Melodic hard-core punk, ska and snotty, humorous punk-rock acts headline a trio of club shows over the weekend:
- CALIFORNIANS HARDCORE punk-rock act Strung Out has friends in the right places - including celebrities and members of the L.A. Dodgers baseball team. But it's hard work that has made the band successful.When Strung Out isn't out touring, its members are recording - either as a band or as members of punk "supergroups" like Pulley, Me First and the Gimme-Gimmes. To date, Strung Out has recoreded two albums of politically charged melodic hardcore, 1994's "Another Day in Paradise" and last year's "Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues."
Strung Out performs with Straight Faced and Due Time on Saturday, Sept. 13, in the Club DV8 basement, 115 S. West Temple.
- LET'S GO BOWLING has bucked the current trend plaguing ska music, namely blending punk-rock and ska to make the style more "palatable" to young music fans.
Instead, the veteran California act plays horn-heavy and danceable ska more akin to traditional acts like the Skatalites. That's not to say that the seven-piece doesn't like to stretch its musical horizons. Its most recent CD, "Mr. Twist," even features a brisk Latin-inspired track called "Cumbia del Sol."
The band will headline a Sunday, Sept. 14 show at Bricks Club, 579 W. 200 South, with local acts Sturgeon General and Catfische.
- AFTER L.A. DODGERS relief pitcher Scott Radinsky left the Oxnard, Calif., hard-core punk-rock band Ten Foot Pole, many fans and critics predicted dire things for both.
Radinsky has rebounded with Pulley, a similar band featuring some of the members of Strung Out, while his four former band-mates have regrouped and released a new CD, "Unleashed," which features guitarist Dennis Jagard on lead vocals.
Not too surprisingly, "Unleashed" sounds much like the band's other releases, "Rev" and "Swill" - after all, Jagged wrote most of those album's best songs.
Ten Foot Pole plays with snotty punk act Guttermouth and One Hit Wonder at Bricks on Monday, Sept. 15.