T.S.O.L. doesn’t have to die

PHOTO COURTESY NITRO RECORDS

A year ago I had coffee with T.S.O.L. singer Jack Grisham. At the time, the group was prepping for two farewell shows at downtown’s Vault 350, the apparent final chapter of one of Southern California’s definitive punk bands. Fast-forward to a week ago, with Grisham calling from a Seattle parking lot on the new T.S.O.L. tour, which soon makes its final stop at the same venue where the band was supposed to be buried. What happened? “Who knew what was going to happen?” he said. “Nothing’s never never.”

T.S.O.L. somehow always came in spurts. Between 1979 to 1983, they released two full-length albums and two EPs that are established punk classics, out-damning the Damned with songs like “Superficial Love,” “Dance With Me” and “World War III.” Then Grisham—a Millikan High graduate—and original drummer Todd Barnes (who passed away in 1999) left and guitarist Ron Emory and bassist Mike Roche continued with singer Joe Wood and drummer Mitch Dean. This new T.S.O.L. ventured down a more straightforward rock & roll approach, aligned behind Wood’s powerful and bluesy voice.

The original quartet reunited in 1991 for a live album, but that run didn’t last long, and they reappeared in 1999 for their first new material in 16 years. This time, it seemed like they were in it for the long haul, releasing two full-lengths on Nitro and a live DVD . . . and then they announced another split, when Emory moved to Iowa and Roche to Nevada. Though T.S.O.L. had never been stable, this break-up felt like it would stick, even if Grisham wasn’t completely convinced of his group’s demise.

“We’re not really breaking up,” Grisham told me then. “We wanted to have a going-away party because chances are we probably won’t play again.”

Those final shows went off without a hitch: kids lost their shit thinking this would be their last chance to run in circles to “Code Blue” or “Abolish Government/Silent Majority.” The band played nearly every song they knew and no one got shot. Punk reunion tours are almost always a bust because there’s nothing sadder than old fogeys pretending enthusiasm for three-chord tunes. But not T.S.O.L. I’m not old enough to have seen the band in its heyday, but thanks to YouTube, I can compare the shows I’ve seen since 1999 with the early ’80s, and it seems like the band members are enjoying themselves as much as they ever did.

And now they’re back. The initial idea was to play one show, which soon snowballed into 10 dates across California, Oregon, Arizona and Washington. For now, Grisham says fans should expect to see T.S.O.L. about once a year, but that could change too: “We’re a punk band,” he says. “There’s no real plan.”

And there’s no practice either, he adds: “Until we got on stage in Spokane, I hadn’t even seen Ron Emory for a year. No rehearsal, no nothing. There’s no need to practice. Why? We’ve been practicing for 20-something years.”

T.S.O.L. WITH THE SMUT PEDDLERS, 45 GRAVE, THE DETOURS AND THE CROWD VAULT 350 | 350 PINE AVE | LONG BEACH 90802 | 562.590-5566 | VAULT350.COM | SAT 7PM | $20 | ALL AGES

Tags: Long Beach, mp3, punk, tsol, vault 350