By the time T.S.O.L. took the stage, it was looking like only a decent crowd for a Tuesday night -- nothing to Tweet home about, as it were. But as soon as the SoCal punks flipped the "on" switch on "World War III," the dancefloor exploded. Weeknight crowd or not, those in attendance appeared ready to pick up any and all slack for their missing comrades. People had been bouncing off each other all night, but all of a sudden, dudes were circle-pitting with a look of furious purpose in their eyes.
Singer Jack Grisham, by contrast, never stopped smiling all night long. Attired in a natty suit with a red bandana tie, the imposing frontman bantered and joked easily with the crowd, whom he treated like old friends. One quickly got the impression that listening to him talk might be just as entertaining and hearing him sing.
Original bassist Mike Roche wasn't with the band on Tuesday. I didn't catch the reason why, but I'm fairly certain that it was Trevor Lucca of Jack Grisham's LOST Soul that was handling the low end. The four-stringer's comparative youth -- he was a mere boy when T.S.O.L. originally formed in the late '70s -- proved a fertile source of material for Grisham.
"I retired before Trevor was even born," he cracked.
After the singer pointed out Lucca's bizarrely mismatched socks, some wit in the crowd yelled out, "Only queers wear matching socks!"
"Queers, really? It's 2012," Grisham replied without skipping a beat. "Then I guess my mother is off somewhere sucking cocks right now, because her socks are always matching."
I could type another few hundred words on the stories and jokes that flowed from the stage Tuesday, but there was music, as well. The band inspired wild thrashing with hardcore classics like "Man and Machine," but they weren't afraid to slow things down and get a tad weirder, either. After an entire set time's worth of mooks in the crowd yelling out requests for "Code Blue" and "Abolish Government," a kid up front shouted out "Silent Scream," and incredibly the band obliged him.
Grisham failed to recall probably half the words to the strange little deathrock number from the group's Dance With Me album, but the audience instantly forgave him. The tune hadn't been played in six years, he explained. Pretty cool story for the guy who requested it.
The other requests were honored, as well, in due time of course. Before destroying the place with "Code Blue," Grisham and the band reminisced about playing Houston for the first time in 1981 at the Island. That place may be long gone now, but if T.S.O.L. can return in such fine form after so many years, who knows -- maybe there's hope for the Island, too.
Personal Bias: I'm not ashamed to admit that I got my first taste of T.S.O.L. via Slayer's Undisputed Attitude album of covers.
The Crowd: Young skaters, day-job punks and grizzled lifers.
Overheard In the Crowd: The music was loud and I couldn't hear shit. It was nice.
Random Notebook Dump: Hey, guy? Yelling "Slayer!" in between every song is the same as booing. Knock it off.
Follow Rocks Off on Facebook and on Twitter at @HPRocksOff.