OC Punk Rock Picnic - Oak Canyon Ranch - 4/28/12

By Javier Cabral Mon., Apr. 30 2012 at 5:00 AM

The big hitters of the day all did their part to show that they are still as bad ass as they all were in the '80s. Circle One has a new singer, but he is a bad ass one. Besides that, the rest are original members, and no one is really going to care about that stuff when "Highway Patrolman" is done.

The Yeastie Boys stole the show with their much-loved clown-ified covers of punk rock classics such as "Abolish Barnum," but not before inhaling a fair share of carcinogens from the meters of colorful aerosol silly string used as props.

The headliners tore it up on the main stage. The ever-cheerful Casey Royer from D.I. shared his endearing punk rock gospel, "We appreciate what you are, what you'll become or what you'll never be." The Crowd followed, performing all of their famed Beach Blvd compilation classics such as "Living in Madrid."

Javier Cabral

Jello Biafra

But really, everyone paid to see Jello Biafra, hoping to hear him to perform any old Dead Kennedy stuff. And he did -- "California Uber Alles," "Too Drunk To Drunk" and of course "Holiday in Cambodia." But each song was interwoven with new ballads like "John Dillinger," a song about abandoning the three strikes law. Seconds after Biafra's last song, Ving Lee of FEAR exploded into "I Love Living in the City." He even had a saxophonist to aid him in the performance of "New York's Alright if You Like Saxophones."

Trash cans were thrown in the air and the pit was at its largest as the sun went down and FEAR concluded the night. It was a good punk rock picnic.

Critical bias: I was hit on by a MILF before getting in. Therefore, I strutted around like a boss and probably saw everything through a boss perspective.

The crowd: Punk rock nuclear families.

Overheard in the crowd: "Good afternoon, fuck you and I hope you die."

Random notebook dump: Mission Brewery's Shipwreck IPA is way too sweet for an IPA.

Follow Javier Cabral and his punk rock coverage on Twitter at @theglutster.

Location Info

Venue

Map

Punky Cheezster

OC Weekly never fails to bumm me out on their coverage of this event. I am not sure if it is because it is still sort of a grass roots promotion and the promotors cannot pay for coverage or what? But the Punk Rock Picnic is the biggest all day outdoor punk event going on and the only one of its kind in Orange County. Yet OC WEEKLY blows when it comes to covering it prior to the event, and after reading the post show coverage just now, I am totally bummed. I walked the entire venue and did a pretty good job at catching all the bands ( the ones worth catching as there were a ton of shitty bands too) and was hoping to read something that I may have missed. Something insightful to read from an experienced writer who's job is was to cover this event. Instead I had to read the obvious watered down horse shit. "The Yeastie Boys Stole the Show"??? Really??? They dress like clowns and play punk covers while throwing confetti at you.

But they do have a member that works for OC Weekly so I guess I can see why the temptation was there. But seriously! On the same stage that these clowns played on (which by the way was the only stage to be at besides the headliner stages NOT JUST MY OPINION AS IT WAS THE ONLY STAGE WITH A CROWD AND A PIT ALL DAY) There was a killer up and coming band called DIME RUNNER. They are a younger (Not in their 40's) breed of punk with a great frontman who was actually fun to watch and the songs were a nice blend of old and new styles of punk from The Buzzcocks to Diguster, this band was refreshing to see.

Then the never dissapointing So Cal Skate Punk band Doggy Style. Sure they are a bit older and not as many original members. But this band put out a solid set. Even with the bumbling bonehead sound guy completely fucking up the sound (at one point there was no power) and the band kept playing and the pit kept churning. Did I forget to mention that they staged the worlds largest donut fight? Ok, maybe it was just a very big donut fight but it was fun as hell. The pit got slippery and the band were not a bunch of pussies when they were pelted with their own donuts. They played new songs that the entire crowd seemed to know the lyrics as well as old favorites such as "Nympho Maniac" and "Rookie Cop" The set was solid.

After Doggy Style was another killer set by The Grim. These guys just played the coveted GV30 (Goldenvoice 30t Anniversary) Any punk band would have killed to get on that show as it was sort of the whos who of California Punk history. Guess who didnt play the GV30? D.I. or the Yeastie Boys. The Grim fucking rocked! The frontman set up shop in the pit area and made friends with the punks! The bass player was awesome. He is the really freakishly tall skinny guy that just looks really cool when he plays his bass. He jumps really high and ripps on bass. I wish I knew his name but it is not my job to know his name. I had not planned on writing this. But Cabral or whatever his name is really missed the boat on this show. Maybe next year he can take a notebook with him.

But hey, he was hit on by a "milf" and became the boss with bossview so you cant really judge him. It is just that I saw the punk "milfs" at this show and they were not much to look at. But whatever. OC Weekly sucks. Bring back the gay guy from the 90's that used to cover bands. Even if he hated a band he still gave them honest coverage. (forgot his mame but he was gay) Rich Kane!

tony

Ur an idiot. I was there and the sound guy was trying his best to get this crappy ass bands to sound decent.

cockasorus

What a fun filled day with sick bands galore! El Nada is from Santa Ana by the way! Not Mexicali.

morgino

This event was straight up awesome..when you think of punks some snarly people come to mind but that couldn't be more wrong. I have been in many a pit in my life and typically people just don't know what the hell they are doing. In this one when people fell down they got picked up, if they lost a hat or shirt someone would make sure they got it back. Great vibe all around, I will be there next year for sure.

Stefanie Williamson

The Picnic was a first for me, and honestly, I can't wait to attend again next year! Everyone was there to have a good time and make new friends. I will never forget watching the Security guys having an absolute blast holding up the fence from the moshers while D.I. was onstage! Priceless. I bet the mohawked kid in the plaid shirt in pic#3 has a really cool mom!