Punk Rock Saves Lives Kick Off PRB with The Sleights & SecondSELF at Hogs & Heifers Saloon
The Sleights - All Photos courtesy of Paul Holstein
Planning for a Punk Rock Bowling weekend is no easy task, especially when it's for your entire crew and the timeline is tight. This year, even though we were arriving Thursday to give us a buffer on the jet lag, we had one of those tight timelines. The goal was to see the first two bands (The Sleights and secondSelf) at the Punk Rock Hoedown over at Hogs & Heifers Saloon starting at 8:00pm local time to kick off the weekend. We arrived (from Michigan) at The Golden Nugget just barely on schedule at 7:00pm, and maybe it was fortunate that our room wasn't ready yet. We checked in at the new kiosks (which worked surprisingly well), left our bags with the front desk, and made our way to the show.
Rob Rushing of Punk Rock Saves Lives at Hogs & Heifers for Punk Rock Hoedown - Photo
When we were walking up, we ran into secondSELF at their merch booth. They were dropping a new album that night, which Brandon Alan Lewis from Punkerton Records had highly recommended to me (I met him recently in Detroit, when he came down for a Half Dizzy/The Boy Detective show). The band is technically from Nashville, but a few of the members were originally from Michigan, so we struck up a conversation, and I was able to score my first stickers and patches of the festival. But I had to move along, as The Sleights would take the stage soon, and they were not to be missed.
Before heading to Las Vegas this year for Punk Rock Bowling, I had read several posts saying that Hogs & Heifers would be shutting its doors. That would be a huge blow to Punk Rock Saves Lives and Punk Rock Bowling, but my shorter-term concern was that they may not allow my camera inside (due to not wanting photos taken of the scantily clad waitresses that dance on the bar and insult the customers). I took a chance (after giving a $10 donation at the door), went in, and walked right up to the stage to take some photos. It wasn't more than a minute when Michelle, the owner, came over to my group and introduced herself. To my surprise, I was presented with a side stage pass so that I could take photos of the drummer and behind the stage, and she bought us all two rounds of drinks!
We took the opportunity to ask her about the stories regarding shutting down, and she put the rumors to rest. She did confirm that this will be the last PRB at this location and that in around a year and a half they will be moving. She said that they were actively scouting a new location, which would be within walking distance, and that they would continue to partner with both Punk Rock Saves Lives and Punk Rock Bowling. Additionally, all of the memorabilia that currently adorned the bar would be moved so that the same feel would be present at the new location. In the end, it would be a good thing and nothing for us to worry about. That conversation definitively confirmed for me that there could not be a better place for this year's Punk Rock Hoedown (a festival within the festival, for those that couldn't get tickets to the official club shows or just preferred this set of bands).
I got a quick look at The Sleights set list during their sound check and noticed that they were starting with “Intro” and “Brother” (two of my favorites). I mentioned to their singer/guitarist, Luke Blanton, that I was glad that they were starting with Intro, and he asked me if I was the photographer that wrote the recent review of their record, raved about “Intro”, and mentioned that I would be at the show (yep, that was me). It’s always an honor to find out that the bands have read my reviews, much less remember me. The Sleights ripped through a 13-song set that did not disappoint and ranks in my top 5 sets of the entire weekend.
secondSELF - Photo Paul Holstein
Brandon from Punkerton Records was not wrong when he said that I would want to stay for secondSELF. After his recommendation, I had downloaded their new song, “The Current Dissent,” from Bandcamp and spun it a few times. It’s a great song, and I was looking forward to that one in particular. As you will see when you watch the video below, they ripped into a cover of Teenage Bottlerocket’s “I Wanna Die” directly after. Their entire set smoked and also included a cover of Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades.” Hopefully they tour and come through the Detroit area so that I can catch them again sooner rather than later.
