Review: Pennywise and Pepper at Club Nokia

As hokey a line as it may be, punk rock spirit was alive and kicking (well, moshing) at Club Nokia on Wednesday night. Seminal punk band Pennywise was in town, finishing up a tour with Hawaiian reggae-rock gods Pepper, as well as Arizona’s Authority Zero and Orange County’s Tomorrows Bad Seeds (a review of TBS’ February 9th show with Iration at the Roxy can be viewed here).

The capacity crowd was lively the entire evening. Tomorrows Bad Seeds opened the show at 7:25, and their brief 25 minute set was met with enthusiasm from the people up front in the pit, especially those who were already fans of the band. The cheering section sang along with most of the songs in the set, and made it quite evident that the band has a strong, growing fan base in Southern California. TBS played two new songs, and they were both pretty good. They mentioned a new album coming out soon, so anyone hip to the California reggae/rock circuit would do themselves a favor to keep an eye out for that record when it drops. Tomorrows Bad Seeds is a band with a great sense of energy and melody, and it showed during their set.

Authority Zero was up next, a band from Arizona who I feel have been grossly under-appreciated since their debut full-length album A Passage in Time in 2002. They delivered a blistering set, mostly sticking to songs from that album (such as “Superbitch” and “One More Minute”, which was a minor hit back around 2002) and a few from 2004′s Andiamo. Frontman Jason DeVore has a powerful voice that complements the band’s surf/punk songs and provides an energetic focal point to the band. I’ve been a fan of Authority Zero since I first heard “One More Minute” seven years ago, and I for one am looking forward to a new record. They played a new song at this show, and it only heightened my anticipation for the next album.

Next up was Hawaii’s own Pepper, a three-piece band consisting of Kaleo (guitar), Brett (bass) and Yesod (drums). They came onstage clad in nothing but board shorts and sneakers, fitting attire for a band from Hawaii in the month of June, even though it was gross and rainy outside all day in LA. I’ve seen Pepper quite a few times over the years, and their sets are always very entertaining on the whole. One thing I have noticed, and was consistent at this show, however, is that they tend to play fewer and fewer songs from Kona Town, the 2002 album that introduced me to the band. They chose instead to play more songs from 2006′s No Shame and 2008′s Pink Crustaceans and Good Vibrations, while relegating songs such as “Stormtrooper”, “Stone Love”, and “B.O.O.T.” to parts of a medley of songs from Kona Town. To me, that’s a shame, since I think that is their best album. They also covered the Clash’s “Armagideon Time”, an homage to one of their favorite bands (as they mentioned before launching into the song).

The songs they did play all the way through, such as “Freeze” and “Back Home” were sped up a bit, which worked well. Speeding up the tempo to their island reggae tunes translated effectively, and pumped up the crowd greatly. A good percentage of the people in the pit were singing and dancing along lively to Pepper with a strong amount of energy and passion. Pepper put on a great show, as usual, peppering in (pun intended) with interjections between songs that helped make the show take on an intimate feeling, almost as if the crowd and the band were just hanging out. That is something that Pepper has always done, and it heightens their performances into extremely entertaining events. The band tours relentlessly, and I’m sure they’ll be back on the road soon.

Pennywise closed out the show, and with its performance the band demonstrated how they have been able to be around for about 21 years. Frankly, these dudes know how to put on a lively show. I’m not really the biggest Pennywise fan, although I do appreciate their music. That being said, their set was incredibly fun to watch. That was probably helped by the fact that almost the entire floor section became a giant circle pit. The minute the lights went out and Pennywise hit the stage, the security guards keeping people from entering the floor section were overwhelmed by a rush of people who merely ran past the guards to the pit. It was madness. For the entirety of the hour-long set, I was caught amid dodging people running around in the pit and people jumping, running, and diving into the oil-slick of a floor section (thanks to spilled drinks and sweat accumulating on the wooden floor) from the higher areas.

Performance-wise, the band was spot on. Guitarist Fletcher Dragge threw his guitar into the crowd not once, but twice, and after brief scuffles the guitar was returned to the stage, unscathed. When he wasn’t launching his axe into the pit, he made statements alluding to the band’s not-so-favorable views on government and society as a whole, such as when he yelled at us all to “Question your mom. Question your dad. Question the government. F*** them all” (or something very close to that). The band makes it perfectly clear how they stand on the issues, and their unbridled aggression has helped Pennywise endure over the years, despite band members (and members’ relatives) passing away. The band also played some covers, such as Black Flag’s “Gimme Gimme Gimme” and the Beastie Boys’ “Fight For Your Right (To Party)”.

Pennywise played a bunch of songs from its expansive catalog, including “F*** Authority”, “Society”, “Same Old Story”, “My Own Country”, “Something to Live For”, “Perfect People”, and “Bro Hymn”, which closed the set and was a raucous performance in which everyone watching from onstage and most of the people from the other bands that were on the bill chimed in on a massive sing along with the crowd. Dragge made a brief speech leading into the song regarding his brother, who recently died, and the whole song took on a familial feeling, with the band feeding of the crowd’s frenetic energy and everyone singing along with “Bro Hymn”‘s vocal hook. It was a nice moment, and a great way to end the last day of the tour.

In all, the last day of the Jagermeister Tour, as it was called, was great. The lineup was jam-packed with talented bands, and while I would still not consider myself a very big fan of Pennywise musically, their set was exciting and lively, which is a testament to a band that is in its second decade of existence. There is a reason they are still around, and it showed Wednesday night.