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Bevy of bands getting loud for the American Legion

Lake Tahoe Action

A battalion of bands is joining forces to benefit the American Legion on Aug. 16.

An all-ages benefit at South Lake Tahoe’s American Legion Post on Lake Tahoe Boulevard unites visitors Del Mar, Relapse, the Blameshifters and old-school Reno punkers the Juveniles with local favorites the Marones, Hyenas, I Dekay, Cooking With Gasoline and Cash Only. The show coincides with the American Hogg Wild motorcycle rally, and proceeds over the cost of putting on the show benefit the American Legion. The $15 charge covers music from 1-10 p.m. and lunch from the Tudor Pub and Celtic Catering. It’s an all-ages show, but drinks will be available inside the American Legion bar.

“We kind of incoroporated a couple of events together and decided we’d do the whole thing and make it all-ages,” said event organizer Mike Underwood of Recyclebilly Booking.



Congress chartered the American Legion in 1919 as a veterans organization devoted to mutual helpfulness. The nonprofit community-service organization now numbers nearly 3 million members, men and women, in almost 15,000 American Legion posts worldwide.

Del Mar returns to the lake from Reno after making its Tahoe debut April 26 at the Underground. Former Sublime drummer Bud Gaugh also plays guitar along with his wife, the former Nicole Hutcheson, who shares vocal duties with Matt Bode. Mike Martinez rounds out Del Mar on guitars and bass. Del Mar mixes surf and punk rock with a do-it-yourself ethic.



“It’s all indie, like we said, and we just hope kids can come out and support indie music,” Nicole Gaugh told Lake Tahoe Action in April.

“We just have a lot of fun,” she said. “We try to keep everybody entertained, and we’re all really good musicians and we try to write good songs, and it’s different from what’s out there on the radio, too, now.”

Relapse is an experimental power trio from Santa Cruz. Phil “Pheezie” Zigler, Ryan “Needles” Westphal and Zachary “Milosh” Grozdanich have been playing together for the past two years and have a new album due out in December.

The Blameshifters, from Stockton, identify themselves as “your friendly neighborhood punk band.” Guitarist Mat Loman, bassist Dusdtin Pigman and drummer Steveness don’t shy away from volume or a political message. The DIY punkers released two albums, “Feast Before the Famine” in 2005 and “Disenfranchised Anarchy” last year, and they make their music available on their Web site, freewebs.com/theblameshifters.

The show also includes four hard-rocking Tahoe favorites. Fans of Torg Hallin, Rich Gilmore, E.J. Hixenbaugh and Jared Cummings can sate their craving for the Hyenas’ new album by catching their “Wreck ‘n’ Roll” live.

“We just want to play loud, aggressive rock ‘n’ roll,” Gilmore told Lake Tahoe Action. “It’s our own creative brand. My intention is to rewrite rock history with this. We want to go down as the band that started ‘Wreck ‘n’ Roll.’ “

Fans who like the Hyenas’ punk influence will love the Marones, the South Shore’s own Ramoes tribute band, which headlined this year’s Pints and Paddles cruise on the Tahoe Queen. The band formed in 2001, and Danny, Larry and Andy Marone have been playing together for seven years. (Drummer Adam Marone joined the family in 2002.)

“Everybody thinks we’re a 1-2-F-U punk band, which isn’t true,” Andy Marone told Action. “We play high-energy rock ‘n’ roll.”

Cooking With Gasoline is a pair of Nicks, a Jordan and a Lou who united earlier this summer over a common love of good music, skateboards and beer.

I Dekay infuses a sense of humor into thrash metal. New rhythm guitarist Danny Garrity played his first show with the South Shore quintet in June, joining lead singer Josh Lease, lead guitarist Andreas Maelpezak, Chad Davis on bass and drummer Danny Barnes.

Cash Only wraps up the show, playing covers by the Man In Black inside from 4-10 p.m. Davin Kangas, a 16-year resident of the South Shore, fronts the trio.

“When I used to perform punk rock, it seemed that the crowds really didn’t care about the music,” Kangas told Action in 2006. “But when I sing Johnny Cash, the people are appreciative. You can tell there is a reverence for the music; a respect. Even the kids out here playing miniature golf were clapping and getting into it.”


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