Delirious Tremors

On April 8, Malcolm McLaren the manager of the Sex Pistols died following a long fight with cancer. His influence and the Sex Pistols punk movement in the U.K. inspired musicians all over the world. It can be argued that the birthplace of hardcore punk was in Orange County and some of the first to burst from the womb were from Fullerton. Bands such as The Adolescents, Agent Orange and Social Distortion and D.I. all hail Fully as their hometown.

Since then, local musicians have been modifying this fast and furious style of of rock ‘n’ roll and continue to break down the genre while more and more creative monikers are needed to describe them. From psychobilly cowpunk to emocore thrashmetal, the real beauty of it is that you can find all the trendsetters of this ever-diversifying musical style close by.

When zombie’s walk the earth, they will be laying waste to humanity to the tune of Death Hymn Number 9. If you wandered in to their last show at the Continental Room unbeknown to what was going on you probably would have been very confused and frightened. It was the first time I saw them live after hearing so much of this gimmicky rock group and they certainly lived up to the hype. It was truly otherworldly and a bit blurry from what I could see after getting knocked in the eye by a drunken hipster with pointy elbows.

Death Hymn Number 9

Best as I can tell, they were dressed as Louisiana well-to-do freshly raised from the grave. Sleazy P and Rack ‘Em Frack ‘Em deliver a straight forward auditory onslaught of thrash punk with a bluesy edge and a delightful bloodcurdling scream from time to time. Sleazy P’s drumming sounds like he is throwing a tantrum in a junk pile and Frack ‘Em’s riffs are just as relentless; as they both tear it up on stage while the crowd tears it up on the dance floor. It’s only going to get more interesting now that the duo have “got a singer shitheads!” according to their Facebook page.

These guys are cool, look up the song “I Reckon You Gonna Die” and punch a hipster in the face for me next time you see one.

Up the road a ways in Long Beach are the Gestapo Khazi. Listening to their self titled EP you may feel like your stereo has just sent you back in time to the golden days of 80’s angst punk – what a great idea for a movie! This album has more than enough reverb to go around and is filled with bona fide throwbacks reminiscent of True Sounds of Liberty and all those other great pioneers of the OC and LA punk emergence.

The Gestapo Khazi

The group consists of ex-Geisha Girl guitarist John Holy Roller who is now­­­ the vocalist for Khazi, Stark Raving Erik on guitar, Gestapo Grazi on bass and Third Reich Meich on drums. These guys really know how to emulate the classics and already have a big following in Long Beach. Check out their new “Sun Belt” demo and keep an eye out for more EP’s and a full length album later this year.

Murder By Death is a group from Indiana that made a stop by Detroit Bar last weekend to showcase songs from their new album, Good Morning, Magpie. The ‘death folk’ group features Adam Turla on vocals/guitar, the lovely Sarah Balliet on cello/keyboards, Matt Armstrong on bass and Dagan Thogerson on drums.

The show at Detroit was so packed you could throw a bottle of Stella Artois and easily nail two to three dudes sporting greased up mustaches.

Good, Morning Magpie has quite a few upbeat songs for a typical MBD record but is still infused with plenty of the dark Cash-esque lyricism Turla is renowned for. They do an amazing job of serenading the audience with vaudevillian ballads of remorse that crescendo to an upbeat foot-stomper. The song “You Don’t Miss Twice (When Shaving With A Knife)” has a ‘rink-a-dink’ feel and has an ironic likening to the tune of Fred Astaire’s “Puttin’ On the Ritz.” It was written about Turla’s retreat into the Tennessee woods where he wrote all 11 songs on the album in seclusion.

Sarah Balliet <3

During their performance of “Foxglove” Balliet stole my heart while playing the opening cello riff. It might have been my imagination, but I could have sworn she looked up and winked at me. Maybe she felt my longing gaze and knew I had a soft spot for beautiful female musicians that play instruments with a low key signature ever since the days of D’arcy Wretzky of the Smashing Pumpkins.

I’d also like to throw in honorable mentions to some local bands for most interesting/ridiculous punk cover band: Yeastie Boys and the band that is really rockin’ but has a crappy name: Poop.

If you’re in Fullerton you should see one of these groups and really see how it has historically made it’s root in this city. Plus it feels good to unleash a little anarchy once in a while.