The Casualties, The Drowns, The Lowcocks, Come OUt Fighting @ Sanctuary Detroit.
The Casualties at Sanctuary Detroit 05/14/2026. All photos courtesy of Paul Holstein.
Sanctuary Detroit has been a staple of the punk rock scene in Detroit (even though it's actually in Hamtramck) for at least the past dozen or so years. It's the perfect size for punk rock shows; it's located right off of I-75 near downtown and is right on the same street as several other venues (including Small's Bar and The Outer Limits Lounge). Sanctuary was at a different location in Detroit for a short time before moving to the current building, which was formerly Paycheck's Lounge (Paycheck's had hosted bands that included GBH, Discharge, U.K. Subs, Agent Orange, 45 Grave, Butthole Surfers, and Corrosion of Conformity in the early 1980s). When I heard that Sanctuary Detroit was closing and that The Casualties may have been my last punk rock show there, I was devastated.
But there is good news as well. While this location is closing, that is only because they are converting to a nonprofit and moving to a larger multi-room building. Sanctuary has already been advertising shows at the new location, and I've seen at least one that was booked for Hamtramck being converted over. I haven't been to the new location yet, but it's on James Couzens Freeway in Detroit and appears to be a larger building that may have been a church at one point (reminiscent of Clutch Cargos in Pontiac, back in the day). The two locations are less than 10 miles apart, so hopefully it will be a smooth transition, and we can keep going to shows like this one for another dozen years.
When this show was originally announced, The Rumkicks from South Korea were on the bill. They were already on tour with The Casualties and The Drowns, and I'd recently seen them in Las Vegas at Punk Rock Bowling. That would have been an amazing addition, but they couldn't get the necessary visas and had to drop from the U.S. leg of the tour just a few weeks before the show. The one good thing that came out of that was that Come Out Fighting got added in their place.
Come Out Fighting is a hardcore band from Ferndale, MI, and the last time I saw them was an in-store appearance at Flipside Records in Ferndale. I remembered that they played a cover of "Cyco Vision" (Suicidal Tendencies), which they played again. They also played "East Bay Hardcore," my favorite from their originals. The crowd was moving, and they brought their usual energy. It was hard to believe that the evening had hardly even started.
The Lowcocks have been on a tear lately. I first saw them live back in 2021 with Reagan Youth at P.J.'s Lager House and have been a fan ever since. I saw them most recently in December at The Shelter warming up for Leftover Crack and again in January at The Vernors Room in The Crofoot Ballroom. I was glad to see them get added to this show as well; they always put on a great show, and I can never get enough of their cover of Dolly Parton's "9 to 5." This time was especially cool when Annie (their singer) took a photo of me on the way in (I had a Lowcocks T-shirt on), and the bass player told me that not only is he a serious disc golfer (like me), but that we may be playing in the same upcoming local tournament (DGLO, a.k.a. The Discraft Great Lakes Open).
When I first walked in, and I got there early so as not to miss any of the bands, The Rev was already standing at the bar talking to fans and old friends. He remembered me (I had done some band photographs in Las Vegas at Punk Rock Bowling a few years back during an autograph session at the Dr. Strange booth and then talked to them again last year when I had them sign the photos at the Black Out BBQ festival in Detroit), and we talked about their Las Vegas club show when they covered The Dead Kennedys "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" as their closer. The Drowns always bring the energy and are perpetually on tour, but they also have great songs. They did a shout-out to Detroit pizza (Fuck Chicago!) and ripped into a 10-song set that included old favorites "Ketamine & Cola," "Hold Fast," and "Them Rats." The real treat, however, was a couple of new songs ("Hellish Tattoo" and "Relentless") from the upcoming album that should be out later this year. This was the first time I saw them not play "Black Lung," but that didn't bother me at all because it was an amazing set. If they had been the headliners tonight and the show was over when they left the stage, I would have been more than happy. But we still had The Casualties up next.
This was the first show of 2026 where we had to take two cars, because so many of us were going. The Casualties are a must-see. On the way down we talked about some of the great Detroit Casualties shows over the years, including The Shelter (2004), Alvins (2005), The Vans Warped Tour (2006), The Magic Stick (2008), The Magic Stick (2018), Smalls Bar (2019), and The Sanctuary (2022). Some of us had even traveled to see them at bigger festivals, including Punk Rock Bowling and Punk In The Park. And of course we would see them again later in the year when we headed over to Europe to catch them at Brakrock. We jammed a custom playlist in the car that included new songs "Detonate," "Allies and Assassins," "Pigs On Fire," and "Wake Up, Kill, Repeat" along with 30-40 of their other classics. The crowd was filled with an equal mix of fans and local bands (I spotted members of Koffin Kats, I Are Citizen, Plan III, Against The Grain, Lava, and others), and everything went crazy as soon as they took the stage. This was street punk at its finest, and the crowd surfing, stage diving, and mosh pit were in full force. David did the "Wall of Death" and sang (screamed) several of the songs from the crowd, but the highlight of the set was when The Rev (The Drowns) came out and sang vocals on "Ashes Of Our Enemies." What a night!
