Being the oldest punk at a show creeps up on you, but seeing the spirit of punk evolve through The Garden's emotive, wild experimental "vada vada" punk subgenre, blending chaotic soundbites, genre-defying energy, and disturbing industrial rhythms with the same old power chords, is a fucking revitalizing experience.
Throw in their surreal, nightmarish, jester-inspired theatrics and fans, and you have a formula for one of the most unique musical experiences to come out of Orange County, one of the punk capitals of the world, in the last decade.
Few local punk-rooted bands possess the power to sell thousands of tickets for an impressive mini-music festival in their hometown, yet Wyatt Shears and Fletcher Shears, the identical twin brothers who form the band with just a guitar and drum set, have done this twice with their One Strange Night in Orange County festival last Saturday.
They didn't play at The Observatory; they built the infrastructure, both through their die-hard Gen-Z fans and a loyal base of aging punks with an open mind who enjoy their music, to build a stage in the parking lot of The Observatory.
There was a live hearing for a photo-op, with legacy punk bands such as Fear and L7 opening for them to draw in all the old heads. There was a performance by the modern power-violence band Hong Kong Fuck You and California hardcore icons Ceremony. And the co-headline was Snow Strippers, an EDM dreamgaze duo from Detroit, Michigan, a fitting complement to The Garden’s anarchic style.
The Garden, with their unclassifiable sound and fearless weirdness, are carrying the torch of Orange County punk into uncharted territory ...