Tacoma is a special place. Often overlooked as a sister city to the dominant metropolis of Seattle, the town has long had a history of nurturing it’s own unique music scene apart from that sprawling cultural behemoth of the Pacific Northwest with whom it is historically and intrinsically entwined. It’s the birthplace of such greats as garage originators The Sonics, surf veterans The Ventures, mathcore legends Botch and current street punk heroes NOi!se, among countless others. One of the many venues keeping that tradition alive in this bustling nest of creative incubation is the historical Jazzbones, and it’s here that I found myself on a rainy Friday night to bear witness to the return of the mighty Koffin Kats and their touring partners The Last Gang!
After stopping by nearby hidden gem The Red Hot for a pre-show bite and a brief sojourn to local arcade The Triple Knock for a few rounds of pinball, I made my way over to Jazzbones just as the opening act Distorted Times were taking the stage.
Although a fairly new band, this collection of Portland punk scene veterans have been kicking around and honing their skills for over a decade in various bands such as Ground Score, PROBLEMS and Dirty Kid Discount. Despite only having played a handful of shows at this point in time, it is clear that these folks take their craft seriously and put their all into their well-crafted tunes. Keep an eye out for these upstarts, and check out their recently released singles via Crash Assailant Records, including the most recent offering “Hella Highwater“ featuring Jay Navarro of Suicide Machines fame. Blasting through a set that ranged from skate punk speed, street punk fury, and ska-tinged melodic punk, aided by the horn section of fellow Portland scene stalwarts Los Mal Hablados, they drew the growing crowd in and kept them enraptured from start to finish. As their time neared its end, they closed their set with their final number, “Another Wasted Night”, and its sweet refrain “remember somehow, somewhere, somebody still loves you.” A simple, but an effective message, and one that resonated in these trying times.
Next to take the stage were Orange County road warriors The Last Gang. From the first note, these Fat Wreck alum set out to prove to the crowd that they have what it takes to grab the room by the throat and hold them enthralled and entranced for the duration of their allotted 40 or so minutes on stage. Bashing and grooving through a collection of tunes from across their discography, Brenna and the boys gave the audience far more bang for their buck than I’m sure new listeners were expecting from the California collective. They clearly had their fair share of fans in attendance as well, as evidenced by the enthusiastic crowd seen pumping their fists at the front of the stage, and singing along from the opening verse of “The Others” all the way through to crowd favorite closing tune “Blood Drunk”.
Despite their punk leanings, The Last Gang proved to be more than just one trick ponies as they seamlessly transitioned from fist pumping punk barn burners like “Dogmatic Capitalizer” from recent album Obscene Daydreams, and classic pop centric reggae tinged single “Gimme Action”, to the mellow dark groove of personal favorite “Noise Noise Noise” from their 2021 release of the same name. Not a second was wasted, as the incredible all-star team of Sean, Sam and Ken blasted through the set with precision and impeccable energy, keeping the crowd screaming with glee as Brenna mugged and postured with effortless control and infinite cool.
Finally, with the crowd buzzing, The Koffin Kats took to the stage. Foregoing their usual walk on music, they immediately plowed into their intro, leading the crowd in a pulsing chorus of whoas bleeding deftly into their opening number, “Riding High” from their classic album Our Way & The Highway, straight into crowd favorite “Graveyard Tree” without a moment to breathe. The hits just kept coming, as the denim cutoff-clad charmers grinned and galavanted around the stage with plenty of humor and a remarkable amount of grace. One thing can be said for these Detroit greasers, if nothing else, and that is that nobody could ever accuse them of taking themselves too seriously. Though the content of their lyrics may be dark and brooding, their delivery is friendly, comedic and welcoming. As Vic lifts his beautifully decorated upright bass into the air, the crowd is given a glimpse of what may as well be the mantra of this ragtag group etched on the back of the instrument: Party Time. That it was.
As they steam rolled through numbers covering witches (“Witch In The Woods”), muscle cars (“V8 Nightmare”), love lost (“Graveyard Tree III”), and even a spirited punkabilly rendition of the Hall and Oates classic “Maneater”, the audience is treated to a well rehearsed act complete with instrument swapping solo sections, rowdy singalongs, and the creative use of Vic Victor’s double bass as a jungle gym mid song. Not to be outdone, Tommy Koffin adeptly strangles his beautiful sparkle black signature Reverend guitar with deftness and finesse, pulling grit and aggression out of it one moment, and seasick clean reverberations the next, never disrupting the well-oiled showmanship this trio are known for. It’s truly a sight to behold.
Holding things down in the back, Eric “E Ball” Walls vacillates between rousing four-on-the-floor stomps and hypnotic tribal beats, blending his steady kick and snare with the slap of Vic’s bass to perfect effect. These three have clearly put a lot of time and elbow grease into their show, and the efforts are well-received by the crowd here at Jazzbones. Though not the typical leather jacket and motorcycle boot-clad crew one might expect for a psycho or punkabilly headliner, the diverse crowd seemed to be made up of a wide swath of subculture enthusiasts, all thrilled to watch the Michiganders set the stage ablaze for their entertainment.
As the night drew to a close, the band ripped into a block of crowd pleasers including “The Bottle Called”, “The Way of the Road”, and “Koffin Kat Rock” before bidding the audience a fond farewell with their closing ditty, “For Hire”. This however was not the end, as they jumped straight into a reprise of their intro, joined on stage by Brenna and Ken of The Last Gang, as well as their tour manager Andrew, daringly clad only in a pink thong and a Burger King crown. A fittingly ridiculous end to a raucous and thoroughly enjoyable evening.
If you love good music, good company, and good times, I highly recommend looking out for these bands the next time they roll through your area. I guarantee you will be glad you did!
