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Reports From Punk Rock Bowling Las Vegas 2023
The Punk Rock Bowling festival returned to the streets of Downtown Las Vegas for its 23rd year last weekend. Here are some of the acts we caught …
The Hate (Saturday, Sand Dollar Downtown) There were several interesting bands on the lineup for Saturday night's club show at the Sand Dollar Lounge Downtown, but local outfit The Hate stood out. The band released a self-titled EP in 2022 that's been making waves in the hardcore scene. Interspersed voice-overs gave this live set a vibe that was more arthouse than traditional punk, asking "Do you accept Jesus as your lord and savior?" and crying out "I am a sinner. I am sorry, Lord. I want the blood!" It seemed to work. A few numbers, including "Forever Ender," "White Noise" and "Nailed to a Cross" left the crowd basking in eeriness, discord and thrash. –SM
The Damned at Punk Rock Bowling 2023
The Damned (Sunday, Main Stage) The front of the main stage was already filling up with fans getting in position for Rancid, but a spirited performance from one of London's original punk bands surely won most of them over. The Damned stole the show Sunday night, not letting a shorter-than-usual 45-minute set slow them from soaring through 12 songs, dating back to 1976's "New Rose," famously the first single ever released by a punk band in the United Kingdom.
Vocalist Dave Vanian only paused between songs once to thank the crowd, otherwise swaying from side to side with charisma honed over a near 50-year career. Some say punk rock is a young man's game and bands can never match the energy of their initial years, but the Damned are living exceptions. –CK
GBH (Sunday, Monster Energy Stage) Watching drummer Scott Preece blitz through a barrage of speedy, street-punk classics made for one of the most impressive individual performances of the festival. His bandmates more than held their own too as the Birmingham, England, quartet made a stop as part of its slightly delayed 40th anniversary tour.
GBH at Punk Rock Bowling 2023
It looked like the grip of vocalist Colin Abrahall might split the microphone stand in half during malicious versions of songs like "City Baby Attacked by Rats" and "Maniac" off of 1982's City Baby Attacked by Rats. The quality of GBH's recorded material has waned since the aforementioned highly influential debut release, but the fire in the live show has never dipped. It's easy to marvel at GBH's longevity on the stage, and the way the band has maintained the same pace and rage after so many years. –CK
Rancid (Sunday, Main Stage) …And Out Come the Wolves, and unfortunately claimed some of the set's momentum. A 40-minute delay ensued, and while the crowd thinned, with many ditching the dormant main stage for club shows, those who stayed were eventually treated to a full and entertaining performance.The reception to the frequent Punk Rock Bowling headliners' latest appearance at the festival Sunday night was so rowdy that the barricade at the front of stage lasted less than five songs. A portion of the divider collapsed early during a particularly rousing rendition of "The 11th Hour," a relative deep cut off the landmark 1995 album.
The Berkeley, California, trio had played Wolves in full at a previous Punk Rock Bowling, and has focused on the beloved '90s stretch of its discography during other appearances, but this year was a bit different. Rancid opened and closed with the live debuts of a pair of new songs, "Tomorrow Never Comes" and "Don't Make Me Do It," respectively, off forthcoming album Tomorrow Never Comes. The band touched on almost every part of its discography, and the die-hards who stuck around enjoyed it all. –CK
Svetlanas at Punk Rock Bowling 2023
Grade 2, Svetlanas & L7 (Sunday, Fremont Country Club) "We were hoping on the last night of our tour that you could show us a circle pit," Grade 2 frontman Jack Chatfield said amid some healthy moshing inside Fremont Country Club. The old-school U.K. Punk trio kicked off the Sunday night show with numbers like "Under the Streetlight," "Tired of It," "Graveyard Island," and a cover of the Misfits' "Where Eagles Dare."
Russian thrashcore group Svetlanas then delivered an earth-shaking set, opening with 2022 single "The Alien's Blues" followed by "Pussification of Punk Rock." Frontwoman Olga Svetlanas wildly looked out and gestured to the audience, getting everyone to raise their middle fingers in the air during fresh single "God8zcops."
"It sounds freaky onstage, but how does it sound out there, guys?" L7's Donita Sparks asked the audience after the headliners' first few numbers. The band commented several times and joked about feedback it was experiencing through its monitors. "It feels like the puffy tacos I ate earlier are escaping," bassist Jennifer Finch joked.
Soldering on through the technical difficulties, the band played old favorites to a sold-out room of steadfast fans. The set started with "Wargasm," "Everglade" and "Monster" from top-selling album Bricks Are Heavy (1992), followed by "Fuel My Fire," "Shove" and, from the most recent album, "Stadium West." During "Sh*tlist," the crowd pumped its fists in unison to the lyrics "You've made my sh*t list!"
L7 at Punk Rock Bowling 2023
As the last few songs began around 2:30 a.M., fans wholeheartedly joined in during "American Society," singing "I don't wanna watch television/I don't wanna listen to the radio/I don't want to drown in American society." And for the grand finale, Sparks gave a spirited solo with her trademark V-shaped guitar during "Pretend We're Dead." –SM
The Chisel (Monster Energy Stage, Monday) "Do you like lobster?" Cal Graham, frontman for The Chisel, shouted to the crowd as he leaned forward and pointed to his forearm. "Give me about 20 minutes and I'll be served up. … I'm ginger, and I'm English!" Indeed, the U.K. Punk band sported red faces during its early-evening festival set, but the musicians didn't let the heat get to them. "Unlawful Execution" and "Cry Your Eyes Out," provided an animated start, with Graham challenging the crowd to match his energy throughout the set, and with antagonistic numbers like "So Do I."
