MusInk — a portmanteau combining the words music and ink. It’s where the love of music and tattoos blend into a bloody, sweaty, alcohol-infused mix for one weekend every year in southern California. Part tattoo expo, part music festival. While nothing out of the ordinary was lined up for the ink ‘n needle part of the festival, it took one glance at the line-up for the sixth edition of MusInk to be transported back to the glory days of the Warped Tour. Without question, the musical talent on this year’s bill could have been found in any of the Warped Tour rosters during the 1990s: Bad Religion, Pennywise, Lagwagon, Reverend Horton Heat, The Vandals — these bands would become tour veterans, thus introducing my generation and those to come after me to the new and old school punk sound that angered parents, was condemned by the church, and instigated all of those who represented authority.

MusInk — three days of bleeding skin, bleeding ears, and beer. Exhausting? Yes. But like they say, “You can sleep when you’re dead.”

Friday, March 8th

Showing up to the fairgrounds, I was pretty surprised to see such a large crowd for the first night of the festival. Perhaps having two big names like The Vandals and Bad Religion top the card helped draw in the people. Once inside, I found the festival layout to be essentially the same as it was the past year: two exhibition halls, one for tattooing booths and merchandise, the other a venue for the music. Ridiculously expensive food and drink vendors outlined the grassy areas, soggy from the hard rain during the daytime hours, which cleared up at night.

The tattoo expo hall was packed with people, both those looking and those who were actually in the process of getting inked. People lined the aisles looking at flash art, paintings, clothing, and in some cases each other, discussing different pieces of art that occupied their bodies. It’s really amazing to see a collection of artists in such a small space, especially when you consider the fact that these people are busy creating art in the mix of all the noise and commotion.

As the time drew near for The Vandals to come to the stage for their 30-minute set, those in the tattoo hall began to drift over to the music hall, shuffling in with their bandages and beers. While their set was rather short, The Vandals came out strong, performing such notable tunes as “Urban Struggle,” “Anarchy Burger,” and “I’ve Got An Ape Drape.” Their whimsical stage show loosened up the crowd, with bassist Joe Escalante playing the straight man to vocalist Dave Quackenbush’s and guitarist Warren Fitzgerald’s quirky and sporadic stage presence. Their 30-minute set ended with their cover of Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now,” a song sung by Fitzgerald — all while jumping around on stage, acting like a spazz.

Bad Religion headlined this first evening of MusInk with a set that featured some of the old and some of the new. Playing quite a few selections from their latest album True North, as well as some perennial tunes such as “You,” “Infected,” and “21st Century Digital Boy.” A noted absence to the set was founding member Brett Gurewitz, who usually makes most of Bad Religion’s southern California shows. Not having that third guitar really limits that sound you get when Gurewitz is on stage with fellow guitarists Brian Baker and Greg Hetson. Even with the band limited to two guitars, their performance was nothing short of stellar. Lead vocalist Greg Graffin can still belt it out, and drummer Brooks Wackerman continues to shine as the band’s youngest member.

One of the most memorable moments came when the lights were brought down during the introduction of “Fuck Armageddon This Is Hell.” With the hall in complete darkness, the crowd took out their lighters and raised them to the sky. Along with singing along and forming a circle pit, the crowd seemed to fully enjoy Bad Religion’s presence at this year’s MusInk.

Saturday, March 9th

Day two of MusInk proved to be the climax of the event, with a musical lineup including TSOL, Lagwagon, and Pennywise. The crowd intensified — not only in size, but in aggression and energy. The evening started with a half-hour set by local OC boys TSOL. Squeezed into their performance were songs like “Abolish Government” and “Superficial Love.” Their set ended with probably their most well-known tune, “Code Blue” — a song that is often mislabeled on file-sharing websites as “I Wanna Fuck The Dead,” or simply “Fuck The Dead.” With the crowd pumped up courtesy of Jack Grisham and the rest of TSOL, the stage was set for the more modern punk act Lagwagon.

What you get from Lagwagon in a live setting is quite like what you get from them on any one of their seven studio albums: super-fast melodic punk rock. The energy put forth by lead vocalist Joey Cape and his cohorts added to that energy put into the crowd by TSOL and intensified it tenfold. “Violins” and “May 16” were just two of the many tracks that they jammed into their short set. When Cape announced they were ending their set with a cover song, I was expecting their cover of Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl,” which is simply awesome. But they went with something a little more fitting for this particular crowd in the form of Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades.”

In the moments before Pennywise triumphantly took the stage to close out day two of MusInk, the crowing of Miss MusInk 2013 took place on the concert stage in front of the amped-up crowd. The contest pitted several tattooed hotties against each other and was judged by several tattoo artists included in the Sullen Art Collective, as well as a special judge, porn star Christy Mack. The winner was announced to be Danielle from Sacramento, California. But as soon as the winner was announced, the cheers and applause turned into chants of “Pennywise! Pennywise! Pennywise!” This crowd was fully charged, ready to explode as soon as Jim, Fletcher, Byron, and Randy would take the darkened stage.

