Pinhead Gunpowder
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
Website: http://www.pinheadgunpowder.com/
Sunday/Monday, February 3-4, 2008
Chain Reaction (Anaheim, CA), The Troubadour (Hollywood, CA)
Opening act: This is My Fist
All I can say is, wow! Pinhead Gunpowder at two small clubs in Southern California. Let me explain. Pinhead Gunpowder is kind of like the equivalent of Velvet Revolver to the punk scene. Kind of a punk super group if that exists. Let me explain further. Pinhead Gunpowder is Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day, Aaron Cometbus from highly influential East Bay (CA) punk band Crimpshrine and famous punk fanzine "Cometbus," Bill Schneider ex-Monsula, and Jason White.
Pinhead Gunpowder was formed back in the early 90s, and fans of early Green Day will certainly appreciate the songs they put out. The band is obviously very Green Day-like but with a more raw edge courtesy of Aaron’s previous band, Crimpshrine. Aaron writes most of the band's lyrics and they are chock full of angst, self realization, and hope. I urge you to check out Jump Salty. If you like good pop punk you will enjoy this record!
This was a mini-tour of four shows. These were shows number 16 thru 20 in the last 17 years! I was lucky enough to get tickets online to the Chain Reaction show in Anaheim. I was amazed but not that surprised to talk to a few people who actually flew in from places like Baltimore and Canada to see THIS band play. It was sold out in one day at around 200 tickets at each venue. The best $8 I’ve spent in awhile. The show was so good I was kicking myself for not getting tickets to the Troubadour show up in Hollywood the following day. Tickets on Ebay were going for $200 each so I decided to try Craigslist and I was (again) lucky enough to meet a couple very cool people selling single tickets cheap. Thanks Tamey and Janine!
The Troubadour show was magic! The band invited fans onto the stage for the show and proceeded to play their set of 20 or so songs ending with Diana Ross’ "Mahogany." The crowd seemed to know it was a special treat and everyone was super-cool. The vibe took me right back to the days I used to sit on the stage with Green Day shooting pics for my cheesy fanzine which, of course, never took off. Billie Joe did make mention to the three new songs they played and eluded to a new album in the works so hopefully it won’t be another 17 years before I can see them again.