Warfest – the music festival primarily celebrating OC punk rock and surrounding SoCal bands – has become an annual January tradition for the Gaslamp in Long Beach. Perhaps taking a page from Punk in the Park, Warfest has announced a second event, this one aimed at spring and taking place April 22nd.
This past January’s festival featured Punk Rock Karaoke, Guttermouth, and D.I. One of the main highlights and reasons for Warfest Spring 2023 is to showcase a preview for Punk Rock Chronicles’ long-awaited documentary, “Where the County Line Ends: The Evolution of Orange County Punk.”
The documentary features interviews from members of The Offspring, The Vandals, Adolescents, and even OC Music News’ own Jimmy Alvarez and Rachael Rodriguez Contreras. Fans have been eagerly awaiting a first glimpse of this film and this will be their first opportunity.
Warfest Spring 2023 will be headlined by long-time friends, and last year’s headliners, T.S.O.L. When you talk about the origins and evolution of Orange County punk rock, what better choice than T.S.O.L.? One of a few bands still around, and celebrating over four decades of kicking ass.
They’ve been busier than ever and just recently completed a tour with D.I. and Venomous Pinks, in addition to their own January shows. T.S.O.L. was one of the earliest pioneers of OC punk and saw how the scene evolved from the early days of anarchistic violence, to becoming a commercially mainstream commodity, and what it is today.
Also playing Warfest Spring is Julian James and the Lovebombs, a band that while only around for the last six months harkens the sound of early ‘80s OC punk. That’s because the band features former members of D.I. and James is the son of Social Distortion lead singer and founder, Mike Ness. While it would be impossible to ignore this fact, James really does look and sound like a young incarnation of his father and the band’s first few shows have been excellent.
The rest of the lineup are no strangers to Warfest, most having played several in years past including, The Stitches, Amerikan Made, Shock Therapy, Speed of Light, Carpit, The Pegs, and Jack Trippers.
See you at Warfest Spring 2023 at Gaslamp on April 22nd!