This particular performance by Pennywise was special due to Jim Lindberg’s recent return to the band after leaving Pennywise more than three years ago to spend more time with his family. Much of Jim’s time leading up to his departure was documented in the documentary The Other ‘F’ Word. The documentary looks at the transition of being a male in a punk band to becoming a responsible adult and family man. Jim was replaced with Ignite’s Zoli Teglas — that was, until late 2012 when a back injury sidelined Teglas from a European tour and Lindberg filled in and eventually rejoined the band.

Taking the stage in total darkness, the band opened up their set with “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.” From beginning to end, the crowd’s response was insane. It literally was like a human storm of circle pits, crowd surfers, and screamed lyrics opened up in the expo hall. The crowd fed off of Lindberg’s amazing stage presence and energy — getting as close to the crowd as he could from the stage, even slapping five with crowd surfers who ended their ride in the hands of the security guards in front of the barricades. At one point the band was joined on stage by a chihuahua weaning a sombrero, who cuddled up in Lindberg’s arms. “Someone get some earplugs for this thing,” Lindberg stated as he handed the dog to someone offstage.

The mood of Pennywise’s set really acted as the shining moment of this year’s festival. The positivity, along with the energy, really said it all as they pumped out song after song including “Same Old Story,” “Living For Today,” “Fuck Authority,” and “Pennywise.” They also threw in a cover of Black Flag‘s “Gimme Gimme Gimme” and Beastie Boys’ “Fight For Your Right To Party.” In traditional form, they ended with what could be considered their “theme song,” “Bro Hymn” — the tribute song to their former bassist Jason Thirsk. With the stage crashed by onlookers from backstage, the evening came to a dramatic close. All that was left were beer cups, miscellaneous articles of clothing, and the slick sweat-drenched ground where the circle pit revolved only minutes before.

Sunday, March 10th

Pulling into the parking lot of the OC Fairgrounds, I could see that the last day of MusInk 2013 was going to be quite different than the evening before. Besides, this evening’s entertainment was geared to be a bit more mellow than the fast punk rock of the night before. It was also immediately clear that the crowds were going to be quite smaller in size in comparison to the two previous nights. The tattoo expo hall was quite empty around mid-afternoon. Most booths with artists were mellow, most not tattooing but rather drawing or talking with one another. Yes, this was definitely the calm after the storm known as Pennywise.

In the music hall, I was caught off-guard by the band Vinnie and The Hooligans. I caught only the last 10 minutes of their set, but was impressed by their musical style, which was kind of reminiscent of Flogging Molly with more of a bluegrass feel. These OC boys were the last-minute replacement for The Headcat, who were scheduled to play the festival, but due to a case of bronchitis caught by Mr. Motorhead himself, Lemmy Kilmister, had to cancel. Even with only catching a small bit of their set, I really enjoyed their style.

Next up was Jonny Two Bags, the side project for Social Distortion guitarist Jonny Wickersham. His band is made up of bass guitar, drums, and Wikersham on electric and acoustic guitar, organ, and steel guitar. Unlike most of the material played by his main band, Jonny Two Bags is more laid back, with mix of Americana roots rock and roll and a hint of country, courtesy of the use of steel guitar. Wickerham’s vocals and the feel of some of the songs were reminiscent of Tom Petty and Neil Young.

As Jonny Two Bags finished up, I took in the crowd. It had the feeling of a hangover: lazy and tired, especially considering many of those in attendance likely attended the night before or even the first two nights. Wickersham even joked about Pennywise’s set during his band’s set. “Can you guys go crazy like that?” he asked the crowd, referring to the insane circle pit created the night before. With less in attendance than the two previous days and the toned-down style of music, it felt like a totally different festival.

Memphis’s Lucero would take the stage after Jonny Two Bags, with their heartfelt country-driven rock sound. Lucero is a band whose name I’ve seen for years but never had the chance to check out. Amazingly, these guys have put out 10 studio albums since forming in 1998. As with the two previous bands, the music was perfect for a lazy day Sunday evening, with the soulful voice and riveting lyrics of lead vocalist Ben Nichols. Nichols does a great job telling a story, such as with his performance of “Kiss The Bottle.” That tune was followed by “Sweet Little Thing,” which picked up the pace a bit.

The mellowness of the evening would vanish with the final performance of MusInk 2013, provided by punkabilly veterans Reverend Horton Heat. These guys have been around for more than 25 years and continue to tour almost nonstop. Opening up with the super-charged “Psychobilly Freakout,” the calmness went away as head boppin’ and foot tappin’ took over — though tame compared to the monster of a pit from only 24 hours earlier, a smaller circle pit quickly formed. The band would go on to play some crowd favorites such as “400 Bucks,” “Big Red Rocket Of Love,” and “Martini Time,” but would spend most of their set playing alongside of California rockabilly mainstay Deke Dickerson and his signature double guitar.

Deke and the Rev (Jim Heath) went on to play some twin guitar during the song “The Millionaire” and “Double Neck Boogie.” They also covered Webb Pierce’s “There Stands The Glass,” and lastly performed Deke’s rendition of Jimmie Rodgers’ “Mule Skinner Blues.” The band finished off their set with “Baddest of the Bad,” letting all three members take the spotlight in solos before ending the song, and thus bringing a close to the festival.