Kick Out the Jams: Reno Divorce at the Double Down

Reno Divorce at the Double Down, June 28

The SoCal punk sound made popular by Social Distortion and Bad Religion finds a worthy disciple in Brent Loveday. The singer/guitarist for Denver-based Reno Divorce brought his bandmates to the Double Down on Monday night, logging number eight of a nine-show tour in support of new EP Laugh Now Cry Later and as warm-up for the act's upcoming slot on the Colorado stop of the Warped Tour. Loud and tight, the band blistered through a 50-minute set for a less-than-capacity crowd.

But Reno Divorce doesn't just sound like Social Distortion--Lovejoy even looks like Mike Ness, from his Les Paul to his tattoos. But the comparison is complimentary, not dismissive. To get the crowd behind the band early, Lovejoy followed opener "Good Love" with a furious cover of Motorhead's "Ace of Spades." The five faithful closest to the band, acknowledged as friends from Denver, sang along as the Lemmy impression moved back to original material. Addressing punk rock staples, Lovejoy sang about aimless nights on the town in "Let's Go Out" ("It might not make a difference/ It might/ Let's go out tonight") and the importance of political awareness in "West Bank Blues" ("This song's for President Bush").

While the three-minute formula works well for the band, the songs sounded mostly the same--and the audience didn't seem too impressed. Maybe Monday deserves the blame. Maybe the pervasiveness of the punk-pop blueprint, with its emphasis on pop, collapses all the "Reno Divorces" out there into one indistinguishable goo of sound. Either way, to close the set with a cover ("We get a lot of unwarranted comparisons to this band" said Loveday--guess who?) didn't do much to differentiate this band from the masses. At its best, Reno Divorce recalls the sincerity of its SoCal predecessors; at worst, it sounds like the manufactured tedium that, for better or worse, sells lots of records.--Carey Murphy