This year, for all you party animals, Halloween falls on a weekend. Saturday the 31st, will be full of parties, scary movies, haunted attractions, wild costumes, trick or treating with the kids, and of course rock concerts. What better way to celebrate the hedonism and darkness than with heavy metal or punk rock? Luckily, as the witches and goblins hit the streets, the LA/OC area has a myriad of options available for all live music loving, cool ghouls. Here are some of the best we found
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1.Tiger Army
The Observatory
Playing the second of two sold out nights in Santa Ana, this Pscychobilly band is led by guitarist and singer Nick 13, who has remained the driving force and sole original member. Tiger Army's punk rockabilly sound is mixed with rock n roll, bluegrass, hardcore, and tidbits of heavy metal in a swarm of darkness. Halloween is the perfect time to catch the band's exceptionally energetic live set, which is sure to incite a mosh pit full of madness.
2.Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo Bay School of Medicine with Fartbarf and Death Hymn #9
Alex's Bar
As the former frontman for the legendary SF Bay Area punk band Dead Kennedys, Jello Biafra never really went away after splitting from the band, on very hostile terms. He has been in the musical nomenclature for the past three decades and his legacy as a lyricist and frontman for the punk band cannot be understated. His latest musical project however does a great job of matching the sense of urgency and in-your-face humanity that Biafra displayed with DK back in the day, and he even throws in a classic song here and there in the setlist of his new band. Politically charged, with a furious sense of humor, the band will destroy Alex's Bar, after opening acts Fartbarf, and Death Hymn # 9 take the stage. The latter a local based experimental rock band, the former, a Lawndale based sci-fi techno synth band, dressed as mutant trolls or Neanderthals. Again, this can only make for a perfect Halloween show.
3.Voices of Ruin, Necronomicon and Vital Remains
DiPiazzas
Get ready for a night of head banging to loud, fast, extreme music. Local OC melodic death metal band Voices of Ruin, perform along with Canadian black death merchants Necronomicon, and the Rhode Island based blasphemous brutal death metal, from Vital Remains, which at one point, featured Glen Benton of Deicide as the vocalist. Expect lots of tormented, inhuman growls, blast beats, lots of longhaired dudes(and chicks) in leather, denim, spikes and possibly even blood or corpse paint. It is Halloween, after all.
4.Danzig's Blackest of the Black Tour 2015,
Microsoft Theater
Iconic punk/metal performer Glenn Danzig brings his annual tour of metal bands that are faster, darker and truer than all others. This year, Louisiana supergroup Superjoint Ritual make a valiant return, along Prong, and Veil of Maya. Maybe fans will get lucky, and Danzig will perform the Misfits classic 'Halloween,' as he has been sometimes known to do on this holiday.
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5.DRI
333 Live
When it comes to DRI, this legendary crossover band from Texas has been serving it up raw, fast, loud and full of aggression for three decades, and all on the underground, DIY scene. But along the way the band has earned the respect of fans of all ages, as shows have been known to erupt in very intense violent cirle pits with slam dancers of all ages partaking in the action. On Halloween, the band is playing a mini fest in downtown LA, thrown together by The Poor Kids Radio Show and Razor KXRZ online, which will also feature many bands like Beowulf, Lucidal, Witchaven, Anger As Art, SMD, and hordes of others. This is the place to be, if you want to get in on some slam pit action, expect never ending circle pits.
6. The Melvins
The Echo
The Melvins might be one of the most underrated, and overlooked oddities in rock music, and are a band that can fuse together sludge, grunge, doom, punk, and experimental rock, all of which they had a fundamental part in creating, or innovating. With band leader guitarist/vocalist Buzz Osborne, and a rotating lineup over the past three decades, The Melvins currently include drummers Dale Crover and Coady Willis, with bassist Jared Warren. If you haven't yet gotten a chance to experience the Melvins in concert, do yourself a favor and catch them at this special Halloween show, which is sure to go off.
7.Mac Sabbath
The Whisky A Go Go
Halloween means only one thing to these fast food junkie freakazoids. It's Party Time with this band of bizzaro rockers, and a cast of chracters which includes members of Rosemary's Billygoat. This brand of shock rock is deemed to be ''Drive Thru Metal' which is a wacky, but fun concept band based on the universe of fast food and the rock music of black sabbath. With a dark, twisted and head bangers sense of humor, Mac Sabbath are a musical and culinary disgrace for your mouths and ear drums.
See also
10 Punk Albums to Listen to Before You Die
10 Goriest Album Covers
10 Most Satanic Metal Bands
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Alex Distefano is an established freelance writer and music blogger from the Los Angeles area. With over a dozen years under his belt as a published Journalist, he covers the worlds of heavy metal music, punk rock, current events, cannabis culture, comedy, radio, food, tattoos, the paranormal, and ‘conspiracy theories.’ He graduated from California State University Long Beach in 2012 with a Bachelor’s Degree in both Journalism and Ancient History. Aside from his professional writing endeavors, Distefano works as an Educator, and delivery/rideshare driver.