Ill Repute – Social Unrest – Sin 34 – The Voids – Battle Flask – at Alex’s Bar – Long Beach, CA

Arriving at Alex's as Battle Flask were finishing up their set, it looked like it was going to be a fairly mellow night. At this point it was still a pretty intimate environment with friends chatting and Battle Flask doing their best to keep the energy up. Alex's is always a cool place to go to and there's rarely any drama or trouble there, which is why a lot of older bands like to play shows there.

When the Voids went on the venue still wasn't too crowded. The band played a set of melodic but edgy Punk rock and while there wasn't too much of a response from the audience their performance was impressive. After their set I went outside to the smoking area to catch some "fresh air."

By the time I went back inside Alex's Bar was completely packed to the back of the room. I was lucky that I didn't have to use the restroom as even getting that far would have been a bit of a project. Not wanting to deal with the hassle and discomfort of being inside a room that crowded on a hot summer night in Southern California, I spent the rest of Sin 34 and Social Unrest's set outside.

It had been a while since I had last seen Ill Repute and I was pretty stoked to catch them again. What is cool about Ill Repute is that they play small shows and it's obvious that when they play it is for the fun and for a love of Punk rock. There's no sketchy ulterior motives involved and their sets are always energetic and entertaining. They played every song that you would want to hear, including "Clean Cut American Kid," "Oxnard," "Sleepwalking," "President," and their famous cover of Paul Revere and the Raiders' "Cherokee Nation." They also played a new song called "I've Got a Problem" which is on the new "Nardcore: 30 Years Later" compilation and the song fit in well with all of the classics.

About half way through the band's set vocalist, John Phaneuf addressed the audience commenting about how it was cool to see a lot of older Punk rockers at the show and said "A lot of people here remember Fender's." This is a pretty common comment for older bands to make when playing in Long Beach and as one might expect there was one overzealous older guy who looked like he was going to have a heart attack screaming "Fuck yeah! Fender's!" while the veins popped out of his neck. However to group Ill Repute with their peers from the same age group would be selling them short as they always manage to blow away every other band that they play with, regardless of how old or young they are.
 

 

-Ditch-
Big Wheel Asst. Editor

 

More photos of the show can be seen HERE

 
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