Fenix TX, Lefty & Ten Times A Day

As the second day of my triumphant return to the hallowed halls of Chico State came to a close, I found myself looking forward to the evenings festivities; namely, the Fenix TX show at the Brick Works. Few things cap off a sunny day spent amongst the bleached and tanned youth of America better than a healthy dose of girly-core, new-school punk.
In regard to the aforementioned bleached and tans, they apparently felt much the same way as I did, being that they were also out in full-force, preparing themselves for an onslaught of once-again-fashionable pop-punk.
As I arrived, the first band was already playing. They called themselves Ten Times A Day, which is, I assume, a reference to their own adolescent masturbation habits. They were stoked about being themselves. "Did anybody here go to the Warped Tour?" the singer asked. The crowd answered with a resounding roar. "Did anybody see us there?" was the question that followed. Sound of a pin dropping; a lone, solitary cough somewhere in the background. Unperturbed, Ten Times a Day carried on with their personal brand of butt-core punk. The singer didn't really sing very well. The guitarist had a seventh string that he didn't use. The drummer was cool because he had an Aquaman shirt on.
Following Ten Times A Day was Lefty, a band that I was a little more familiar with. Although Lefty may look hard — the lead vocalist slightly resembles Tim Armstrong, only right handed, and the bass player was all about sporting his sculpted abs and tattoos — their music is pop-punk, without very much punk. But this is by no means a bad thing, in fact, Lefty was one of the more impressive bands I've seen in awhile. Once I got past the So-Cal old school look that they were desperately clinging to, I found their music and their overall demeanor to be very pleasing to my pop sensibilities. I'll bet a nickel that you'll be seeing Lefty on a poster on your little sister's wall sometime in the near future.
Finally, the moment that all the dorm-rats had been waiting for: Fenix TX mounted the stage and readied themselves to rock. Surprisingly, the guy from Lefty who looks like Tim Armstrong was also acting as the rhythm guitarist in Fenix TX. And although he did his best to make them not suck, they still kind of did. Not that Fenix TX was horrible in any way. They did what they did really well. Only I didn't really find what they did terribly exciting. Granted, my opinion is definitely running counter to the vast majority of those who were there, but they, however, are not nearly as knowledgeable and esteemed in the world of girly-punk as I.
Basically, I found out why Fenix TX is still stuck in the rut that they've been in for years. While many of their contemporaries and bands that I'm sure were actually influenced by them are making dollars like rabbits make babies, they're too pop to be punk: too punk to be liked by little girls, and just not quite exciting enough to differentiate themselves from the vast hordes of imitators and bandwagon jumpers. Maybe if they hadn't had to change their name things would be different.
– Daniel Taylor
– Photo by Myles Stenger

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