Punk In The Park OC Music Festival returned to Oak Canyon Park in Orange County, California, for its biggest year yet.
There is some confusion about Punk In The Park because more than one festival carries that name. I am writing about the one in Orange County, which was held for the third year in a row at Oak Canyon Park. There was also one earlier this year in Ventura held at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, and I have seen others with the same name in other parts of the country. The OC version is the biggest and baddest, and that’s where I was on the first weekend in November.
My initial thoughts on the festival are about the 37 bands that played – what a great year it was for music. But there was also unlimited craft beer tasting hosted by Brew Ha Ha Productions, and Vans® had a vertical wall where world class skateboard and BMX athletes performed, too. There was a lot going on.
Brew Ha Ha Productions created Punk In The Park, an event that fits right in with their other beer-centric activities, such as Punk In Drublic Craft Beer and Music Festival, Silverado Showdown, and so on. In all, Brew Ha Ha Productions has sponsored more than 160 festivals across the US, and at this festival there was free unlimited tasting from noon to three of an enormous selection of beer, cider, mead, kombucha and seltzer, from 2 Towns Ciderhouse, Alesmith, Artifex, Brewery X, Modern Times, It’s Alive Kombucha, Nectar Creek Meadery, Wild Barrel and more, including Stone Brewing, a festival sponsor. In fact, there was a collaboration between Rad Beer Co. and Stone Brewing available for tasting (and purchase) made specially for the festival. There is no question that this part of the weekend was greatly appreciated by fans, judging by the steady flow of people heading over to the tasting area.
The Vans® Vert Ramp featured pro skaters and BMXers in several shows throughout both days, including a nighttime performances under the lights. Punk in the Park and Brew Ha Ha Productions founder Cameron Collins has said that he never set out to create a Warped Tour-style event, but that the combination of punk rock and hardcore music, and skating and BMX, all came together organically. And the beer, too. “It’s all just a part of this lifestyle and this punk and hardcore music is the soundtrack that most of these skaters were listening to and many of them still are,” Collins has said. Steve Van Doren, vice president of events and promotions at Vans, said this partnership was all possible thanks to a phone call from his longtime friend Fletcher Dragge, guitarist of Pennywise. “Fletcher called and said ‘We do this show called Punk in the Park and it’s us, Descendents, Guttermouth and all of these other bands and we’d like to have the Vans ramp out there like in the old days of Warped Tour’ and I got really excited and just said ‘Let’s do it,’” Van Doren said in a recent interview. So there you have it: punk, beer, skate ramp.
I am always at music festivals for the music, so I don’t think very much about the other things going on. For example, I do not go bowling and Punk Rock Bowling … I just listen to the bands. Fans have many different interests, though, of course, and for days-long festivals in particular it is great to have these other activities for them to get involved in.
Day 1 Music.
Oak Canyon Park is the perfect location for a modestly-sized music festival. The grounds were arranged with two primary stages where music alternated with no gaps and no overlap. The VIP area was placed to one side and between these stages, making it easy to stay in that area and move from one stage to the other. In the GA area, you had basically the same situation, with a short less-than-a-minute walk between stages one and two at either end of the grass-covered way. Across the field from VIP was the Vans® Vert Ramp, and behind that was the third stage (facing the other way), and the vendor village. As a result, there was very little sound bleed from one stage to the next. The beer tasting area was adjacent yet separate, past a small pond behind the main stage. There was plenty of parking at the venue, and a free shuttle was available for those using public transportation. This festival was run right.
The day started off with Poli Van Dam, who I remember from the Bombpops a while back. Her bright and crisp scrunching was the perfect mood setter for the two-day event. The music on the second stage featured a monstrous run-through of diverse bands including Death By Stereo, PITP veterans Guttermouth, the timeless ways of The Dickies, and my favorite act of the day, Scowl. On the third stage, the punk rolled off the tongues of less familiar names but with every bit as much enthusiasm. For me, it was Niis that took the prize over there.
The big news of day one was Pennywise, a band that headlined the first PITP OC festival. Leading up to their set on the main stage were legends Circle Jerks, the irrepressible GBH, and a band I have been trying to see for a long time, Drain. Drain did right by the other acts at the fest, with a number of hat-tipping displays. GBH had the sundown set, taking the crowd on the journey from daylight to darkness. There was no better band for that particular transition. I’ve listened to the Circle Jerks since I was a pup, at first taken in by their name but soon enamored by their energy and ardor. Time has changed things a bit in the band, but their set was filled with fire.
Pennywise is one of the few bands at the festival known by non-punk fans. They have the broadest fan base for sure, and they were introduced by Steve Van Doren who waxed nostalgic on his relationship with the band and their days on the Vans Warped Tour that ran for decades from 1995 through to 2019. Kicking off with “Fight Till You Die” and rolling through the familiars, Pennywise put a cherry on our Saturday cupcake.
Day 2 Music.
The action started on Sunday on the third stage with Fishing For Chips, a tongue-in-cheek San Diego band that has the chops to bring it on. The second day on the third stage had even more variety than the day before. We got to hear a quiet acoustic set from Elvis Cortez, for example, standing alone on the stage and showing a different side to punk. And then there was Naked Aggression, and band from Madison, Wisconsin that started performing more than thirty years ago. They were definitely a twist under the stars in the canyon.
The second stage had a throttling killer line-up, capped by The Dwarves – the actual reason I made the journey to California. Things got going with Rundown Kreeps, passing along then through the afternoon with a stop for Throwrag, who were an absolute hoot. The Queers had a great set, too, and I was glad to see them again as the last time I took them in, at Muddy Roots in 2022, they had to deal with the confines of a claustrophobic tent. Here, untethered and unfettered, they heated the cooling air to broiling. When The Dwarves took the stage, the festival was complete. Originally formed in Chicago, they are thought to be based in San Francisco for the past many years. The first album of theirs I memorized as 1990’s Blood Guts & Pussy, and I haven’t missed a release since. They closed the second stage, and I am glad for it because I got to stay for their entire set and did not have to take off to catch another band. The Dwarves made the weekend for me.
Thinking of the main stage on the second day, the two bands I most wanted to see were The Casualties and Buzzcocks, because of my familiarity with the bands. They were great and no mistake, but what I was not counting on is how taken in I was by Goldfinger. An L.A. band that started shaking things up in the mid-nineties, they concentrate on punk and ska. Led by John Feldmann on vocals and guitar, they put on an incredible show, even bringing audience members up on stage to participate in the performance. Well done indeed.
The Descendents started in the 1970s in Manhattan Beach, California. Next to Pennywise, they were the most widely-recognized name (in these current days we live in) at the festival. It is hard to overstate the influence the band has had on what punk became, especially into the 1990s. Their history is a bit rocky, with a couple/three notable breakups and reformations. This year, as a festival closer, there was no better choice. “Everything Sux” was the first song they did, a lament on how this show was their last for a while, and just how much that sucks. They went through a lot on stage, and at some point I lost count of the number of songs, but it had to be twenty-five or more. It is fair to say everyone left the park content.
This was my first time at Punk In The Park OC, and I had a great time. Count on me being there next year, and maybe trying to catch a couple of the other namesake festivals.
WORDS AND PHOTOS BY WAYNE EDWARDS