Barflies.net - The Adolescents, The Stitiches, Pistol Grip and Drive By Smile at House of Blues Anaheim- Fri. Oct. 3, 2003

The Adolescents, The Stitiches, Pistol Grip and Drive By Smile at House of Blues Anaheim- Fri. Oct. 3, 2003

Photos by Jenifer Hanen
Tag-Along Adolescents by Kevin Hillskemper

The Adolescents

The Adolescents, The Stitiches, Pistol Grip and Drive By Smile at House of Blues Anaheim- Fri. Oct. 3, 2003
Review by Jenifer Hanen

I would like to start out this review by stating that there are great bands, good bands, mediocore bands, and just plain bad bands. Luckily for me and all the other concert attendees at the Maus Haus last Friday, the bands on the bill were good to great.

The questions becomes what separates a good band from a great band? A great rock band has very good to spetacular songwriting, top live performance, and at least one band member who walks/runs/crawls/incarnates the fine line fine line between insanity and entertainment.

The Adolescents deliver as a great band. Exceptional songwriting in the old punk rock favorites and the new songs that Steve Soto and crew have cooked up. The all ages crowd was in the palms of their hands, with the pit going crazy and all the kids on the fringes singing along. Add to the tight set of new and old punk faves, The Adolescents gave the crowd the best of rock'n'roll push/pull tension incarnated in the form of guitarist Rikk Agnew. Is Rikk completely off is his rocker or the rock guitarist of the year? Bathed, floating green hair, and a guitar of fire, Rikk was the fine line on Friday night.

The evening at the Maus Haus started out with Gabby from the Cadillac Tramps and Manic Hispanic's new band, Drive by Smile. Imagine the Tramps without the blues influence and a lot more punk, and you have Drive by Smile. A four piece with Gabby on vocals and the fine line, Ray Bones on guitar, and two other guys whose names I don't have. Drive by is on their way to being a great band, as Gabby is the showman to end all showmen in SoCal. When Gabby gets finished with rock'n'roll, he will make a great preacher.

In the usual House of Blues fashion, the supporting bands played 30 minutes sharp and were on and off the stage in a blink of an eye. Second up was BYO's young punk hunks, Pistol Grip, with their usual cadre of young girls and mohawked kids lining up against the barriers. Pistol Grip is a good solid Oi! Street Punk band from the San Gabriel Valley. They are consistently good as a live band and on CD.

The Stitches, SoCal's answer to The Briefs, were the third band on the line up. The Stitches were without the skinny ties, but they rocked the house with their band of '77 punk rock.

We come full circle to the Adolescents...

Tag-Along Adolescent
by Kevin Hillskemper

I was asked to write "a few paragraphs" to accompany Jen's review of the Adolescents show at the House of Blues. The assignment wasn't specific, but here's what I thought up on the way home.

10 or so Most Memorable Adolescents Shows.

This is roughly in chronological order. It is far from comprehensive. My version of the facts may conflict with yours, but it's how I remember them - so there!

