New Bomb Turks Summer Tour 2025 w/The Drowns
Eric Davidson of New Bomb Turks at The Magic Stick 07/25/2025 - All photos courtesy of Paul Holstein
It had been 25 years since I saw the legendary Supersuckers/Hellacopters/New Bomb Turks/Zen Guerrilla show at The Magic Stick, which was memorialized by a silkscreened Mark Arminski poster/flyer (distributed at the show) that still hangs at the venue. I narrowly missed seeing New Bomb Turks earlier this year when they played a club show during Punk Rock Bowling while I stayed too long at Hogs & Heifers for the Chaser/Cigar/DI show. Fortunately, they were kicking off a Midwest tour in my hometown of Detroit, revisiting The Magic Stick all these years later.
Black Iris Booking has traditionally put together great poster art for their Black Christmas and Blackout BBQ shows each year, and this year we got another great one from Craig Horky. Craig was at the show, out on the Alley Deck showcasing his art and selling some of his other posters. I didn't see this particular one for sale as a print, but I'm going to look for it as I would love to add one to my collection. He's probably most well-known for his portraits of 4-eyed cats, but he's also done amazing art for a slew of bands that include Fear, Mustard Plug, Blink-182, Mudhoney, Queens of the Stone Age, and many more. Check out his Facebook page or Instagram; you won't be sorry.
This was another iteration of Black Iris Booking's "Blackout BBQ," so we got there early with the intention of sitting out on the Alley Deck before the show to enjoy the food and some cold drinks. I had brought a few photos to get signed, and when I walked in I spotted Andy from The Drowns at the merch booth and got my first signature. Andy was nice enough to grab the rest of The Drowns from backstage to sign my photo as well, and we talked about the photo, which was taken at Punk Rock Bowling this year when they did an autograph signing at the Dr. Strange Records booth. Right after, I spotted Eric Davidson from New Bomb Turks on the deck. He remembered the show from the photo (25 years earlier at the same venue) and mentioned the Mark Arminski flyer that was still up on the wall a few feet away. He said that he still has the shirt that he's wearing in the photo. I almost didn't notice that he was sitting with the also-legendary Jim Diamond from Ghetto Recorders; Eric would later dedicate a song to Jim during their absolutely awesome set. Too much time had gone by, and Saber Tooth Gary was taking the stage before I got a chance to eat. I stashed the photos and headed to the front.
Saber Tooth Gary is a local band, and I had previously reviewed their "A.I. Against I" release. I almost got to seem them live at last year's Black Christmas festival, but it was unfortunately cancelled. In the review, I compared the vocals heavily to The Meatmen, but it wasn't as noticeable in their live show. I did notice the short, fast, punk songs. They also added a bit of humor, playing their song "Memory Loss" twice consecutively with the same preamble and then going into it a third time before one of the band members stopped them.
There is no question that The Drowns are one of the hardest-working and best touring bands in the world right now, and they bring the energy to every show. Apparently they had just finished up a European tour, flew home to Seattle for less than a day, then jumped in their van and drove 3 straight days to get to Detroit in time for this show. In 2024 I saw them live at Punk Rock Bowling and then again in Detroit.In 2025 I'd just seen them again at Punk Rock Bowling, and here they were again in Detroit. I was hoping that they may play "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" (which was on their PRB set list); they didn't, but they did take the time to mention their hatred for Donald Trump again. Their newest album, "Blacked Out," was high up (#6) in my picks for the best releases of 2025, and they played both of my favorites from that one ("Ketamine and Cola" and "Blacked Out"). They opened with their usual opener, "Black Lung," and covered Sweet’s "Ballroom Blitz," and it was great to hear those live again (they never get old). If you haven't seen The Drowns live, you absolutely need to.Another amazing show, with New Bomb Turks still to go. The schedule was one band per hour, so I was finally able to squeeze in some food at the BBQ.
As I mentioned above, it'd been 25 years since I'd seen New Bomb Turks at The Magic Stick, or at all for that matter. I'd been reading some reviews of their shows, and some of my friends caught them at Punk Rock Bowling, so I had some idea of what I would be in for. Eric Davidson loves putting things down his pants (fans, cell phones, hats, his hands, the microphone, etc.), so that was a theme throughout the show. He also grabbed and wore fans' glasses and shared the microphone with audience member Tim Vulgar (Clone Defects, Human Eye, Timmy's Organism) on a few songs. Eric made various faces, crowd surfed, and had the audience all get down low and then jump back up. But through all of that, what the show was really about was energy. The songs were great, and the energy was intense. They even came back for an encore, which is rare these days at punk shows.
