After Churchill'swas graced with a visit earlier this week by Agent Orange, it's only fitting that AO's first bassist, Steve Soto, is hitting Respectable Street Cafe Friday night with his 30-years-and-running Orange County, California combo The Adolescents.
"OC Punk" has become synonymous with legions of melodic punk bands who crank out mid-tempo jams with sing-along choruses. The Offspring and Social Distortion are the two most famous practitioners. Soto and ex-guitarist Rikk Agnew (Rikk's brother Frank is still in the group) invented it in 1980 with "Amoeba" - a haunting tune that contrasts Soto and Agnew's soaring "AH-MEEE-BAAAAAHH" chorus with lead singer Tony Cadena's snarl. While most of the Adolescents 1981 self-titled debut Lp is pure snarl that fit in next to contemporaries like the Circle Jerks and Black Flag ( the opening track is entitled:"I hate children"), "Amoeba" elevated the record into punk classic status.
30 years later, The Adolescents are happy to tour the world and enjoy the "Old School" punk spoils. The clip below shows the 50-something "Adolescents" still have what it takes to make 18-year old adolescents go crazy.
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