PickLarge

The Last Gang in the Garden: Snotty punk from L.A.’s The Last Gang, who are signed to Fat Wreck and make quite the racket. Also on the bill are Toxic Energy, Decent Criminal, and Alternative Citizens.

The Last Gang were on tour all through the latter half of 2021 in support of new album Noise Noise Noise, produced by NOFX’s Fat Mike among others, and they look to be carrying on this year. The Garden Amp is, as we keep saying, one of the best venues in SoCal right now, and this is going to be a beast of a show.

“Our downfall is we want to tour a lot, but it’s sometimes hard for us to write because it takes so much out of me,” said frontwoman Brenna Red in a statement. “Because COVID happened, I was allowed to not rush, and we stepped back and re-wrote songs. Then I went to Fat Mike’s to write with him, and he challenged me to write more Clash-influenced reggae. I listened to London Calling to get inspired, but I think Joe Strummer once said if you want to be inspired, don’t listen to your idols — listen to your idols’ idols. So I also listened to a lot of Toots And The Maytals and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, and a ton of Trojan Records compilations.”

I write music just to be alive,” she concludes. “I hope there’s something that can be taken from it to make you feel that electricity inside of yourself, whether happiness, pain, bittersweet memories… Just pick apart the art and put it inside of your own life.”

See for yourself when they lay waste to Garden Grove at the weekend, and get there early for those local openers.

The Last Gang in the Garden: The event rakes place at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 19 at the Garden Amp.

 

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