Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
My wife and I had tickets to Touch-and-Go Records’ 25th anniversary celebration in 2006, and I was really amped about seeing the back-in-action Three Mile Pilot–not to mention the reunited Negative Approach and Big Black, the always amazing Shellac, our friends in Seam, the folks from Enon… And then the magazine schedule ran late and we decided to cancel our trip to Chicago. Man. I still get bummed when I think about it. So when last Friday’s show at The Echo was announced, I was super amped to get to see the progenitor of Black Heart Procession and Pinback once more in a small club.
No. Fucking. Way. OFF! at Staples Center? I don’t throw down bags of money to see a band in a huge arena very often, but damn. How could I not see the raddest group in the world and pride of L.A. punk staging a coup d’etat at the beloved home of my Lakers and Kings?
Did I mention that Tuesday night’s Redd Kross gig at The Roxy was a record release show? Here’s a review on that long-awaited LP as well as some other new music that you should check out…
Holy shit! Redd Kross ruled last night at The Roxy. But first things first. On Sunday night, My brother and I drove past the Orange Curtain to this place called the Observatory in Santa Ana to see Down By Law. Thinking we could just walk in to a mellow crowd, we rolled up 45 minutes before Dave Smalley said their set was going to start only to find a huge line of Mohawks, liberty spikes, and vatos. Punks not dead in OC! We bought tickets just as we heard “The Last Brigade” begin…
Down By Law played a jam-packed 30-minute set, but I don’t know if I ever saw them play longer than that when they headlined the Anti-Club or Spanky’s in the early ’90s. Because it was the last show of a package tour, they played not one but two songs by one of Dave’s old and most beloved bands, Dag Nasty: “Values Here” and “Under Your Influence.” If you know anything about DC punk or Dischord Records, you know this was a big, big deal.