Sunday, June 19, 2011

Gnarmagedon Fest-Glasshouse Pomona,CA-6/18/11

 This has to be one the best shows I've been to in my life. Its rare I got the a fest and enjoy almost all the bands. This show was created by fans for fans... No greedy fucks, no fuck overs, just real fuckin Hardcore done right. There are some changes from the flyer. Bad Reaction was dropped due to family stuff. Monster Squad (street punk not hardcore) was replaced by my hometown heroes and underrated Hardcore Punk legends, Circle One!

We left early,but we were still lagging it sick. We got in line, and when we finally got in Hooded Justice was already hitting the stage. Now these local backyard boys from OC are more than just a backyard band. They are amazing. I don't just consider them my favorite local garage band. I consider them one of my favorite bands period. For the past month or so I've been kinda talking to the singer and showing support for what they do. They're a great mixture of Hardcore Punk, Powerviolence, Thrashcore,and Grind all in one sexy sandwich. They started playing, and the very few people that were there (real hxc kids who supports unknown bands) were digging them. I was singing along to their songs and yelling that they should've headlined the whole damn show. They did Napalm Death's half second song "You Suffer" then their short song being 3 seconds long, "Defecation". Lyrics to that song are "Sometimes...I gotta take a shit". I asked for a button but they had sold out. 30 min later the drummer came to me and gave me one... Real nice guys. They have one demo out and it could possibly be the best demo of all time. Words cannot really describe how great this band is. Give it one week and Black Flag would reunite just to play with these guys. Yes,they're that good. I demand you  download this and spread it like crazy. Hooded Justice demo!

Hooded Justice

Up next was a street punk act called Static Thought. They were lame. I went to sit down down with friends and we talked about Cats: The Musical.


Static Thought

For the second time this week I saw Concussion. Though there wasn't as many people there, I was definitely more into them than the last time. While the singer was on stage he and I were talking about the pizza incident. Once again these guys kicked ass and got off stage to sing "Hybrid Moments" (Misfits) with me and some other kids. These guys need more recognition. Please download their bad ass demo and tell everyone to listen to it if they wanna get laid.  DOWNLOAD DAMN IT!


Concussion

Up next was a band Ive never heard of called Dogends. They're a Nardcore (Hardcore from Oxnard Ventura CA and they have rhythm) band and they fuckin' ruled. Kids seemed to know their lyrics and kids were moshing in circles for these guys. From what I know they've been broken up for a while and had reunited for this fest. They were great but the singer was pissed and seemed like he didn't wanna be there. He kept telling the audience to "eat a dick!" but we still loved em. I need to find music of these guys soon.


Dogends


Once again it was time for Media Blitz. Now the singer and some other guy are the 2 responsible for making this event happen. Super respect to them for throwing the show and being in a badass band. He kept mentioning how happy he was that it was successful. Once again MB hxc fans threw them selves every were and sang to all their songs. These guys rule. Please check em out,you wont regret it.

Media Blitz

Up next was a band I was VERY excited to see. It was announced the day before that they were gonna replace Monster Squad and bunch of people were happy bout that. I told the promoters to get 'em a long time ago and of course they said yes. As soon as I walked in I saw the guitar player, Mike V. and we talked. I asked him about more shows coming up and the new record. I also spoke with their new singer and he was such a nice guy and a great person. Circle One was fronted by the late and very great John Mascias. I consider them hometown heroes since they are from from the city I'm from, Pico Rivera. I can go on and on about this band but I'll have to tell you the Legend that is Circle One later. They got on stage and me and my other buddy (and other Pico Riverian and C1 fan) were super excited. The singer kept telling people to try to get on the stage. He would go to the rail for us to sing along with him. Me and few others sang into the mikcrophone. Mike even dedicated a song to all the people who were there from Pico Rivera. Then they introduced Tim Gallegos. He was the bass player for Wasted Youth in the early days and Bad Religion. He recorded the EP "Back To The Known" with them. Ive met this guy before. He's always at punk shows telling his stories. Finally it was great to see him on stage and they did two Wasted Youth songs. They ended with Highway Patrol Man and dedicated it to John Mascias who hated cops more than anything and ended up getting killed by them. Afterwards I talked to them some more, bought a shirt (finally),and even got patches. Please look for their album "Are You Afraid?". Its a fucking classic. These guys played with Bad Brains, Black Flag, Bad Religion, etc back in the day. They never got their recognition. Its about time they they do.

