Sweet But Wild Reunion at Echo
By CRAIG HAMMONS
After being held captive by my Uber driver I finally made it to The Echo for the long awaited homecoming of Hollyweird’s own premiere punks, the Weirdos.
I missed the opening act Dirty and His Fists, but maybe that was a good thing. Tonight was also going to be special as it would market he reappearance of the mighty Woolly Bandits.
Christa Collins Brings It
The Woolly Bandits are a high energy get up off your ass rock and roll garage band led by the majestic dynamo Christa Collins. A lot of Woolly Bandits fans were here tonight and ready to rock. The crowd let it be known by giving them a thunderous round of applause as they took the stage.
They were like a rocket ship taking off as they ripped into their opening number, “Woman of Mass Destruction,” from their album of the same name.
I had no idea of what was going on behind me as I was front and center on this rock and roll ride to partyville.
‘Hard to Forget You’
The band was stage tight and well-rehearsed as they roared through song after song before getting to “Hard to Forget You,” which was the second song KROQ’s Rodney Bingenheimer played on his farewell show last Sunday night.
Christa prowls the stage like a panther who was just released from her cage. She is a mixture of Iggy Pop and Wendy O. Williams. She shakes her tambourine with a fierce vengeance and interacts with her bandmates and the audience by demanding a good time is had by all.
Rik Collins plays the bass like his fingers are on fire, guitarist mark bellgraph rips through every song like a man on a mission and tonight’s show had a keyboard played that added an extra layer to each song. Rik then joins in on vocals for “Bomp Shu Bomp,” a toe tapping shimmy shaker. The Woolly Bandits know they have a job to do and waste no time.
‘Shear, Intense Energy’
They deliver song after song with shear intense energy you can feel it in your rock and roll shoes. They went right into “Watch Your Step,” which let the keyboard player drive while Christa steered. Next was one of my favorite tracks, “I’m a Bug,” in which Christa sings “I’m a bug, I can’t get no love.” The Woolly Bandits raised some hell tonight. Let’s hope they don’t stay away so long and come back to kick out the jams.
A break in the action was needed before I get back into my punk time machine and head back to 1977 for The Weirdos. I have to give a shout out to The Echo as their staff is professional, cool, friendly and the bartenders are fast and mix a good Jack and Coke.
The Weirdos
After a pause on the patio I made my way back in only to find the place packed full of punk rockers reado to see the Denney brothers get their punk on. The Weirdos were packing clubs like the Whisky in 1977 and tonight was no different.
They came on stage like no time had passed and gave the fans a wide array of songs from “It Means Nothing,” to “Happy People.”
‘Helium Bar’
John roamed around the stage singing and staring into the audience lie he was ready to rumble and Dix pretty much played like it was “Helium Bar.” “The Weirdos showed us why they were one of the best punk rock bands from the era by still playing with abandoned passion and attitude.
They did “Destroy All Music,” and made all the punks and rockers happy to be in the house tonight. Now where did I park my time machine? I need to get back home!