1. Tony's Mom's garage, early 1980 – This was just a practice before they had even played any shows. There were a few other people there besides the band. The only lighting in the garage was a droplight hanging from one of the rafters. While he was singing, Tony pulled the light down, broke it, and them stomped on it. If this was just a practice, I thought, their first show ought to be pretty good. I missed their first show because of bad directions. It turned out to be about a mile from my parent's house in Yorba Linda.
2. El Dorado High School, Placentia – In the theatre/lecture hall. They played with Agent Orange and the Idle Rich. Nothing got broken but it was memorable nonetheless.
3. Servite High School Gym, Anaheim – Spring 1980. John, who was in the first incarnation of the band, went to this all-boys, Catholic school and set up this lunchtime assembly show. Since I had a car, I was deputized as a roadie. The show was absolutely amazing. At first, the PA didn't work so they played "Pipeline" or something. As soon as the PA starting working and the whole band started playing, the food and insults started flying. The band was relentlessly pelted with sandwiches, apples, cartons of milk, and other various foodstuffs. It was a very nutritional war zone. For a bunch of nice Catholic boys, the audience sure had potty-mouths. Tony responded by calling them "fags" and the power was shut off. The ensuing food fight lasted longer than the set. John got in trouble from the school administration but I don't know why. He didn't throw anything. Maybe he did, but only in self-defense.
4. The Fleetwood, Redondo Beach – April or May 1980 with the Germs and Middle Class. Once again, my car was my passport to roadie-dom. I think this was their first "real" L.A. area club show. They went over quite well and got written up in Flipside, which was a big deal at the time. This may or may not be the time that I made seventeen fake hand-stamps with a felt pen and they all worked.
5. Cuckoo's Nest, Costa Mesa, Summer 1980 – By this time, Rikk and Casey from the Detours had replaced John and Peter Pan - the original drummer. They brought in a bunch of new songs. The first time I saw them play "Amoeba" was at the Nest. That was when I realized that they were really good. I remember getting the feeling that this was somehow historic and important, but chalked it up to teenage experimentation with alcohol. They played at the Nest a lot and the shows all blend together. There was the time that Rikk barfed onstage. That was cool. He said he had the flu. I also remember a show that Steve missed so Rikk used his bass and filled in for him. To say he mistreated the instrument would be an understatement. I was asked not to tell Steve and I didn't - until now. Hey Steve - Rikk broke your bass.
6. Troy High School, September 1980 – I helped set this show up. I was on the yearbook staff with the Student President dork who did all the work. Agent Orange and the Adolescents played the lunch hour and the whole thing went pretty well. Troy was a lot more receptive to punk rock than Servite - and we had girls, too!
7. KROQ, Pasadena – Not really a show, but an event. "Amoeba" was getting a lot of airplay and the station sponsored some kind of stupid contest and had the Adolescents make an appearance to pick the winner on the air. I ditched school to act as chauffeur for Steve and Tony. Another school chum named Simo went along for the ride. The radio show was chaos and there was an extremely embarrassing photo taken. I enjoyed dumpster diving with Rikk behind the station and getting a bunch of records. Robbie Fields a.k.a. Posh Boy asked the Adolescents and Rodney Bingenheimer out to lunch. He made a big show at the restaurant when the waitress appeared. He told her "I'm paying, but not for him, him, and him" pointing out me, Simo, and a friend of Rikk's (whose name I forget). I'd like to think that was a factor in them not putting out an album on Posh Boy records.
8. The Starwood, Hollywood – They did several shows here in late '80 and early '81. It was all downhill from here.
9. The Vex, East L.A. Spring 1981 – The Flipside Benefit with the Crowd and the Circle Jerks. Pat Smear had now replaced Rikk. Mike Ness sang "House of the Rising Sun" with them. The last really good show that I saw them do. Until the reunions, of course, but those would have to wait five years.

10. THEN CAME THE REUNIONS! Fenders Ballroom, Long Beach. 1986. The dumb, relatively innocent fun had been replaced by a bitter and jaded decadence. This is not an entirely true statement, but I think it sounds poetic. I don't have any details.
11. Road Trip. Reno, San Francisco, San Jose. Winter 86 or 87 – I tagged along as Merchandise Guy. It was snowing as we headed through Donner Pass on the way to Reno. I was told that if the van broke down and left us stranded like the Donner Party - I would be the first to go since I was the most expendable. The Reno show got cancelled and some of us hit the casino bars. I snuck into a showroom and saw Sammy Davis Jr. Another thing I remember about this trip is that Rikk had forgotten to bring any shoes. I lent him a pair of mine. He wore them without socks for the entire three-day trip. Over that time, he did not shower or change his clothes. I did not ask for my shoes back.
12. Night Moves, Huntington Beach 1987 (?) – One or two songs into the set, Tony threw the microphone over the lighting rig, wrapped the cord around his neck, and tried to hang himself. End of show.
13. Bogart's, Long Beach 87 or 88 – The short-lived Rikk, Steve, Sandy, Paul line-up. I don't know why this stands out, but it does. They did a medley of "Train Kept a Rolling/Hey Little Girl" with a great, extended drum solo. Really.
14. December 1991 – I was home for Christmas and saw them play two distinctly different sets in two different cities on the same night. The first set was at the Doll Hut in Anaheim with Sandy on drums and Rikk (without guitar) on lead vocals. The second set was a couple of hours later in Riverside with the old Tony, Steve, Frank, Rikk, and Casey line-up. They played "Silent Night."
15. The House of Blues, Anaheim Oct 3, 2003 – I remember this show because it was three days ago. The new songs sound good and Derek's drumming fits in with their sound. The House of Blues not only has clean bathrooms, but they even have a washroom attendant! They validated my parking. I like that.