CITIZINE REVIEWS
Punk Reunion Brings
Out the Old and New
Pit action is strong for all the bands
at latest Adolescents show.

The Adolescents, Cadillac Tramps
Time Again, Bad Reaction
at The El Rey

By Murphy Lynch

LOS ANGELES, Calif.  January 6, 2006 -- The argument concerning the "punk reunion phenomenon" is not one that is likely to go away, and so this Adolescents review seems like a logical place to weigh in on the matter. This show was actually very well-rounded in terms of representing different generations of punks. The old guys in the Adolescents would be the main draw of the night, and the Cadillac Tramps have also been around the block more than a few times and have the roadwear to prove it. However, the show opened with two up-and-coming bands still able to glory in punk youth.

With a very early start, the young men in Bad Reaction kicked everything off with a high-speed, short and sweet marathon of punk with a Circle Jerks flavor. They were followed by an even younger band, Time Again. These guys are newly signed to the Hellcat label, and were easily the best discovery of the night for me. We’ll get back to the matter of reunion shows when we get to the Adolescents' set.

Time Again. If you like Rancid, you’re gonna love ‘em. And I mean that in a great way. When I first mentioned that they were like Rancid to someone at the show, he laughed and said I should mention that in this review. But I don’t think he understood that I meant that in the best possible way. If someone were to compare my band to Rancid, I’d be flattered, since they are one of my favorite bands. But enough about that. Did they rock, you ask? Well, yes, they did.

Singer Daniel Dart was panting and out of breath after the first song's initial burst of energy, and casually asked that the crowd, “get it started,” motioning for a circle with his hand. As an afterthought, he clarified his request with, “on the next one.” It seemed like a low-key tactic to get a pit started, and I wondered whether it would work, but it did. The crowd kicked in right away on the next song, with a full circle pit, forty people strong at least. Not to mention the other 300+ in attendance watching and getting into the music.

Apparently, Time Again is very popular with girls -- the pit was over 50% female, not your everyday circle pit. They have an aggressive chunky punk rock gutter sound that is very similar to Rancid, and includes occasional detours into ska territory at just the right point to break it up. This was my favorite part of the night. Finding out about a new band that plays exactly the kind of music I like and have been searching for.

At one point toward the end of their set, the pit had dissipated again to nothing, and Daniel told everybody that the next tune was the first song he had ever written. This one would be, “for those two,” and he pointed at two of the pit's bigger participants. They looked tired, sweaty, and out of breath, but they started trudging around again anyway, now obligated to do so by the shout out. Within a minute, the whole pit was rolling again with at least 40-50 people. Time Again closed their set out on a high note, leaving the crowd ready for more as a good opener should.

Cadillac Tramps were up next and put on a great show. They hit the stage playing their garage rock anthems wearing suits and kicking the pit into gear from the start. The singer, Mike "Gabby" Gaborno, prowled the stage and tossed out a freebee t-shirt, then stripped off his own suit jacket within the first two songs. The bass player, Warren Renfrow, looked like some huge Scottish warrior from Braveheart.

The singer Gabby reminded me of Duane Peters, a lot. The clothes and tattoos, the rode-hard-and-put-up-wet look his face emanates, and even the little dance he does, all remind me of good ol’ DP. Once again, similarity is not necessarily a bad thing.

About mid-way through their set, Gabby decided it was time to kick the pit back into gear. The only problem was that it was already going strong. This was a good crowd who knew the songs, were into the show, and weren’t afraid to get sweaty.

Gabby also knew a couple ways to win the people over. He pulled out a clump of cash, $1 bills actually, and started wadding them up and tossing them into the crowd saying, “Here’s some money. I made it myself.” After extravagantly parting with ten bucks or so, he screamed, “I wanna see a goddamn pit.” But didn't he see there was one going still? The money did churn the crowd up a bit more, and it was part of the show, so I gotta hand it to Gabby for trying, even if it was a bit contrived.

