Agent Orange, Sheiks of Neptune, the Psyatics, the Jagoffs at the Dive Bar, Saturday Dec 7, 2019

Thank to Pulsar Presents for bringing old school OC punks Agent Orange to the Dive Bar and for having a diverse group of local bands open the night!

First up was the Jagoffs, who were obviously influenced by the 80's OC/Hard Core movement but with some updates to it all such as some more modern metal growls mixed in with the singing. Plenty of Misfits-styled "oh-oh" backing vocals (their song "Class War" seemed particularly Misfit-y) and the singer started a slam pit while still doing his vocals! Their super short set was even less than the 30 minutes allotted to them (special kudos for starting exactly at their given set time) so they gave us a couple extras - my fave of the set "Live and Die" (not sure if this was an original or cover) and a take on Fear's "I Love Living in the City". Powerful opening for the night!

The Psyatics were up next and we had a super fun time running through songs from their 4 CD's as well as a handful of new tunes, including our version of the Scientists "When Fate Deals Its Mortal Blow". I wasn't sure how AO's fans would take to us but we won over a number of folks and had a great time doing so (even if my wireless cut out on the last song when I went behind the bar - lesson learned!). Thanks for including us, Pulsar!

(Psyatics pix by Nikki Ruffling)

The Sheiks of Neptune continue to astound with their complex, Zappa-esque take on punk rock'n'roll, with wacky imagery, a highly animated lead singer (who is still recovering from a broken foot during a previous show) and terrific musicianship. Always a sweat-drenched good time!

Truthfully, Agent Orange was a little late in the punk rock scene for me - while I always appreciated a wide variety of sounds, I had personally moved on to the new garage scene by the early 80's - but their mix of traditional surf (they were from an OC beach community) and hardcore won them multitudes of fans who obviously are still fanatics, as the Dive Bar was packed the entire night for these cats. Their set combined trad surf numbers ("Pipeline", "Surfer Stomp") with new originals, some of their standards and their best known anthem, "Bloodstains". With original members joined by a new powerhouse drummer, they smoked through their set and kept everyone in the pit for the entire night.

Thanks again to the Dive Bar, John Kirby for the fine sound, Pulsar for presenting the night and to everyone who came out! A terrific final show of the decade for the Psyatics - see you in January!