Suicidal Tendencies & (Hed)pe

Some fucking crazy shit was going on at The Brick Works Monday night, as Los Angeles seven-piece (Hed)pe and its trip-hop/urban groove/thrash sound took the stage around 7:30 p.m., giving the crowd of about 300 a chance to warm up for the big mosh with a mini-mosh. There was the intense "Anarchy," the mellow, jazzy guitar of "I Got The Funk" and the political "My Eyes Are Open." (Hed)pe is a lot like Rage Against the Machine, and with DJ Product controlling the metal grinder that sent sparks all over the stage, and flipping records out of their sleeves down onto his turntables like a man possessed, this seem like a band ready for the big time.

All the gromits turned out for LA punk/thrash veterans Suicidal Tendencies. ST has seen many lineup changes, and this night original singer Mike Muir brought a few of his mates from ST offshoot band Infectious Grooves—guitarist Dean Pleasance, drummer Brooks Wackerman and bassist/slapmaster Josh Paul—as well as guitarist Mike Clark of ST for a rapacious, raucous and rabid set of G-punk/thrash, So-Cal style.

Opening with the ultra-moshable "Can’t Bring Me Down," the Infectious Grooves original "These Freaks Are Here To Party," and "Subliminal," the band had the crowd in a frenzy. I didn’t think the two-part pit could get any wilder , but it did as the band smoked into the old Headbangers’ Ball favorite "Send Me Your Money." This tune is a straight-up rocker and the 1-inch plywood and thick-schedule PVC pipe railing was cracked and crushed during this song.

Prefacing the song "Fascist Pig" was a Muir spiel spoken so vato-fast all I could catch was "that badge don’t mean a thing to me!" Other cuts included "Lovely," the Ozzy Osbourne collaboration "Therapy," and "Pledge Your Allegiance." The audience wasn’t going to let ST get away without playing an encore, or probably its biggest hit, "Institutionalized." So the band killed two birds, blah, blah, blah, and played "Institutionalized" for the encore. These guys tore it up.

-Bret Lueder

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