WARPED
Melbourne,  16th January 1999
by Kelly Buttigieg

well, i went off to warped at flemington (melb) the other week, it quite literally kicked ass! it was bliss - some of the finest american punk/ska (pennywise, less than jake, mxpx, 22 jacks) plus a fantastic local lineup (which attracted an ok crowd despite the fact the local stage was hidden at the back of the grounds!) . . . add this to the cool motorcross stunts and skaters and you have one wicked festival!

Dogbuoy kicked off the bands at the main stage with their distinctive punk/hip hop sounds, and were followed by Latex Generation. These guys were fantastic and definitely made quite a few fans that day! Their skater punk sound was well received by the crowd and warmed everyone up for one of the local favourites, Mach Pelican, who were the next band to show their stuff. These guys were hilarious, their obvious Ramones influence ("1, 2, 3, 4!") and fast-paced songs made for one helluva show, definitely check em out if you're off to the bdo! As the afternoon wore on the American bands took to the main stage, Mxpx whipping the pit into a frenzy. Sounding a bit like blink 182 but with talent, they showed the crowd that being a christian band doesn't mean they can't rawk! Hopefully JJJ will start playing more of their stuff other than "Chick Magnet" and give these guys the cred they deserve . .

Sadly though, the local stage was stuck way out the back and as a result, many missed some great local bands. I myself only got to see old-schoolers No Idea, but apparently a hot band called For Amusement Only made an impression on those who saw them, i'm sure we'll hear more of them soon . . . Crettins Puddle also performed, unfortunately they had to compete with Pennywise at the main stage and as a result didn't get the crowd they deserved.

Other bands that were excellent during the arvo were Hepcat (brilliant - tradional ska at its best) and Pennywise (who ended with an extended version of "Bro Hymn", dedicated to their previous member Jason Thirsk who suicided a few years ago), but in my opinion the afternoon belonged to the brilliant Less Than Jake, the kings of ska-core.  These guys are not only talented but know how to put on a killer show!  Playing songs from their latest album "Hello Rockview" plus a couple of their classic trax ("Automatic", "How's My Driving Doug hastings?") they left fellow ska band The Porkers for dead, and provided a perfect soundtrack to the suicidal motorcross competitors on the other side of the grounds.

Suicidal Tendencies (too heavy for me, but much appreciated by their fans), and the Deftones (fucking awful) did their thing later that arvo, followed by local skankers Area 7. These guys showed everyone there that our local ska scene can produce bands as strong as any other in the world, good on ya boys!

The rest of the evening was a bit of a blur due to my state of advanced dehydration, but i did manage to catch the last of the bands, Frenzal Rhomb (who wisely borrowed a mevber from Less Than Jake) and Grinspoon (no comment), who rounded off the evening at 8pm.

All in all, one helluva show if you're remotely into punk, although it wasn't quite up to scratch with the American leg (last year's US lineup included rancid and nofx among others! *drool*) i still can't wait for next year's show!