INK-N-IRON Day 2- The Queen Mary,Long Beach,CA- 6/9/12

  

 SUPER DOOPER LATE with this one but it had to be done. I gave a dude a ride to do this and he bought me a ticket. Win,win. I only went day 2(Day 1 line up was better tho) but I ain't complaining for free stuff. 

   I went in late so I missed the first 3 bands. The 3rd band I missed was a Horror Punk band named Calabrese. Ive been a fan of em since high school but by the time they were finishing I was still in line getting in. From outside tho they sounded spot on just like their studio stuff. A bit bummed i missed them. I talked to the drummer after really nice. Listen to their album "The Traveling Vampire Show". For fans of Misfits,White Zombie,etc.

Then was big time band Guanabats. They're a big known Psychobilly act. Tho I'm not very into they did a great set and even did Zeppelin and Billy Idol covers all Psycho'd out. If you're into em already im sure you would love them live. Go see em you billys!

Then was LA's own reggae band The Aggrolites. Ive seen em before and they pretty cool for a reggae act. I didn't pay much attention but they did ok. Listen to their album Dirty Reggae.

Then was New York's ska band The Slackers. Tho im not into Ska anymore. They did an ok set. They had kids dancing and what not. Go see em if you're into em.

 I got upfront for the next couple bands I actually cared about. First was one of my all time favorite old skool punk bands,The Adolescents. Lead singer Tony Cadena(one of my favorite punk vox ever) still had it and started out with No Way. Through out the set he joked about opening for "Chuck Berry" and opening for spooky bands. Me and some people upfront kept shouting the lyrics to Rip It Up,No Friends,and of coarse Amoeba and Kids Of The Black Hole. Such a a great set even tho it was short. I later talked to Tony and greeted him. Such a nice guy. If you don't have their self titled album you're seriously missing out on some of the best Punk Rock ever.

 My favorite band of the night tho was The Vandals. Unlike Adolescents,I've NEVER seen them before even tho I've been a fan since i was like 12. I was quite excited. Bass player Joe Escalante came playing the riff to "Urban Struggle". Right away me and the punks around started getting rowdy. And soon the song finally kicked in there was crowd surfing,moshing,and me screaming a long. They played all their pop punk songs like Its A Fact,Oi! To The World,and I Got An Idea For A Movie. Then 2 more old skool ones,The Legend Of Pat Brown and Anarchy Burger. They ended with My Girlfriends Dead. Lead singer kept joking around with the audience and told us he only played the show so he can see Buck Cherry. We all started booing and he looked at me,flipped me off,and said "Fuck You man,Fuck You." HA! Then it was over. Seriously go see The Vandals. They're such a fun band live. And listen to Peace Thru Vandalism and Hitler Bad,Vandals Good.

Up next was Alternative,Indie band She Wants Revenge. Major Bauhaus/Joy Division rip off. They suck. Don't listen to them.

The band everyone that night went to go see tonight was the legendary Punk band, The Misfits. Yes,yes I know with out Danzig they suck ass and blah blah blah. But whatever I got in for free and since 14 year old me never went to see Jerry Only in action I might as well do it now. Plus I can tell my grand kids I saw The Misfits. The place got super tight and packed(might have happen during She Wants Poop). I made my way as far as I can get into what seemed to be the middle. They started off. Jerry Only,Dez Cadena(of Black Flag),and their new drummer Eric"Chubbacraba"Arce(formally of Murphy's Law). They played 2 songs off their new album that I refused to listen to. They were as I expected bland and boring. The crowed was somewhat moving around. Their 3rd song was a Michale Graves era song,Scream. Right there people went a tad bit more nuts and I sang my more up to the front. Right after they did the classic Astro Zombies and boom! They place erupted and I some how screamed my ass off the front. People who have never been to a punk show where complaining. They did more Danzig era songs like Static Age,Children in Heat,Bullet and etc. Holy crap those songs live made me the loudest mofo singing upfront. Then even 2 of my favorite Graves songs were sung like American Psycho and The Shining(I was the only one singing those). They ended with Die,Die My Darling and it was over. It was super short so I'm glad i didn't pay for it. Me and the rest of the audience went home after cause no one likes Buckcherry and I respect myself too much to see them. So would I advise someone to see the new Misfits? Maybe 2 years ago when all they would play was old material. Now maybe. But I did have fun. Jerry ain't no Danzig or Graves but he did an ok job. 14 year old me was super happy. If for some some stupid reason you have NEVER heard of the Misfits listen to the album Static Age. Seriously one of the best albums of ALL FUCKING TIME.

Oh! And early on the day Jerry Only was actually out in the public being a Mickey Mouse and taking pics and giving autographs to people passing by. I thought that was super cool of him. He was even nice enough to give people huge Misfits stickers and sign them. Here's me with him. 14 year old me would've been in tears.