Now that I’ve been to Long Beach, I can’t get enough of Long Beach! I wasn’t planning to go to this show, but when my excellent friend Kathryn Winslow said yes to Violet sleeping over, suddenly I was allowed to stay up until 3am again!
We went to see our friends The Pagans, who we saw at Blue Bag Records last month in a much mellower environment – and as I predicted in that post, this show was fucking packed. Like at the Dictators, it was another series of mosh pits, people! I’m telling you, Long Beach is where people still mosh. The line-up of bands was a venue-packing list to say the least, including Long Beach heroes The Humpers, Bloodline (Devil Dogs Steve Baise singing), and The Ringleaders with Larry May from The Candy Snatchers.
Mike Hudson talking about the love of his life – probably….
In their first club show in maybe fifteen years, The Pagans opened with their classic Not Now No Way and the moshing was on! They ripped through lots of oldies and songs from their new album Hollywood High, ending the set with the legendary 1977 single, Six & Change. When’s the last time you saw an opening band do an encore? Dare to dream in Long Beach, that’s all I’m saying.
The original line-up of this legendary 70’s, then 80’s punk band included Hudson’s brother Brian Hudson on drums, Mike Metoff on guitar and Tim Allee on bass. Saturday night’s line-up was Tony Matteucci on drums, Ben Reagan and Lauren Molinare on guitar, and Michael James D’Amico on bass. While you’re buying their new record (it’s on vinyl!), you can also check out Mike Hudson’s many books, like Fame Whore.
Seriously, it’s a mosh pit in 2015!
L – R Ben Reagan on guitar, Tony Matteucci on drums, Mike Hudson singing and Lauren Molinare on guitar
Richard singing with Sarah Chavez from The Brand. Michael D’Amico on bass & Tony Matteucci on drums.
It was such a fun night, I felt fourteen years old again watching my boyfriend on stage and wandering around looking for tacos to eat before the show. Here above is Richard and the lovely and talented Sarah Chavez singing their guts out on a song called “Nowhere Girl.”
Also, every single band was great. When does that happen? That never happens. And the DJ was a friend of my friend Annemarie’s – Lou Carus – he was playing great tunes and threw on D.O.A. and The Nils for us Canadians in the crowd.
I fucking loved The Ringleaders. Larry May puts on a high-energy show and I loved their songs. What else matters?
The Ringleaders kicking ass.
And you know I love a three-piece band. I played in one for ten years and despite my lack of improvement, it never occurred to me that two might be better than one. Bass, drums, guitar is all you need, especially if you are this trio, Bloodline, below. The two kids backing up an unstoppable Steve Baise seriously sounded like Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan to me. I don’t know how they learned that sound at twelve years old or however old they are, but I was really impressed. I’d love to see this band again.
Who are these crazy kids???
Unsurprisingly, I was already losing steam before the headliners came on. My bedtime is usually 10pm. I’m embarrassed to say that I missed The Humpers set – but it was also so claustrophobic in there when they went on, I had to get some air – a GREAT sign for them.
Next time, Long Beach!
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