Punk Rock Saves Lives at PRB with DI, Cigar and Chaser at Hogs & Heifers Saloon
Casey Royer of DI - All photos courtesy of Paul Holstein
I had bought tickets to both the Mystery Action/Beton Arme/The Briefs/Street Dogs show at The Fremont Country Club and the Cromm Fallon/Civic/Western Addiction/New Bomb Turks show at The Usual Place. Originally The Baboon Show was slated to play the New Bomb Turks show but was replaced by Western Addiction when their visas were denied. The plan was to catch the first two bands at The Fremont Country Club and then take a quick Uber over to The Usual Place to catch the last two bands. All of those plans went out the window once Hogs & Heifers announced that Chaser, Cigar, and DI would be part of the Punk Rock Hoedown lineup on Saturday night.
I'd seen Chaser several times before (including at a Punk In The Park festival in California and at The Punk Rock Museum at a prior Punk Rock Bowling), and I recently gave their 2024 "Small Victories" LP a great review (it also made my top LPs of 2024). Mike LeDonne, their lead singer, is one of those rare people that you meet once and they become friends for life. I walked by him on my way into the show, and he not only said hi but also remembered my name. His mom was running their merch booth, and I'd talked to her for a few minutes before going in and she graciously offered to hold onto a photo that I wanted to have signed after the show. Of course it was a great show, and Mike helped me with the photo afterwards. They kicked off their 14-song set with "Brand New Enemy," "The Breaks," and "2020." Mike did a stage dive off of the bar during "Good Times," and the crowd was singing along to every song through the entire set.
Cigar was up next, the only band that I was there for that I had not seen before. They are a three-piece skate punk band from Oregon and so technical that they are sometimes referred to as mathcore. They played a great set that was a perfect lead-in to DI. I'll definitely be checking out more of their releases as soon as I can.
DI formed in 1981, and I first saw them in the late 1980s at Blondies on 7 Mile Road in Detroit. Their self-titled EP in 1983, followed by "Ancient Artifacts" and "Horse Bites, Dog Cries" in 1985, are all classics and brought us songs like "Pervert Nurse", "Johnny's Got A Problem," "O.C. Life", "Hang 10 In East Berlin," and "Stick To Your Guns". Their marquee song, "Richard Hung Himself," was written by singer and founding member Casey Royer while he was in The Adolescents, recorded with The Adolescents, and then later re-recorded with DI. That song was made popular when it appeared in the film "Suburbia" and later when it was covered by Slayer on their "Undisputed Attitude" LP. I was honestly surprised that DI was not a headlining band on the main stage, but being part of the Punk Rock Hoedown at Hogs & Heifers may honestly have been even better.
Casey Royer (ex-The Adolescents, Social Distortion) was standing outside by the merch table when we walked up. I had brought a photo from the Blondies show to get an autograph, and he was genuinely thrilled to see it. Not only did Casey sign the photo, but he also pointed out every member of the band and told me their names, told me several stories about that show, and grabbed a photo of my photo with his phone. Really great guy, and he made sure that I was going to stick around until 2am when they played. Of course I was there.
