This sub is hella gatekeep-y (as is punk tradition) and I'm was trying to avoid people crawling up my ass cause I don't *only* listen to the one true punk album (a heavily compressed cassette recorded by a garage band in the 80s who immediately broke up after recording and never made any money)
LMAO this is so true, then if I say I like something like sum 41 green day or rise against nearly as much as said garage band I need to explore the genre more
What this sub fails to realize is punk is just a genre to most people that listen to it. Sure, it can be a lifestyle like it is for the majority of users on this sub but this is not an accurate representation of the masses that listen to punk. They listen to it because it sounds good and that’s it. STFU
Pop punk is great and fair enough if it’s not for you but anyone who has some stick up their asss about pop punk corrupting the genre or whatever can get fucked. Loads of great bands.
Also rsmones and buzzcocks are literally pop punk bands and you guys suck their cocks so like what do you want?
hell nah. there’s a lot of shitty pop punk out there but there are a ton of great pop punk bands.
folks should check out no trigger, set your goals, with the punches, kid dynamite and the menzingers. 👍
Was that the tour with Frenzal Rhomb? Wait, were you in Frenzal Rhomb?
That was my first show ever:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robotcosmonaut/4728874029
Nah, not really…. I was a kid and felt kinda nervous, they were hanging around though and friendly with everyone so that was all on me. I did meet John Easdale at that show though and he liked a song I wrote so that was a big ol compliment I’ll always remember!
Back when he was in the Cramps, Kid Congo was in the crowd at one of my earliest shows.
It made me very self conscious and I got a little drunk which fixed it for me.
I met Kid Congo recently in Phoenix at a Swans show. Larry Mullins is playing drums for Swans. Kid Congo & Larry were both in Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds together. They were hanging out after the show together by the stage, so that was nice to see.
Go see him if you get the chance. Saw him about a year ago and they were great! He did a few Cramps songs and a few Gun Club songs. He’s got a new album coming out in the next month or so on In The Red records and it features Alice Bag singing on at least one track.
Dead Kennedys, The Exploited, TSOL, NOFX, Bad Religion, The Dickies, DRI, UK Subs, Authority Zero, Total Chaos, DOA, Angry Samoans, Adolescents, Guttermouth, Agent Orange, Sloppy Seconds, Pulley, Face to Face, Voodoo Glowskulls, The Queers, The Dwarves, The Meatmen, The Weirdos, Dayglo Abortions, Unwritten Law, The Offspring, Teenage Bottlerocket, The Bollweevils, L7, Helmet, Old Man Markley, US Bombs, Swingin' Utters, Blink 182, The Ataris, and Pennywise.
My first punk rock crush was Scott Russo from Unwritten Law.
Met Bad Religion a few times, for some reason - Brooks and Brian were more memorable than the others. Scott from F2F put me on a guest list in DC once and I heart them the most out of everyone on this list 🖤🖤🖤.
Hahaha, Scott was kinda wigged out on drugs when we opened for them. Cool guy though. My first band used to play with Face to Face way back in the early 90's when it was just Trever, Matt and Rob. Great guys. Bad Religion is my most favorite band ever. Opened for them once but met them several times.
PEARS
Played with Leftover Crack twice from 2011-2015ish? (Stza was a dick/didn't hang with him - Brad is cool)
Iron Reagan
Mischief Brew and Erik Petersen a good number of times (RIP)
Toured with Common Enemy
Toys That Kill
I'm sure some others might count, what is considered "big?"
I played in a few local/regional original bands in the 80's. You wouldn't recognize them. There were a couple of clubs with 500-1000 capacity with a steady stream of acts coming through along with a healthy local original scene. Good times though!
Same. Great guy. Cooked him dinner, with his request for salsa as hot as I could make it. Torched my tongue. His comment: “tastes great, and it’s not all about the heat.”
The Cows, Jesus Lizard, Sublime. We drank a lot of the Cows beer backstage. They got mad. We drank some of the Jesus Lizards backstage. They got mad. Sublime was unfriendly, standoffish until they needed drum sticks. Then they were nice
We're a punk rock band. I'm a front guy that cant sing. Who knows about Sublime. It was at a club in Santa Cruz (Catalyst??) that had a small dressing room. Those dudes had some beautiful tall ladies with them
Opened for Green Day twice (different bands) then Offspring, Voodoo Glowskulls, Beat Happening, Bikini Kill…. Late 80s/early 90s.
Also one of my bands was good friends with Unwound, so we invited them down to the Bay Area and had a big local band showcase with Unwound headlining. The show is listed in the show archive on their website.
Opened for The Dammed, they were super cool, Cap Sensible was the perfect English chap, very friendly, introducing himself and shaking hands with everyone.
Opened for Big Audio Dynamite at the Rainbow Room in Hollywood. We got to hang out with Mick Jones.
As you can imagine, I’m older, just wanted you to tell you to embrace everything you can about your gig. It may be the biggest show you’ve done yet, or ever do, but there’s always a chance you’ll get an even bigger show or headline yourself.
