TSOL Brings Old School Punk to North Baltimore

This Saturday get ready for another installment of “punk legends of the West Coast need a retirement plan too” as Long Beach, CA’s TSOL (True Sounds of Liberty) come to the Ottobar.

Formed in 1979 the original TSOL featured Ron Emory on guitar, Jack Grisham singing, Mike Roche on bass and Todd Barnes on drums. The pairing of Grisham’s sardonic vocal delivery and Emory’s slashing, powerful guitar garnered early attention in the hardcore punk community.

TSOL signed with Alternative Tentacles in 1981 for the release of their second album Dance With Me. It was a game changer that alienated some early fans because it abandoned in large part the group's earlier more socially conscious music. The band found itself embracing B-Horror-Movie and art rock aestehtics.

The album's lyrics also shifted to taking a more comedic look at taboo subjects such as death and necrophilia. The shift in sound was followed by Barnes and Grisham leaving the band over those ever-present creative differences.

Despite enduring near constant line-up changes and a brief period of not being able to use it's own name, TSOL rebounded in 2007 with the release of Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Free Downloads.

There are other sounds this week, not just true sounds of liberty:

• Monday at the Wind Up Space; Small Sur (West Coast folk Baltimore style), All Tiny Creatures (electro-experimental), and Caribbean (jazz standards done through a folk filter) $8, must be 21-years-old.
• Thursday, at CCAS; Rational Anthem, Dead Mechanical, Red Moon Preachers, Edgewood. Donation, All Ages