The Last
Danger
End Sounds
Street: 11.05
The Last = Descedents/All + The Stooges + Wednesday Week
Punk rock is such a hard genre to define. Once you think you’ve got it figured out, a band like The Last pops up on your radar. The Last formed in the late 1970s in Hermosa Beach—part of the same scene that spawned Black Flag and Red Cross. The lineup is solid—when you pair the Nolte brothers with the powerhouse punk rhythm section of Karl Alvarez and Bill Stevenson, you end up with the sort of alchemy that is both pop-sensible and face-melting. Mike Nolte adds a garage-y organ to traditional pop punk hooks and layered backing vocals to give the songs a 1960s feel. It takes more from The Stooges than from the middle class, and this is refreshing. In all, it is a solid return to form for a little-known punk band that has gone 17 years without a proper release. –James Bennett