Social Distortion & Death On Wednesday

Harrison Street was lined with punks and greasers waiting outside of Maritime Hall for some Southern California punk rock. As I made my way into the sold out show, I was amazed at the size of the venue. I cruised around for a bit and found that, anywhere I stood amongst the couple thousand people, I could see the stage perfectly. Also, in sight were two large screens displaying totally out-of-place acid-like graphics that would normally be found at a Grateful Dead show.

Kicking off the event was Vagrant Records’ latest and not-so-greatest, Death On Wednesday. These guys are a three-piece band from Huntington, CA, whose latest album received production assistance from Trevor Keith, who also did work with Face to Face. Unfortunately, I found their music to be shallow, unoriginal and vocally-challenged. D.O.W. covered a Misfits' song, seasoning it with a touch of Blink 182's Mark Hopkins vocal style (it was like twisting a knife in my heart). This bizarre collaboration of glam, pop and punk makes me wonder how they got this bill.

With five shows left on the tour and the infamous Hootenanny under their belt, Social Distortion took the stage looking a little tired. They started with a short instrumental, which then led into 90 minutes of both new and old school tunes. Just before "Don't Drag Me Down," Mike Ness gave recognition to the roots of rock when he said, "Without black music, there wouldn't be any good white music." They intoxicated the crowd while playing "Don't Take Me For Granted" and "Nickels & Dimes," numbers off the new album due out sometime in December. Joining SxDx was former guitarist of the Cadillac Tramps, U.S. Bombs and Youth Brigade, Johnny Wickersham. The show ended with "1945," the title cut off Social D’s first album, and I knew the evening was all over when a 45-year-old man with stinky breath started blowing on my neck, whispering, "air-conditioning."

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