The Riverboat Gamblers light themselves on fire and scream the pleasures and pain of staying lucid in a senses-overloaded-world. They are the raised truck with those nuclear powered high-beams coming up behind you on the freeway and you see it coming but are blinded and before you know it they have run you over. They ripped through their Spaceland set almost without pause. Frontman Mike Wiebe is an ADD brimstone preacher who bounces off the walls until he finds a spot in the song to take it into the crowd. He was often hoisted over the crowd singing; even found the rails of the club to grind as he ran over drinks never missing a beat. On one of his crowd surfing maneuvers he managed to return to the stage with a girl in his arms. Tell me the last time you saw that. This is straight-up in your face amped-out rock n’ roll no filler. The Riverboat Gamblers 2003 release Something to Crow About was an album I must have listened to for a couple years non-stop, and I was screaming along as they played choice cuts: “What’s What,” “Last to Know,” and “Rattle Me Bones.” The Gamblers had some buzz after destroying a Warped Tour, so for us to witness this band still playing bars is lucky, but what is up?…oh maybe that’s where their song “Biz Loves Sluts” belongs in the conversation. They are slated to open for Rancid on an upcoming tour and their new album Underneath the Owl, as with their previous album To The Confusion of Our Enemies, is on the Volcom label. The extreme sportswear/entertainment company seems a good fit. The Riverboat Gamblers blasting through some ear buds as you push yourself down the mountain, around the bowl, twist at the top of a ramp, ride your bike down Glendale Blvd., and even if the fall is inevitable as long as the iPod survives and “Don’t Bury Me…I’m Still Not Dead” is still blaring, your crash will end with a big grin.

—Erik Ehlert