Punk is Dad, Vol. IV

Oi.

There are very few bands out there that I'll make a point of seeing whenever they come even remotely close to my neck of the woods. 

For starters, ticket prices are more expensive now than they've ever been, exacerbated by Ticketmaster, of course, but also though the venues, which have all been swallowed up by some booking company that forces them to pay insane fees in order to host artists on tour. It's completely ruined live music for most people - paying to see a remotely known artist generally will set you back a couple hundred dollars, and I, for one, refuse to pay that much to see a band.

But punk rock bands?

The biggest names in punk music still charge under $50 for a ticket, and that's just my cup of tea. I've seen dozens of shows in my lifetime and I've only paid more than this on one occasion: when BP, Kimmel and I went to see Rancid open up for Green Day on the Saviors Tour back in September. That ticket was like $112, but we knew we'd be paying a higher price because, well, it is Green Day, and they're pretty mainstream.

BP's The Lord of the Rings-inspired garage doormat.

BP and I have an understanding that whenever Rancid or the Bouncing Souls come through Michigan, we have to go check them out. Sometimes we have to drive out to Chicago, and Kimmel gets involved, but most of the time we end up in Detroit. This time around, however, the Bouncing Souls were coming to Grand Rapids, which is even easier for us because it's closer and not such a pain in the ass to get in and out of.

For the low price of $32, we were able to check out one of our favorite bands in a super small venue - 400 people, tops - and even while standing off to the side, halfway back from the stage, BP and I were probably 30 feet from the stage. Pretty damn sweet.

Seems a bit pricey for one beer can, Meijer. . .

I took a quarter day off of work, leaving around 1:30pm, and a two hour drive later I was at BP's place in Rockford. We did a beer run to a local Meijer, grilled out at his place for dinner, and, around 8pm, headed downtown to the venue, The Pyramid Scheme. We missed the entire first opening act, and all but two songs from the second - which we were more than cool with - before H20 took the stage. Then, an hour later, it was time for the Souls.

Not one of the greatest Bouncing Souls shows we've ever seen - it was super hot in the tight confines of the venue, the sound mixing was a little muffled, and standing still on concrete for two and a half hours is straight-up murder on a mid-40s back - but it was awesome nonetheless. We'll continue to make pilgrimages to see this band, whenever they come through our neck of the woods, until they throw in the towel.

But, seeing how they're a punk band, that's not likely to happen any time soon.

So here you go, folks - another adventure into '90s punk rock with a couple of mid-40's dads.

Behold. . . .

BP, being Amish, has yet to upgrade to a propane grill, preferring instead to use charcoal like his ancestors did hundreds of years ago.

Grabbed a tall boy of this while we were out on a beer run to Meijer - perfect choice for sunny, high-70s grilling weather. Hoping to get my hands on more of this once summer breaks out.

The DeBoer fam has this big goose statue that's being painted in their garage. Sam said it's a custom with some folks, somewhere (I forget), and that folks dress it up during the Holidays. Maybe it's a southern thing, who knows.

Couple hours later, BP and I hit the road for downtown Grand Rapids, about a twenty-minute drive from his house in Rockford.

Took a hot minute to find available parking, but after being turned away from a few parking garages - like Joseph and the Virgin Mary in the Nativity - we finally found one that had spots available.

We had to drive up to the second-highest level of the garage before we found available parking, but fortunately there was an elevator nearby to take us down to street level.

It was a quick, two-block walk to the venue from there, and as we approached The Pyramid Scheme (shown here with the mural along the side), we saw that the band unloading out front was none other than H20. We walked right through them on our way into the show, which is pretty crazy - you can do that with mainstream artists without getting body-checked by their security detail.

The front half of this place looks like any normal dive bar, but after you walk through this front section you approach the bouncers and a closed door. Through that check point, it opens up into the concert area, which had two raised balconies on either side and a main floor. They had a merch table set off on the right, next to the bar, and some bench seating off the left.

