SoCal Punk

A decade before gunshots and gang-banging roughed up L.A.'s rap scene, fists and fluids were exchanged at SoCal's punk epicenter. Black Flag actually triggered riots with their brutal brand of hardcore, the Germs' Darby Crash actually did (he OD'd in 1980), and the beer-guzzling Fear baited tender ears with thrash chords and trashy lyrics.

The Sex Pistols coming straight at you on skateboards? Must be the Circle Jerks. Bob Marley beating Bad Brains with a pipe on the beach? Stomp on sandy shores with Sublime. Grimy heavy metal guitars set to car chase tempos? Sounds like the Offspring. And how about the Clash rapping with Rancid? Try the Transplants. May the moshing and gobbing begin…

Buried in Bud bottles somewhere off the shores of Southern California, just waiting to be rediscovered by Warped Tour regulars, are these punk pioneers: the poison-free, gut-punching pride anthems of Stalag 13, the scrappy ska of Voodoo Glow Skulls, the red-meat raunch of Red Aunts, and 21 other reasons to break stuff in the privacy of your bedroom.

Anyone within earshot of L.A. and O.C. in the late '70s/early '80s knows the area was home to as great a punk scene as its better-known counterparts, London and New York. If you weren't there, dust off some Doc Martens and wrap yourself in leather — we're about to tour the past two foul and filthy, pre and post-hardcore decades of mangled guitars, manic vocals, and bass/drum combos that are sloppier than the bathroom at CBGB. Along the way, plug your nose and savor punk that's poppy (Blink-182, the Vandals), political (Bad Religion, Pennywise), and/or really pissed-off (Black Flag, the Germs).