It’s not my fault I went. As Jonathan so gracefully put it “Since when do you like punk rock?” (Referring to me. Duh.) I admit, my very limited collection of music does not include any punk (in my defense, no one has shown me any I like). Yet somehow, I found myself at a little hole in the wall in Long Beach smaller than my living room seeing Underground Railroad to Candyland and Pinhead Gunpowder. I won’t lie, it was pretty kickass (despite getting kicked in the head a few times, this is what happens at shows, right?)
I can’t really review the sound. The venue had a cheap crackly-sounding system and more fans than they could drown out. I guess it doesn’t really matter when everyone (but me) knew all the words anyway.
The place was packed for Underground Railroad to Candyland, and then became full to the rafters with punkers, drunkards, and the like for Pinhead. Todd C. of Underground got lost in the crowd during his set. He danced and moshed with the rest of the crazies, and managed to keep his plastic sunglasses on the whole damn time. I can’t really say too much about their music, since I had never heard it (or of them) before, but it made a good impression on me. It was bouncy and reminded me of the Ramones, which is rarely a bad thing.
Pinhead Gunpowder was clearly the reason everyone was there. Kids were falling off the ceiling to see the band play. They played on a stage that was about five inches tall, which didn’t do much as far as keeping the band separated from the crowd. At one point, the crowd got out of hand (fights broke out on stage) and the sound was cut mid-song to break it up. Billy Joe (Armstrong, noobs) serenaded the crowd back to normalcy and playing resumed. During another song I though he was going to start a fight when his mic got pulled into the crowd, but it was returned to him unharmed and the show went on. Again, I had never heard this band before, but it sounded good to me. Maybe I’ll even add one of their CDs to my repertoire. I got to give it up to the drummer of this band, Aaron Cometbus, for keeping something like this from going completely mainstream like Armstrong’s other bands. The last thing we need is another Green Day (or Fox Burrow Hot Tubs for that matter). But then again I guess it wouldn’t really hurt the scenesters to have some punk in their life. I got a little in mine and I seem to be fine.
-Caitlin Elgin