As the pit started back up again, I saw two separate mohawks caught in the stage lights eclipsing each other like the sun and moon, while Gabby shouted, “I fucking love you people!” And he should, they were a great crowd that anyone would be thrilled to have, and he gave them the respect they deserved.

The Adolescents then came charging out of the gate with the classic “No Way,” starting their set with a bang. The question of whether or not reunion shows/bands are a good idea was suddenly moot, because I could tell I was about to witness a kick ass rock show.

From my perspective, reunion bands enhance the scene by creating more opportunities for unknown bands who open for them. Now maybe you would have already gone to see the Adolescents, but what about some other reunion band on the bill that you weren't so familiar with? What if you knew someone who was in one of the five or six opening bands? Now it seems like a cool idea and the icing on the cake is checking out a classic band that you might not have otherwise seen.

The reunion circuit provides huge opportunities for unknown bands. Isn’t that the core of what “punk” is really about, acceptance and helping each other out because the corporations aren’t going to? Now if you’re stinking up the place and are literally back just to grab some cash and run, then fuck you, I don’t need your rock-n-roll swindle (pun intended).

Think about it like this. When the Germs reunited to play what would be their final show at the Starwood on December 3, 1980, do you think people were talking shit because they got back together? Maybe they did, but do you think those same people who talked shit back then are talking it today? Hell no, they brag about having seen the Germs play live!! And twenty years from now, when the Adolescents are in wheelchairs and drooling on themselves, people will be bragging that they saw them at this show.

So enough ranting and raving, what about the damn show already?!? Well, Frank Agnew is still on guitar and Steve Soto's on bass, and both provided some very strong backing vocals for the the Adolescents' well-oiled rocking machine. Tony Cadena, vocals, now has shaggy hair and a beer gut too big to hide. When he wasn’t singing, sometimes he would just stop and watch the audience. And I did too, because they were going off.

By now the place was packed, including the pit where audience activity had jumped to a new level, the crowd surfing stage. The circle pit is the first stage, but when it gets too full, the area between the pit and the stage starts to fill in with more and more people until someone pops out and begins flopping around on top of the crowd.

A barricade was set up between the stage and the crowd, reminiscent of arena shows, and this allowed security guards to walk back and forth. The barricade had a ledge on the stage side, about the size of a step, and it served as the perfect spot for Tony to stand on, to get himself closer to the crowd to stir them up even more. The only problem was that the crowd promptly got a little too close, and one of the crowd surfers flopped right on top of Tony, pushing him back and momentarily pinning him against the stage. It was pretty funny to watch, and after that, Tony stuck to the stage.

“You made it in, good for you, good job,” Tony said, grinning at some kid. 15-year-old girls were being hauled off the top of the pit while crowd surfing. The pit was really thick at this point and when I saw one guy go down, everyone around him was looking at the ground, heads turning left and right as if he had fallen into some murky water and no one could see him. A couple seconds later he popped up and shook it off like a dog, then skittered away.

We were now approaching the end of the show and when the Adolescents launched into “Amoeba,” the place went apeshit. The pit and energy had finally hit that peak when security are doing everything they can just to "maintain." That meant that petty things like smoking were no longer a concern. I saw more than one person lighting up with no repercussions. Ten minutes before, security would have been on you, but not at this moment, and it made me wish that I was a smoker for that brief instant, just so that I could join in the mob mentality, daring the security to try and stop us.

In today’s society, we are obsessed with “new.” “New releases” at the video store, or the “latest” hot band, whatever it may be, it has to be new. Whether you are for or against the reunion thing, you cannot deny that they usually bring lots of great opening bands. Many of which you have not heard of, and that makes them NEW! So you wanna find some hot NEW band? Go check out a reunion show and see who’s opening. I found Time Again at this show,and hopefully someday someone will find my band at one of these shows and we’ll get a break. Like I said before, that’s what punk is all about. Acceptance and helping each other out. So go see a reunion show and be happy that you are helping out an unknown, because someday it could be you!

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