Punk Rock Museum’s 2nd Anniversary Celebration

For two years there’s been a collection building in the shadow of the I-15 in Las Vegas that’s curated by a crew of legends that have woven themselves into the culture we call Punk Rock. Founder Fat Mike has taken a journey with NOFX that is coming to its end with the band’s final shows (we’ll see about that), but he’s diversified his time into the Las Vegas Punk Scene with The Punk Rock Museum, and his team has started a community around it like this city has never seen before.

This resurrection of relics that have been sitting in people’s basements and attics for decades gives them another chance to be remembered. Curator Mona Whetzel told us about some of the emotions these things bring with them, like a NYxHC vet that brought his 16 year old son to the museum and saw a flyer he hand drew when he was 16. He hadn’t seen the flyer since he put it on a light pole in the 80s, so being able to share that with his son is a once in a lifetime moment.

Mona: “I watch people come in and they’re so moved by the fact that someone cares as much as they do, and as much as they did when they were a teenager and these things were forming their life and forming who they were as a person. We want to preserve this; this is part of history. This isn’t just some teenage fantasy or something they did when they were a kid, this is something they bring along for the rest of their life”

For two years they’ve been sharing these memories and creating new ones. The tours put on are always a new experience with a rotating who’s who list of Punk Rock Royalty giving curated walk-throughs of personal stories and perspectives of each area. The Museum has also done a monthly patch workshop and puts on shows with local and national acts regularly. Notable is last year’s acoustic performance from SNL alumni Fred Armisen, and there’s always a pop in from bands during Punk Rock Bowling weekend.

Now we’re here to celebrate this collectives 2nd year of existence, and be ready, because these anniversary shows keep getting better and better. We didn’t think the first anniversary with Get Dead and The Vandals could be topped, but we took that back real quick.

The Roundtable

The museum put together a legendary table of ambassadors from all corners of the Punk Rock world to talk about the museum and Punk history. Host George Stroumboulopoulos lead the table with the bassist from L7 and all-around bad-ass Jennifer Finch, photographer Ed Colver, who’s taken some of the most iconic stills of punk’s history, Fat Mike, Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman, T.S.O.L frontman Jack Grisham, and co-founder of the museum/founding bassist of Less Than Jake, Vinnie Fiorello. 

Vinnie described how their idea for a retail shop in Vegas eventually turned into a 12,000 square foot, living and breathing compound full of artifacts that shaped the not-so-humble scene that enticed most of the panel to where they are now. Jennifer’s quote that “Punk is my ‘get out of Van Helen free’ card” hits hard, and gave everyone a good laugh. 

We dove into Kevin’s history in Southern California Punk and work with Warped Tour; hearing how he ran his first Punk show and became hooked to the scene that lead all the way to the founding of Punk Rock Summer Camp. Mike gave credit to Kevin for NOFX playing Warped so many times, saying the way he ran it was so Punk Rock with giving the artist an environment to be themselves. The way Mike describes the backstage life they had with the other bands really does sound like the fantasies every kid in the crowd thought was going on back there. 

One of the best stories they told was about Alien Ant Farm being on Warped in their brief heyday. They spent the entire summer on the side stage, and with a record deal and hit song on the radio, they wanted to get on the headlining stage; a not-so legitimate request which lead to Kevin challenging them with, “You can have the spot, but you need ask the band you’re replacing if it’s okay first.” That band ended up being H2O, and the visual of Alien Ant Farm shuffling their feet up to Toby and the boys from H2O to ask this is hilarious. Kevin’s words were “we had to put them in protective custody after that.”

Jack’s input in the convo displayed the fine line of political correctness that Punk is walking these days. If anyone can align themselves with a disparaged community, it’s the guy who wrote songs about fucking corpses in the 80s, but it seems that even the shock imagery of those words wouldn’t fly these days. He mentioned that back in the day, Punks would get crickets when they brought up politics on stage, but now things are different. 

“I never got a letter from a kid calling me a commie fuck. They do that now.”

When Mike was asked about keeping the museum authentic, his credit was to the entire team, saying “We’re all lifers, so clearly it was going to be authentic. We’ve been doing this for over 40 years and we can’t quit.” It’s so authentic it made Jack’s cynical attitude turn to tears while he was walking through for the first time, comparing it to a scene from “A League of Their Own”. Mike made the joke “There’s no crying in baseball!”, which could only be met by Jack clarifying, “but there is in Punk Rock!”

The full round-table was recorded and will hopefully be available in a podcast soon. Check out George Stroumboulopoulos and the museum’s social accounts for updates.

Roundtable Gallery.

The Dollheads

Another thing Fat Mike brought up in the round table was an upcoming release he’s doing with Vegas Punk powerhouse The Dollheads. The meteoric path this band is taking around the world is amazing to see after their humble beginnings in the valley and local fest like Punk Rock Bowling, and they can’t even get a 21+ wristband yet!

They’ve already dropped the single “Teenage Runaway” with Mike, and if that song’s ode to the genre speaks to what we can expect from a full release, get ready to see these kids on every festival lineup around the country next year.

Hearing that live along with regulars “Desert Girl” and “See You in Hell” in their set shows the growth their going through, and it’s awesome to say it came from a brother/sister/best friend combo that grew up right here in Las Vegas. 

Check out “Teenage Runaway” on Spotify and their Bandcamp.

The Dollheads Gallery.

The Knuckleheadz

From the moment we walked into the parking lot, you could see a takeover of battle vest with P.R.F.C patches all over them. Punk Rock Fight Club is their name, and holy shit, are they here to have a good time. 

