Las Vegas Mixtape v8: Vintage Neon, Amped Up Live Music, And Vegan Steak

Track #4: Franks & Deans @The Punk Rock Museum, Western Ave

Las Vegas-based Franks and Deans gloriously mess up “your grandmother’s music.”(Image: courtesy of the band)

Punk rock makes you feel forever young. That’s what was going through my head while watching the irresistibly named Vegas band Franks & Deans (as in Sinatra and Martin) perform for crazy revelers at that fountain of youth known as The Punk Rock Museum. The event was the 60th birthday party for Danny Breeden, once the lead shouter for Vegas hardcore punk band FSP.

Franks & Deans (four musicians and, of course, a dancing showgirl) say they’re here to wreck “your grandmother’s music.” And that’s exactly what they did, with jacked-up punk and ska versions of classics like “This Magic Moment” and “Dream Lover.”

“Those are great songs, and we’re just trying to keep them in the rotation!” they told me after their set in a performance area of the two-floor museum. Keeping every base covered, Franks & Deans also do (from their third album, the pricelessly named “Surfin’ Turf”) an instrumental surf guitar version of Bad Religion’s “American Jesus.”

The band performs on the first Wednesday of every month at the Double Down Saloon, where they just celebrated the 9th anniversary of their “Franks & Deans’ Weenie Roast” show.

Perhaps Vegas’ fun-loving mayor Carolyn Goodman will declare it “Franks and Deans Day” sometime soon.