Luicidal w/Detroit 442, The Lowcocks, and Sushi.
Rocky George of Luicidal at Small’s Bar, Hamtramck MI. All photos by Paul Holstein.
It was a Thursday night, and I'd have to go it alone, but it might be my only chance to catch Luicidal. I've been a Suicidal Tendencies fan since their first album came out, and their 1987 Detroit show at The Ritz was monumental. Since then, I've seen the Mike Muir version at several festivals and club shows, but it's the guitar playing of Rocky George that I really needed to see again. Luicidal is the Rocky George/Louiche Mayorga version of the band, and as a bonus for this tour, we get Phil Warren from Detroit 442 on drums.
I arrived early enough to see all 4 bands, primarily because I didn't want to miss The Lowcocks, and I'm glad that I did because Sushi tore it up. After their set, I was talking to a friend who, like me, had never seen them before and didn't know what to expect. He said that he tried to research them, but with a band name like "Sushi," there was just no way to find them. It took some searching, but I did find their Facebook page, which, to make it even more difficult, has images of actual sushi. From some of the prior band photos, it looks like the singer sometimes plays naked, but tonight we got a full set in his boxer briefs. It was well worth getting there early.
Anne Bradley (Annie) of The Lowcocks at Small’s Bar, Hamtramck MI. All photos by Paul Holstein.
The Lowcocks were up next, self-described as "glitter and grit and sweat and spit". Before the show, Annie stopped to thank me for prior photos (I always appreciate that). I love their raw sound that mixes street punk and Oi!, when they are on the bill, I always get there early. They ran through their trademark high-energy set that saw Annie running out into the crowd and the guitar player spinning like a top. Near the end, they did their exceptional cover of Dolly Parton's "9 to 5", but no "Oi!" signs this time (if you see them a lot, you'll remember them). Props to Annie for the great battle vest; she's always repping Negative Approach (which is the band that got me into hardcore).
If you read a lot of my stories, you will remember that Detroit 442 vocalist Lacy Sterling has been a fixture of the Detroit punk rock scene nearly all my life. When I was first getting into live music, his earliest band, Son of Sam, would be the local openers for punk shows at Blondies. All of these years later, he's still doing it (now with Detroit 442) and still getting onto these killer bills. He suffered a recent injury, so for a lot of the show, he was on the floor more than standing over the mic, but if I didn't know that, I would have thought it was just part of the show. Drummer Phil Warren was doing double duty tonight; also joining Luicidal on an 8-show tour.
This was billed as “The OG’s of Suicidal Tendencies,” so I did a bit of research before the show to find out what the set list might be like and who was in the line-up. Louiche Mayorga on bass (original Suicidal Tendencies S/T LP line-up from 1983) and Rocky George on lead guitar (who jumped in right after the 1983 LP, playing on at least 8 Suicidal Tendencies releases after that, including "Join The Army", "Lights... Camera... Revolution!", "The Art of Rebellion" and "Still Cyco After All These Years" ) helped to make my decision to go. Rocky was one of my early guitar heroes, seemingly destined for the big time if he didn't decide to stick with punk rock. Rocky also plays with Fishbone, so I was glad that he jumped on these shows with Luicidal. Their 17-song set kicked off with "Subliminal" and included early classics "Memories of Tomorrow", "I Want More", "I Shot The Devil", "Suicidal Failure", and "Institutionalized" as well. They finished the night with "Pledge Your Allegiance", and Phil Warren never missed a beat. If you get a chance to catch this tour, you won't regret it.
