Best OC Punk Bands (Old & New)

  1. Surf’s Up A**hole–Guttermouth (Eat Your Face, 2004)

Apolitical, juvenile, and studio hounds since 1989, Guttermouth is the definition of “harder, faster, and dumber.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR8cYtlvYXA

  1. F**ck You Tough Guy–True Sounds of Liberty (Divided We Stand, 2003)

One of the earliest Orange County punk bands, T.S.O.L. was heavily influenced by British punk, goth rock, and Huntington Beach jocks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbzpz6cQSt0

  1. Swamp Dollars–Death Hymn Number 9 (3rd Degree Moon Burns, 2013)

If old-school surf rock bands had a meth-addled cage fight with zombies somewhere in Baton Rouge, it would create Death Hymn Number 9, a newer addition to the OC punk community.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8S6cmR3p-0

  1. Pirate’s Life–The Vandals (Peace Thru Vandalism, 1982)

Maintaining a young, pop-punk sound, The Vandals wrote about everything from cowboys, to dead girlfriends, to dropping LSD at Disneyland.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvs907ExIRk

  1. Chinese Fountain–The Growlers (Chinese Fountain, 2014)

The Growlers combined the unique sounds of Orange County surf rock with San Francisco psychedelics, all packaged with don’t-give-a-fuck lyrics. Not only are they a Coachella favorite, but they’re the hosts of the annual Beach Goth music festival at The Observatory in Costa Mesa.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbp64NdgaPg

  1. Kids of the Black Hole–The Adolescents (Adolescents, 1981)

The Adolescents were the epitome of angry kids from the OC suburbs. “The Black Hole” simultaneously refers to their hometown and the apartment of Mike Ness, the guitarist and vocalist of Social Distortion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifq24lljbQM

  1. Surf Punks in the USA–D.I. (United We Slam, 2012)

Vocalist Casey Royer hails from other well-known OC punk bands like Adolescents and Social Distortion, bringing the edge to his magnum opus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uokwb6UvJ_4

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