Events

[PUNK] I remember when punk was young, me and Gator had so much fun… Well, actually, no – that’s not how the song goes, but there was a time when a certain class of punk bands eschewed politics (and all that emo/feelings shit) for absurd humor and hyper energy. Both L.A.’s The Dickies and New Hampshire-formed The Queers are examples of this, launching in 1977 and 1982, respectively. It’s interesting to note that The Dickies, who are celebrating 40 years this summer, were early on the L.A. scene, which means that punk had a sense of humor from the get-go — but this was soon overcast by (in particular) bands from the U.K. that married a growing sense of anger and unrest with the genre’s sonically aggressive stance. These guys were just having a good time, however, which is unmistakable when you hone in on the way they used to speed up classic rock tunes and throw lyrics on them that had nothing to do with the original songs, while also writing humorous ditties about what we might call L.A.’s “local color.” A few years later, The Queers took this cue and ran with it — even their name was a reflection of the silliness they saw in local “art fag” culture at the time. The DIckies have lost some guys along the way, and The Queers have essentially been a revolving collective with front man Joe King as the only staple, but the fun-time mission remains the same. Don’t take yourselves too seriously at Mohawk Place on Sunday June 10 for this classic punk two-fer that also includes our own Barksdales and Tony Rocky Horror along with Periodic Table of Elephants from Rochester.