The Germs 6/23 at Reggie’s

Last week I happily went to Reggie’s yet again, this time to see The Germs (or what’s left of The Germs anyway). They played an all ages show that got off to a nice early start which was fine with me considering it was on a “school night”. We got to the club a little early and treated ourselves to some of the fine food the club serves and then it was time for the show.

Rule 22

Rule 22

Rule 22

Rule 22 were the first band up and are a local band. I’m pretty sure I have seen them before as they looked and sounded familiar to me once they got going. The reason they sounded familiar though could be their resemblance to early Green Day however, so I can’t say for certain if I’ve actually seen them before or not. Their songs were pretty melodic and punchy and they sounded pretty good. There was a small group of kids there who seemed like they came to the show just to see them and were dancing about. The band played about a half hour which was just the right amount of time for me to sit through them without losing interest.

Krum Bums

Krum Bums

Krum Bums

Austin, TX’s Krum Bums quickly followed. They played hardcore with a hint of metal seasoning. All their songs were fast and many sounded similar. They really packed a punch and got the crowd going quickly. The singer would often appeal to the kids in the crowd to dance and they alwasy oblidged and he actually got them going in a proper cricle pit as opposed to the usual human bumper cars of chaos that usually happens at shows. It fit nicely with their somewhat retro sound which made me felt like i was back at a show in the mid 1980s. The band really seemed to win over a good amount of the crowd that night, my only two complaints is their ridiculous name and the fact they soiled a 7 Seconds song by doing a cover of it (during which they invited someone from the crowd to come up and sing it which probably made that kid’s day for sure judging by the smile on his face). If they change their name and ditch the cover song I’d happily see them again.

The Germs

The Germs

After a lengthy setup and sound check process, The Germs took the stage. For those who may not be aware, the surviving members of The Germs decided to take their show on the road with Shane West (who played Darby Crash in the movie, What We Do is Secret) playing the part of Darby Crash. So while they are billing themselves as The Germs, and feature all the surviving members, without Darby Crash they really are nothing more than a Germs tribute band.

The Germs

The Germs

I’ve seen this show a few times before and it never was as bad as I imagined it would be. There is something neat about seeing the surviving members all up on the same stage playing those amazing old punk rock songs. Shane West is about as good of a Darby stand-in as you could hope for except he remembers the lyrics and to sing into the mic a whole lot more.

The Germs

The Germs

They played everything you’d want to hear and the crowd, which was about 95 percent young kids, were jumping all over the place, singing along and just going nuts. Shane passed the mic out into the crowd more often than not and allowed them to sing along. While Shane kept the crowd going, Lorna, Don and Pat played those songs with a smile on their faces the entire time. Just like the last time I saw them it really looked like they were having fun up there.

The Germs

The Germs

The Germs

After about an hour of playing which included one encore, the show was over and the sweaty kids in the crowd gathered themselves up and left the club, seemingly satisfied with the show they witnessed that night. Overall I thought it was a pretty entertaining show from top to bottom and added it to the list of fun nights I’ve had over at Reggies.