Images: Cobra Skulls, Holding Onto Sound, The People’s Whiskey September 24th, 2012 at the Bunkhouse Saloon

Vegas is pretty spoiled as far as Cobra Skulls shows are concerned, and this third Vegas stop of the year was undoubtedly the most fun yet.

The show was billed as a homecoming for Cobra Skulls’ tourmates Holding Onto Sound as well as a birthday celebration for HOTS frontman Bennett Mains and Unfair Fight bassist Liz Castaneda. These factors, as well as the sizeable fanbase Cobra Skulls have amassed here, resulted in a surprisingly crowded show for a Monday night.

Holding Onto Sound had the biggest reaction of the night, proving the old adage that absence makes the heart grow fonder (even if that absence is just over a week). The crowd shouted their lungs out to old favorites and HOTS whet our appetite for their upcoming trio of EPs by playing some pretty amazing new tracks as well. Hopefully reaction to the band was even half as successful on the rest of the tour because these guys really deserve it.

Meanwhile, Cobra Skulls put on my favorite set I’ve seen from them this year with a mix of old favorites – “Rebel Fate,” insanely catchy “Thicker Than Water” and Spanish language “¡Hasta Los Cobra Skulls Siempre!” (the latter inspiring a choir of handclaps and a few humorous attempts by us non-Spanish speakers to mumble along with frontman Devin Peralta). We were also treated to the excellent “Eagle Eyes” from their new 7” of the same name (you’ll be able to see an acoustic performance of that song here soon).

I was particularly excited to hear “Cobralectric” make its way back into the set. The acoustic version of it (appropriately titled “Cobracoustic”) is the track that initially turned me on to the punk rock trio. I’ll take any chance I can get to sing it along with the band, though I was surprised to see that I was one of the few. If you haven’t listened to Sitting Army all the way through in a while, stop reading this and bust it out!

Locals The People’s Whiskey and The Seriouslys opened the show but unfortunately we didn’t make it back from our Cobra Skulls Stripped Down Session in time to photograph the latter. Those ladies rule though, so be sure to check them out on Facebook.

Photos by Emily Matview | https://www.flickr.com/photos/holdfastnow/

and Aaron Mattern | https://www.flickr.com/photos/akmofoto/