Dead River Rebels

The Old Princeton Lounge is set in the Oceanside town of Half Moon Bay, about 30 minutes outside of San Francisco, right across the road from a marina and the Pacific Ocean. The surf rock interior gives way to a good size stage in the front, 3 giant TV’s playing sports, and two pooltables in the back. Along with this, is a wonderful and generiously sized patio area, that welcomes dogs.

We got to “The OPL” at around 7:45pm, with time to grab a table, of which there are plenty and also booths available. The show was slated to start at 8:00pm, but the show did not start at 8:40pm. I tend to forget that shows seem to start about a half an hour after they are supposed to.

Lions Den, from San Francisco, was up first and what struck me was their very Bauhause-esque with a side of Surf Punk sound. I was quite confused, as the lead singer was clad in a leather biker jacket and had more of a Rockabilly or “Greaser” look to him, while the rest of the band had a more laid back and less “pulled together” look to them. I honestly didn’t know what to expect, but half way through their set, the small little dark Gothy spot in my heart with pleased with this “Dark Garage” sound. The first show that they played was at the OPL about six months prior to this show.

Dead River Rebels’s drummer met Punx and Drunx in May at Punk Rock Bowling in Las Vegas in May. We had traded stickers then, and when listening to their set, I recongnized their logo. I pulled my wallet out and pulled out their sticker. I was blown away, as I never thought that I would see them play. I am glad I was finaly able to, all those months and miles later. Their lead singer has a very Judas Priest sound, while their music screams Sex Pistols, with their hard core sound. Again, as with the first band, I was slightly confused of their sound, but once they got rolling, they pulled me right along with them. The are very punk at the core of their band. A line from their song “Street Rat” that caught me was “I don’t give a fuck, but I care a lot.” That was a very enjoyable, yet interesting set. - Beth