The Frustrators – The Phenomenauts – The Billy Bones – The Bombpops – The Troubadour – Hollywood, CA

Like every other report filed this weekend by various Big Wheel reporters we will go ahead and lead with a comment about the weather. On a very cold Sunday night (cold relative to what Los Angeles is used to) music fans came out in spite of the cold to take in a HOT show at The Troubadour. The show tonight was the last show of the tour for featured band, The Frustrators.


For the uninitiated, The Frustrators is the side project of bass player, Mike Dirnt. Many fans know him from his main day job, Green Day where he takes up the bass duties there as well. The bill was packed with very talented acts.

Opening up the show was The BombPops from San Diego. We recall seeing them play perhaps a year ago with a very surprising headliner, GBH. As the staff writer noted that night the band seemed to have lost momentum during the set and the overall performance suffered, yet still felt the band had a lot of talent if they could just tighten it up. However, a year later this band has really matured and maintained a very fast, tight set all throughout the show tonight. Props go out to The BombPops for sticking with it and evolving into a very solid musical unit.

A band that really needs no introduction at all is The Billy Bones who were The Frustrators tour mates for this tour. Anyone that has been around the Southern California music scene for any length of time knows who Punk rock luminary Billy Bones on vocals is. Rather than be amateurish and spend a bunch of copy space on his history to try and act hip and inside, we will save you all of that. Backing up Bones is the talent of Alex Mack on guitar, Alex Gomez on Drums and filling in on bass tonight was none other than Drew Dennett from Fallujah 71.

The set of a dozen plus songs included many new numbers that are from their upcoming album, all very catchy and melodic which is a signature trait of all the material this band produces.

Up next was The Phenomenauts. If you have been under a rock and have not seen this band live before, make sure you do. To experience their live show is a true stage production that gives you value for the price of admission. In what could be described as perhaps the house band for Star Trek if they had one, The Phenomenauts take it to a whole new level with Rockabily sound fused together with a new wavy edge.

The photos our staff photographer took do not lie, take a look at them and you can see the production value that this band puts into every show they play.

After a brief intermission and stage set up, The Frustrators made up of Mike Dirnt, Jason Chandler, Terry Linehan and Art Tedeschi took the stage to support their new EP titled “Griller”. Granted there were some that came to this show expecting this to be Green Day part daux in some sort of way, but it was not.

If anything, this was the rowdy no-hold barred cousin. This is what may be the genius of side projects is that they allow an artist to bank on their bona fides and at the same time create a show and sound that is so different than their main band. This show was Mike Dirnt and co-horts unrestrained.

From the shots that kept being drank throughout the show, to partaking of a shot of Whiskey from the mouth of a rubber chicken the high jinx never let up. As for the music, all these guys are pros and playing is second nature which is why they could fuck around and joke so much during the show and then pick up the music from where they left off.


Audience participation was fully embraced and at one point in the show a gal went to the bar to get a shot and then came on stage to drink it from a rubber chicken. The underwear contest was pretty funny and a dude wound up wearing some pink under wear – he now has a great Facebook default photo.

As shows go, this one had the fun factor of 10. Mike Dirnt’s jovial and down to earth personality was able to take center stage and if anyone in the crowd joined him for the after party at The Viper Room, you got the full experience.

-Julie P.-
Big Wheel Reporter

More photos of the show can be seen HERE

 

Go HERE to see all the latest show reviews

 

Send your comments to the editor HERE