When The Knuckleheadz take the stage, it’s an immediate party. With a brotherhood and a crew on stage bigger than Kottonmouth Kings, these guys take the ‘fuck you’ moniker to another level, all while having a fun, family vibe.

Tracks like “Glory Days” really keep that unity vibe going, but an unexpected play on The Cure with “Punks Don’t Cry”, really shows the influence these guys have. The classic sounding “Punk Rock Warriors” goes back to that feeling with a good chant back chorus that gets the crowd going.  

We caught up with the band in the infamous Practice Room upstairs after their set to talk about P.R.F.C and them playing NOFX’s final show. 

ZR: So tell us about Punk Rock Fight Club, you guys are everywhere today. 

The Knuckleheadz: It’s just a brotherhood. All brothers that support each other. Mentally, physically financially, just, you know, it’s a support group and system, a bunch of bad motherfuckers, dog. What we do is just we love and support each other like family, and that’s what the club is about, you know? It’s that, especially with family vibe.

ZR: Who are some of your inspirations in Punk?

The Knuckleheadz: Of course, the old school shit like Black Flag, Circle Jerks, The Germs. Then you get the newer shit, like fucking Bad Engrish, shout to Gordy, I fucking love your dumb ass. 

We like the Pogo Punk, we like Street Punk, we like Hardcore Punk, we like maybe even a little bit of the Crust Punk, not too much, but you know, we like it all, man, and we just have fun.

We were then joined by Fat Mike who told us about a time he almost died at Avenged Sevenfold’s house, which he said can be seen on an upcoming doc they’re releasing, so look for that dropping in the future.

Knuckleheadz Gallery.

Playboy Manbaby

Since our introduction to them at Punk Rock Bowling, we’ve been obsessed with Playboy Manbaby. Frontman Robbie’s style is only matched by his silly attitude he takes on stage. From the start of “The Shit Show”, he takes you on a hilarious journey through tracks dealing with modern societal issues in a witty way that anyone can ingest and love.

“Anxiety Attack” picks things up nicely and has a classic Punk sound, but the comedic “Lizard People” brings us back to a campy style along side some screams that remind me of Dennis from Refused, but then Robbie transitions perfectly into a bit about a local injury attorney on the billboard displayed behind them. He’s on the ball and more present than most front men in the game. 

Other favorites like “Cadillac Car” and “You Can Be a Fascist Too” have become permanent fixtures in our head, so it’s awesome to see them as a regular in the sets still. After the set we had the chance to catch up with Robbie and ask some much awaited questions

ZR: Your style is so unique. Do you take any inspiration from other front men at all?

Robbie: I feel like I very much have tried my hardest to be myself, so I feel like I’ve found a zone where I can be, like, me with an exclamation point. But I definitely see people where I’m like ‘oh yeah, this is someone who I can really relate to’ and that sort of thing. There’s a lot of Devo, Talking Heads, Dead Kennedys where it’s just like, the kind front people who feel very authentic to themselves, but they’re not macho. You know what I mean?

ZR: The politics you bring up are so tongue in cheek. I really enjoy that it’s like, I know what you stand for but it’s also like, does he?

Robbie: It’s all just so insane that you gotta kind of, like, you can’t take it at face value anymore. You can’t look at it like it’s gotta be You gotta just to survive and be like, okay, this is a fucking literal shit show.

We can’t wait to see Playboy Manbaby come back to Vegas. They’re regulars at PRB but hopefully we get another stop before their next festival spot.

Playboy Manbaby Gallery.

Voodoo Glow Skulls

Who do! Voodoo! We do! Fuck you!

After a long stint of Death by Stereo’s Efrem Schulz taking over on vocals, Frank is back to join his brothers for some old school loco times! We love Efrem here but we’re so glad to have the OGs back with Voodoo to “Shoot the Moon”.

A classic Voodoo set if there ever was one. “They Always Come Back” had to be played, but crowd pleasers like “Charlie Brown”, “Insubordination” and “El Coo Coi” take you back to a different time of Punk Rock joy; the days of Punk-O-Rama and 40ozs that you’ll never be able to forget.

We hope to be screaming along with Voodoo until the end of time. Thank you Frank for making it back and giving us a old school, good time for the anniversary.

VooDoo Glowskulls Gallery.

T.S.O.L.

Huntington Beach Punk legends, the True Sounds of Liberty! From the scenes of Suburbia all the way to this stage at Punk Rock Museum, Jack and the boys are here to take us on a journey of debauchery and madness!

If you hadn’t already gotten a taste of Jack’s sense of humor from the round table, you were quickly going to find out. After starting things off with “Sounds Of Laughter” and “Give Me More”, he let us know his true feelings.

“It seems like a lot of you faggots forgot what Punk Rock really is!”

However true that is, the crowd was dead silent besides me, knowing damn well how much shock Jack enjoys (go read his new book if you don’t believe me), laughing my ass off at the utter disbelief from the amount of jaws dropped. It’s true, and if that offends any punk in the crowd, then you’re taking yourself too seriously. Jack capped off the rant by correctly exclaiming, “FEAR couldn’t exist in this climate!”

We didn’t expect anything less. In fact, I thought Jack was well-behaved compared to other dates. Continuing on with favorites “Superficial Love” and “Abolish Government/Silent Majority” gave us a classic T.S.O.L set to send us home. Of course we got the title track from Dance With Me and the inevitable ending of “Code Blue”, to wrap up the set.

TSOL Gallery.

PHOTO CREDIT: All photos by Stephy Muzio (Hayward) for ZRockR Magazine – (c) 2025 – All Rights Reserved