Little Steven's Underground Garage Cruise proves you can rock the boat

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Imagine you’re connected a cruise vessel for a four-day excursion to the Bahamas. You’ve got your swimsuit, an big beverage, and you’re acceptable to relax. As you marque your mode to the excavation deck, you’re deed with the dependable of distorted guitars and in-your-face vocals arsenic legendary L.A. punk set X rips done “Johnny Hit and Run Paulene.”

That was the country connected Little Steven’s Underground Garage Cruise, which acceptable sail from Miami connected May 9-13 connected committee Norwegian Cruise Lines’ Norwegian Gem, and the 1,800 oregon truthful passengers were successful punk stone heaven.

The lineup featured an array of SoCal-based bands, including Social Distortion, L7, Rocket From the Crypt, the Lords of Altamont and the Dollyrots. They were joined by dozens of different performers crossed the stone ’n’ rotation spectrum, from the hard-stomping Fleshtones to the incorrigible Supersuckers, to Tommy Stinson’s Bash & Pop, to the ageless Linda Gail Lewis — younger sister of euphony icon Jerry Lee Lewis.

As John Doe of X said, “bands you ne'er thought you’d spot connected a boat.”

The festival-at-sea conception isn’t new. Sixthman, the institution that ran the cruise, has been organizing festivals since 2001 and offers much than 25 curated cruise experiences. Upcoming sailings see Keeping the Blues Alive astatine Sea Alaska, Chef’s Making Waves Boston, Rock the Bells Cruise and Headbangers Boat.

In galore ways, the archetypal Little Steven’s Underground Garage Cruise is an offshoot of Sixthman’s Outlaw Country Cruise, which completed its ninth sailing earlier this year. It was a somewhat somber solemnisation due to the fact that some its architect, SiriusXM’s Jeremy Tepper, and its ambassador, Mojo Nixon, died abruptly successful 2024.

That cruise drew an eclectic premix of performers specified arsenic Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams and Dave Alvin, who stock philharmonic DNA with galore of the artists connected the Underground Garage Cruise and vice versa. For example, Alvin’s erstwhile set the Blasters played alongside X during L.A.’s archetypal question of punk, and Social Distortion’s Mike Ness was often successful the beforehand enactment watching them play.

“Jeremy and Mojo were incredibly close,” Alvin said. “They were similar soulmates successful a weird way. Cultural, creator soulmates.”

One astonishment impermanent connected the Outlaw Country Cruise was Jello Biafra, who released the medium “Prairie Home Invasion” with Mojo Nixon successful 1994. He played with Nixon’s backing set the Toadliquors during an affectional tribute to his precocious friend.

“It’s hard,” Biafra said, “because determination is simply a small spot of a pall implicit this full event, due to the fact that Mojo isn’t here, and everybody’s got their memories bubbling up. I person plentifulness of that.”

Many of the performers, including immoderate who’d ne'er taken a cruise before, had reservations astir what the Underground Garage Cruise would beryllium like.

“I thought determination was going to beryllium a batch of brainsick drunkenness,” said Donita Sparks of L7. “I was reasoning it was a booze cruise, but I haven’t seen a full batch of that. I haven’t seen a azygous fight. I’ve seen radical laughing and hugging and rocking retired to the music. I’ve conscionable seen a batch of joyousness.”

John Reis, vocalist and guitarist of Rocket From the Crypt, was acrophobic astir seasickness and feeling “trapped” but neither proved to beryllium an issue, and helium recovered it casual to “succumb to the vibe.”

“We don’t instrumentality definite things each that seriously,” Reis said of Rocket From the Crypt, “and festivals tin beryllium precise regimented. There’s often a batch of accent involved, chiefly with the radical putting connected the shows. The cruise isn’t similar that astatine all. It’s mode much casual.”

Even Ness of Social Distortion was seemingly won implicit by the cruising lifestyle. “Ease into the day, bash what you want. No traffic, nary hassles,” Ness said from the stage.

X performs connected Little Steven's Underground Garage Cruise

Punks of a definite property are each excessively acquainted with the improvement of looking guardant to a amusement but, erstwhile it’s clip to really permission the house, losing each enthusiasm to thrust crossed town, find parking and hold for opening bands to wrapper up their sets. On the Underground Garage Cruise, each shows are a abbreviated locomotion distant and tally from an hr to an hr and 15 minutes. No openers. No encores.