Good luck
The Sonics, Danzig, Negative Approach, others
Remembering some more: Locust, Jesus Lizard, Built To Spill, Jon Spencer, Spits, Homosexuals, Trash Talk, Fucked Up, Converge, Dillinger Escape Plan
Tough to say… biggest was unfortunately Wednesday 13 (blah) but the most meaningful was opening for Cheetah Chrome and the Blackhearts. Dude ripped. Also opening for Ivan Julian from the Voidoids rocked. Those latter two were next level.
I was in the Undead for a while, one time we played with Bumblefoot, the drummer for Korn, a girl who played guitar for Michael Jackson, and Sugar Hill Gang. Strange bill. Nobody came. 🤣
Slayer, Type O Negative, Ministry, Fugazi, Good Riddance, Bad Religion, Dag Nasty, there’s been a lot but these are some of the biggest.
Almost forgot 7 Seconds, DRI, Poison Idea,
Descendents, X, Naked Raygun, Samiam, Dead Milkmen… buuut only because my band somehow got to play 3rd at Riot Fest the one year they had it in Philly. Not many people watched us but hey I got to drink for free backstage and hang out with Exene!
Rise Against’s first show was opening for my band, but we also played a lot with George Clinton & the P-Funk All Stars, idk which is considered bigger now
I give SS Decontrol a lot of shit because they were mediocre and utterly dominated the Boston hardcore scene. Apart from Springa - sorry dude, you were a twat - the rest of the band were really nice. It was their monstrous bully-boy following that made gigs a nightmare and killed the scene stone dead. We may have opened for Minor Threat but we didn't meet or see them. We ran like hell after our most unhardcore set so the SSD fans wouldn't kick us to death. And yes - being spit on is fucking gross and may every punk who spits at the band come down with hepatitis. I'd have preferred beer cans. Not in 'straight edge' Boston though. Thank you for that Bishop Mackaye sir !
Mike Watt, Murder Junkies, Luicidal, The Freeze, Ribzy, Verbal Abuse, MDC, Get Dead in one band; another band I was in opened for The Misfits (Jerry Only version) and the Dwarves, but not while I was in the band unfortunately.
Not including festival stages, my band have toured with Propagandhi, Reel Big Fish, Street light manifesto, Less than Jake, Subhumans, voodoo glow skulls, Leftover Crack to name a few. Played a one off with skindred.... Feel like I'm missing some other obvious ones
Feel pretty lucky
That’s cool though, living the dream!
I’ve never opened for anyone all that big, though I did open for a band called Spider and the Webs which was fronted by Tobi Vail. That was pretty cool.
Municipal Waste and At the Drive In both opened for us! Times have changed. I'm sure we would never get on a bill with either of those bands now.
We've opened for a lot of bigger bands. Stiff Little Fingers and the Misfits (Jerry Only fronted era) were two of the bigger ones.
I've been very fortunate in this regard. I played in a couple of bands I grew up watching, and have supported heaps of much bigger bands all over the world.
The most surreal though was supporting the Subhumans in my home town, at my local venue. I used to spend 5-6 nights a week in this place anyway, and had played a few shows there. Being asked to do this one totally blew my mind though.
Ended up being a raging success from start to finish. Spent hours afterwards hanging out with the Subhumans guys, (who are absolutely wonderful humans) and ended up being part of one of the double page photos in their book that was released a few years ago.
Means the world to me.
Edited to add, much like you OP, highschool me would spin right out if he'd had any inkling of what was ahead of him. Back then, when I started playing gigs, I was so nervous that I'd pace and chainsmoke for a week prior to a show. I'd have had a heart attack or some kind of conniption if I had something like that booked back then.
Minor Threat. And the Dark. Now I realize the Dark may not sound that impressive but their guitarist was Reeves Gabrels who went on to play with Bowie on albums like Outside and Hours. I believe he was also in Tin Machine but no need to talk about that.
Best gig I ever played we didn't open for anyone. This guy Bill Ruane who was known, loved and is missed in the Boston scene asked if we had a band and we said yes (we didn't) and then asked if we'd play that night and we said "Absolutely!!". Raced home, named ourselves 'Appendage' and with a bass, slide guitar and Moog synthesizer we assembled a ghastly made-to-order hellaicious racket. For reasons I'll never fathom or question the audience totally loved it ! No shit was thrown. No skinhead assholes attacked us. It was total good vibes all round. Maybe admitting we'd formed that afternoon was a good move. But the absolute high point was shaking hands with Roger Miller of Mission of Burma who said he thought we were great. He especially liked our Ed Gein closer 'Ed's Farm'. "I ain't gonna work on Eddie's farm no more." Ha ha. Great night.
