Noa Deane’s Band Blistar Played In Newport Last Night (With The Line!)

Orange County’s a curious little microcosm of the punk rock, hardcore, and rock and roll world, ain’t it. 

It’s easy to write off the angst-soaked and angry bands that have blossomed beneath the Upper Middle-Class Orange Curtain, and certainly many have. 

“Go ahead, call us a bunch of culture-less, lily-white suburbanites with a partiality to flip-flops and right-wing politics,” writes OC Weekly‘s Nate Jackson, in the intro to their comically confused list* of the top-25 bands to come from the OC. “Those kind of labels never cease to amuse us. Because one thing that instantly dooms most of the tired cliches ascribed to OC is the music–the one-of-a-kind frustration, aggression, soul, righteousness, smartassery and  freaky hallucinations that erupt from our niche…”

Regardless, OC’s benefited from the subcultural phenomenon in myriad ways, not least of which the presence of a handful of epic small venues to listen to really fast, loud music, and no brand in the surf world has embraced the culture more than Volcom over the years. 

Last night, their star stud, Noa Deane, took to the stage at Tiki Bar with his band, Blistar, supporting legendary Bear Lake, CA’s The Line, which you’ll remember from a handful of Volcom’s best early films. 

The night was a damned good time, and we got to hear some of Blistar’s new jams, which Noa, Beau Foster and the boys have been busy recording at Volcom Studios. We caught a glimpse of Volcom’s inimitable filmmaker Ryan Thomas, Mr. Ryan Burch, the Metal Neck crew, including Matt Tromberg and Metal Jimmy, Colin Moran, Jack Coleman, as well as a ton of the OC’s most thoroughbred females—goddamn the place has some beautiful women, eh? 

Scroll through the gallery above, shot by our very own Grumpy Cat, Sam Moody. 

*Which is to say how the fuck does any list include Agent Orange, fucking Atreyu, Dick Dale, and The goddamned Growlers? 

Though, to be fair they got a few right—The Vandals, Ignite, The Righteous Brothers, Tim Buckley—and their placement of Social Distortion at Number 1 seems spot-on (though, again, Sublime at #9 below the fucking Aquabats? come on).