It was night one of a weekend music and ink festival. Musink went off without a hitch and the bands of night one really knew how to get the festival started.

I walked around the grounds for awhile while waiting for the music to start. There were two warehouses full of tattoo artists giving tattoos to all who wanted them. The place was filled with people inked from head to toe and many donning beautiful mohawks and hair colors. The best thing I saw, however, were parents who brought their children out to enjoy the punk rock sounds of Rancid, Sick of it All, and the Interrupters.

Rancid went on at about 8:45 PM, and played till 10 PM.  It was an early night for a punk rock show, but leave it to Orange County to put such curfew on a rad event. The show took place in an airplane hangar on the Costa Mesa Fairgrounds. Rancid played all their hits at the end of the show, but the crowd didn’t come to see the hits.  These were true fans of Rancid and upon hearing the first chords of just about every song the crowd erupted in cheer and the mosh pit moved fast and moved violently.  People crowd surfed and fell on their heads, but it was all in good fun, I did not see anyone get hurt.  However there is always that one asshole in the pit who takes things a little too far. Nothing got too outta control though.

Before Rancid hit the stage, punk rock veterans. Sick of it All came on and really got things moving. These guys out of New York came in wanting to show LA and OC what New York hard core was all about. Pete Koller was on stage like a mad man with his blue bandana and his swollen arms. He ran all over the stage jumping and never letting up.

The Interrupters started the night off, and they did it well. The band is produced by Tim Armstrong of Rancid and they got the early comers nicely primed for the show that was to come. People wasted no time at all getting the pit moving. It was a real nice surprise to hear them cover Tim Armstrong’s former project Operation Ivy by doing Sound System.

Check out our photos below of MUSINK Day 1 featuring Rancid, Sick Of It All, The Interrupters and tons of fans enjoying the madness.

Photography & Words: Wes Marsala
Originally written for GrimyGoods.Com, March 23, 2015