Things change, but not that much.
A couple decades ago, I described Pensacola rock band Cockfight as “scuzz rock.” It was meant as a loving endorsement.
Here it is January 2024 and I’m watching Cockfight on stage at the revered-and-persevering Handlebar , just across from the railroad tracks on Tarragona Street.
Band leader Ethan Manns is a bit grayer now and is old enough to have his son, Dominick, 28, play bass in the band. Still fierce, still charging, the band isn’t quite as scuzzy as before. No, they’re just tighter, louder and more rocking. Actually, the same can be said for the recently reborn Handlebar itself.
The room is packed, bodies nearly pressing in some spots. Some fans, including me, move up front so as to have our eardrums bludgeoned for full rock effect. A few young fans, early 20s, do a wacky dance to the aural carnage. A few old-timers like me just bang our heads a bit.
It’s a scene that could be from almost any era of the Handlebar, which Pensacola dudes Jim Ward, Tom Pilcher and Lee Mabes opened in 1983. Since then, it has earned a reputation as a beloved home for live, original music, drawing some of the biggest names in left-of-the-dial acts in music through its 40-year span −Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies, the Replacements, Run-DMC, Green Day, Dead Milkmen, D.R.I, and so many more making stops, often between New Orleans and Tallahassee gigs.