TSOL

Pretty Girls Make Graves

@ The Palace, Hollywood, CA 
9/22/01
Review By: Matt Boarders 
Pictures By: Scott Wulfesteig

             Let us preface this review with a small prayer to all effected in the recent tragedies in N.Y. and at the Pentagon. Just to show how far the effects of these  tragedies have reached  I had the rather dubious task of covering a show downtown Hollywood about week after the devastating attack in N.Y. and Washington. And at first I didn’t think much of the Idle threats directed towards the Hollywood Studios and other targets in the United States of America. The anxiety didn’t really hit me till I got near the city and the congestion of cars everywhere around me started to make me think if something did happen I had a very good chance of being stuck trying to save my life. Visions of a chemical attack with some insanely deadly biological weapon flashed through my head. I started to think to myself about the people in the Trade Center, they were just doing their Jobs, as was I on that tense September in 2001. And I was  thousands of miles away from the attacks yet they still affected me in some small way.

 In the Indy music scene the Police, as well as the Government and authority in general are always viewed with distain and ridicule.  An Us vs. Them mentality if you wish. We here at Deadontheweb.com hope that things can change. As gentleman Jack  would later remark,” being in a band that hates the govt. sucks right now.” If anything can come of the recent events, we hope that America and her people will start pulling together again instead of tearing it self apart. Our country is far from perfect, but we believe it’s still one of the best damned countries around.

                The commute from O.C. to Hollywood, was it’s usual caravan of smog and  brake lights. Compound that with the early start up time at the Palace, meant that I missed the most of the first two bands. I was only able to catch the last few songs of a very energetic set by The Briefs. The Briefs style  was balls out old school punk rock from overcast skies of Seattle. They were a talented four piece with a lot of that snotty 70’s style, that  we love so much. One of the coolest things about the briefs was their singing, which included all members in the band pitching in at times singing some balls out punk. I was impressed and definitely want to see a little more of their set the next time their in town. Damned Hollywood Traffic!  

After taking in the old school antics of the briefs, up close and personal. It was time for the bay area’s One Man Army to play their raucous working class style of punk rock. With the emphasis on writing old school gems with  a touch of alley smarts. One man army got the rather reserved crowd of their bar stools and out onto the flat of the floor. Most power trios are usually boring to watch, but One Man Army always keeps the show entertaining and fun. Bassist Heiko schrepel is always on full speed spas mode pounding out an effective and solid bass line along with drummer Brian Pollack.  And singer/gutarist Jack Dalrymlpe is usually doing his best to keep some of the girls in the audience screaming like little girls at an Nysnc concert. The crowd was a little lighter than expected due I’m sure to the recent threats on the Hollywood’s motion picture industry. But the ones that did come out were the die-hard fans, the fans that make going to a show worth it. One man opened with “Money in the Bank” and  “Dead end Stories” a couple tracks off their debut album on Adeline Records. The Band then proceeded to rip thru a ton of songs of their newer release “Last word Spoken.”   All in all a really good set of punk rock by the San Francisco natives.

                Now it was time for tonight’s headliners T.S.O.L. one of the true legends of the early punk rock scene. The great thing about T.S.O.L. is that you never know what’s going to happen. And tonight was no exception; the band was introduced by  Kenny from The All Night Rockers. Singer Jack Grisham was in a good mood tonight, starting of the show by saying how fucked it was “ being in a band that hates the government.”  Jack said they were going to change the words a little due to the WTC Bombings. He then launched into a set that played all the staple T.S.O.L. songs that made them one of the most infamous bands to come from Orange County. They played  a lot of songs of the know legendary “Dance with Me” album. This was when their macabre style really  shown thru, in songs like “Silent Scream”,  “ Sounds of Laughter” and the song they usually end their set with the crowd favorite “Code Blue”.  And I think Jack dedicated the song“ Funeral March” to his fallen band mate Todd Barnes.  Mike Roche was his usual intense self banging away on the bass and doing his best to stay out of the way of Jack as he prowled the stage. Watching T.S.O.L. is like taking old school punk 101, it’s a learning experience. In between songs jack told the crowd of the bands pending lawsuit for wearing a skirt, that some punk-ass decided was to revealing for his mommy’s taste. So they sued the band. Later he mentioned it might be cool if some kids decided to take it upon themselves to have some fun and maybe do a stage dive or two. Then told us how the band’s beings sued because someone got hurt at the show while stage diving. What happened to the days were you go out get drunk on cheap malt liquor, black out, and lick your wounds on Sunday afternoon?

 I wish the T.S.O.L. could have played a little longer , but the palace has the earliest ending shows around so they can accommodate the KroQ teenyboppers a little later on that night. So I started to make my way to the exits when the band started into “Code Blue” one of their usual show enders. As I was heading out to the parking, I noticed some of the squatter punk kids bumming cigarettes of the pampered teenyboppers waiting in line. And I started thinking to my self about all the things that have happen in the last week. I figure the more things change, the more they stay the same.

- Matt Boarders

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