The Psyatics and Suburban Resistance at the Huntridge Tavern, Saturday July 16, 2022

 

Pre-pandemic, the Huntridge was one of our fave watering holes/live gigs due to its intimate atmosphere - which, of course, was a bit of a drawback during the height of Covid. Obviously, we're not in the clear yet, so this could come back to bite us at some point, but after a super fun Devil's Duo/Unwieldies show a month or so ago, we decided to see how a full electric gig would go down. Turns out, it was a blast!

Suburban Resistance frontman/singer Kevin has been super supportive of our various projects (and is a vinyl collector who has many crazy rare items that I have appeared on over the last several decades) and we've been trying to do something together for a while so I was happy that this opportunity came along. Although they look like a gang that you would not want to run into in a back alley off of Fremont, they're some of the nicest guys in town, as are their great, enthusiastic friends'n'fans.

Their sound is a bit hard to describe since they aren't trying to pigeon hole themselves, but they're a bit punk'n'roll, a bit 70's rock, a bit metal, a bit hardcore, but all the while concentrating on real songs with plenty of sing-along choruses with melodies and whoa-ohs that would make the Misfits jealous. Fine players all around, as well - totally recommended! They're having a record release show at the Dive Bar on August 13, and I'm sure there will be plenty more, so check 'em out! Oh yeah, and they even brought a smoke machine!

A tough act to follow, for sure, but the group and their friends'n'followers mostly hung out for the Psyatics' set, and continued with their enthusiastic, inebriated support throughout the night. Our set mixed old'n'new, as we do, with at least one brand new number that we managed to pull through, albeit with maybe a couple hiccups. In any case, we did our best to keep up the energy and interact with the crowd throughout our longer-than-usual set. A good time seemed to be had by all!

(Psyatics pix by Jeff Murphy - thanks buddy!)

Thank you to the Huntridge Tavern for being such a fun place to hang'n'play and we appreciated the investment in their own house PA! We will be back soon!