The Psyatics, Hell Toupees and Soldiers of Destruction at the Double Down, Saturday April 27, 2019

The Psyatics home-away-from-home is definitely the Double Down and the band averages at least a show a month there, sometimes setting up the entire line-up and sometimes just seeing who else appears, as happened this evening.

Opening the night was touring band The Hell Toupees (funny name!) hailing from Ventura, CA, who were basically a hardcore punk group with a political bent, as evidenced by their opening song "Media Whore", which was followed by the singer exhorting the crowd in a "Fuck Trump" chant. There was a bit of the Dead Kennedys here'n'there, some Misfits influence and hints of various other combos as they covered songs like Dramarama's "Anything" (more shouted than sung, but fun) along with a Cure song that I didn't recognize. They were good, tight players and the singer was highly animated, so a cool start to the evening.

The Psyatics followed with a set of old'n'new tunes (four recent numbers, two of which we hadn't played live before), plenty of energy, a bit of sloppiness and a lot of fun - on our part anyway! There was a good crowd at this point and we got a great response from friends and unfamiliar faces alike. A little messy at time, as tends to happen when I play in a group, and the whole shee-bang ended in chaos as "Gentlemen of Four Outs" devolved into a noise fest with feedback, pounding drums and Ivanna Blaize's frantic shimmying!

(Above Psyatics photos by Nikki Ruffling)

16 Again were not able to get out here from SoCal, so the night ended with the Soldiers of Destruction, featuring the Double Down's bouncer and all around nice guy, David Thompson on bass. These cats were also kinda hardcore/kinda Oi and despite some technical difficulties (for some reason the PA would not cooperate with them), they were talented'n'tight (the drummer was especially smokin') and the songs featured plenty of background vocals and call'n'answer choruses. The audience was a bit sparser by the time they got on, but they still managed to get people up'n'slammin' and generally having a good time.

Once again, thanks to the Double Down for a fun night a punk-oriented rock'n'roll music and shenanigans!