The punk rock community lost one of its best frontmen when Toy Sly passed away earlier this year. It was a surprise to everyone, as the excellent solo artist and frontman for melodic punk band No Use for a Name was only 41 and had recently come through Las Vegas, playing the Punk Rock Bowling Music Festival (you can see photos from that show here).
At their show at Vinyl last week, members of Strung Out and The Swellers paid tribute to Sly with a cover of No Use for a Name’s “Justified Black Eye,” a song that originally appeared on the band’s 1995 album Leche Con Carne and also appears (in acoustic form) on Sly’s aptly-titled split with Joey Cape Acoustic.
There was a lot of love for Sly in the room that night, as the older members of the crowd sang along to every word and the uninitiated got their first taste of Sly’s home-hitting lyrical style. It wasn’t quite the same as getting to see NUFAN play it themselves but it shows that their music will continue to live on and inspire more bands like it has The Swellers.
In the wake of Sly’s untimely passing a memorial fund has been set up to benefit his two daughters. Check that out at the following link and please donate if you can: The Tony Sly memorial fund
Video: Emily Matview
Edited by Emily Matview (video) and Tyler Newton (audio)
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