I had only lived in Denver a few months when I met Virgil Dickenson from Suburban Home Records, owner of the label and guy in charge of Denver’s Punk Rock Bowling Tournament.It was 2002 and the teams, made up of local musicians and their friends dressed in costumes that mimicked Halloween, had gathered to determine who would travel to Vegas for the ultimate alley throw down. The national Punk Rock Bowling Tournament.
In 2010, the Punk Rock Bowling Tournament celebrates its 12th year of bands Friday, May 7 through Sunday, May 9, balls and blackouts; not necessarily in that order. That fact that it takes place every year in Las Vegas just adds fuel to the fire. What happened there stayed there because, well, not many people remember what happened there. Kind of like the guys in the movie “The Hangover,” but without the baby and Bengal tiger.
The PRB was conceived by Shawn and Mark Stern, founders of BYO Records and members of the band Youth Brigade. It all came together organically, starting with a handful of teams made up mostly of industry folk, including peeps from Fat Wreck Chords and Epitaph, and their musical families.
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Year by year things grew. The family expanded as did the popularity of PRB, and now the tournament is open to the public, taking place in a much larger venue–the Sunset Station Hotel and Casino–to accommodate 210 teams playing in 70 lanes.
The tournament is expected to be as nutty, drunk and ludicrous as ever. This is punk rock, after all. As always, many of the bands causing havoc on the lanes will take the stages at night to perform.
From Friday to Sunday, May 7 through 9, at the 4,000 seat outside Sunset Station amphitheater they’ve got some Van’s Warped Tour all-stars lined up, including Flogging Molly, NOFX, 7 Seconds, Dickies, Swingin’ Utters, and of course, Youth Brigade, to mention just a few. At the 21+ venue, Club Madrid Lounge, are The Phenomenauts, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, along with the Rival Tour featuring Ben from Lucero, Chuck from Hot Water Music, and others.
For the full concert schedule and line up, tournament and Texas Hold ‘Em info, go to:
http://www.punkrockbowling.com
