BL'AST!

Aahhh, Blast! What a great band. One of my all time favorites who have provided me with years of great music from three great albums. They also provided me with one of my biggest show going disappointments. It was sometime in '86 or more likely in '87. Agent Orange, TSOL, DI, and Doggy Style at Fender's Ballroom in lovely Long Beach. Blast! were supposed to open the show and was a really big reason why I worked so hard at getting my dad to drive me to this show. "Power of Expression" very rarely left my turntable around this time and as good as Agent Orange is and the other bands playing the show, Blast! was the big draw for me. But, when the first band of the night came on, it wasn't Blast! What the fuck is this?!? Maybe Blast! will come on after this. At least that was my hope as I sat through the set of one of the worst bands I've ever seen. Their name? Easter. They were not Blast! and they were not good. It sucked. And Blast! didn't come on after them. They didn't play the show. I don't know why, but I was really bummed. Doggy Style were fun though. DI were very good. Always really liked them. Agent Orange were very good as well. TSOL were not. They had entered their metal phase and were just awful. I remember seeing a woman with a little girl on her shoulders and the little girl was crying. Yes, TSOL had gotten bad enough to make small children cry. So this show started with a great disappointment and ended a disappointment. At least there was some fun in the middle. I did get to see Blast! at the Country Club a few years later. They were still really heavy, and still great. And the bouncers had fun throwing scrawny punk kids off the stage.