Kevin Bronson on October 25th, 2013

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The Last were pop-punk before you were. Formed in Hermosa Beach around the time a certain peanut farmer was elected President of the United States, the quartet built around the brotherly alliance of Joe, Mike and David Nolte made a brand of irascible power-pop that, for all its attitude and sharp edges, wasn’t quite as vicious as the band’s South Bay hardcore brethren. The Last’s 1979 debut on the legendary Bomp! Records, “L.A. Explosion!,” remains a stone-cold classic, and the band went on to release music on the also-legendary SST label before dissolving in the 1990s. Fast-forward to 2013, when, it turns out, we have not heard the last from the Last. On Nov. 5, a new incarnation of the band will issue “Danger” (via End Sounds). If you’re counting, it’s the Last’s seventh full-length, and it features two-thirds of the Noltes – Joe and Mike – joined by one-half of Descendents, Bill Stevenson and Karl Alvarez. If the Last were twentysomethings obsessed with skateboards, girls and cheap beer, they might be FIDLAR. But as “Danger” demonstrates, memories run long, and the Last’s ability to articulate those feelings is still keen. Nice one.

||| Stream: The Last, ‘Take Care of Her’