Subhumans Return to Rebel Lounge
There are staples of every genre. The bands that are your must see whenever they come to town. They inspire and put on awesome performance after performance with every visit. They are equally bands who have been doing it since the early days of their genre that you look up to. The band I’m talking about that fits the bill here is the Subhumans. This marked their first visit back to the desert since before things shutdown in 2020. With Subhumans, we had local favorites, Skull Drug, to kick off another big show and this tour included Generacion Suicida alongside Subhumans at the Rebel Lounge.
Of course, the popular local guys, Skull Drug, getting the tap to open this Tuesday night. Their emotive and enthusiasm filled punk rock known to anyone who has been in Phoenix the last ten years. A once again expressive Evan, lead vocals and guitar, leading the charge of the night’s set. Yet, this time it seemed Justin, second guitar, that had the big energy of the night.
His Limp Bizkit shirt sparking unusual conversation with the crowd that he would retort it is a safe space for fans of that band. It only brought confusion for Evan how the conversation would touch upon the alternative and nu metal rock band. Instead, he chose to just roll them right back into the next song instead going into any details. Their set closed with their fan favorite cover of FEAR’s “I Love Livin in the City” into “Father’s Son” for a high end. Skull Drug got the crowd moving, once again killing it to begin a night.
In the middle of the show was a band out of L.A., Generacion Suicida. They have been active for a decade. However, this was my first time listening or seeing them. They came out with an energy and swagger as they took on punk rock with a little garage rock in there to my ears. Lyrics all in Spanish testing what remains of my high school Spanish classes.
Immediately you could see why they would fit perfectly on this tour. Tony leaning into that microphone as he sang. The rest of the band more leaning in the style and cool looks as this near capacity crowd got into it. With each song they performed winning over my heart and mind. Generacion Suicida already in a room full of fans made me an additional one to the mix.
Last up is the band I touched on at the top and punk rock pioneers, Subhumans. This is where the crowd went absolutely nuts from the start. The boundaries of that mosh pit expanded immediately. Those at the front pushed toward Dick as he sang their political and societal commentary of lyrics toward them bouncing from side to side of the stage. Everyone seemed to smile at the Rebel Lounge during this.
It did not matter where you looked from those jumping around singing lyrics to the band or the band themselves. You saw smile of having fun through the set from Bruce, guitar, to Phil, bass across the stage. They played a good hour too, with songs from their more recent release of Crisis Point, like “99%,” to the crowd going crazy when they hit on the song “No” from further back in their catalog. There are few bands I can say have never disappointed live, and Subhumans are consistently one of those. This Phoenix night another to add to the pile of amazing shows.
