Punk festival unites musicians, fans

Punk rock's initial promise was that it was the most populist of music genres, something that just anybody could partake in, regardless of how well he or she may -- or may not -- play an instrument, ostensibly doing away with the traditional divide between audience and artist as "us" and "them."

This theory was put to practice at Sunset Station last weekend, where various punk bands, label owners and fans got together for a weekend of shows, beers and bowling at the 12th annual Punk Rock Bowling and Music Festival, now in its biggest incarnation yet.

Through it all, a communal, boozy vibe hung about the proceedings, as there was little separation between the fest's attractions and its patrons.

"We're all going to be living here for the next three days, so enough with the pictures, OK?" NOFX frontman Fat Mike pleaded from the stage during his band's headlining set on Friday night, where they fired off sing-along shot rockets such as "Linoleum" and "Leave it Alone."

Still, it was this egalitarian atmosphere that largely defined the weekend.

"It's going to be easy to forget this, but anyone can do this," said Pink Eyes (Damian Abraham), the burly singer for Toronto's (Expletive) Up, who blazed through an incendiary performance on Friday.

There was a barrier between the crowd and the bands that played the Sunset Amphitheater stage, but Abraham did his best to ignore it, spending most of the band's set leaning and lunging over it, passing his microphone to fans to bellow along.

Abraham is, in many ways, a punk rock everyman, with a paunchy plumber's physique, who, on this night, sang songs about record collecting, being a dad and getting hassled by the cops. He didn't seem any different from the people he was sharing his mic with.

The weekend wasn't all Budweiser and bear hugs, though.

Folksy, fiery rockers Against Me! who played Saturday night, received a mixed response and seemed to enjoy egging on the divided crowd.

"(Expletive) the punks," singer/guitarist Tom Gabel announced several times as his band aired songs that questioned the notion of punk idealism.

"I was a teenage anarchist, revolution was a lie," Gabel sang at one point.

But all of this was largely forgotten by Sunday, when nostalgia reigned on a cold, windy night dominated by scene forbears such as hard-core pioneers D.R.I., who ended the festivities with crossover classics such as "Mad Man" and "Couch Slouch," and melodic punk pacesetters 7 Seconds, whose set included a rousing cover of Sham 69's "If The Kids Are United." "If the kids are united," frontman Kevin Seconds sang, "Then we will never be divided."

And as this weekend demonstrated, the same could be said of a bunch of middle-aged dudes.

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.