Check out an article on a great independent punk rock band called The Politicians from Orange County, Calif. Read an article on a young bands first experience with touring. The article shows the twenty something punkers love of booze and music.
Busting straight out of Orange County, CA combining old school punk rock with high energy guitar hooks and melodic harmonies are The Politicians. Playing shows ferociously around Southern California the four-member band have really been making a name for themselves.
Being a band for over three years, The Politicians have released two EPs. With their newest release, Welcome to the War in hand the group went out on tour with fellow Orange County punks Hit by a Semi for a few weeks visiting cities across California, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada. “It’s good to see what the music scenes are like in other places than where you live,” said guitarist Pete Diederich. “We’re going with some good friends so that should be really fun.”
Touring with their buddies in Hit by a Semi, the band felt the tour would be a positive experience since HBAS holds somewhat of the same fan base as the Politicians with both bands sharing a common ground in their love of punk rock and booze. “It’s very comfortable playing with them. We share the same type of fan base with drinking and music and everyone just trying to get a long and have a good time,” Diedrich explained. “It’s actually a really good scene going.”
One way The Politicians have been building their fan base is through the website, MySpace. “It’s a big way to network. A lot of people are too proud to admit they use
MySpace
but we have definitely met a lot of different people in a lot of different places,” said bass player Mike Betancourt.
As far as the aftermath of the band’s tour it seemed to turn out to be a positive experience, although there were a few up and downs. “The tour with Hit by a Semi and Code 4-15 was a drunken stampede of good time,” recalled Diedrich. “The first show was in Santa Barbara and [vocalist] Ando was running a 103 degree temperature but still managed to pull of singing duties without a hitch. [Drummer] Todd hustled his way onto Code 4-15’s van on the drive down to Orange County, and cleaned out their mini bar. But hey, that’s what drummers do!”
The band was also stopped by homeland security going to Scottsdale, Ariz., had a promoter pass way on them in Las Vegas and played a punk rock Thanksgiving celebration in Oakland with about 10 bands, explained Diedrich. The tour wound down at Whiskey Dicks in Lake Tahoe where the bands put on killer sets and got wasted to celebrate a tour well done.
Very Interesting and very fun to read. And also well writtened article. You gave a outstanding summery on punk rock bands. Now a days people getting crazy about punk rock bands.
