2/3/2022

I’m not a cover bands guy. I love covers, but a band wholly dedicated to playing other bands’ music just isn’t something I’m probably going to pay any money to see. But a band of dudes who are ex-members of a band starting their own offshoot of that band with a similar name, such as K.K. Downing’s Priest, seems like a fun experiment to me. So when Rikk Agnew’s “Radolescents” were coming to the Central Coast, I took a flyer on it.

However, I was a little bit disappointed to find that Radolescents didn’t have any originals, and that their set was just covers of Adolescents’ debut album. It wasn’t bad, just not really what I wanted it to be. Rikk Agnew is a legend in my mind, mostly because of his work on Christian Death’s Only Theatre of Pain, and I would say after seeing him play that he’s still got it. The rest of the band, including Casey Royer on drums, gave me the feeling that I was watching a cover band.

On top of that, Humdinger Brewing in Arroyo Grande, home to many of Guardsmen Productions’ shows in the area, is a less-than-optimal venue for a rock show. Its stage and bar are maybe ten feet from each other, so the “pit” area in front of the stage is completely cramped and it makes it impossible for people to get drinks. But they host hardcore shows on the Central Coast, and that’s something worth supporting in my mind. Besides, it was a fine set for what it was and the guys seemed to have fun playing, so it wasn’t boring or anything.

The highlight of the show was the direct support opener, The Hajj. A two-piece that incorporated Middle-Eastern, South-Asian, and North-American folk music into hardcore. The lineup structure and influence from world music basically teed them up to be a band that I would love. Their set was discordant and it was beautiful. Better yet, they seemed like nice dudes who absorb all the music they can get their hands on (I saw a Blood Incantation sticker on the guitarist’s pedal case). They have one record, and it’s definitely worth looking into.

Local-ish opener Up Your Guts (Solvang) was largely forgettable, other than the fact that their drummer took both his shirt and pants off during the set and drummed most of the night in his underwear. I’ve been to a lot of shows, but I’ve never seen that before. Can’t say I didn’t get anything out of the night.