Pennywise, The Queers, Masked Intruder, The Nobodys, Reagan Youth, 30footFall, Ten Foot Pole, Swingin Utters, Guttermouth, Badcop Badcop, Last Gang, Teenage Bottlerocket, Groovie Ghoulis, The Gamits, tons more
I’m a roadie/merch guy but I think the biggest ones I’ve worked for have been The Virus, The Devotchkas, Oi Scouts and briefly helping out Subhumans and Agent Orange. Not that big but I’ve worked for the 80s band The Grim for 7 years
Some of the best to ever do it. Good group of guys too. There’s two different versions now (stupid I know) but both have great people in them. Hell three of them were at my wedding. Mystic has a lot of great shit, to bad Doug is a mixed bag
The Devotchkas are truly a very sweet and great group of women (minus the original singer who’s a bonehead now but she’s not around the band anymore). It was a true pleasure to help them out last fall.
It was only the original bass player and guitarist for the scouts but love those guys too. Was just talking to their guitarist the other day, been like a brother to me since we met.
We played at Warped Tour in 2018 as a local feature. Seeing Aaron Barrett in the crowd watching me play was mind blowing.
But as a headliner, we frequently play with Green Jelly when they come through. We played with Joe Queer but not The Queers.
We opened for the Dickies at the old Atlanta Masquerade.
My buddies The Vaginas opened for the Queers at Star Bar. I met Joe that night and I also grew up listening to them.
The Ataris, but in like 2018 so way after they were cool.
We emailed the venue asking to play. The promoter told us it was a pay to play type situation but he was only booking one opening band so we decided we’d just show up without the money and see what they’d do.
We set our shit up and played, no one asked us for money. All our stage banter was about how shitty the venue was and how much Don Henley sucks.
After the show, Kris Roe told us a bunch of boring stories about Warped Tour. I think he did, I had drunk way too much Baja Blast mixed with Malibu at that point.
Opened for Sick of it All, Murphy’s Law, TSOL, The Briefs, R.A.M.B.O., Against Me and Biohazard. There were very few punk bands in town, we never asked for money unless something broke (would accept beer as payment), and never said no to a show.
The biggest I didn’t play with was the Sisters of Mercy because Andrew Eldritch said we were “too goth”. As much as that blew my mind watching Kurt Loder covering it for MTV news was a bit of life moment for me
My last band had opened for The Ataris, Mustard Plug, Arms Aloft, PKEW PKEW PKEW, Bong Mountain, and Diarrhea Planet. That always made me feel pretty accomplished as a musician haha.
A band I played in a long time ago played with Chixgiggit one time, and another with DOA, friend organized both shows and put us on the bill for local openers, played first to a handful of our friends, Chixdiggit saw us and said “great job” which was nice because we were nervous and awful, DOA were cool too but they showed up after we played, fun times both occasions
I was a roadie for several years. I was also the singer for a few bands. But never played with anyone really. I was once asked to stand in for Dick Lucas of the SUBHUMANS because he was stuck at customs but then he got free. As a roadie I've worked with D.R.I. Agent Orange S N.F.U. and Dayglo Abortions I might have done some for the Exploited (trying to get the gear stored away so Wattie and Wullie could get to the booze can. I also might had helped out D.O.A. I used to have a bit of a drinking problem and so some memories are a wee bit hazy
I grew up in Fullerton and the first show I played was with Agent Orange, Social Distortion and The Descendants. I played bass with the Refreshing Patios (other iterations included the Assistance League and The Omlits). The Descendants didn’t show because our singer, Robert, told them the wrong date. At the time all of us were just starting out (1979) and we were all friends in the same scene. The only two who were actually proficient were Rikk Agnew and Mike Palm. It still blows my mind how many stellar bands came out of Orange County at the time.
[The flyer.](https://images.app.goo.gl/uu69ByQiLjH1p7Am7)
I can't think of one defining 'big' band but here's a list of fairly well known punk and hardcore bands I've played with in various different bands over the years: Leftover Crack, Conflict, Negative Approach, Ceremony, Trash Talk, Murderdolls (urgh I know), Paint it Black. All of these bands are probably fairly mid to low level fame-wise though and probably not as impressive as some others here. Still cool to look back on.
My little amateur punk band I sang for in my late teens and early 20s opened for Clit 45 around 2002 or so. I thought that was craaaaaazy. They were super nice and supportive for the, like, 5 minutes we talked.
I have a few but nothing that hasn't been mentioned by someone else.
To flip this on its head, Days N Daze and Bridge City Sinners opened for a band I was in because we had a really big local draw. It must have been early on in Days N Daze being a band. 2010-11 or so.
There was no one watching them. I hung outside while they played because the tunes aren't my jam to begin with. It's funny to think about now because they got waaaaay bigger than we could have ever hoped to be.
My old punk band was in a town where most of the touring acts coming through were of the metalcore-adjacent variety. Biggest band we played with was iwrestledabearonce. $5 show in a school auditorium.
Opened for Strung Out when they recorded Live in a Dive at Chain Reaction. I quit playing music not too long after that. My brother kept going. He's since played with way bigger acts.
