Review: TSOL, The Fleece

The Fleece was far less than full for TSOL’s first Bristol show in a long time.

The punk band from Long Beach, California, first came onto the scene at the outbreak of America’s hardcore punk renaissance. Their self-titled first EP and first studio album Dance With Me came in 1982 and set the tone of fast paced, angry and politically conscious but humorous works that reflected the anger felt by young urban youth in the post-Vietnam Reagan era.

The bands original line up didn’t last much longer and only recorded one more album before effectively dissolving. The TSOL band continued under various forms and sounds though admittedly they struggled to match the intensity and quality of the first releases.

The original band reformed in 1999, all bar drummer Todd Barnes who passed away earlier that year. Since then they have released various studio albums, with 2017’s The Trigger Complex being their most recent and arguably best since their first.

Early photo of TSOL

The band’s recent live shows have seen them combine those powerful first releases with their more hardcore focused newer material. It’s what every TSOL fan wants to hear and despite the lack of attendance, the band did not disappoint.

The First song of their first release became their first song of the night and got an instant reaction from the crowd who responded with an instantaneous mosh pit in front of the band. I suppose the upside to a limited attendance is that those that are there are far more likely to be true fans.

Frontman, Jack Grisham, patrols the stage in a custom bright red T.S.O.L oversized suit, giving him the image of an American Satan patrolling his plinth. The band might now be well into their 50’s but they perform now with the same energy as 20 year olds. Grisham’s vocal chords seem to have taken no noticeable damage as he screams and sings his way through the entire hour long set.

One of the beauties of hardcore punk is the fast paced, intensely thrashy but incredibly short songs. The first TSOL EP has five songs on it but only lasts for seven minutes. Because of this the band are able to rip through over 20 songs in one show, giving everyone in the audience a taste of what they hear and a good chance of hearing their favourite album track.

The whole band put in an excellent show as they played banger after banger and a special mention has to go out to Sean Antillon on drums who kept the level up all night.

Grisham only addresses the crowd a handful of times, once to falsely lead the crowd into believing that they were about to hear a Led Zeppelin cover (not what you want to tell a punk crowd) and once to share his views on the absurdity of current attitudes towards political correctness, something the band have been bucking the trend of since the beginning.

So despite an underwhelming crowd TSOL still very much delivered the goods. Hardcore has found a new lease of life in many current subcultures, from art school students, to electronic music lovers to rappers; the crowd that night may have been an anomaly, either way, TSOL are easily still one of hardcore’s greatest.