No Age

Habana Calle 6 Annex Backyard, Thursday, March 13

“Thanks for coming to the Warped Tour,” remarked No Age drummer Dean Spunt with a straight face. It was to be that kind of night. The duo of Spunt and guitarist Randy Randall has L.A. punk pedigree stamped all over its noise-thrash symphonics, apparent on last year’s collection, Weirdo Rippers. Their upcoming full-length on Sub Pop, Nouns, ups the noise factor, something the duo does well live. Spunt thrashed ferociously on his kit, singing at the same time, while Randall turned up the distortion. The former’s vocals got a bit lost behind his thrashing, but the two of them work best when there are no vocals, just a beautiful wall of noise, filled out by tape loops. The poppy “My Life’s Alright Without You” and skate-punk ode “Everybody’s Down” would’ve sounded better in a basement than the patio of a Cuban restaurant, but No Age gave it all they could. As skateboarders, they approach music the same way as the sport: Tackle every inch of space, and grind it all.

This article appears in March 21 • 2008.

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