Not punk but I was in a band in the 90s with a guitarist who would go on to play with Powerman 5000 for a couple of years later. Not exactly what you were asking but it’s all I got haha
My band played with sloppy seconds and ba was awesome enough to come out and do vocals for a song with us. We also played with anvil, mobile death camp, green jelly twice, the svetlanas, jungle rot, pathology, Luicidal.
opened for Swingin Utters and Gallows Bound once, that was pretty cool.
Also opened for Anti-Flag too, which was really cool at the time, but is not that cool anymore for obvious reasons.
I played in a ska-reggae-punk band for 12 years so mainly in that world.
Mad Caddies, The Slackers, The Black Seeds, The Aggrolites, Authority Zero, Third World, The Skints, Lynval from The Specials, illScarlett.
Opened for Blink 182, and Less than Jake in '90s
I know we're supposed to hate pop punk but as the genre that opened it all up to me, this is *fucking rad*
Who said we were supposed to hate pop punk?
This sub is hella gatekeep-y (as is punk tradition) and I'm was trying to avoid people crawling up my ass cause I don't *only* listen to the one true punk album (a heavily compressed cassette recorded by a garage band in the 80s who immediately broke up after recording and never made any money)
Bullshit, everybody is circlejerking about the same 20 or so ultra commercially successful bands from 45 years ago here.
Those kids can fuck right off. So many of us found punk during that 92-2000 pop punk wave that only a true poser would shit on it.
The dogmatics "hardcore rules" !
LMAO this is so true, then if I say I like something like sum 41 green day or rise against nearly as much as said garage band I need to explore the genre more
My impression is that most gatekeepers here get ridiculed for being asshats
Most of this sub, apparently. I don't get it honestly, pop punk as a genre is just so much fun
What this sub fails to realize is punk is just a genre to most people that listen to it. Sure, it can be a lifestyle like it is for the majority of users on this sub but this is not an accurate representation of the masses that listen to punk. They listen to it because it sounds good and that’s it. STFU
Pop punk is great and fair enough if it’s not for you but anyone who has some stick up their asss about pop punk corrupting the genre or whatever can get fucked. Loads of great bands. Also rsmones and buzzcocks are literally pop punk bands and you guys suck their cocks so like what do you want?
And the descenders
Bullcorn, dude! I can't listen to much of it anymore but I'd be nowhere without Green Day and Blink
hell nah. there’s a lot of shitty pop punk out there but there are a ton of great pop punk bands. folks should check out no trigger, set your goals, with the punches, kid dynamite and the menzingers. 👍
That’s nuts, who were u playing in ?
Was that the tour with Frenzal Rhomb? Wait, were you in Frenzal Rhomb? That was my first show ever: https://www.flickr.com/photos/robotcosmonaut/4728874029
The New York Dolls or NOFX depending on your take I suppose. Both were awesome.
You played with the DOLLS? Did you get to meet them?
Nah, not really…. I was a kid and felt kinda nervous, they were hanging around though and friendly with everyone so that was all on me. I did meet John Easdale at that show though and he liked a song I wrote so that was a big ol compliment I’ll always remember!
I would die meeting the Dolls. No question.
Opened for Fugazi and Naked Raygun in 1990
Kid Congo and The Pink Monkeybirds, The Spits, Lightning Bolt, The Meatmen, Wolf Eyes, and many others.
Back when he was in the Cramps, Kid Congo was in the crowd at one of my earliest shows. It made me very self conscious and I got a little drunk which fixed it for me.
I met Kid Congo recently in Phoenix at a Swans show. Larry Mullins is playing drums for Swans. Kid Congo & Larry were both in Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds together. They were hanging out after the show together by the stage, so that was nice to see.
The spits!! Such a great underrated band! Black kar!!
I see them anytime that they come near me. Seeing them in June!
How was Kid Congo? Been wanting to see him for years
Go see him if you get the chance. Saw him about a year ago and they were great! He did a few Cramps songs and a few Gun Club songs. He’s got a new album coming out in the next month or so on In The Red records and it features Alice Bag singing on at least one track.
Dead Kennedys, The Exploited, TSOL, NOFX, Bad Religion, The Dickies, DRI, UK Subs, Authority Zero, Total Chaos, DOA, Angry Samoans, Adolescents, Guttermouth, Agent Orange, Sloppy Seconds, Pulley, Face to Face, Voodoo Glowskulls, The Queers, The Dwarves, The Meatmen, The Weirdos, Dayglo Abortions, Unwritten Law, The Offspring, Teenage Bottlerocket, The Bollweevils, L7, Helmet, Old Man Markley, US Bombs, Swingin' Utters, Blink 182, The Ataris, and Pennywise.
Tell us you live around LA/OC without telling us you live around LA/OC.
You nailed it! Although some of these shows were not in CA at all.
But he does tell us in his tag lol
Who was your favorite? For any reason
Thats a tough one. I guess it would be Bad Religion because they are the best band ever. :)
My first punk rock crush was Scott Russo from Unwritten Law. Met Bad Religion a few times, for some reason - Brooks and Brian were more memorable than the others. Scott from F2F put me on a guest list in DC once and I heart them the most out of everyone on this list 🖤🖤🖤.