Circle One
Next was a new and very hardcore band with a huge following.  Rotting Out... You cant be any tougher than they are. They remind me a lot of Suicidal Tendencies in many ways. They wear their own band merch with a cholo edge. They have motivation lyrics and they give speeches. And like Suicidal their fans are wild. I mean REALLY FUCKING wild. The singer has no front teeth and pulled his giant hood all over his face and sang to the crowd. Everyone sang a long while people were stage diving and jumping on the dude yelling. These guys are gonna be big. I mean huge. Check out their album "Its Just A Life". Buy it. You wont regret it. Its amazing. One of the best bands that played. They are so amazing live... How hxc should be.

Rotting Out

There's nothing more I despise more than stupid hippie anarcho punks who bitch about every little thing in the world. These jokers (Resist and Exist) showed videos of animals getting abused. They had a bunch of Animal Rights posters and a bunch of lame stuff. The guy had stupid spikes and the chicks voice (In anarcho punk you have to both a male and female sing so they can show equality) was super annoying. They were passing out fliers promoting vegetarianism and other superficial causes. I hate shit like that. Being PC is annoying and these guys do it to the max. To quote the badass band that played after them "Hippies, We hate 'em!". So the whole time they played we went to sit down and I was making fun of a security guard who looked IDENTICAL to Stone Cold Steve Austin. Peace Punk is gay. Listen to The Mentors for crying out loud.

Resist and Exist
Up next was the band that I've been wanting to seen for years, one of the greatest punk bands in history. JFA (Jodie Foster's Army). I recently heard their new album. It wasn't hardcore. It was good punk rock but not the JFA I knew and loved but they started off with a punk song. It was Ok. Then they played some fast skate punk. The place went nuts. They dedicated "Out Of School" too all us graduates (2011 wooo!). I was being pushed around and was singing along. They did most of their classics which I went nuts for. Everyone was singing along. Even the covers were crazy. The Surf Song Baja, The Charlie Brown theme song, and even the cholo bouncer was into their cover of Lowrider. This is band you must see live if you love punk rock. If you don't have We Know You Suck in your punk collection then you actually do suck! "Surf Punks we're not....Skateboard we do!"

Jody Foster's Army
Up next was new hxc band that is a must to see. Well at least I thought so. From From the Bay Area is Sabertooth Zombie. They're supposedly a big deal. I've heard their old stuff and it's pretty good. But their recent stuff has it mixed with Stoner metal which I don't dig. People went insane for them and they played were some song I did really dig. They were badass with stage performance. The guitar player ended up pissing off the whole audience. "Ive been wanting to come LA to say this! Fuck the Dodgers, SF Giants baby!" Of course people got pissed. I thought it was fucking cool. I'm not into baseball but Dodger fans ARE fuckin' lame. Hopefully I'll see them the next time they come.

Sabertooth Zombie
After SZ was another legendary band, Ill Repute. Ive missed em twice before, but not this time. They just started doing shows again and I excepted 'em to be good. But Wow! Not this fucking good. There are very few bands that sound identical and have they same vibe they had back in the day. People went nuts and we all sang along. This band really pooped me out. They were as nuts as the times Ive seen D.R.I. (imagine both together?!).We were all singing and kids were crowd surfing and people were yelling "Nardcore! Oxnard! Fuck You!". As I said, they just started playing shows again, so hopefully they will tour a bit. They're a must see band and I'll go see them again for sure. They were so intense I had to sit down the rest of the show. You need to get "What Happened Then?" It's is the best Nardcore album ever.

Ill Repute
We went to sit down. DOA was next. Yes they are a big deal but I was so pooped. I had shaken hands with Joey Shithead before. They played the classics from Fuck You and Rich Bitch. From the back I was gladly enjoying the set. I drank a Monster energy drink  because I promised myself months ago I had to crowd surf to "The Prisoner". Sure enough I did and I  left a happy camper. I didn't stick around for Agent Orange for the following reasons:

1.I was so fucking tired.
2.They suck live (seen em before)
3.They play in So-Cal all the time.

This has to be one of the best shows ever. Gnarmagedon 2 will be just as great. Maybe better. This is Hardcore!
DOA

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

JFA/ILL REPUTE SET - I kept trying to crowd surfing... I'm the kid with the VOID shirt hahaha great show, D.O.A. sucked ass