The Dead Milkmen | Photo by Morgan Smith | phobymo.com

Some mosh pits are sloppy, some mosh pits are scary, but some mosh pits are just pure joy – and the one that broke out at the Dead Milkmen’s Halloween-eve set at the Troc was absolutely the latter.

Rodney Anonymous fitfully weaved his way around the stage with all the energy of his high school self, shouting along with the cheering painted faces below him – equal parts millennial vampires and greying punk zombies. Dean “Clean” Sabatino’s bobbing pigtails and perpetual grin gleamed from behind his drum set while Joe Jack Talcum’s skeletal getup and guitar raised the dead. Vocalists Anonymous and Talcum may have grayed a bit but their voices still have the subversive adolescent quality that makes DM classics like “Punk Rock Girl” and “Bitchin’ Camaro” so great. While not a founding member and the youngest of the group by a wide margin, bassist Dandrew Stevens carries the torch for the late Dave Blood and, true to the spirit of the Milkmen, took the everyday (a street sign?) and turned it into something we could laugh about. Now in their 50s, Anonymous, Clean and Talcum are veritable Lost Boys – at once older yet resolutely youthful in spirit. Happy belated, Joe Jack!

The Dead Milkmen have maintained their snotty, sardonic edge throughout a career spanning over 33 years (!) – having released their second post-reunion album just last year, Pretty Music For Pretty People –  while making plenty of friends along the way. Joining them on stage that evening were SXSW veterans, DE dork-rock duo Hot Breakfast! (dropping their second full-length album, The Big Reveal, on Nov. 14th featuring Rodney Anonymous), preceded by darkwave / industrial opener Ego Likeness and the veteran punks of Fight, F*** or Dance. Here’s to many more.

Setlist
Pretty Music For Pretty People
Tiny Town
The Thing That Only Eats Hippies
Fauxhemia
Serrated Edge
Methodist Coloring Book
Now I Wanna Hold your Dog
Punk Rock Girl
Nutrition
Prisoner’s Cinema (w/ Hot Breakfast!)
Bitchin’ Camaro
Beach Party Vietnam
Stuart
I Walk The Thinnest Line
VFW
Dean’s Dream
If I Had a Gun
If You Love Somebody, Set Them on Fire
Anthropology Days
Laundromat Song
Rocketship
Welcome to Undertown
Big Lizard in My Backyard
Life is Shit