7 Seconds

7 Seconds

Waterloo Park, Nov. 7

Proof that old punks never die, they just grow more facial hair, Reno, Nev.'s founding straight-edgers 7 Seconds reclaimed reality from the seriously twisted Melt-Banana with Skeeno hardcore ease. If you closed your eyes, it was the summer of 1984 and BYO Records stone classic The Crew all over again. Precious few third wave punk-hardcore outfits have aged as stoically – or as relevantly – as vox/guitar sibling duo Kevin Seconds and Steve Youth. Reunited with 4/4 lockstep drummer Troy Mowat, the airtight set was a veritable history of maximumrocknroll hits, from hooky posi-punk opener "Here's Your Warning" to a searingly mosh-ready version of "Clenched Fists, Black Eyes." Ever the tour spieler, Seconds dropped shout-outs to founding label mates Youth Brigade before proving once more that, yes, he really is going to stay "Committed for Life," "Young Til I Die," and "Regress No Way." Rules to live by in a mall punk-rock world, oh yeah, and more sing-along "whoa, whoa whoa!" choruses than most Walk Among Us-era Misfits set lists. If it came as a zero sum revelation that the closing anthem was a crunchy-punk cover of Nena's "99 Red Balloons," it also arrived as a nonironic commentary on how little has changed from 7 Seconds' point of view. Skins, brains, and guts indeed.