NOFX/Direct Hit!/Mean Jeans

Live in Los Angeles (2016)

Ricky Frankel

On Saturday, April 16, 2016, after a very long day of waiting over five tedious hours in line at Amoeba Records for Record Store Day, I headed to the Belasco Theater in downtown Los Angeles to see NOFX and the three new(er) Fat Wreck Chords bands that were opening for them. For those of you that missed the Fat Wreck Chords showcase at SXSW 2016 (like I did) or the Fat Wrecked For 25 Years tour (which was an absolute blast), you should definitely catch NOFX on their Hepatitis Bathtub Tour. It is a great alternative because they had the newly signed Direct Hit! and Mean Jeans with them on the full tour, but opening for this particular show was the always-wonderful, LA-native Bad Cop/Bad Cop.

If there is some kind of awesome punk show, like this one, happening in the Los Angeles area, Bad Cop/Bad Cop are usually on the bill. Lately, they have really gotten tighter as a band have grown into their newer material from Not Sorry. Especially at this show, they were visibly more confident performers. They moved more on stage and at one point Linh Le was on the floor just slamming her bass. They played some older songs from their Boss Lady EP like “Rodeo” and “It’s My Life.” The majority of their 30-minute set consisted of songs from Not Sorry like “Anti Love Song,” “Sugarcane,” “Nightmare,” “Like, Seriously?,” “Old Dogs” and “I’m Alright.” I was pleasantly surprised that Bad Cop/Bad Cop included my favorite song from their full-length “Joey Lawrence” into their set as well. I have seen them quite a bit since Not Sorry was released last summer and never heard them play that song before. As usual Bad Cop/Bad Cop played a fantastic and very fun show.

Up next was Mean Jeans. I’ll admit that I am a newer fan of this band and seeing how they were the only ones on the bill I had never seen live before, I was pretty excited to see what they could do. The band has a very refreshing and unique style with their performance. These three guys with mops of hair get on stage and just rock out to songs mostly about partying – and it’s fantastic to witness. Right off the bat, I have to acknowledge the fact that not only is their drummer excellent at his instrument, but the fact that he sings lead in a solid chunk of the songs to me is incredible. Most of the time before each song their guitarist would scream what the song was about and it’s title and then without missing a beat they jump into the song right away. Mean Jeans played songs such as “I Was Born On A Saturday Night,” “DUI Checkpoint,” “Is There Anybody Out There?,” “Too Twisted To Love” and “Party Animal.” They also played their new tune “69 Tears,” but I was thrilled to hear them play their other new song “Nite Vision.” After seeing Mean Jeans for the first time, I am a lot more excited out their next album Tight New Dimension.

The best punk rock-related news of the year thus far for me was when it was announced that Direct Hit! signed to Fat Wreck Chords. To me it always seemed like an obvious fit. I even predicted it in my very first Punknews.org review of the first time I saw them live a several years ago. The band absolutely deserves the success they have gotten so far in their career. Everything they release is incredibly innovative pop punk. It had been at least a year and a half since they played in Los Angeles, so they were due back. This was, as Devon Kay put it, their “fourth show as a Fat Wreck band” and dare I say that they have matured and also grown as performers since the last time I saw them. But seriously, they have. They cracked a bunch of jokes in between songs and Devon Kay even renamed someone as Scott and got the audience to cheer “Scott! Scott! Scott!” over and over again, which was pretty funny. Direct Hit! though were incredibly tight regardless of whether the song they played was new or old. It was absolutely stellar performance by them that night. They played songs like “Back To The Tower,” “Satan Says,” Kingdom Come,” “Werewolf Shame,” “Message To The Angels Part 2,” “The World Is Ending (No One Cares),” and “Buried Alive.” They also played a couple of new songs from their upcoming album Wasted Mind. The poppy-er sounding one was called “Forced To Sleep” and then the harder-hitting tune was called “Paid In Brains.” After hearing these two new songs, its safe to say that Wasted Mind is going to be pretty amazing. The way the band ended their set was awesome, too. Nick Woods got rid of his guitar and the band went right into playing their hardcore song “We’re Fucked.” If you have heard that song before, then you know how harsh Nick’s screams are in that track and he completely nailed them while he got on his knees and sort of bent his torso like he was writhing in pain. Remarkably, it was like hearing the recorded version of the song. It was the perfect way to end their set and it left everyone wanting more. FUCK YOU! GET PUMPED!

Once Direct Hit!’s set was over, the roadies set up NOFX’s gear, which included a cup holder attached to Fat Mike’s mic for his alcoholic beverage and around six shots set up on top of Melvin’s guitar amp. The band kicked off their performance with “60%” and as soon as that song sped up, that’s when the moshing ensued while the rest of the audience got really fired up. NOFX played a fairly wide ranging set of songs like “72 Hookers,” “Murder The Government,” Stickin’ In My Eye,” “I, Fatty,” “I Believe In Goddess,” “Franco Un-American,” “Bob,” their cover of Rancid’s “Radio,” and they even played “Moron Bros.” from their Ribbed album, which was definitely a highlight of the night. And just like Direct Hit! and Mean Jeans, NOFX also played a couple of new songs. One was called “Oxymoronic” and the other new song was a bit more serious. It was called “I’m Sorry, Tony,” which was about the late Tony Sly of No Use For A Name. It was a side of NOFX you don’t get to see very often. You could tell the band and especially Fat Mike, were still hurting over his death. When Fat Mike introduced the song, the mood in the venue instantly changed. When the slow piano intro started you knew they were not messing around. That being said, the band did bring the tone of the back up pretty quickly after they finished that one. They made off-color jokes amongst themselves and with crowd. I found myself laughing quite bit actually. The band must have played at least four or five songs for their encore such as “Linoleum,” “Fuck The Kids,” and they ended the night with “Kill All The White Man.” Every time I have seen NOFX, which is probably about five times by now, they never disappoint. It is always great show and the same goes for this one as well.

You can see pictures and videos of the show on the Punknews Instagram.