After several decades and babies, one thing’s certain: the five punk rockers of Swingin’ Utters, signed to Fat Wreck Chords since the mid ’90s, are still lovers of diverse music and fighters of capitalism. The group longs to tour with bands that have inspired them since day one—The Clash, The Pogues, The Kinks and The Buzzcocks—and spends each day campaigning against “the man,” as evidenced by their day jobs: Johnny “Peebucks” Bonnel prints T-shirts, Spike Slawson works at a pizza joint, Jack Dalrymple is affiliated with the SPCA, and Darius Koski is a plumber. Their rebelliousness is nothing knew, however. The band sang of “Teenage Genocide” on 1995’s The Streets of San Francisco, and the theme resurfaces throughout their latest album, Here, Under Protest. What began as a couple teenagers playing garage rock—drummer Greg McEntee went to high school with Koski, and the two paired up with Bonnel on lead vocals, and original bass player Kevin Wickersham—turned into a hardcore band as they took over downtown, frequenting Zachary’s, The Poet & the Patriot and The Red Room. Now, Koski says he feels that he “personally and musically, know[s] everyone really well. It’s almost like you’re playing with a different version of yourself.” Since the band’s inception, the guys have moved to San Francisco, but Sunday, Swingin’ Utters returns to Memory Lane, er, Pacific Avenue, to open for The Reverend Horton Heat. Having played together at the Warped Tour previously, this summer feels like “a marathon tour that we haven’t done in years,” says Koski. “We’re all enjoying ourselves again and feeling more prolific.” Their creativity is omnipresent on Here, Under Protest, as their punk rock/Irish folk sound is mixed with snippets of celebrity audio bloopers, to not only satisfy long-time fans, but to “target an audience that’s not [their] audience; branch out.”
INFO: 9 p.m. Sunday, July 3. Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $12/adv, $16/door. 423-1338.
