One Punk VS. Psychos Tour
Saturday, March 16, 2002
The Palace, Hollywood, CA

By Ashely Kiana
Photos by Jenifer Hanen

Punk VS. Psychos Tour: Saturday, March 16, at the Palace in Hollywood, right next to the street with the most punk rock name, Argyle Ave, was packed out, featuring three known bands, Tiger Army, The Nekromantix, and The Distillers. This show, which started out as the Punk vs. Psychos tour, derailed off to the psychos with one punk tour. Lars Frederiksen hurt his back so the Bastards were replaced with the US Bombs although the US Bombs did not even play this show on Saturday.

The stage was set for the Nekromantix, a band traveling all the way from Denmark. These three Danish men hailing from Copenhagen, one secretly a pastor, held the stage well with their psychobilly tunes. We sit in wonder at which one of these men is the pastor (who would have ever guessed)? I am guessing against Kim Nekroman and his coffin bass. A pastor with a bass in the shape of a coffin, you never know?!

The Distillers stole the show. Brody’s raspy voice and strum of her guitar, well known among the punk rock crowd, blared like usual through the microphone while capturing the audience’s attention. Brody’s beauty and ice crystal looking, spiky hair, gleaming in the light, stopped the audience and hooked them to the opening of Oh Serena, the band’s infamous show starter. The almost completely new band sounded just like the old band did. With Kim Chi gone and Rose nowhere to be found, the band should have had a whole other name to them. I have seen The Distillers play many times before this show and they were a great band so the new band had to keep up to The Distillers well known name. Andy Outbreak from the Nerve Agents was playing drums for the band and Ryan playing bass and vocals. A guy named Tony kept coming in sporadically on vocals. The band was so different and such a surprise from the old band with Kim Chi and Casper in it, changing from an almost all girl band to an almost all guy band. Besides the switch of members, The Distillers still played a set consisting of songs off of the old album and the new album and played them damn well.

The lights dim for the awaited main act to come on, Tiger Army. These three men come out on stage just in time for the light show to start. The two interacting lights formed a crown of spikes, perfect for a punk rock/ psychobilly show. Now Tiger Army is an excellent band on cd but not too heart stopping when they play live. Their set felt too repetitive after just hearing The Nekromantix play. I will admit that this was the first show I had ever walked out of. Tiger Army is so good yet the show just did not catch my attention that night. I guess my learning experience was not to see too many psychobilly bands in one night. Keep that in mind for the future.

- Ashley-Kiana

Jen the Photographer would like to thank Tiger Army's really nice tour manager Dan for letting her up on stage to take the pics! Dan, you rock and you were cute, too!