"This is the first song we ever wrote and recorded. And never for a f*cking second did we think we'd be playing it to you guys," Graham said ahead of thrasher "Rat Running Scared." The crowd even got a taste of new songs "F*ck 'Em" and "Bloodsucker." To close it out, "Not the Only One" offered an upbeat change of pace with its lyrics, "So when you're feeling down on your luck/Like you're down and now you don't give a f*ck/Remember, brother, I've been there before/We will survive, and we will get through." –SM
Suicidal Tendencies at Punk Rock Bowling 2023
Suicidal Tendencies (Main Stage, Monday) Frontman Mike Muir walked on to the instrumental opening of "You Can't Bring Me Down." He was joined by two guitarists, a bassist and brand new drummer Greyson Nekrutman, who demonstrated his worth to the Las Vegas crowd.
Although the lineup has changed over the years, the songs fans know and love have not, favorites like "Subliminal," "Two-sided Politics" and "Institutionalized." At points, Muir hopped off the stage to get up close to the crowd, and left it chanting "S! T!" when the band finished up. –SM
Eclectic Lineup From Jersey City And Beyond Set For Heights Music FestTesta
The Jersey City Heights has taken a backseat to other parts of town when it comes to live music lately, but that won't be the case on Saturday, June 10, when the "Lo-Fi Takes the Streets" festival returns for its third iteration.
The all-day festival, which blocks off Ferry Street at Palisade Avenue, boasts an eclectic lineup that includes a headlining performance by hometown favorites Wyldlife, along with sets by Jersey City regulars like Alex Tea, Johnny Couch, the Dracu-Las, and Secret Country. The lineup also includes garage-rockers Ravagers from Baltimore and, on tour from California, Decent Criminal, whose ingratiating indie-rock fuses elements of emo and pop-punk.
Dan Haag, a local musician who lives a block away from the festival site, teamed up with Jesse Weeks and Kent Baker, the owners of LoFi Bar, to stage the first festival in 2019. COVID put the kibosh on the next two years, but the event returned in 2022 with great success.
"I'm really excited because this is the first year we've really reached out beyond our local pot of musicians," enthused Haag. "And I really think we hit it out of the park as far as getting the Dracu-Las, Decent Criminal, and Ravagers. And Secret Country, too, for that matter. They're from Kearny and apparently they were all guys who used to play at Maxwell's in different bands, but this was the one that stuck. And it's country music that they used to play in secret."
Ravagers will come up from Baltimore for the Lo-Fi Takes the Streets music festival in Jersey City on Saturday, June 10, 2023. The band is scheduled to play at 6:30 p.M. (Danny Siebenhaar photo)
For years, summers in the Heights meant outdoor shows at Palisade Lumber (billed as "Live at the Lumberyard"). When that disappeared, Haag reached out to Weeks and Baker at Lo-Fi and together they pulled together Lo-Fi Takes the Streets in 2019.
"This festival has always been a grassroots thing, and we were very happy the idea worked the first time," Haag said. "Then throughout COVID, we thought about how we could do it better the second time, and everything ran a little more smoothly last year. And now this year, because we're able to handle the food, the drink, the stage, and all that stuff more efficiently, we were able to take the time and actually find touring bands who we could introduce to our neighborhood."
Signed to Steve Van Zandt's Wicked Cool Records, raunchy rock 'n' rollers Wyldlife have been a Jersey City staple for well over a decade.
"Dangeous Dave" Feldman, the group's charismatic frontman and a presence in seemingly every dive bar, tattoo parlor, and hair salon in Downtown Jersey City, has been a Lo-Fi fest regular, deejaying between bands the first two years. He looks forward to doing it again.
"I'm as stoked for deejaying as much as I am for playing," Feldman said. "I am really, really thankful that Jesse, Kent and Dan trust me with putting the music together between the bands. I always think the worst is going to happen so I really prep for it, and my nerves are kind of through the roof. But I've got a week to figure it out. And the band will be just fine."
Wyldlife went through a rough patch after their last drummer left, but happily the group was able to bring original stickman Russ Barnett back to the fold, reuniting with guitarist Samm Allen and bassist Spencer Alexander.
"We've been back in the groove now for about six months, and we've done maybe five or six shows since then," Feldman continued. "But we also recorded the first third of our next album in January. So once this show is over, we're going to take a break and try to get back in the studio in August and do another batch of songs. And hopefully finalize the album by the end of the year."
When Wyldlife formed, Feldman had just moved to Jersey City and his bandmates were attending college in New Paltz, New York. These days, Feldman and Barnett reside in town while the others live in nearby Brooklyn.
"So, it's not so bad now," Feldman said. "When we had Stevie on drums, he was living down in Central Jersey and it was really hard to get together. Now, when there's a show to do or certainly when we're about to record, we get together about once a week."
In conjunction with the Riverview Neighborhood Association, Lo-Fi Bar will present the free, family-friendly, rain-or-shine Lo-Fi Takes the Streets festival from noon to 9 p.M. Food and drink will be available all day.
Lo-Fi Takes the Streets Band Schedule
1:30: Alex Tea
2:30: Jonny Couch
3:30: Secret Country
4:30: Dracu-Las
5:30: Decent Criminal
6:30: Ravagers
7:30: Wyldlife
CLUB CALENDAR
Gregory McLoughlin, Jersey City's ebullient singing bassist, has livestreamed from his basement 160 consecutive Monday nights, but fans can see him and his Lemonade band in person at the Farside Tavern, 531 Washington St., Hoboken, on Sunday, June 11. The free, 6 p.M. Show will feature opening sets by singer-songwriters Dave Borkman and Julia Kirk.
Jim Testa is on Facebook at facebook.Com/Constant-Listener-Jim-Testa-On-Hudson-Music-108591071738628. He can also be reached at jim@jerseybeat.Com.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to correct the site of the festival -- Ferry Street and Palisade Avenue in Jersey City.
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