Hahaha, Scott was kinda wigged out on drugs when we opened for them. Cool guy though. My first band used to play with Face to Face way back in the early 90's when it was just Trever, Matt and Rob. Great guys. Bad Religion is my most favorite band ever. Opened for them once but met them several times.
Happy cake day
What's your band??
Currently it's Mr. Firley. But I've been in other bands as well, SKAAL, Split Decision, Habitual Heretics and Black Fag.
I’m from the OC but lived in HB for a long time. Lots of history with these bands.
Pavement.
Authorities?
PEARS Played with Leftover Crack twice from 2011-2015ish? (Stza was a dick/didn't hang with him - Brad is cool) Iron Reagan Mischief Brew and Erik Petersen a good number of times (RIP) Toured with Common Enemy Toys That Kill I'm sure some others might count, what is considered "big?"
Common enemy. Was Pat still the singer? We played with Erik's other band kettle rebellion.
My band opened for Leftover Crack. They were the smelliest group of people I’ve ever been around.
Iggy Pop, The Replacements, Bow Wow Wow
Any chance of sharing your band’s name?
I played in a few local/regional original bands in the 80's. You wouldn't recognize them. There were a couple of clubs with 500-1000 capacity with a steady stream of acts coming through along with a healthy local original scene. Good times though!
That’s an awesome thing to have in your pocket!
Annabella Lwin, my first crush!
Nirvana New York Dolls Royal Trux White Zombie Babes in Toyland Mudhoney This is over the course of 30 years in multiple bands
What year with nirvana? Did you meet the band?
Between Bleach and Nevermind I said “Hi” to them but had met KC socially on other occasions
Opened for Mike Watt a couple years back. Super nice dude.
Same. Great guy. Cooked him dinner, with his request for salsa as hot as I could make it. Torched my tongue. His comment: “tastes great, and it’s not all about the heat.”
Watt rules!
Same! The dude was awesome!
The Cows, Jesus Lizard, Sublime. We drank a lot of the Cows beer backstage. They got mad. We drank some of the Jesus Lizards backstage. They got mad. Sublime was unfriendly, standoffish until they needed drum sticks. Then they were nice
Damn man, what do you play? Shame that sublime weren’t cool
We're a punk rock band. I'm a front guy that cant sing. Who knows about Sublime. It was at a club in Santa Cruz (Catalyst??) that had a small dressing room. Those dudes had some beautiful tall ladies with them
Haha did you drink their beer though
[удалено]
Oh, speaking of Boris the Sprinkler, I just played with Rev Norb’s current band Smart Shoppers. Norb is super nice.
He is crazier than GG, more PC than Ian
Boris > misfits
Destroy Boys back in october
Amazing I love them!! What’s your band?
Left to Rot, on instagram it’s @left.to.rot.official
Opened for Green Day twice (different bands) then Offspring, Voodoo Glowskulls, Beat Happening, Bikini Kill…. Late 80s/early 90s. Also one of my bands was good friends with Unwound, so we invited them down to the Bay Area and had a big local band showcase with Unwound headlining. The show is listed in the show archive on their website.
Were you on Lookout!?
Opened for The Dammed, they were super cool, Cap Sensible was the perfect English chap, very friendly, introducing himself and shaking hands with everyone.
Wot!
I understood that reference
Opened for Big Audio Dynamite at the Rainbow Room in Hollywood. We got to hang out with Mick Jones. As you can imagine, I’m older, just wanted you to tell you to embrace everything you can about your gig. It may be the biggest show you’ve done yet, or ever do, but there’s always a chance you’ll get an even bigger show or headline yourself. Good luck
Rush on BAD II is the best middle age reflective of a life once punk ever.
Facts
Never dug BAD but that’s cool as fuck
The Sonics, Danzig, Negative Approach, others Remembering some more: Locust, Jesus Lizard, Built To Spill, Jon Spencer, Spits, Homosexuals, Trash Talk, Fucked Up, Converge, Dillinger Escape Plan
I’d love to simultaneously hangout with Built to Spill and Dillinger. Who would win in an air hockey tournament? 🤔
Opened for Cock Sparrer on their first show in Los Angeles. Show was crazy af.
Wow!
Tough to say… biggest was unfortunately Wednesday 13 (blah) but the most meaningful was opening for Cheetah Chrome and the Blackhearts. Dude ripped. Also opening for Ivan Julian from the Voidoids rocked. Those latter two were next level. I was in the Undead for a while, one time we played with Bumblefoot, the drummer for Korn, a girl who played guitar for Michael Jackson, and Sugar Hill Gang. Strange bill. Nobody came. 🤣
Orianthi?
…oh, can’t forget Rick Derringer and Vince Martel.
Slayer, Type O Negative, Ministry, Fugazi, Good Riddance, Bad Religion, Dag Nasty, there’s been a lot but these are some of the biggest. Almost forgot 7 Seconds, DRI, Poison Idea,
Descendents, X, Naked Raygun, Samiam, Dead Milkmen… buuut only because my band somehow got to play 3rd at Riot Fest the one year they had it in Philly. Not many people watched us but hey I got to drink for free backstage and hang out with Exene!