I forget the name of this second band that was opening up for the Souls - something like '***** Hause & The Mermaid,' I forget it all - they were only 'meh.' We caught the last two songs, which sounded like general rock, and the overall vibe they gave off was that of an older band that had never managed to gain traction but was still trying to be relevant and controversial (lots of anti-government stuff, which is fine but when your sound doesn't match your message, it comes across pretty cringe.) We were less than impressed.

As always, neither BP nor myself took any pics or video of the concert itself - I've always found that tacky in a punk setting like this (granted, I took lots of pics and video at Green Day/Rancid, but there was literally nobody sitting behind us at that concert.) Instead, I did what I usually do and screenshot a bunch of pics and video (off of Instagram) that other concert-goers and professional photographers took during the show. They almost always turn out better than what I'd take anyway. 

H20 have never been one of my favorite punk groups. I used to have one or two of their CDs, and there songs were usually featured on the Fat Wreck Chords or Epitaph compilation CDs back in the day, but I haven't listened to them all since college. Not a big fan of that 'pogo' hardcore sound, it comes off kinda cheesy.

It felt like it was 130 degrees in this place, considering the size of the venue and the hundreds of sweaty people crammed in. I have no frickin' clue how the singer didn't pass out on stage in that frickin' hoodie.

That's probably the coolest handlebar mustache in punk rock, folks.

Some younger, replacement bassist they picked up somewhere along the way (all the original guys are pushing 60.) They made a joke about how he just got his Green Card, so he must be Scandinavian (or German) or something - definitely has that look.

Various angles of pics here - I pulled these off various Instagram accounts (you're welcome.)

(I wish there was a way to remove those annoying slideshow buttons while taking a screenshot.)

The Bouncing Souls took the stage around 9:30pm, and the crowd was HYPED.

(That lit area in the back off to the right is where the merch booth was set up.)

LOTS of crowd-surfing tonight (which you'll see in a later video I've included.) Some moshing, too, but the Souls have a lot of songs that don't really trigger impromptu pits.

Some solo shots of dudes in the band. . .

This guy posted like six different videos, so screen recording it off Instragram while trying to swipe to the next video was a pain in the ass. I tried to pause at the end of each one, swipe to the next video, then resume my screen recording, but it's a bit rough. You get what you get, folks.

Since the song was released years ago, 'Ghosts on the Boardwalk' has turned into a nightly acoustic performance. Now, when we last saw the Souls a couple years ago in Chicago - during the height of Covid - their drummer had contracted the virus and they were forced to rely on three, different drummers (from the opening bands, local musicians, etc. instead. Each 'guest' drummer took three songs of theirs throughout the night, because learning the drum parts and entire set's worth of songs would be impossible with such short notice. To fill even more concert time, the singer did a couple acoustic songs in the middle of the set, which, at the time, was pretty awesome. Still, this was during Covid and, well, the world was different back then - folks needed that sorta vibe. Today, in the middle of a high-energy concert, the singer again broke out an acoustic guitar and the rest of the band retreated backstage for a break. But this time it felt jarring. 

I think it was out of place this time around. Last time, the audience knew that the band was without a drummer and trying to fight through the show at any cost, so an acoustic 'mini-set' in the middle to fill time was understandable (and appreciated.) This time, though, coming on the tail-end of an opening burst of eight or nine, fast, intense songs, to stop everything all at once for some slow, melancholy song just felt forced.

After that minor gripe, they were back to business for the rest of the show, playing all the favorites (and a handful of deep tracks and new numbers.) With one or two songs remaining in their set list (which BP had pulled up on his phone from the tour's previous show in Detroit), BP and I fought our way over to the merch table where we each bought a limited edition art print (numbered and signed) of the tour (the East Coast, F*** You tour.) They had vinyl, too - BP bought one - but I already own copies of all their albums that I want, and their pricing wasn't awesome.

We ended up walking out just as the band was closing up, around 10:30pm or so. Got one last show of the venue on our way back to the parking garage, and then from there we headed back to his house for a couple nightcaps before turning in around 1am. See Ya in the Pit, kids.

- Brian