Review: Pu$$y-Cow celebrates their 20th Anniversary at The Escondite with Silver Needle and The Groans

Celebrating their 20th anniversary as a band, Pu$$y-Cow hit the indoor stage at The Escondite, playing in front of a packed house. An interesting side note for the night is that Ben Reddell was running the sound. For those in the country-folk world, you know that he books Grand Ole Echo, which is also celebrating their 20th anniversary. To put 20 years into another context, I've been shooting bands for nearly that same period of time though not yet at 20 years. Numbers. Numbers. Numbers. 

Pu$$y-Cow at The Escondite

The crowd was filled with people that I hadn't seen in perhaps a decade. While others I've seen multiple times at Pu$$y-Cow sets throughout the years. Also in the crowd was former (and long time) Pu$$y-Cow drummer, Danny Poulos. For a band playing 20 years, they've stayed rather stable. The band still has three original members: lead singer Joe Dana, guitarist Mike "Chissum Worthington" Schnee, and bassist Kevin "Flaco" Jones. The current drummer Jon Rygiewicz has been with the band for a few years now and has known all three members for all of those 20 years. 

The band loves to play their punk rock songs with a sense of humor and in quick bursts of energy. Their song "Jesus Ain't my Goalie" clocks in at a recorded length of 1 minute 2 seconds and the lyrics are about that hockey great Wayne Gretzky with just a 5 word lyric, "Jesus Saves. Gretzky rebounds. Score!" 

Pu$$y-Cow at The Escondite

The night's MC was the long time Pu$$y-Cow aficionado Rob Z who introduced the band with a, "Well, gang, this is a very special night. Twenty years of Pu$$y-Cow . . . how special is it to be part of Pu$$y-Cow's eras tour. Brothers and sisters, can I get an amen? Can I get a hallelujah? Can I get an amen hallelujah? We're gathered today at this holy house of worship and I need to ask you one thing. Do you believe? Say it loud, say it proud, I believe in Pu$$y-Cow."

To celebrate the night, the band broke out the party favors. They're well known for throwing party streamers across a venue. This time, they also had a bubble gun that was used by Dana and some foam stick wands for the crowd to wave around. There were also a couple blow up sword toys that people up front were using to play fight. Their 23 song set list blew by in 50 minutes and included two custom changes. Rob Z was telling the truth when he said it was their eras tour. An old Cowboy suit jacket from a past lifetime was worn by Dana for a few songs. 

Pu$$y-Cow at The Escondite

Other than praising Wayne Gretzky, what are their songs about? Dana explained a handful of songs as such. "Trashcan" is their forth song that they ever wrote. Then they were doing the second song they ever wrote, which would be "Jesus Ain't my Goalie." Then the third song they ever wrote. "Then one that is political and even more political now," which I'm assuming is "Jello Biafra." "Then a dance song." Their set included a song that they dedicated to Johnny 99 of Silver Needle (one of the opening bands), because he once booked them to open for The Muffs. What is that song called, "I Love the Muffs." 

What's the complaint of their set? Kevin Jones insulted Glendale. Hey, I live in Glendale. 

Playing their first set in 10 years was Silver Needle. Like Pu$$y-Cow, this is a band that has been around for around the 20 years mark. And like Pu$$y-Cow, the three core members are still intact with lead singer / guitarist Daniel Tatomer, guitarist Andre Tusques, and bassist John "Johnny 99" Arakaki along with drummer Chris Willett. Amusingly, the stage was so tight with Pu$$y-Cow's party favors (The Escondite's stage isn't that large in the first place) that Arakaki kept on asking me to hold his bass while he was busy getting ready for the set. 

Silver Needle at The Escondite

After all these years, those first notes from "Tourniquet" still bring flash back memories of hanging out across Los Angeles to catch this band's performances, "Why is your ghost here next to me? Telling you everything I think?" Tatomer sings those lyrics with such conviction it has you believing that the world is in the palm of your hand.    

Amusing moment of the set was Arakaki admitting that he was having issues performing on such a small stage (which also happened to be about three feet off the ground). For much of the set, he performed with one foot planted atop the bar counter. At one point, he told the crowd, "If I fall off the stage, don't resuscitate." 

Silver Needle at The Escondite

The Groans haven't been around as long as Pu$$y-Cow and Silver Needle, but that's only because those two bands have been around for twenty years. The Groans, they've only been around for 10 years or so with a core trio of vocalist and bassist Annie, guitarist Dewie, and drummer Nadine. This is screamer punk band. Their Spotify account describes their music as "feral" punk. In a way, they stole the show. Hey, that's a bit rude to steal the show from a band celebrating their 20th anniversary, but things happen. During one of their songs, I noticed that Nadine's drum stick splintered with a piece flying off. Where did it land? After the song finished, she held up her cup of water. It was a hole in one, the splintered drum stick had ended up in the cup. Dewie responded with, "A drumstick in her water!"

The Groans at The Escondite

Pu$$y-Cow setlist: Suck, Ninja, BernNadette, You Will Drink the Black Sperm of My Vengeance, After Party, Trashcan, Jesus Ain't my Goalie, Crazy Gideon, Jello Biafra, Telephone Tough Guy, Do the Clap, Pervy, Bro Truck, Love Plus 1, I Love the Muffs, Me & Ice-T, Sunset Junction, Sean Combs, Straight Edge Wedding, Twenty-Seven, Rock N Roll McDonalds (Wesley Willis cover), Taco-Chariot, P-Cow FU.

Silver Needle setlist: Don Bovee, Shuttered Heart, Rockit Jane, Orangina, Tourniquet, Savior Skin, Diesel.