ENGLISH TRANSLATION:      It amazes me over and over again how some bands manage to reunite after many years of abstinence and to even record a brand new album with all original band members. This applies for SYMBOL SIX from California, who in the early 1980’s seemed to play their part of the then somewhat infamous and sometimes extreme West L.A. Punk scene ( at the time they played together with now such legendary bands like SOCIAL DISTORTION, AGENT ORANGE & THE ADOLESCENTS). Mosters 11 especially excites me since the five guys display a rather charismatic and engaging live stage presence, which also reflects on the studio tracks. Lead singer Eric Leach is responsible for the lyrics which often seem to have a sarcastic undertone; raw energy and noise is generated by the two guitarists. The opening track ,,Napalm Love “ rocks straight away and man(woman) better warns the neighbors that they are about to be hit with a rather heavy dose of punk rock. My personal favorite is ,,Sticks N’ Stones “. Every time I hear the first guitar riffs I literally feel like a woman possessed. Legendary DJ Rodney Bingenheimer at Los Angeles Rock Station KROQ, who has been lending a helping hand to bands like THE RAMONES, THE SEX PISTOLS and SONIC YOUTH in their early days has been playing ,,Sticks N’ Stones” on air by the way. Drummer Phil George is also getting himself noticed, for instance, on ,,Dog Days “ and in my humble opinion enjoys an excellent reputation. ,,Go” and ,,Slave” bring out Eric Leach’s husky voice and once again one can imagine how he carries the audience as a total bundle of energy. ,,Monsters 11”- it’s quite simple: 40 minutes of unbridled power and joy of playing from a band that will bring the punk revolution back to live once more with punk ‘n roll in Orange County. (Symbol Six Music – Release: 09/2010) Svenja GERMAN TRANSLATION: Ich bin immer wieder aufs Neue erstaunt, wie einige Bands es schaffen, sich nach vielen Jahren der Abstinenz wieder zusammen zu finden, und dann auch noch in der Originalbesetzung ein neues Album einzuspielen. So auch SYMBOL SIX aus Kalifornien, die Anfang der 80er Jahre kräftig mitten in der damals ziemlich berüchtigten und manchmal auch extremen West-L.A.-Punk-Szene mitgemischt haben (damals spielten sie zusammen mit heute so legendären Gruppen wie SOCIAL DISTORTION, AGENT ORANGE und the ADOLESCENTS). ,,Monsters 11” begeistert mich vor allem, da die fünf Jungs live eine sehr charismatische und mitreißende Bühnenpräsenz haben, die sich auch auf den Studiotracks widerspiegelt. Leadsänger Eric Leach ist verantwortlich für die Texte, die oft mehr als leicht sarkastisch angehaucht sind; geballte Energie und Lautstärke wird von den beiden Gitarristen erzeugt. Gleich beim ersten Stück ,,Napalm Love” geht es ordentlich zur Sache, und am besten warnt man (Frau) gleich mal die Nachbarn vor, dass es eine ordentliche Dosis Punkrock um die Ohren gibt. Mein persönlicher Lieblingssong ist ,,Sticks N Stones”. Ich habe jedes Mal nicht schlecht Lust, wie eine Besessene quer durch die Gegend zu fegen, sobald ich die ersten Gitarrenriffs höre. ,,Sticks N Stones” wird übrigens vom legendären DJ Rodney Bingenheimer/Los Angeles Rock Station KROQ gespielt, der schon nicht ganz unbekannte Bands wie THE RAMONES, THE SEX PISTOLS und SONIC YOUTH ein wenig in ihren Anfangstagen auf die Sprünge geholfen hat. Auffällig und eindeutig herauszuhören ist auch Schlagzeuger Phil George z.B. bei ,,Dog Days”, der meines Erachtens einen exzellenten Ruf genießt. Bei ,,Go” und ,,Slave” kommt Eric Leachs rauchige Stimme gut zur Geltung, und man kann sich wieder einmal gut vorstellen, wie er als totales Energiebündel das Publikum live mitreißt. ,,Monsters 11” – es ist ganz einfach: 40 Minuten ungebremste Power und Spielfreude von einer Band, die mit Punk’n’Roll die neue Punkrevolution in Orange County wieder mit aufleben lässt! (Symbol Six Music – VÖ: 09/2010)            pd

Click photo to see interview

Read the original article with addition performance photos at Digital Diversion

Symbol Six kicked off their Liquor Store Tour with Soul Trash at San Francisco’s Thee Parkside on a miserable, rainy Tuesday night. Originally making their name in the early 80’s with a critically acclaimed (and now collectible) EP released on Posh Boy Records, Symbol Six recently returned from the abyss.  Proving that they’re no nostalgia act, the band released  Monsters 11 last year and have since been gigging up a storm throughout California.

