In a performance that will go down as a historic first in L.A.'s long and illustrious punk rock history, a street punk band from Whittier pulled off a show for 100 people inside an unsuspecting McDonald's at 1118 Slauson Avenue.
The completely unsanctioned Mickey D's mini-concert for a crowd of 100, on the edge of South-Central L.A. and Huntington Park, was months in the making, according to Tom Knucklehead, the front man of Knuckleheadz.
"At first, it was just talks," he tells L.A. TACO in a post-show interview. "Then we put a date on it. Then it came by so quickly, and we weren’t ready for it, so we put another date on it and finally pulled it off."
The band first posted a flyer with art depicting punks climbing all over the golden arches last week on their Instagram account, teasing about playing at a McDonald's, while not posting publicly which one it would be.
Fans quickly commented, wanting to know the address immediately, but the band never posted it to prevent the police from raiding it or raising suspicion among the guardians of fast food. The inspiration for this unique show came after Knuckleheadz wrote a song, titled "Fuck McDonaldz."
"We wrote that song, 'Fuck McDonaldz,' because we all know that McDonald’s is poison," says Tom. "It's our version of a classic punk song against a corporation."
He says he was inspired by other anti-McDonald's punk anthems, like "Corporate Deathburger," by Millions of Dead Cops and "McAnarchy," by Narcoleptic Youth.
The band originated in Whittier in 2023 and was formed by 32-year-old Tom Knucklehead, who sings, along with members Randy “Grateful” on bass, Vamps on co-vocals, Fritz on guitar, Sauce on second guitar, and Zach "Too Nice" on drums.
The band members all train in Tom Knucklehead's gym in Whittier, Knucklehead Martial Arts. All of them are also members of Tom's Punk Rock Fight Club, a community of punk rock fighters who meet weekly to train and lift weights.
Tom is a two-time Muay Thai champion, a professional MMA fighter, and a state-certified personal trainer with his own protein supplement line. He is also a professional skateboarder who recently blew up in the skating world with a video published on YouTube by Dabble Video Magazine. Recently, Knuckelheadz opened up for headliners such as N8NOFACE and Foos Gone Wild, and also played a club show at Punk Rock Bowling last year.
These shows prepared him for his biggest show yet, held inside a McDonald's dining room with at least a hundred screaming fans singing along to his lyrics. The band also documented the performance.
“I was nervous and anxious about it; feed off that feeling because that’s what being alive is about, you know?," he tells L.A. TACO. "You don’t want it to lead you, but fuel you."
The nerves started kicking in when Tom and his Knuckleheadz band showed up at the first scouted McDonald's close to U.S.C. and saw cops eating there. So they went to another one.
He got further stressed when another nearby McDonald's at a gas station appeared much too small to house a relentless street punk performance. Especially one with a full band and a caravan of over 20 cars, full of eager punks ready to get in the pit and sing along to the anti-McDonald's anthem.
Other McDonald's locations in the vicinity had armed security guards. Tom wasn't going to risk endangering the lives of his band or his fans. Then, one of Tom’s scouts found the perfect McDonald's on Slauson and Central.
The flash mob of more than 100 punks, of all ages and backgrounds, showed up at the chosen McDonald's, and not even ten minutes after arriving, the Knuckleheads casually walked in, set up their drum kit, plugged into their rechargeable speakers, and went off. Famed photographer Estevan Oriol, who is a friend of Tom's, showed up to shoot the show, as well.
"What the fuck is up, McDonald's?!" Tom yelled into the mic before the band immediately went into performing their "Fuck McDonaldz." A pit broke out as soon as the first power chord was played.
After playing "Fuck McDonaldz" two times in a row, the Knuckleheadz played two more songs, including their street punk song, "Fighting Solves Everything."
A fan dressed up as Ronald McDonald, as well as multiple children and two dogs, were present in the pit, singing along to the melodic Knuckleheadz hit, "Glory Dayz," and crowd surfing during the set.
The concert lasted less than 20 minutes. 30 minutes later, everyone who attended was outside high-fiving and taking photos. The dining room looked undisturbed, exactly as it was before the impromptu punk rock show took place.
When asked if Tom would play at a McDonald's again, he responds, "I think we'll play a show like this again. I'm just grateful it all happened so smoothly, even the employees came out to record the show on their phones!”
Knuckleheadz are playing a show with The Exploited in Murrieta on February 28th and also performing at Nacho Corrupted's Punk Invasion on March 15th. Follow them on Instagram to see if they are playing another McDonald's soon.
