Punk rock to take over Garland Theater in Spring Reverb Bash

The Garland Theater and 2-2-1 Press have partnered for a second time to show off the best of Spokane’s vibrant punk rock scene.

Spring Reverb Bash takes place Friday and Saturday and is the second festival-esque event the duo has held at the Garland in recent months as the venue shifts to live music alongside its usual film showings.

Led by Brett Noble, 2-2-1 Press has heavily focused on producing multiday shows in an effort to showcase the diversity of the local punk rock scene.

“People should realize that Spokane has got a good thing going,” Noble said. “There’s a lot of really cool stuff going on here that I don’t know if everybody can fully appreciate or understand, and so our goal is to try to bring all that together.”

This is also why the event is divided up into three sections – one Friday night set with a Saturday afternoon matinee and evening show as well.

Each section showcases a different sub-genre of local punk. The shows of each night range from more outright punk rock to screamo and indie-punk, whereas the matinee is characterized by the “more aggressive” hardcore groups while simultaneously calling back to an older rock tradition.

“It used to be that lots of hardcore shows had to happen in the afternoon because that was the only time clubs and bars could be all ages,” Noble said.

Noble believes this style of event, which features a much larger number of bands than the usual concert would, helps 2-2-1 Press achieve another, perhaps more important goal: bringing the community together.

It isn’t too often that this large of a group not only gets to perform, but meet and converse with each other as well.

“It’s an opportunity for people to check out what’s going on and for various fans of these different bands to see other adjacent bands in the scene, you know, to try to just build a community,” Noble said. “And help each band cover as much as they can and get exposed to as many people as they can.”

The music rep group 2-2-1 Press also sells paper goods, wearables and decor, and is looking to bring the DIY creative community together via a “punk rock yard sale and gear swap” on Saturday, in which the entrance of the theater will become a marketplace for local art, crafts, clothing and music-related items.

In Noble’s mind, the more people involved in local punk, the more the “punk rock” way of life can be bolstered.

“Punk rock is more than just music, it’s a way of approaching things,” Noble said. “It’s the idea that people can come together and get things done; it’s about cultivating a sense of community.”