February 2025
Friday, February 21st will see two heavily influential street punk bands headed to Reno’s Virginia Street Brewhouse. Scotland’s The Exploited and Southern California’s Total Chaos are hitting Reno in the midst of the bands’ West Coast tour en route to headlining the Punk Invasion Festival in LA.
Having formed in 1978, The Exploited, fronted by Wattie Buchan, have performed without break over that time, holding steadfastly to their street punk roots. Having seen the commercialization of punk rise, The Exploited have uncompromisingly distanced themselves from watered down, consumable music. While the band will never be heard on the radio or be lumped in with any type of pop punk sound, you’ll most frequently see their patches adorning the backs of jackets of those who have progressed deeper into the old school punk scenes. Confrontational lyrics attacking British heads of state, the imperialistic nature of the United States and selling out, The Exploited have a cult following amongst those into the original spirit of punk rock.
Total Chaos formed in California in the late 80s during a time when much of the scene had moved past punk’s original urgency and anger. At the time, vocalist Rob Chaos doubled down, working with local social justice groups to help feed people in the community, along with putting out his and other bands music through DIY show venues and record labels.
Both bands keep their music simple and direct – having stuck to heavy hitting, pissed off punk rock. Expect circle pits and singalongs for this one. These are the bands that broke down barriers when punk was a targeted and hated scene so that the current generation of DIY punk bands could have a platform.
Tickets available here.
To keep up with future Reno/Lake Tahoe area punk shows, follow Late Nite Productions on Instagram.
