Images: Guttermouth, Agent Orange, Piñata Protest, The Quitters, The Seriouslys September 20, 2013 at Backstage Bar & Billiards

It’s starting to seem as though Las Vegas might be the second home for Huntington Beach, California’s Guttermouth. In the past year, they’ve played here four times, three in 2013 alone. Despite having seen several shows next door at the Fremont Country Club, this was my first time at Triple-B and I was immediately impressed by the venue, particularly the road-case themed furniture, bartop, tables, etc.  Impressed enough that while I was there I Googled buying some road-case furniture for my house (only to be disappointed that I can’t actually afford it). I can say without reservation that it’s the coolest venue I’ve been to in some time.

All that being said, considering Guttermouth recently played a Punk Rock Bowling show in town where they vomited on each other mid-set, I would’ve expected Triple-B to have been better prepared for what was to come. A flimsy barricade separated the crowd from the band, which wasn’t much of a deterrent for keeping excited fans from slowly trickling onto the stage. Mid-set, singer Mark Adkins decided to help them out and remove half the barricade, leaving the happy crowd to carry off the rest. Soon the stage was packed to capacity with fans dancing and singing into the mics for “She’s Got the Look” and “Perfect World.” It was definitely entertaining watching the panicked venue security try and keep the rowdiness under control.

Due to a delay in their arrival to the venue, Orange County surf-punks Agent Orange ended up closing out the night. Admittedly, I’ve never listened to Agent Orange before, so I mostly latched onto their covers of Dick-Dale’s “Miserlou,” (Pulp Fiction, anyone?) and “Secret Agent Man.” But I could definitely hear the influence they’ve had on the southern California punk sound.

San Antonio’s Piñata Protest are a wild fusion of punk-rock and traditional Latino music. Hearing them, I instantly recalled hearing Flogging Molly’s “Swagger” 13 years ago. A frantic combination of traditional music and punk-rock. These guys are a four-piece, with the lead singer pulling double duty on an accordion, and the crowd loved it, dancing along as if they were the headliners. I’ll absolutely be checking these guys out again when they come back to town.

The Quitters and The Seriouslys were the local bands on the show and both were fantastic as usual. In particular, I feel like I have to mention how impressed I am every time I watch The Quitters’ drummer Micah Malcolm behind the kit.

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