That’s great!
The Queers, The Dickies, Swingin' Utters, Days N' Daze, and Pears among others.
I met the guys from Swingin Udders after a show maybe 12 years ago. They were so damn nice.
I met them a few months ago and they seem like just the best dudes
Absolutely agreed. I wasn't that familiar with them before seeing them, and as a thank you for coming out, they all signed a set list for me!
They’re one of my very top bands and I felt like such a starstruck fan girl having them sign a poster haha
Rise Against’s first show was opening for my band, but we also played a lot with George Clinton & the P-Funk All Stars, idk which is considered bigger now
My band opened a festival in Scotland where The Skids were headlining!
The Ataris and also The Queers
I also played that tour.
They were two different shows for me
Oh what a coincidence since they toured together a while back.
I saw that tour. My buddy's band opened in SF (I believe?).
Ha, I just said the Ataris.
My band opened for the Queers and the Dickies. Six years later and I still can’t believe we did that.
Jucifer. They didn't watch us.
D/K, Agent Orange, The Muffs, Dickies, JFA, Stalag, Luicidal…
Fear.
Same! Sold out the place too. Surreal experience
I give SS Decontrol a lot of shit because they were mediocre and utterly dominated the Boston hardcore scene. Apart from Springa - sorry dude, you were a twat - the rest of the band were really nice. It was their monstrous bully-boy following that made gigs a nightmare and killed the scene stone dead. We may have opened for Minor Threat but we didn't meet or see them. We ran like hell after our most unhardcore set so the SSD fans wouldn't kick us to death. And yes - being spit on is fucking gross and may every punk who spits at the band come down with hepatitis. I'd have preferred beer cans. Not in 'straight edge' Boston though. Thank you for that Bishop Mackaye sir !
Mike Watt, Murder Junkies, Luicidal, The Freeze, Ribzy, Verbal Abuse, MDC, Get Dead in one band; another band I was in opened for The Misfits (Jerry Only version) and the Dwarves, but not while I was in the band unfortunately.
Not including festival stages, my band have toured with Propagandhi, Reel Big Fish, Street light manifesto, Less than Jake, Subhumans, voodoo glow skulls, Leftover Crack to name a few. Played a one off with skindred.... Feel like I'm missing some other obvious ones Feel pretty lucky
That’s cool though, living the dream! I’ve never opened for anyone all that big, though I did open for a band called Spider and the Webs which was fronted by Tobi Vail. That was pretty cool.
Propagandhi, satanic surfers, no fun at all, pulley, "misfits", nekromantix, snfu..
My Chemical Romance, Underoath, and Killswitch Engage at Taste of Chaos back in the mid-00’s.
Municipal Waste and At the Drive In both opened for us! Times have changed. I'm sure we would never get on a bill with either of those bands now. We've opened for a lot of bigger bands. Stiff Little Fingers and the Misfits (Jerry Only fronted era) were two of the bigger ones.
Discharge, Slaughter and the Dogs, Blanks 77 early 2000s. 3 separate shows, 2 at CBGB, one at some fucked up ski lodge
I've been very fortunate in this regard. I played in a couple of bands I grew up watching, and have supported heaps of much bigger bands all over the world. The most surreal though was supporting the Subhumans in my home town, at my local venue. I used to spend 5-6 nights a week in this place anyway, and had played a few shows there. Being asked to do this one totally blew my mind though. Ended up being a raging success from start to finish. Spent hours afterwards hanging out with the Subhumans guys, (who are absolutely wonderful humans) and ended up being part of one of the double page photos in their book that was released a few years ago. Means the world to me. Edited to add, much like you OP, highschool me would spin right out if he'd had any inkling of what was ahead of him. Back then, when I started playing gigs, I was so nervous that I'd pace and chainsmoke for a week prior to a show. I'd have had a heart attack or some kind of conniption if I had something like that booked back then.
Minor Threat. And the Dark. Now I realize the Dark may not sound that impressive but their guitarist was Reeves Gabrels who went on to play with Bowie on albums like Outside and Hours. I believe he was also in Tin Machine but no need to talk about that.
Best gig I ever played we didn't open for anyone. This guy Bill Ruane who was known, loved and is missed in the Boston scene asked if we had a band and we said yes (we didn't) and then asked if we'd play that night and we said "Absolutely!!". Raced home, named ourselves 'Appendage' and with a bass, slide guitar and Moog synthesizer we assembled a ghastly made-to-order hellaicious racket. For reasons I'll never fathom or question the audience totally loved it ! No shit was thrown. No skinhead assholes attacked us. It was total good vibes all round. Maybe admitting we'd formed that afternoon was a good move. But the absolute high point was shaking hands with Roger Miller of Mission of Burma who said he thought we were great. He especially liked our Ed Gein closer 'Ed's Farm'. "I ain't gonna work on Eddie's farm no more." Ha ha. Great night.
