It had been awhile since I went to proper leather, spikes and chains Punk show, so I figured it was well past time to get back to my roots. When I heard Leftöver Crack was coming to town I decided it was the perfect show to feed my fix and scooped up tickets as soon as they went on sale. Good thing I did because the show sold out quick. Los Globos, located in Silver Lake (the gentrification capital of Los Angeles) was the ultimate landing place for the show after originally booking at Jewels Catch One downtown.

I was disappointed when I heard that opening act Banned For Life out of Lancaster, CA weren’t going to make it to the show. I’d heard some great stuff from them and was anticipating seeing what they brought to the table at a live show. They still deserve some recognition and definitely a listen.

First up was Homesick Abortions from right here in Los Angeles. This five piece thrash band doesn’t sport a lead singer, but instead relies on different members of the band to provide lead vocals from song to song. This unique attribute kept me intrigued throughout the set as it was astounding just to see how the band maintained continuity regardless of which band member was singing lead. The crowd was still a little thin for this newly appointed opening act, so those that didn’t show up early genuinely missed out on one of the highlights of this four band card. The dual guitars were hard and fast with blaring, angry lyrics set over top. The drummer was insanely precise and (literally) didn’t miss a beat when he took over the mic. Massive skill. The band recently released their second full length album Means to an End… about two or three days ago (available on Bandcamp) so most of the set consisted of songs from the new LP. What little crowd there was at this early point ardently started a pit almost instantly. It wasn’t shortly after that that I caught my first whiff of BO. Now it’s a real punk show!

Do you like Gangsta Rap? Do you like crusty gutter punks? If you said yes, Juicy Karkass from Oklahoma City, OK is your man. This act is meant to be an ironic and sarcastic twist on crust punk. The lyrics were just an extremely exaggerated version of every stereotypical gansta rap song. It wasn't really my kind of thing, so I took the opportunity to grab a cerveza and a cool down bit. The highlight of this set was the riot girl puking in the trash can directly in front of me. Check off another one on my list of Things Required for a Great Punk Show!

Next on stage was Blackbird Raum hailing from Santa Cruz, CA. This five piece Folk Punk flaunts the standard folk sounds of banjos, violins, accordions, and even an upright bass. I hadn't heard of these guys until I saw them on the bill, but it appears I may have been in the miority, because they drew a crowd. By this time, the venue was nearly at capacity and the floor was agog through the band’s entire forty five minutes on stage, joining in on the choruses and begging for more at the end. If you’re into the DIY, folk scene, these guys are top notch.

NYC’s Leftöver Crack took the stage right around 10:45 and the pit started violently thrashing as soon as the first note of “Clear Channel (Fuck off)" was strummed and the intensity on the floor continued to escalate very rapidly as the opening song progressed. At this point, my obligatory inner dialogue started, arguing whether or not to make a trip to the pit. What used to be fun and exciting while a youngster, has now become painful and arduous in my accelerated age. I decide that since it had been so long, I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn’t at least dip my toe in a little. So, I started my journey into the heart of the carnage. It was only at about the halfway point of my struggle to the core of the throng that I realized that I had pre-gamed a little too much prior to departing the house and had neglected to don my combat boots. This was a mistake. The reason the pit has so much appeal (for me at least) is that engages all five of your senses. This one was no different although it was more intense than most I’ve braved. Along with the constant nudging and shoving and punching, you could also feel the warmth and sweat from fellow revelers and the bones in your feet cracking as the weight of 750 people are all bouncing in rhythm on top of your thin canvas Pumas. You could taste the stale beer as it rained down on you from the transparent plastic cups being hurled towards the stage and trickled down your cheek. You could see the havoc all around you, pulling and pushing you in ten directions at once. You could hear the ringing in your ears from the indignant shrieks coming from STZA. You could smell……well….it was a crust show. You know how it smelled. After getting my ass kicked for a good three or four songs, I started hobbling my way back to the safety of the bar. After a quick breather and brew, I was again on the fence on whether or not to get my old bones back in the fray, but the decision was made for me when the opening riff of “Rock the 40 Oz” started. Back to war! The hour long set ended with a passionate version of “Soon We'll Be Dead” that had the crowd swaying slowly in unison.

Overall the pace of the set was perfect. They played mostly songs from Fuck World Trade and a few others from Mediocre Generica . There weren’t too many breaks, and when there were some STZA engaged the crowd and kept things moving pretty smoothly. During one of the breaks he mentioned the new album they’ve been working on. This will be their first new, full length studio album in about 10 years and I’m sure I’m not the only that thinks it’s well past due. Hopefully they roll back through our fair city for the album tour once it’s (finally) released. One thing is for sure though, I won’t be waiting as long between attending a proper punk show again.