Underminded

Their name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t really remember their music. I do, however, now remember walking past this band while they were playing at Warped Tour (they played the Smart Punk stage).

It was way better than I expected. I was just amazed at the vocals that came out of the guys. Their voices were bigger than them. All the band members played their instruments fantastic. I was enjoying the show, but I guess not very many people were really paying attention. Come on, the first band never gets a huge reaction, and people were still being let into the venue.

The lead singer called everyone pussies for not moshing/jumping/dancing/being crazy, so of course, all the tough guys can’t be called that, thus a pit got started. They played a decent set for being openers - around 7 songs. Included were “It’s Kinda Like A Bodybag” and “Bring On The Flood.”

The God Awfuls

Again, the name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t think of any exact music from them. They were pretty good, too. They also didn’t like the lack of movement and voiced it in between every song. The pit started back up, but of course we still got compared to fricking Bakersfield. The band did like, the 'George of The Jungle’ drum beats as a little homage to The Vandals.

The pit was pretty good; it was hard to choose between watching the pit or the band. I chose a little of both, mostly the band. They played around 9 songs, including “N.R.A.,” “Watch It Fall” and “1979.”

The Vandals

The crowd finally seemed to all be paying attention to the stage, everyone was getting packed in, and I was still in the very front, knees against the stage. We could see them to the side, chillin', Joe checking his bass. One of those moving pictures thingers was up on stage. You know the type, waterfalls usually. Tacky yet pretty in a tacky way.

They hit the stage, and the crowd roared. Each member did a little sign of appreciating the cheering, and then they started playing. I believe the first song they played was either “Disproportioned Head” or “Be A Good Robot.” Their set also included (not in order, and there are probably more that I forgot): “My Girlfriend’s Dead,” “And Now We Dance,” I’ve Got An Ape Drape,” “An Idea For A Movie,” “My Neck, My back,” “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” “Oi To The World,” and closed with Warren up front singing “I Have A Date” and “Don’t Stop Me Now.” The band alternated between playing from the playlist and asking for requests. It was pretty funny when fans would ask for a song off their newest cd and Dave would be like “Uh no, I don’t want to” and for other songs the band members were sometimes like, “Huh? Which one is that…?” Dave did his little walking with his hips dance that he usually does at concerts.

Joe (I interviewed him at Warped) was pretty kicked back, staying in his little designated area. Maybe he was scared of the kiddies hurling themselves towards the stage (thus making the front liners semi-fall on the stage, which was rather shanty to begin with). Come on, we turd towner’s wont really hurt you, just get kinda close and then get pulled away by security (which actually happened). Come on kiddies, give it up; When a huge security dude is pulling you off stage, just go willingly, or they will kick your ass out and you'll scare the band from ever playing there again.

During “I Have A Date”, a guy and a woman were up on stage dancing, which was kinda funny 'cause then Warren asked the lady to take off her top, took his shirt off, as an ‘enticement’ of sorts I suppose, and the woman looked totally disgusted and walked off stage. He was doing the whole rock star showing off type thing which was fuuuuuunny. He then sang “Don’t Stop Me Now” which was also hilarious. He was prancing about and jumping all over. He got up on the bass drum and started a pelvic thrust (humping!) towards another drum/cymbal/air. He then sang “Don’t Stop Me Now” which was also hilarious, and it ended the show on a good note. At this point, though, the crowd had become crazed and was pushing so hard on us front people that we got major bruises. I survived, thus it was totally worth the rest of the fun.

Review by: Candice