Words and images by Kevin Silva
The middle of November at an outdoor venue (Garden Grove Amp) is the perfect way to celebrate the 10-Year Anniversary of Southern California’s very own, Violent Gentlemen.
The hockey-inspired clothing company brought together a show featuring Jared Heart, Drain, Ignite and the best thing to come out of Buffalo since their wings, Every Time I Die.
Proud parents of the clothing company, Brian Talbert and Mike Hammer, started the brand as fans that wanted to see hockey gear that they as fans of the sport and punk have always wanted to wear.
Throughout the decade Violent Gentlemen has served as a celebration of the ethos of punk and hardcore and how those values cross perfectly with that of the sport of hockey.
In addition to the bands featured on this momentous night, Violent Gentlemen has also teamed up with the likes of Rancid, Bayside, Seaway, as well as seen weekly being worn on TNT by professional wrestler CM Punk.
Among the plentiful highlights of the night included an unhinged, barricade-less barrage from Santa Cruz hardcore specialists DRAIN. Performing blistering tracks from California Cursed and their latest on Epitaph in 'Watch You Burn," the kind response for a set so early in the evening set the pace for the kind of volatility that was to come.
Orange County punk legends, Ignite, roared into a set featuring two new tracks “Anti-Complicity Anthem” and “Turn XXI”.
Ignite’s latest releases are their first with new singer Eli Santana (Incite, Holy Grail) and the band joins the celebration fresh off their appearance at the OC punk festival Punk In The Park.
The positive energy was in the air and everyone was having a good time as the anticipation built to the headliners of the night.
As everyone sipped on their Violent Gentlemen/Every Time I Die Hazy IPA that was available at the gig, the opening note of “Dark Distance” off of ETID’s latest release, Radical.
As singer Keith Buckley ripped into the opening line “spare only the ones I love, slay the rest” the pit intended to do just that as an early birthday present to the man.
The band would shred into a career spanning set list to commemorate their return to California with favorites “Floater” “Bored Stiff” “We’rewolf” and one of their newest “Planet Shit”.
The madness ensued in such a positive way that you’d come to expect from a crowd of ‘ETIDiots’ with everyone having the time of their life and picking one another up all while brutalizing the person next to them all in the name of Every Time I Die.
In between the band’s more universally known “The New Black” and 2003’s “Ebolarama”, guitarists Jordan Buckley and All Elite Wrestling’s The Butcher, Andy Williams, laid waste to the crowd with their hometown anthem “Buffalo 666”.
Welcoming arms awaited new bangers “Post Boredom” “Sly” and “All This And War” as fans have dubbed this potentially Every Time I Die’s best release yet.
Now as the Garden Amp is nestled away between a public part and apartments, the venue curfew crept up on the band as they announced they’d only have one song left and they made it count.
As it’s become tradition since it’s release in 2016, Every Time I Die closed with “Map Change” as they welcome their fans up to the stage to take over as they lay into the closing notes as the elder Buckley brother sings above the crowd “I’ve weighed down the earth, no use trying to save it”.
The set has come to an end and fans are hugging one another as Jordan can be seen accommodating everyone’s selfie request.
Catch more of Every Time I Die’s sheer brutality on their upcoming tour with headliners Underoath.