While the inclement weather may have kept some people away, it didn’t slow Symbol Six as they blasted through a set of the old and not so old. Their brand of punk rock tinged with metal riffage may have made them ahead of their time back in 1980, but songs like Taxation, Napalm Love and (my favorite) Dog Days stand up equally well today. Be sure to check them out if they’re passing through your town. Liquor Store Tour dates:

Feb 15th – San Francisco, CA – Thee Parkside
Feb 16th – Portland, OR – Kelly’s Olympian
Feb 17th – Bremerton, WA – The Charleston
Feb 18th – Marysville, WA – JR Phinickey’s
Feb 19th – Kamloops, BC, Canada – Pogue Mahone’s
Feb 20th – Vancouver, BC, Canada – Funky Winkerbean’s
Feb 21st – Seattle, WA – 2 Bit Saloon
Feb 22nd or Feb 23rd – Citrus Heights, CA – The Fire Escape
Feb 24th – San Jose, CA – The Willow Den
Feb 25th – San Luis Obispo, CA – The 2 Club
Feb 26th – Los Angeles, CA – The Steel Pit
Feb 27th – Orange County, CA – The Doll Hut
Feb 28th – Riverside, CA – The Vibe
Mar 3rd – San Diego, CA – The Shakedown

From June 5th, 2011 – Rhino Records who has had a long standing with the music scene and thanks to them in many respects, brought us releases from bands that the establishment labels would not have released. As part of their tradition of keeping the fun going, they opened up the Rhino Records Pop Up Store on Santa Monica Blvd in West Los Angeles complete with a temporary chalked in RHINO sign.

For a couple short weeks some 30 bands would play free shows at the pop up store in the back section of the store and the closing night that is coming up on June 12th will feature Wayne Kramer! The store itself is chock full of music goodies of vinyl, CDs, DVD’s and more all at prices that were just way to hard to pass up.

The Sunday, June 5th show was an homage to Posh Boy Records (www.poshboy.com) with bands that graced the label in it’s formidable years. Performing live sets were Symbol Six, The Crowd, Channel 3 and there is no denying that the fact that these bands are still together today and playing to large audiences all over is a testament to the genius that Posh Boy had for picking bands. The pop up show performances were to benefit MusiCares to which Posh Boy did make a generous donation to.

Opening up the show was The Ingrates who for the most part performed cover songs of other Posh Boy bands to help kick things off. Some of the songs included. Life of Crime, Black and Red, Sex Beat and I Love Bugs (Drugs), Corpus Christi and I Got Power by The Avengers, I Got a Right and TV Love to name a few. Next up was Cerritos, California’s own, Channel 3 followed by The Crowd and closing out the night was Symbol Six.

See full article here on Bigwheel Online Magazine.

-From StrangeReaction.com on June 10, 2011.  Read full story here.

Now, the band that has stripped James Brown of the title of “Hardest Working Man in Show Business,” Symbol Six. These guys are in perpetual motion. If they aren’t playing, they are recording, if they’re not recording, they are on the radio, not on the radio? Then they are being interviewed. And each time I see them it seems like their crowd has doubled, yet again.

Side note here: On May 30, 2011, Rodney Bingenheimer played Sticks N’ Stones off of their Monsters 11 album, and even announced the Rhino Show.

They are one of the very few bands that played back in the eighties that seem to have more young fans than the older throwback crowd.

As soon as they hit the stage the crowd went ape-shit. A full-on slam-pit erupted, bodies flying off the stage, people banging all over the place. The funniest moment was when the pit was going so hard, I was standing in the back of the room, behind the DJ booth/table, and this one guy gets slammed so hard he hits the table, pinning me against the wall, knocking CD’s, and albums everywhere, me, and some girl who was standing next to me are grabbing all the equipment before it hits the floor, and the guy stands up, fixes his t-shirt, and launches himself back into the pit.

