When you’re stuck in front of a computer for far too long, it easy to forget why you used to love going to punk shows in warehouses. I grew up in Long Beach and, around high school years, would often head downtown to see ska and punk bands and do other things kids weren’t supposed to be doing then. I have been keeping tabs about SXSW stuff with my buddy Sean and he mentioned I should head to the other side of the 710 for a secret show off PCH and Santa Fe. Not the best part of town but I was bitter I missed Kid Sister the night before so I rolled down solo to check it out.
I arrived around ten and the door man said they were at capacity. Cool…… I’ll just hang here for a bit. Sure enough a few minutes later I handed him five bucks and headed in ed. note: he probably said, “Well, can my friend Mr. Lincoln get in?”]. [Triclops was getting ready to go on and it looked like it was mostly a BYOB affair. Everybody kinda had the DIY/Street look but they seemed to be unusually happy. I guess the reason was that East Bay legends, Pinhead Gunpowder, were playing only their second show in the last seven years tonight. The only other show was the night before with Mike Watt in Pedro.
It looked like Triclops was about to go on so I didn’t bother to check the outside area and just situated myself dead center a lil’ ways back. The place was crowded but not the kinda crowded where you’re exchanging body sweat and can’t move. Everyone on the bill that night were solid and full of energy – a necessity for any warehouse party. Mostly punk Triclops started shredding and due to the lack of a stage, the singer was constantly snaking through the crowd. Let me redefine that real quick. The lead singer spend a large portion of their set on the ground slithering through the audience while singing and occasionally kicking his feet into the air. Every once in a while people would grab his feet and lift him up until he was unknowingly crowd surfing. The crowd was digging it and you could feel the excitement brewing.
What would YOU expect from a band named Underground Railroad to Candyland? I sure as hell didn’t have any expectations but figured they must be pretty good if they were going on third. In between sets I headed out to the outside patio to see what the setup was and if I knew anyone. I still didn’t know if there was any beer so headed over and ordered a Tecate. Two for five? uhhh…. sure. With one in pocket and one in hand I headed back to the middle spot to get ready to find out about URTC. I’d say the ‘kiddies’ came out to dance but the average age here was prolly 25+. That didn’t stop people from getting down though. I wish I would’ve known their music a lil’ better cuz then I coulda sang along. I just want a square ball and pogo’d into high heavens. The pop-punk gems kept coming and the beer kept flying. Actually, there was more beer going through the air at this party than I’d ever witnessed before at a show. It musta been a good show since no one seemed to be bitching about getting showered in beer.
A few people were still trickling in for Pinhead Gunpowder and it wasn’t long before they were fired up and ready to go. The first thing that struck me was that almost everyone in the crowd knew all the words, at least to the choruses. Most secret shows get leaked pretty easily these days. I wasn’t sure of the address of the warehouse so earlier that day I was searching online trying to find it. I couldn’t find a damn thing. That’s prolly for the best because one of PG’s claim to fame is their frontman is Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day. By keeping things on the DL, the crowd ended up being the dedicated fans who were there for PG and not a Green Day side project with Billie Joe. The stage, or speaker diving, and crowd surfing got kicked up a notch and numerous people were screaming and moshing around. It sounds a bit violent but, for the most part, it was just a bunch of extremely happy people who were getting to rock out to a band they never thought they’d ever get to see live again. I’ll see if I can dig up a setlist to post below because I have no idea what songs they played. I just know the show was great and it restored my faith in the warehouse party!
