Revolution Songs The Whole World Needs
Hardcore, Anarcho, Crust, Street, Pop: Five ways to describe various aspects of punk rock music — and that’s just five — of which I’ve happily run around in circle pits, been pressed against sweaty beer spilling individuals, and genuinely rocked my head off to in my life thus far.
For myself and a great number of friends who grew up in the ‘90s, punk provided a sense of community in a rural hippie town that was otherwise obsessed with reggae and country music — figure that out — where you could go 6 miles north where horses have the right of way or 10 miles south where meth seems to be lurking around every corner. It gave us an outlet for our anger and disillusionment in our supposedly sleepy little town in the Lost Coast. It should come as no surprise that by high school I was listening to heavy doses of Subhumans, Leftover Crack, Bad Religion, and Crass.
Crass, a band who broke up when I was still in diapers, left an indelible mark on punk music, expression, and politics that is still loudly blasting from my speakers to this day. After realizing that I missed out on Steve Ignorant’s 2010 tour of Crass music, I pretty much resigned myself to the notion that I would never get a chance to see those anthemic songs burning holes in my eardrums, but luckily for me — and anyone else who has caught on — this turned out to be the complete opposite. Enter Paranoid Visions.
Paranoid Visions is a band who, similarly to Crass, had its heyday in the early ‘80s anarcho scene brewing in England and Ireland. They broke up in the early ‘90s but reformed a number of times for one off gigs before reforming permanently in 2005.
In 2013 they added Steve Ignorant into the mix, creating the alter ego Steve Ignorant and Paranoid Visions and have since recorded two albums of unique material, as well as toured extensively performing a blend of Crass, Paranoid Visions, and some other songs from notable collaborators of the anarcho scene. All in all, it makes for one of the more truly eclectic sounds I’ve seen performed as punk rock. But enough of the history lesson, eh? Let’s get on with it.
Opening for the evening was Huntington Beach locals Modern Enemy, who brought a highly energetic straightforward hardcore set to a damn near empty main floor, but you wouldn’t know if that really bothered them because they still managed to bounce around the entire stage and deliver a blisteringly fast set. To digress, however, I’ll never quite understand what it is about concert goers who don’t come for the entire evening. If the universe just happens to kick your ass and you can’t make it in time for anyone but the headliner, so be it, but really, what does anyone have to lose by experiencing a band they’ve never seen? End digression.
Within the 30 minutes of time it took to set up the stage behind the giant curtain at the Fonda, the house packed itself with all manner of punk rockers from 18 to 70 years old. You could feel the excitement boiling over the edges of the proverbial pot we were all cooking in. Cue sound bites, cue curtain raising, and cue “Do They Owe Us a Living.” It was hard to believe that half of this band was in their late 50s. Even better was that, despite the Fonda advertising it as an evening of Crass and anarcho classics, they played plenty of original material as well. (See the setlist below.)
The band performs front and center, rarely turning from the crowd, a practice I have always appreciated. When Steve isn’t singing he takes a step back and stands at polite attention while Deko Dachau, who attacks the microphone as if it were his number one enemy, and Aofie Destruction own the stage along with the rest of the band. It’s pretty incredible to see someone who turns 60 later this year be filled with so much generosity and righteous fury. When on the mic, Ignorant is at full force, and in the few sporadic moments between songs he engages the crowd with sharp wit, humor, and a “take no shit” attitude. All in all, an excellent evening of mixed nostalgia and pure punk rock bliss.
