Recap: The Suicide Machines family at Reggies

Break Anchor at Reggies Rock Club on Friday

The Suicide Machines came through Chicago on Friday night to play their classic album, Destruction By Definition, in full and they brought their whole family of bands with them. Derek Grant, who was The Suicide Machines drummer during the Destruction By Definition era, sat in on drums with the band during this tour as their current drummer could not make it. Derek Grant, of course, now drums with Alkaline Trio. In addition to his duties with The Suicide Machines, Grant played a solo acoustic set. He released his debut solo album, Breakdown, in January.

Break Anchor, a pop punk band featuring The Suicide Machines' lead singer Jay Navarro, also opened. This show was full of Detroit love. Bastardous, featuring The Suicide Machines' bassist Rich Tschirhart, played third on Friday night. This is the newest band of the bunch, having formed in 2013. They have a couple songs up on bandcamp.

One of the highlights of The Suicide Machines' set was "Face Values." Derek Grant took lead vocals on this one after explaining that he wrote this song back in the 1990s. The Suicide Machines often play a lot of songs off Destruction at their shows, so the songs that they do not normally play off the album were the most exciting. This was the only time I have ever seen them play the "Vans Song," which they seem to be at least mildly embarrassed about. It was just as fun as it seems like it would be. The band tore through a cover of Black Flag's "Fix Me" and closed out the night with hardcore banger "D.D.T."