Images: Direct Hit!, The Bombpops, Mercy Music, The Forget Me Nows September 10, 2014 at The Dive

I normally have to travel out of state to get my Red Scare fix. In 2012 before my wedding I made the trek to Pomona to see three of Red Scare’s finest – The Menzingers, The Sidekicks and The Bombpops. Last year, me and My partner journeyed out to San Diego to see Masked Intruder, Sam Russo, Elway and The Bombpops, playing under the “Red Scare Across America” tour. This year, Red Scare finally came to me, with party punks Direct Hit! and my Red Scare constants The Bombpops headlining a show at The Dive with locals Mercy Music and The Forget Me Nows.

I was pleasantly surprised to see The Dive filled with about 50 people, a solid number for a Wednesday late night show, and about twice as many as the weekend show Direct Hit! played last time they made their way through Vegas. Direct Hit! received the biggest reaction of the night, with fans pressed up against the small stage eager to shout along with old favorites like “Snickers or Reese’s” and “Kingdom Come,” and newer tracks “White Robes” (which the band premiered in acoustic form on PIV last year) and “A Message For The Angels Pt. II,” the crowd raising fists in the air while adding much appreciated volume to the “on and on and on” chants. Technical difficulties plagued their set, with guitarist Devon Kay losing power somewhat coincidentally after multiple ass grabs from an intoxicated barfly and frontman Nick Woods breaking a string shortly before almost being electrocuted by the surging mic. The band took it in stride, though, filling the time with Kay’s groan-inducing, yet charmingly tasteless jokes. PIV household favorite “Werewolf Shame” was played by our request and got probably the biggest singalong of the night, and Woods finished out the set by relinquishing his guitar and mic stand to adopt a more hardcore persona for “We’re Fucked.”

Also on the tour were California punks The Bombpops, who I’ve seen a few times, but never in Vegas. Their Vegas shows are usually during Punk Rock Bowling, first in the lineup at a late night club show, and as much as I dig them, it’s hard to get me to leave Descendents or Bad Religion early. If you’re a fan of 90s Fat and Epitaph you’ll love this band, who remind me a lot of Millencolin (“Outta Hand,” for instance, sounds like it could be a Pennybridge Pioneers b-side) with a pinch of No Use For a Name thrown in (“Like I care”). Vocalists Jen Razavi and Poli Van Dam are master harmonizers, so I was glad to hear “Can of Worms,” which we’ll be releasing via Stripped Down Session shortly and features their best harmonizing to date. The band played through a few spilled beers and the same inebriated Dive Bar regular trying to steal their set list and demanding that they “get better” and played my favorite Bombpops track “Crazy,” which any fan of pop punk should know by heart. Hopefully this show is the start of The Bombpops making Vegas a more regular tour stop.

The Forget Me Nows and Mercy Music represented Vegas in the opening spots on the show. The Forget Me Nows were up first, playing to a slowly filling room. Their brand of humor infused pop punk isn’t entirely removed from what Direct Hit! does – both bands do have songs named after monsters, of course, so they were a great fit to get things started. This was Mercy Music’s first show since the digital release of their excellent new album When I Die… so that means I can finally use official names when listing my favorite tracks from the set. “Painless!” “Your Life Sentence!” “Fine!” Everything sounded great and if you haven’t heard it – you need to check out their new record immediately.

-Emily Matview

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