The Swinging Utters, based out of San Fran, are led by Johnny Bonnel who struts around the stage like an out of control marionette. Wearing shredded jeans and a plaid shirt, he stopped singing long enough to ask the audience if they like his grunge attire.
Swinging Utters sound poppier on their records than they do on stage. On stage they’re all grinding power chords and straight up manic punk. What sets their stage act apart from other punk bands is the behavior of Johnny Bonnel. When I saw them last year as part of Sound Fest, I was intrigued how Bonnel banged is forehead into the mic several times until he bled He didn’t do that this time. He did, however strut around the stage non-stop, while occasionally sticking his mic into the crowd so they could yell out the words to the band’s songs. He constantly cracked jokes with the audience and in one instance promised to kiss everyone’s feet just for showing up to see them play. On two occasions he grabbed a megaphone to sing into.
After playing for nearly an hour, they came back for a ten-minute encore which ended with Bonnel flying into the crowd, surfing about three or four people deep, then returning the same way he went out, before spilling back onto the stage. I was glad I watched from the side of the stage this time as things got really wild in the front.
Roll The Tanks preceded Swinging Utters. They were probably the youngest and definitely the prettiest of the four bands that performed that night. Cute as they were, though, they rocked as hard as any other punk band, playing fast, energetic poppy, yet angry and wild, solid punk rock. They were the first band of the night to get a circle pit going. Roll the Tanks are definitely worth checking out. They are fabulous.
The second band on stage was Seattle’s own Smokejumper. These guys played so fast I could almost see sparks flying off their instruments. I’m sure the friction their fast music created contributed to the stifling heat inside the Funhouse. Smokejumper is appropriately named because their fast, grinding, power driven punk fanned the flames ignited by the first band, also from Seattle, Kids On Fire who hit the stage already on fire and the place was ablaze in seconds with their power chords and fanatic energy. Looking anything but pretty, they played their own brand of power punk with quirky melodies. I hope to see these guys around some more. They’re definitely worth checking out.
All bands opening for Swinging Utters were fabulous and the intensity of the heat inside the Funhouse only increased with each band’s performance. I was surprised there weren’t pools of sweat left on the dance floor when the night was over. This is what a summer punk show should be like and none of the bands disappointed.
All photos property of Holly Homan, all rights reserved.
