Reverend Horton Heat brings "Psycho Strung Out Fish Fry' to Vegas HOB with Fishbone and Str

This was quite the show for a Tuesday night on Vegas, with four bands set to play the House of Blues Las Vegas for a rockabilly punk ska party! Dubbed the Psycho Strung Out Fish Fry Tour, with Reverend Horton Heat, Fishbone and Strung Out "cooking it up" on the West Coast tour leg and making an early stop on the tour at Las Vegas' HOB stage.

Opening the show was ska / punk Los Kung Fu Monkeys - seriously! This band has lots of energy - their singer who calls himself Bang Bang and leaps and runs back and forth non stop. The band also features a horn section for a real all around ska sound, a perfect band as the opener for the Psycho Tour, with their high energy and solid musicianship, they set the tone for what was yet to come.

Los Kung Fu Monkeys Photos: Harold Mountain / JustAFan Photos

It was time to party as one of the ultimate dance ska bands took to the stage - punk funk ska soul masters Fishbone got the crowd dancing and shaking for the night! Fishbone was formed way back in 1979 and are celebrating 25+ groundbreaking years, their 'Fish Fry' contribution to the tour feautures four original members - Angelo Moore, John Norwood Fisher, "Dirty" Walter A. Kibby II, Philip "Fish" Fisher playing together for the first time in 25 years - along with longtime members John "JB" Bigham, Rocky George, Jay Armant, and Paul Hampton. Led by the iconic and flashy dresser Angelo Moore (who not only sings but also plays 2 different types of saxophones and a clarinet, and is a snappy dresser too!) Fishbone played a shorter set than we liked, but still managed to get the night in more than full swing with "Bonin' in the Boneyard", "Skankin' To The Beat" and "Party at Ground Zero".

Fishbone Photos: Harold Mountain / JustAFan Photos

Strung Out's more metallic punk rock was next on the bill, kicking off their set with "Everyday" and playing a longer set featuring several songs from their most recent release and 8th studio album Transmission.Alpha.Delta including "Rebellion of the Snakes", "The Animal and the Machine" and "Westcoasttrendkill". According to vocalist Jason Cruz, “Strung out is currently working on a 5-7 song EP entitled Black Out The Sky set to release early summer 2017 on Fat Wreck Chords. BOTS will be a collection of acoustic songs written with a loose theme to match the title. To simply call it an ‘acoustic album’ would not be doing it justice and it very well may be our darkest release yet."

Strung Out Photos: Harold Mountain / JustAFan Photos

Now it was time for a man who many consider the Godfather of modern rockabilly / psychobilly, the Reverend Horton Heat. The Revs music is not to be taken seriously, he injects humor throughout the numerous songs he has on his setlist, with a rollicking rockabilly sound and a lot of laughing and good time to go around. Jim Heath (the Reverend) along with talented standup bass player Jimbo Wallace who has been with him since the beginning, along with Arjuna Contreras on drums round out this talented trio. The Rev has been playing Vegas for many years and it was nice to see him get a decent turnout for a Tuesday night. The headlining set included Rev faves "Psychobilly Freakout", "Baddest of the Bad" and "The Devil's Chasing Me" for a pumped up night of 'Psycho' -billy fun.