Although immoderate shows overlap, dissimilar astir festivals, the bands play respective times passim the people of the cruise. So if you missed a band’s show connected the spacious excavation deck, you could drawback them aboriginal astatine the 850-seat Stardust Theater oregon 1 of the much intimate lounges that supply a clublike setting.

That means you tin take wherever and erstwhile you privation to spot the set — adjacent aboriginal successful the afternoon.

“We’ve been doing this a agelong time,” Eddie Spaghetti of the Supersuckers told the assemblage astatine the band’s 1:15 p.m. gig. “But ne'er this early,” quipped bandmate “Metal” Marty Chandler.

Fans astatine a performance connected a ship

Performers participated successful events offstage arsenic well: autograph signings, a vino tasting with the Dictators, a poker tourney with the Slim Jim Phantom Trio and interrogation sessions that volition yet marque their mode to the Little Steven’s Underground Garage transmission connected SiriusXM. An interrogation with Mike Ness ended with a astonishment abbreviated acceptable by Social Distortion, accompanied by keyboardist Ben Alleman connected the accordion.

There are, of course, drawbacks to the cruise experience. If you’re not having a bully clip astatine a festival, you tin ever permission and spell home. Obviously, you can’t bash that connected a cruise ship. There are besides larger concerns with the cruise manufacture itself, from the interaction these behemoth ships person connected the situation to the debased wages paid to overseas workers, who bash the bulk of the cooking and cleaning.

John Doe said helium was conflicted astir the gig. “As you turn up, you bash things for emotion oregon money, right? This is for money. But I emotion the set X.”

Then there’s the elephant successful the room: the cognition that cruises aren’t for kids; they’re for aged people.

A batch of these aged punks are, well, old. And if you were successful the pit with bands similar X, Social Distortion and L7 erstwhile they were archetypal making waves, past truthful are you.

That’s not needfully a atrocious thing.

“Rock ’n’ rotation is similar jazz now,” said Eddie Spaghetti. “Essentially, it’s go a niche creation signifier for older radical due to the fact that astir kids don’t similar stone ’n’ rotation anymore.”

As fans age, their bodies whitethorn interruption down but their passionateness for the euphony of their younker remains the same. But a batch of euphony fans, this writer included, woody with disability, wellness and/or mobility issues that tin enactment a damper connected the emblematic festival experience. Sixthman, however, excelled astatine making definite each rider felt welcome.

For instance, each of the venues connected the Underground Garage Cruise had an abundance of ADA seating, with unit designated to assistance those who requested it. One unit subordinate I spoke with told maine she scans the crowds during the shows and looks for radical who mightiness payment from other assistance.

That benignant of idiosyncratic attraction goes a agelong mode toward explaining wherefore fans, performers and unit members alike deliberation of these cruises arsenic a community. There’s a camaraderie connected these trips that you won’t find astatine your emblematic festival.

The radical you conscionable astatine the amusement aren’t conscionable festivalgoers; they’re your neighbors and sometimes your meal companions. The intimidating-looking punk rocker covered successful tattoos is simply a batch much approachable erstwhile eating pancakes with his spouse astatine the buffet.

This camaraderie isn’t what leads astir fans to sail connected a euphony cruise, but it’s 1 of the reasons they instrumentality twelvemonth aft year. During the Outlaw Country Cruise successful February, passengers assembled for a radical photograph for those who’d sailed connected all nine Outlaw Country Cruises.

That camaraderie is important to the musicians too. Everyone I talked to raved astir the shows they’d seen. Jonny Two Bags of Social Distortion told maine that erstwhile helium received the schedule, helium highlighted the bands helium wanted to spot — conscionable similar immoderate fan. He was particularly excited to spot Bash & Pop, who he’d played with successful the aboriginal ’90s.

L7 performs astatine Little Steven's Underground Garage Cruise

Donita Sparks of L7 had fond memories of playing with the Supersuckers successful the aboriginal ’90s. “We utilized to slumber connected the Supersuckers’ level successful Seattle,” Sparks said, “and we would person a creation enactment each night.”

That excitement for what L7’s Jennifer Finch called “the buffet of bands” is infectious. It’s besides wherefore Little Steven’s Underground Garage Cruise volition sail again adjacent April, to Cozumel, Mexico.

“We’re each alive,” Sparks said. “We’re present and we’re inactive rocking.”

Jim Ruland is the L.A. Times bestselling writer of “Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise & Fall of SST Records” and of the caller “Make It Stop.”

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