Symbol Six played their classic tracks from the Posh Boy EP, Ego, Symbol Six, Taxation, and Beverlywood. The great thing about these tracks is as they are being played everybody in the joint is singing along, and pumping their fists. In many ways these songs don’t belong to Symbol Six anymore, they are the soundtrack to my generation’s youth, our anthems (doesn’t mean we’ll be collecting royalties, though).

And then faster that you can turn from the Spice channel to Desperate Housewives when your wife walks in the room, Symbol Six steamrolls into their modern classics, like Dog Days, and Go. And again everybody is singing along, and pumping their fists, but this time it’s everybody who is about ten years younger than me (that is if I was 35, it’s my story . . . I could be 35).

Much like all Symbol Six shows, as soon as they hit the stage the front row fills up with photographers, and people with video cameras. They stay until the slam-pit sends them to the nosebleed section. Like I’ve said before their buzz is out there, and everyone is trying to record it.

The audience was a definite who’s who of punk rock, Mike Vallejo of Circle One, Mike Villalobos of The Gears, Michelle Flipside, and her husband Mike, and a truckload of other people who’s names I couldn’t place.

One of the many highlights of the evening was standing outside talking to Symbol Six drummer Phil George (who by the way is probably the best drummer in L.A. right now), and watching people come over in droves telling him the usual cool stuff, “great set,” or “you’re a great drummer,” and then as they leave they would shake my hand say to me “dude, great set!” It was funny, so I would say “thanks, I’ve been rehearsing.” And last but not least Bruce Moreland of The Weirdos, Nervous Gender, and Wall of Voodoo DJ’d the whole night, before, and after the bands.

My overall assessment, this one is for the record books!

-From StrangeReaction.com on June 10, 2011.  Read full story here.

SYMBOL SIX/Monsters II (Self Released) Some cool down n dirty punk rock, not hardcore, but punk rock. Punk rock like it used to be with bands like DOA, Circle Jerks, etc. I really liked this as not many bands this style and they rip out some wicked punk rock with a fury. I love the singer he has a perfect punk rock voice as he sings the songs in a raw sort of shouted way, the way punk rock should be. Production is not over polished and keeps that raw sound. I looked at the bands bio and they have been around since 82 so no wonder they sound like they do. This is some great punk rock played the way punk rock was meant to be played and if your old school then you’ll love this as this is just great.

From the November 1, 2010 review found at Big Wheel On Line Magazine

There are bands that have their “day”, fade away and are never to be heard from again. Then there are some bands that find a way to regroup with questionable old timey members and try to rehash some sort of spirit or sound that they clearly lost a decade or more ago. Thankfully for the force known as Symbol Six they can boast not falling into the aforementioned categories.

Symbol Six’s’ “Monsters 11” record showcases old schoolers playing dangerous Punk rock with attitude that’d you’d expect from LA Punk veterans, but also a sense of maturity in writing and sound that can only come with having been around since the hey day of the first wave of LA hardcore. Having been featured on Rodney on the Roq’s program back in 1981, Symbol Six have cred nearly 30 years in the making. This new record does nothing to diminish the cred or integrity of this band.

This album rocks you from opening track “Napalm Love” all the way till album closer “Long Way Home”, where themes of self empowerment and ill fated death are present. Though instead of non stop break neck paced blasts on every track there are well crafted verses and choruses that usually only come from writers who have been around the block a few times musically.

Vocalist Eric Leachs’ powerful presence is felt throughout all of the album often sounding youthful yet mature, in a way that’s raspy and almost southern like, reminiscent of the Dogs D’Amour. Guitarist Tazz Rudd’s leads are well fitted for the vocal stylings of Eric’s and often compliment the gritty melodies provided throughout each track. The two seem perfect together as the songs take off whenever there are leads following Eric’s barking vocals.

It’s a shame Symbol Six hadn’t stayed together through the years, for they could have been a really great band up there headlining with the likes of Social Distortion or Bad Religion. “Monsters 11” though is a sure sign of a band that never lost passion for a music style that was deemed unfashionable by the mid to late 80’s. In the year 2010 its more than just alive, it’s once again relevant. Pick this up if you’re into hearing a modern twist on a vintage LA sound, you will be pleased.