Swingin' Utters
For a while, it didn’t look like San Francisco punk rockers Swingin’ Utters would survive into the new century. Founded in the late 80s (though not named Swingin’ Utters until 1994), their glory days included well-regarded chainsaw classics such as The Streets of San Francisco (which earned them a slot on the first Vans Warped Tour) and A Juvenile Product of the Working Class. High-profile tours with the Damned, Rancid, and Dropkick Murphys seemed to place them at the brink of a mass market breakthrough, but then, just a couple of years into the 2000s, the band imploded.
Founding singer Johnny “Peebucks” Bonnel and longtime guitarist-singer (since 1989) Darius Koski still seemed to play well together in the band Filthy Thievin’ Bastards, but the duo didn’t seem interested in milking any more Utters until a 2010 tribute album revived both interest in the band and the band’s own interest. The next few years of reunion releases saw more original members splitting off, leaving Bonnel and Koski as the band’s only pre-21st century players taking the Casbah stage on August 25. They’re touring in support of their fourth compilation album, last year’s Drowning in the Sea, Rising with the Sun, sporting 33 tracks, including several previously unreleased.