Live Review: Strung Out / Pulley
Posted 02/03/2010 10:02AM by Aaron Yarborough as Show Review
January 23rd, 2010 - Downtown Brewing Co. San Luis Obispo, CA
With these kinds of shows and knowing who the promoter for them are, you'll notice they tend to lag a little bit on their start time. I usually try to lag a bit on showing up to the shows in hopes of either missing a crappy local band or not standing around waiting forever for the show to begin. So we showed up shortly before 9:00 pm with the show having an 8:00 pm start time, hoping to catch Heartsounds (ex-Light This City) but unfortunately the bill remained a three band bill and we had just missed Heartsounds by the time we had arrived.
About ten minutes after arriving and getting through the guest list process, Pulley took the stage. Formed in 1996 with some of punk rock's heavyweights featuring Scott Radinsky (ex-Ten Foot Pole) along with Jordan Burns (Strung Out) and some other punk veterans, since then they have morphed into a fun band that puts out an album or EP every so often as well as doing some touring here and there, as opposed to it being their everyday gig. Scott Radinsky has also been a minor league pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, which can be easy to see considering how tall he is. One random fact about this upcoming baseball season is that Radinsky has been named a bullpen coach for the Cleveland Indians. Pulley played through most of their memorable songs, showcasing their fast skate punk sound, which got some of the crowd in the pit and running circles around the middle pole in the room. Their set seemed fairly typical and somewhat boring in retrospect, but it was fun to see the band still touring when time permits and still together as a band continuing to do what they love. I've seen them before with Strung Out back in the day and not much has changed, which is also pretty cool that time hasn't changed them into something else.
Strung Out took the stage next and brought with them the energy and exuberance they always seem to emit. Going through albums of new and old they seemed to mix up the set list quite well. My favorite part of their set was when they played my three favorite songs of theirs back-to-back-to-back which would be "Mission to Mars" and then "Everyday" and "Razorblade". After they played those songs I felt like I could go home but continued to stay to watch these punk rock heavyweights at work. Jordan Burns never missed a beat on drums, always playing so effortlessly yet continuously solid year after year. Jason Cruz sported some facial scruff yet was still on point hitting every note as well as nailing each scream; he commanded the crowd much like he always does. I stopped counting how many times I've seen Strung Out now but it's definitely in double digits, and each time they come through I make it a point to catch them. Their newest album, Agents of the Underground, is one of their better albums to come out since American Paradox (in my opinion) so it's great to see them still cranking on all cylinders and producing some amazing punk rock. They have released 8 albums on Fat Wreck Chords, been on over 11 world tours, and are still going strong. As they get older it just seems as if they continue to get better, so as far as I'm concerned nothing will slow them down. Let's just hope they continue doing what they love and keep bringing punk rock fans out to the shows, especially with the punk scene being somewhat quieted in the last ten years. Still, we at least have Strung Out to keep the genre alive.
Comments
Washington, DC
Sounds like a great show. Strung Out are the best.
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