The Schizophonics, Cromm Fallon and the P200 and the Implosions at the Double Down, Monday Nov 1, 2021

                                       

This show was one that I had been anticipating for quite a while - it had been postponed due to Covid and my band was going to play initially, but that didn't work out either, but that didn't stop me from seeing the might Schizophonics at LV's own punk rock dive, the Double Down Saloon. Thank you to Brian Moy's Dirty Rock'n'Roll Dance Party for hosting this event!

Starting off the night was our pals, the Las Vegas Historical Society of punk rock, the Implosions! Cool garagey punk mixed with sultry Crampsian swing with lyrics all based on LV icons'n'happenings. There were a couple of new tunes in the mix whose titles I did not catch, but otherwise the set was based on cuts from their self-titled CD, such as the crooned "Moulin Rouge" (with a great noise solo), "Million Dollar Photo", "Blue Angel", the ode to viewing explosions, "Atomic", and the rave up ending, "Ponies". Adrienne is quite the frontperson now, shimmying in her shimmery dress while moving from quietly sung tunes to shrieking wildness. The whole band concentrates on dynamics, with rhythm section  Clay'n'Denise (celebrating their 16th wedding anniversary!) locking in and Dave giving a wide variety of tones'n'effects on his guitar and literally wrenching out some wild solos. Great set!

Next up was another rockin' LV combo, Cromm Fallon and the P200. Cromm's a garage-rockin' youngster that has a talent for writing some hip, happening, high energy modern garage tunes, and will sometimes add guitar or, if the number requires a bit of manic madness, he'll simply sing lead so he can flail about all while snappily dressed! The set began with a bit of wildness, the MC5's "Kick Out the Jams", but it quickly became apparent that Cromm didn't know/forgot the words (although I'm not sure if anyone but me realized that) and after a short solo, they segued into their rockin' originals. The band is pretty smokin' these days - Trueland has a ferocious lead guitar, April is rock solid on the bass and musician-about-town, Aaron (yes he is also in Fallon's other band, the Laissez Fairs, among many others) is a hard hittin' powerhouse who adds harmonies to Cromm's Greg Prevost-ian (Chesterfield Kings) snarled vocals. Besides the obvious garage influences, I heard everything from Wire-like new wave bits to the Hives to the Count V (in their rave-ups, especially) to even slices of Joy Division! They closed with a crazed take on the Stooges "TV Eye" and while the Detroit high-energy thing had been done quite a bit in LA in the 80's and 90's, I don't know of anyone else doing anything like this is LV nowadays and it's pretty damn refreshing! Great band - see them any chance you can!

Of course, the stars of the night were San Diego's Schizophonics, whose appearance at Punk Rock Bowling wowed the crowd and most likely helped to pack the Double Down this evening. Seriously, it was fairly incredible how jammed the club was, particularly on a Monday night after a holiday weekend and the night after Halloween! I've loved this band for years, but I really think that they are going to really do something now that I've seen what they can do to the normally complacent LV audience. 

Their high energy, highly danceable sound immediately clicked with the audience as guitarist/vocalist Pat went flying through the club, knockin' over furniture, drinks and people, but all good naturedly and leaving everyone with a huge grin on their face! Somehow, he manages to dance non-stop, essentially a mix of James Brown and Jimi Hendrix, while singing lead and playing guitar basically one-handed! My shitty phone/camera could not even conceive of capturing the constant mania, but the crowd was thrilled to be a part of it all, dancin'n'clappin'n'rantin'n' ravin'! The set was a mix of old'n'new (I picked up their latest CD, so more on that in the fabled future when I have some time), with more established, sing-along numbers like "In Mono" and "Streets of Heaven", combining with cuts from their latest. Everything has a soulfulness, some garage textures, plenty of Detroit heaviness while all being damn catchy. Of course, Pat's other half, Lety, holds down the backbeat - she's a terrific drummer - and their latest bassist (sorry, I didn't catch his name!) added fluid runs around the rest of the chaos. Things ran a bit later than originally planned, so I cut out while they were cuttin' a rug on a frantic take on "Peppermint Twist" (which, at PRB, became a bit of a 50's medley), as I had to get up early for work today, but I'm sure they continued to wow the crowd into the early hours.

Once again, thank you to the Double Down and to Brian Moy's Dirty Rock'n'Roll Dance Party for a wild night and thank you to everyone who came out to show that Vegas doesn't always embarrass itself by ignoring amazing gigs that come through town!