! That cause being put together by Bay Cities Narcotics Anonymous. The Bay Cities “NA” has been hosting annual Punk rock concerts for the last decade in order to raise money and awareness for those suffering from current addictions and those in recovery. This year the concerts headliner was none other than southern California Punk legends “DECRY”. Supporting them were other Los Angeles based Broken Needle and Millions of Dead Comps (not cops!)

The first band on the bill were LA’s very own Broken Needle ! Broken Needle are a band you’d think were formed in 1981 because of their ultra raw sounding non metal style of hardcore-punk. However they’re a newer band ( formed in 2001 is still new right??) that rips through songs in the style of Black Flag meets an ultra pissed off D.R.I. Their lead vocalist Todd Tyler wasted no time in getting things moving and even getting involved within the crowd. Todd spent most of their set off stage and on the pit floor screaming his lyrics in peoples faces and jumping around like a mad man. The pit would start moving but would be over before you knew it because Broken Needles songs are ultra fast and over within 2 minutes time. They played a number of jams like “Waste Away”, “My Rules” and “Who The Fuck Are You?” in their 30 minute set, to much of the crowds delight. Todd mentioned that their next song would be their last, and before the crowd could even move from one side of the dance floor to the other the song was over. I was hoping they’d gotten more time to play because I was just getting into them, thankfully they play often around LA, I look forward to catching them again soon.

Next up on the bill were LA’s Millions of Dead Comps, no that is not a typo ! MDComps are truly a unique band, they consist of LA punk veterans; London May (Samhain, Tiger Army) on Drums/Vocals, Chris Bratton (Chain of Strength, Inside Out) Guitar/Vocals and Stevo Brown on Bass/Vocals (Mad Parade). According the their founder and drummer London; The band was started with the purpose of playing 80s hardcore punk “comp”ilations in their entirety and donating 100% of the proceeds to local charities and organizations benefiting those in need of care, food and shelter. On this particular night they were to play 1982’s “This is Boston Not LA”, a first for them since they had just been playing Washington DC’s “Flext Your Head” at their previous shows. Before the band went into their first song of the night, bassist Stevo gave a shout out to NA and said “If not for NA and programs like it, I would not be here today, I’d be dead, so here’s a big thank you to the NA for helping me and of course helping others in need” The crowd sensed his honesty and respect for the organization and gave a big round of applause.

London then announced to the crowd that MDComps is an audience participation band and that there is a microphone open to anyone in the crowd who wants to sing along. They then went straight ahead into the breakneck classic “Straight Jacket” by Jerry’s Kids followed by other blisteringly fast tracks by band like The Proletariat, Groinoids, The FU’s, Gang Green and The Freeze. The crowds movement to these hardcore classics was very brutal, I had to duck out of the way of slam dancers while I tried to snap photos and sing along. After the “This is Boston” part of the set they went into the Minor Threats segment off “Flex Your Head” compilation and that’s when the crowd went nuts more so than any time earlier in the show. Todd Tyler of Broken Needle joined em on stage and sang a few minor threat songs before the power went out, turns out a fuse had been blown. Thankfully the sound guy was able to bring power back after 15 minutes or so, just in time for the headliner up next!

By now it was dark outside and the crowd who’d spent most of the day barbecuing in the courtyard were now making their way towards the stage in time for DECRY !
Decry opened their set with the Dead Boys Classic “Sonic Reducer” and from that moment on it was safe to say that the shit had hit the fan. I got knocked around a bit by dancers doing the HB strut and circle pitting while I was trying to take photos up front, I did manage to sing along to “Sonic Reducer” with Farrell (Decry vocalist), It’s like he had channeled Stiv’s body and soul during the performance with so much emotion ! They’d continue on with their set and rip through classics such as “Last Sin”, “Strapped” and “Suburban Death Camp” effortlessly like they were in their 20’s again. They were the only band of the day to have a circle pit that never slowed down despite all the people in it falling over each other, it was quite intense, especially since we were in a hotel banquet room !! Farrell dashed around the stage like only he could and never missed a chance to put the microphone into the crowd so everyone up front could get a chance to scream the lyrics back at him. The songs that had the best crowd response were “Falling” a Decry original and a rad cover of The Damned’s “Neat Neat Neat”. Farrell does a great job of bringing out the persona of whatever band he is covering, Dave Vanian would have been proud of their cover.
They closed the set with “I like Drugs” which was kind of a funny title considering we are at a NA event, but Farrell cleared that up by saying “ Hey! we liked drugs, and that okay, but It’s better not to do them!!” which got a lot of laughs from the crowd.

All in all there must have been at least 200 people in attendance that day, and with each ticket costing $15, and event shirts at $10, so at least $3000 was raised, which is great because the NA could use as much help and donations as possible. This years event was a success, and it’s looks like there will be another NA punk show this time next year. I look forward to being there again in 2011, there’s no better feeling knowing that rock n roll can help save lives.

Till next time, rock on !

-Louie B-

For more information on NA and the bands visit these websites
www.NA.org
www.myspace.com/decryband
www.myspace.com/millionsofdeadcomps
www.myspace.com/brokenneedle

 

 

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