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Bring Two Albums to House of Blues Anaheim
August 19th, 2025 Review by Kevin Gomez
Unwritten Law brought along a stacked lineup to the House of Blues in Anaheim Saturday to celebrate two of their biggest albums.
The Poway, California band brought the show to Arizona last weekend and sold out yet another show Saturday night playing the self-titled “Black Album” and “Elva” in their entirety.
Jason Cruz and Howl kicked off the evening to a packed crowd of enthusiastic fans.
Cruz is best-known as the lead singer for melodic hardcore legend Strung Out, and one might assume that this was simply his chance to do solo acoustic work. But Jason Cruz and Howl is a full band, rocking outlaw western punk – think Mike Ness’ solo work.
The band kicked off the show with “Blue Jesus” and “First Born Son,” and was supported with excellent pedal steel guitar by Donald Horne, guitarist for Deviates and occasionally Guttermouth.
This set really showcased Cruz’s vocals in a completely different manner than he does with Strung Out.
“Swallow” starts off as a slow song featuring just Cruz on guitar and vocals before the band kicks in to a fiery rocking finish. The band finished with “Warsong,” highlighted by Horne’s playing.
The first thing I noticed when Pulley took the stage was Sean Sellers on drums, who I’m more accustomed to seeing behind the kit with Good Riddance and Mad Caddies. The band led with “Cashed In,” seeing the first pits of the night.
“Huber Breeze” started off with a bass intro from Tyler Rebbe as towering vocalist Scott Radinsky kept repeating, “stop trying stop trying stop trying” featuring a sweet solo from guitarist Mike Harder.
Radinsky said, “This is an old-fashioned Orange County singalong,” and led the crowd in a “whoa” chant that they kept going for “Insects Destroy.”
For the song’s chorus, Radinsky would point the mic to the crowd and let them sing the “on a pedestal” line.
“Second Best” featured great backing vocals from Rebbe, Harder, and Jim Blowers.
Radinsky got the crowd to start clapping their hands for the intro on their last song of the night, “Working Class Whore.”
I’ve seen Mest play quite a few times but I think this was maybe the best I’ve ever seen them play, and that had a lot to do with the passionate fans in the crowd.
They walked out to “Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats before launching quickly into “Rooftops.”
“Hotel Room” had the whole crowd singing along with guitarist and lead singer, Tony Lovato.
The band played “Opinions” and then midway through completely froze in motion like Zack Morris just called a timeout. That is, until Wade Youman from Unwritten Law brought Tony a bottle of Tito’s.
They played “Mother’s Prayer” and right before the last chorus, Lovato said, “There’s nothing better than my mom seeing her son doing well in front of all you people,” and the crowd loudly sang out the rest of the song together. He said, “This next song is for anyone out there with their significant other and you don’t really like them and you drank too much” leading into “Hate You Sober.”
Lovato invited a young boy, Antonio, on stage who said it was his first show ever. Lovato brought out his own children, London, Clash, and Rebel, who all crowd surfed for “Drawing Board.” The band finished with “Cadillac,” which got people jumping and pogoing to the point where the whole floor shook.
When Unwritten Law took the stage a banner with the album cover for their “Black Album” hung behind them. The band went into the album’s lead track, “Harmonic,” that set the mood for the rest of the night with a giant pit swallowing up most of the floor leading right into the popular, “Teenage Suicide.” Bassist Jonny Grill said, “Let’s hear it for California,” and they played “California Sky.”
They played their first breakout hit, “Cailin,” named after lead singer Scott Russo’s daughter. The breakdown for “Lonesome” turned into a cover of Fugazi’s “Waiting Room.” The sickest pit of the night opened up for “Coffin Text” which featured the band playing at breakneck speed with the subtlety of a buzz saw.
The band threw out beach balls decorated with their pentagram logo for “Holiday” before closing out the album with “Before I Go,” “Genocide,” and the secret track, “418.”
The banner behind them was changed to the album artwork for “Elva” as guitarist Chris Lewis said, “This song’s about being catfished,” and they played “Mean Girl.”
Backing guitarist Scotty Mac provides missing elements of the band’s live shows, including samples and backing vocals on “Mean Girl” and “Hellborn” that really mirror the album’s essence. Youman kicked the band off with a ripping drum intro for “Up All Night.”
For Unwritten Law’s biggest hit, “Seein’ Red,” Russo’s son Tre sang the song’s second verse. Proud papa Scott hugged him and they finished the song with their arms around each other.
They played a gorgeous rendition of “Geronimo” before Youman hopped off drums so their friend Daniel could play for “Rescue Me.” Youman started dancing before he and Russo embraced arm in arm to sing along together. Youman stated, “If you listen to ‘Man on a Mission’ by Bad Religion, it’s basically “Rescue Me.’’
Grill brought on his young daughter, Indy for a special performance of the album’s self-titled track. Rocking headphones, Indy pretended to play a miniature guitar model while Uncle Scott kneeled down next to her singing and dad, Johnny sat and played on her left.
The band closed an epic night of performances with “Evolution” before stopping to take a group photograph before a sold-out crowd of cheering fans.
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