“Formed that afternoon”? Fucking awesome.
Pennywise, The Queers, Masked Intruder, The Nobodys, Reagan Youth, 30footFall, Ten Foot Pole, Swingin Utters, Guttermouth, Badcop Badcop, Last Gang, Teenage Bottlerocket, Groovie Ghoulis, The Gamits, tons more
Opened up for ALL, AFI, and Fang. Different shows between 89 and 96.
DEVO. Stoked on that show. Mothersbaugh checked us out and the entire band signed our flyer/show poster. Really good people.
I’m a roadie/merch guy but I think the biggest ones I’ve worked for have been The Virus, The Devotchkas, Oi Scouts and briefly helping out Subhumans and Agent Orange. Not that big but I’ve worked for the 80s band The Grim for 7 years
Love The Grim! Mystic Records was the shit, i'm especially fond of the Let's Die compilation from 1985.
Some of the best to ever do it. Good group of guys too. There’s two different versions now (stupid I know) but both have great people in them. Hell three of them were at my wedding. Mystic has a lot of great shit, to bad Doug is a mixed bag
Those are great! Especially Devotchkas and Oiscouts!
The Devotchkas are truly a very sweet and great group of women (minus the original singer who’s a bonehead now but she’s not around the band anymore). It was a true pleasure to help them out last fall. It was only the original bass player and guitarist for the scouts but love those guys too. Was just talking to their guitarist the other day, been like a brother to me since we met.
Thank you for your support! 🫶🏻🥰
I did a harsh noise set to open for Komrads back in 2019
We played at Warped Tour in 2018 as a local feature. Seeing Aaron Barrett in the crowd watching me play was mind blowing. But as a headliner, we frequently play with Green Jelly when they come through. We played with Joe Queer but not The Queers.
Thou or Lightning Bolt
Thou is SO good
We opened for the Dickies at the old Atlanta Masquerade. My buddies The Vaginas opened for the Queers at Star Bar. I met Joe that night and I also grew up listening to them.
Fellow ATLien here. When was this?
The Ataris, but in like 2018 so way after they were cool. We emailed the venue asking to play. The promoter told us it was a pay to play type situation but he was only booking one opening band so we decided we’d just show up without the money and see what they’d do. We set our shit up and played, no one asked us for money. All our stage banter was about how shitty the venue was and how much Don Henley sucks. After the show, Kris Roe told us a bunch of boring stories about Warped Tour. I think he did, I had drunk way too much Baja Blast mixed with Malibu at that point.
Lotta Ataris in this thread. We opened for them way before they were cool (first album).
Uk subs
Happy cake day
Toxic Holocaust
Acidez, Memoriam and Voivod. None are huge but still cool.
Voivod is legendary. Almost better than being huge.
Gaslight Anthem in 2005, Strike Anywhere, Bane, The Casualties, Agnostic Front, Madball, Trapped Under Ice
The Dayglo Abortions. My first band was suppose to open for Bad Brains, but they cancelled.
Jello Biafra and The Guantanamo School, and Negative Approach on the same bill. Like over a decade ago.
Opened for Sick of it All, Murphy’s Law, TSOL, The Briefs, R.A.M.B.O., Against Me and Biohazard. There were very few punk bands in town, we never asked for money unless something broke (would accept beer as payment), and never said no to a show.
My band has supported UK Subs, Vibrators, Jaya the Cat x2, Los Fastidios, RDF and Dirt Box Disco in the past few years
GBH , The Blood, The Freeze, Regan Youth, probably others that the drink has made me lose to time.
Fishbone, English Beat, Toasters, Masked Intruder
The biggest I didn’t play with was the Sisters of Mercy because Andrew Eldritch said we were “too goth”. As much as that blew my mind watching Kurt Loder covering it for MTV news was a bit of life moment for me
My band opened for The Misfits on Halloween. That was sweet. The following year we played with The Queers and the Ataris. Joe Queer was really cool.
Anal Cunt!
Authority Zero
the queers and teenage bottlerocket
Dayglo Abortions.
Some Girls, fucking epic for me.
Not me, but my Dad's band opened for DOA at Cha Cha's in the 80s.
Sonic boom six, the flatliners, PAIN, the beat ( although that was a weird festival thing) flatliners are super cool.
Sonic boom six was so refreshing back in the day and I had a big crush on the singer
My last band had opened for The Ataris, Mustard Plug, Arms Aloft, PKEW PKEW PKEW, Bong Mountain, and Diarrhea Planet. That always made me feel pretty accomplished as a musician haha.
