So there I was, just sitting at my house when I get a phone call from a friend of mine to which he delights my ears with “Hey fool, Pinhead Gunpowder’s playing.” Instant joy! After drilling him and getting verification I learned Pinhead was going to play 2 shows, the first at Chain Reaction in Anaheim on Feb. 3rd and the second at The Troubadour in Los Angeles. This is the best news ever because usually when I hear Pinhead are playing it’s usually 2 months after the fact, not to mention even if I did catch wind of a show I know that a pretty serious drive up the coast awaited me (which I wouldn’t mind at all). Both of my past misfortunes released their death grip upon my fate this time, the show had not happened yet and was in Southern California! Apparently I was not the only one excited as Chain Reaction sold out the first day and The Troubadour sold out in 2 hours. As the days approached for the show there was something sneaky and bitchin’ in the air, something was afoot. Messages of a possible “secret” Pinhead Gunpowder show at a dive bar, or a house party, or a warehouse show had fluttered into my inquiring ears. After delving and digging, Lo! Tis true! Pinhead was going to play some random Bar in San Pedro on Friday, and then a warehouse the size of a garage on Saturday, and then the regularly planned shows Sunday and Monday respectively.

Friday night came at me faster then a bro at a swag hook up sesh (however the Long Beach harbor detour to San Pedro took much more time). After arriving at the Mexican bar and grill “La Conga” that was to host the event I was greeted by high school friends like myself that are a little too old to be going to shows like this. Some married, some balding, all getting fatter, we were there, we were in glory, for tonight Pinhead was to play and it didn’t matter that it was about 10 years later than we would have liked. I was expecting a line around the corner, yet there were just about 5 people I waiting. After we had our ID’s checked we made our way past the “Latino Groove” night, which was taking place downstairs, up to the attic where we were drawn in to a large room with four walls, a pseudo-stage, and a bar. The shows played just like one that was for a few San Pedro friends as Minuteman’s Mike Watt, Underground Railroad to Candyland, as well as a few other local Pedro acts prepped the room for Pinhead. I was surprised to see the amount of people there, that being not a whole lot, but what did I expect, after all it was a “secret” show. I felt good, I felt surrounded by brothers and sisters who understood what the night meant. There was no one there to see “Green Day’s other band,” they were there to see Pinhead Gunpowder.

After a brief girl fight during the unbelievable Underground Railroad to Candyland set I brought my aged body to the front of the barrier free one-foot high stage. Cometbus came out and set up his own drums, some other guys set up Billie’s stuff, and I was setting myself up for good times USA. The lights dimmed (actually Cometbus yelled that they be turned off) and Billie and the remainder of the band came on stage. They received a warm welcome, a welcome that was aimed not towards Billie Joe’s “other band”, but for the legendary Pinhead Gunpowder who have come all the way down from Berkeley (and Cometbus from New York) to be with us. “1-2-3” Take off!!! And so it began. Billy looked like hell with his long matted bleached hair under a nasty red beanie. Jason looked like a he just got out of bed with his red “Budweiser” hoodie and plaid pajama pants (very true to East Bay form). The sound was pretty good. Song selection was brilliant playing about 10 or so jams, 2 or 3 new ones that were amazing. Everyone was singing. It was as amazing as I had imagined. Song after song, nostalgia piled upon sweet nostalgia, good times and memories being formed per second. During the set I couldn’t help but just be a cheese ball and throw my hand over my buddies shoulder and say something stupid like “Yeah dude, this is rad!” Billie loved all the punkness too. I kind of think he forgot what its like to play to an audience of less than a million people and not being surrounded by 3,000 security guards. All the rowdiness that one would expect took place during the set. Stage was raided, mic stands hitting Billie in the teeth, more fists in the air than an anti-Bush rally, kids stage diving. Hell, I even hoisted my old decrepit body up onto the backs of the well receiving crowd. I had a healthy hang time, I even had a few eye contacts with Billie Joe that I couldn’t help but be a little giddy about. Unfortunately my little crowd surfing sesh came to an abrupt stop as I was pulled down by an angry security guard. This guy drug me out and practically made me piss my pants, he was shouting all kinds of madness at me and kicked my ass right out the door. Sad times for sure. Luckily I saw the owner of the club out there and made my case that I was not a rowdy drunk bastard, but I was just a feeble, weak and sober old fan and the security guards they hired were dipsticks. So he had me escorted right back to the front, I only ended up missing about half a song (it did suck though because I had to keep my movement to a minimum as that bouncer probably wanted to have the last laugh and would have been happy to sneak a blow to my jaw from his angry elbow. I kept my distance.). All is fine though; it made for a very nice addition to the night of memories. After I made it back in they played a few more songs, everybody had a good time, and then all of the goodness altogether stopped. I don’t even think there was a possibility of an encore for 2 reasons; 1) It seems like Cometbus just wouldn’t be down for that sort of thing and 2) Because I think that’s all the songs they knew. However when the music stopped the action did not. As soon as Billy cleared the stage people were still hanging around because, well, just because that’s what you do after you see Pinhead Gunpowder play to a room with 150 people in it. Anyways after the set, as the punk gods would have it, there was a bit of a mini-riot. The bouncers were being douche bags, kids were ripping off the lights from the stage, and even Cometbus blasted out of his chair and got in a bit of a scuffle. It was great.

I made my way downstairs to the parking lot and the madness continued out there as well. There was a fight of couples (as in boyfriend and girlfriend A fought boyfriend and girlfriend B), I didn’t really see it as I was watching the action upstairs, but when I came down the smoke was just settling and there were windows broken out and pissed off people running around, all just so very punk rock.

So that was Friday, Saturday was at a warehouse in Long Beach the size of a garage and was an amazing show (so I heard). Sunday night was at Chain Reaction in Anaheim, they played the exact same set but I stood in the back and just took it in (as I was little annoyed because of the strong presence of people who were there to see “Green Day’s side band”). They play tonight at the Troubadour which I’m sure will be amazing, and I believe them to be playing a show at Gilman soon.