Strung Out – Neck of the Woods, 6 October 2023: Review

Strung Out are American Punk band veterans and they blasted away with a scorching set of precise and battering sonic attack music.

They were formed in the town of Simi Valley, California in 1989. This is as close to Los Angeles as Hamilton is to Auckland. I suspect they are part of the suburban alumnus of Punk, rather than the urban working class.

Founding member and singer Jason Cruz is still there shredding vocals in a slightly high tenor. He does a fair amount of pogoing, and soon the sweat is pouring off. Two founding guitarists I am reasonably certain are still there, Rob Ramos and Jake Kiley. They are completed as a quintet by drummer Daniel Blume and a brand-new bass player for this tour.

I was captured by Punk in its initial explosion as a teen in 1978, but I had no awareness of this band prior to now.  The Los Angeles punk scene was just as seminal as London or New York, albeit a little later.

It is always interesting to discover an old cult band that seemed to live in a parallel world to where you were. Experiencing them now, they could have easily fitted on one of the best music documentaries ever made, The Decline of Western Civilisation, by Penelope Spheeris.

It highlighted the Los Angeles Punk diaspora and featured X, Fear, Black Flag, Circle Jerks and the Germs.

Eight years after that movie, this band was formed, and they would appear to straddle original Punk and post Punk.

It is a friendly atmosphere and a young audience in one of the classic underground music caves of Karangahape Road. I do notice that the Boomers are not present.

There have been plenty of the old bands performing in recent years. Cockney Rejects, the Damned, Stiff Little Fingers, Members and Sex Pistols alumni. Filled mostly with the original fans. Bigger bellies and far less hair.

Strung Out waste no time in starting combat. Too Close to See and Exhumation of Virginia Madison (off Twisted Design album 1998) and Firecracker (Suburban Teenage Wasteland 1996). Fast battering artillery attack from the drums which come in over the top and stay dominant all set. Any variation is just to play faster.

Punk Power Pop riffing abounds from the two guitars. Occasionally, you are lulled into thinking a familiar pop melody is materialising briefly. Before it gets annihilated in the music particle accelerator.

The singer has his work cut out to emerge through the heavy barrage. He uses his tenor to good effect, but there are times he must yell, chant, and rap a little.

Their albums contain a lot of Power Pop. Live, they aim for a heavier sound and putting in those repeated body shots.

The guitars grind metal and cut through like buzzsaws. Riffs get brutal as in Mind of my Own.

Analog is basically a raucous anthem chant, until the drummer decides he wants to try and set himself on fire with furious speed.

It is a complete surprise to hear Town of Corazon near the end. Starts with a folkie strum giving way to jangle guitars and this could be Folk Rock as was originally heard on the Byrds first four albums.

The following song balances it all with what could be Monkees Pop Punk. The singer comes to the fore and sings a lot of yeah, yeah, yeahs. Catchy drone guitar riffs with jagged edge squalls to bring back the nasty.

Flirting with Disaster and Fireshark.

A three-piece Punk band, Flirting with Disaster, were most of the way through their opening act set as I arrived. It was advertised as an early start with the first band due to shoot its wad at 8.30pm, and it was 8.15 when I barrelled down the stairs.

They are an interesting post-punk band. The singer/guitarist had strikingly vivid orange hair and resembled the young Johnny Rotten Lydon.

They play the speed metal end of the Punk spectrum. The drums of course are dominating.

They have a sense of humour which is an essential element to aggressive music. Door Knockers takes inspiration from evangelists turning up at your home.

There is a great take on Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Bad Moon Rising.

Second band on were Fireshark, who are a Punk trio, and I have no other information on them. Both bands are from Auckland

They have the more monolithic approach to their sound, out of the three bands.

The rhythmic attack again is at speed. The first song and it sounds like the guitarist is singing it’s good to be really stoned.

There are some Ramones riffs, a little Ron Asheton from the Stooges, which occasionally surface.

Both bands deserve to be seen again. They both do the business as Hardcore Punk.

Strung Out have a signature sound of Punk expanded out with other genres. So did the first wave of artists as the music always had more diversity than their press image. This band can still generate that steam heat from the back beat and continue to do the Blitzkreig Bop.

Rev Orange Peel

Photos by Leonie Moreland

STRUNG OUT

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Flirting with Disaster and Fireshark

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