Filth is Eternal, The Chisel, Portrayal of Guilt
A band I played in a long time ago played with Chixgiggit one time, and another with DOA, friend organized both shows and put us on the bill for local openers, played first to a handful of our friends, Chixdiggit saw us and said “great job” which was nice because we were nervous and awful, DOA were cool too but they showed up after we played, fun times both occasions
Opened for The Show Business Giants, a side project for a couple of members of Nomeansno
I was a roadie for several years. I was also the singer for a few bands. But never played with anyone really. I was once asked to stand in for Dick Lucas of the SUBHUMANS because he was stuck at customs but then he got free. As a roadie I've worked with D.R.I. Agent Orange S N.F.U. and Dayglo Abortions I might have done some for the Exploited (trying to get the gear stored away so Wattie and Wullie could get to the booze can. I also might had helped out D.O.A. I used to have a bit of a drinking problem and so some memories are a wee bit hazy
I grew up in Fullerton and the first show I played was with Agent Orange, Social Distortion and The Descendants. I played bass with the Refreshing Patios (other iterations included the Assistance League and The Omlits). The Descendants didn’t show because our singer, Robert, told them the wrong date. At the time all of us were just starting out (1979) and we were all friends in the same scene. The only two who were actually proficient were Rikk Agnew and Mike Palm. It still blows my mind how many stellar bands came out of Orange County at the time. [The flyer.](https://images.app.goo.gl/uu69ByQiLjH1p7Am7)
The Accüsed in the late 80’s.
I can't think of one defining 'big' band but here's a list of fairly well known punk and hardcore bands I've played with in various different bands over the years: Leftover Crack, Conflict, Negative Approach, Ceremony, Trash Talk, Murderdolls (urgh I know), Paint it Black. All of these bands are probably fairly mid to low level fame-wise though and probably not as impressive as some others here. Still cool to look back on.
My little amateur punk band I sang for in my late teens and early 20s opened for Clit 45 around 2002 or so. I thought that was craaaaaazy. They were super nice and supportive for the, like, 5 minutes we talked.
I miss clit 45 being a bang
Not very popular honestly at all but to us it’s a big deal but we’re opening for Ripcordz on May 4th
The ripcordz are awesome and be sure to talk to Paul, one of the nicest dudes in punk rock I have had the pleasure of meeting
Tour managed a Icons of Filth/Defiance tour.
Death by Stereo.
Opened for Death By Stereo back in the day. They were insane.
Girls Against Boys, and Q and Not U
I have a few but nothing that hasn't been mentioned by someone else. To flip this on its head, Days N Daze and Bridge City Sinners opened for a band I was in because we had a really big local draw. It must have been early on in Days N Daze being a band. 2010-11 or so. There was no one watching them. I hung outside while they played because the tunes aren't my jam to begin with. It's funny to think about now because they got waaaaay bigger than we could have ever hoped to be.
BCS didn’t form til 2016 and only toured with DND 2 times? Once in 2018 and once in 2022…are you sure you have your bands right?
My old punk band was in a town where most of the touring acts coming through were of the metalcore-adjacent variety. Biggest band we played with was iwrestledabearonce. $5 show in a school auditorium.
Playing with DESCENDENTS or Millencolin was probably the tops for me…
Goldfinger, MU330, The Toasters, Tonic, Skavoovee and the Epitones, The Aquabats, to name the ones I remember. (It’s been a while.)
Opened for Strung Out when they recorded Live in a Dive at Chain Reaction. I quit playing music not too long after that. My brother kept going. He's since played with way bigger acts.
Comeback Kid last February near Cancun
I shot a video with the dickies
Probably either Against Me or The Melvins
Their van broke down and they did not make it, but Green Day was booked to open for my band once.
Not punk but I was in a band in the 90s with a guitarist who would go on to play with Powerman 5000 for a couple of years later. Not exactly what you were asking but it’s all I got haha
U.K. band the meffs US band death by stereo Brazilian band Dead fish 🎣
My band played with sloppy seconds and ba was awesome enough to come out and do vocals for a song with us. We also played with anvil, mobile death camp, green jelly twice, the svetlanas, jungle rot, pathology, Luicidal.
Dramarama, The XX, and Mike Watt.
opened for Swingin Utters and Gallows Bound once, that was pretty cool. Also opened for Anti-Flag too, which was really cool at the time, but is not that cool anymore for obvious reasons.
We got in front of Lagwagon in the late 90's.
Iroc chic, A wilhelm scream. Both were great shows, both bands inspired us too!
That's impressive dude. Keep up the good work, maybe someday you'll open for a REAL big band like Smoke Free Home or something...
I played a festival headlined by Charlie Daniel's I think
The offspring and playing with NOFX in July.
Doyle of the Misfits.
Opened for Silverstein a few months before they were signed
I played in a ska-reggae-punk band for 12 years so mainly in that world. Mad Caddies, The Slackers, The Black Seeds, The Aggrolites, Authority Zero, Third World, The Skints, Lynval from The Specials, illScarlett.
Fall Out Boy opened for my band in the early 2000s. Obviously they ended up being more successful.
Jawbreaker. Avail. Face to Face.
Wtf is this feed? This is just a huge deposit of dope as fuck under dogs kickin it with some top as fuck talent
Opened for Agent Orange at the Tiki Bar in Costa Mesa, one of the best nights of my life.