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The Avengers

Mar 10, 2025 By Matthew Berlyant Photography by Greg Fasolino Web Exclusive

If you’d told me back in the early nineties when I was a wide-eyed teenager obsessed with The Pink Album and late seventies CA punk in general that I would get to see The Avengers once every few years (or more) in this century, I would’ve told you that you were optimistic, but crazy. At that point, they’d been LONG broken up (since 1979). They didn’t reunite (with principals Penelope Houston on vocals and Greg Ingraham on guitar alongside younger Bay Area musicians on bass and drums) until the late nineties, first as The (Sc)avengers and then under their rightful and proper name in this century.

In this century, however, this was my seventh time seeing them, and as always, they didn’t disappoint. Opening with “Cheap Tragedies,” Houston and Ingraham (alongside longtime rhythm section Joel Reader on bass and Luis Illades on drums) rolled through an hour-long set that (as always) highlighted their unbelievably brilliant 1977-1979 run, with some highlights including “Thin White Line,” “Corpus Christi”, and of course their “hit,” the Dangerhouse single A-side “We are the One.”

They did do a few more modern numbers as well, though, including some of Houston’s solo material, the first time I’d ever seen them play that material live. Specifically, we got her 1996 song “Glad I’m a Girl” and a late nineties collaboration between lifelong fan Billie Joe Armstrong (from some other Bay Area bands) called “Angel and the Jerk” that Houston introduced as a divorce song. Both were treats to hear, but when the set concluding with their iconic, rousing cover of The Rolling Stones’ immortal “Paint it Black” (my favorite version of the song has always been their cover if I’m being honest) followed by an equally rousing “The American in Me” (with lyrics that haven’t aged a day, sadly, except for perhaps the SLA reference), it left this old punk rocker with a big smile on my face.

Another great thing about seeing The Avengers is that over the years, they’ve often had great openers. This night was no exception as Boston three-piece band Lupo Citta (featuring Come/Codeine legend Chris Brokaw on guitar and vocals) and NYC based “post-riot grrl” band Adult Human Females. With a searing, raw punk sound, a vocalist who likes to go out into the audience and songs (and shirts) proclaiming support for trans rights in particular, they are a vocal, political, and proud punk act that is badly needed in times like this one. Watch them closely!