Huge thanks to Jason and the festival crew for inviting our band from the Big Island to play at the awesome Sailor Jerry Festival in Honolulu this weekend!
We hopped on a plane from Kona to Oahu and after checking in our hotel in Waikiki, hustled over to Nextdoor for a quick soundcheck. The cool thing about Sailor Jerry Fest is that there’s a ton of bands playing all over Chinatown, but unfortunately sometimes two bands you want to see are playing at the same time! We did our best to check out as many rad bands as possible but there’s still some I missed!
If you’re not familiar, the Sailor Jerry Fest is an annual event in Honolulu that celebrates tattoos, art and of course punk rock music! Previous years have had headliners like TSOL, Aggrolites and Youth Brigade. This year we had Teenage Bottlerocket, The Koffin Kats and Avenues all flying in from the mainland!
After our soundcheck we dashed over to Manifest to catch The Screws. They were running behind schedule so we had time to grab a beer and relax for a few minutes before they turned the volume up to 12. They were loud and noisy, but their killer songwriting shone through the distortion. Unfortunately, we had to miss half their set to get back to Nextdoor and hop on stage.
Playing at a real rock club with all the proper equipment was a treat for us country bumpkins. We breezed through our set and made way for The Minorities from Maui. They had the crowd pumped and absolutely killed it.
Afterward, we hurried back to Manifest to see Generic. Our guitarist Greg used to play with their bassist Dwight in a band in Oregon. Generic is an old school Hawaiian punk band that now lives in Portland. The crowd went absolutely nuts, and when they finished, we needed some fresh air. We caught the second half of Grapefruit’s set at The Walkin for a nostalgic palate cleanser.
Grapefruit was my introduction to Hawaiian punk in the mid-90s. My old band Your Mother played some shows with them when they toured the mainland, and my mother-in-law still talks about how nice they were when they stayed at her house in Tulsa. After not seeing them for over 25 years, it was a blast to watch them again.
Next, we made our way to Proof Social Club for 7 Pairs of Iron Shoes and The Granite Saints. The latter delivered their best set yet, becoming my favorite of the night so far.
Back at Nextdoor, we caught Avenues belting out four Operation Ivy covers in a row. They were fantastic, even though we missed their original songs. I grabbed a Fonzie jumping a shark t-shirt from them.
The Koffin Kats came on next. They know how to captivate an audience, like when their guitarist and upright bassist seamlessly switched instruments mid-song. Besides the theatrics, they write amazing songs.
Finally, Teenage Bottlerocket tore through their set with unstoppable energy. They barely paused between songs and left the crowd wanting more. I headed out around 1:30 am, only to find out my friends had already left. I caught an Uber back to my hotel, slept a few hours, and flew back to Kona. My ears are still ringing, even with earplugs in all night!