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Live Review: Bleached shine in dark colors, with No Parents and Gymshorts, in Allston

With Coachella kicking off about 3,000 miles across the country, Los Angeles punk band Bleached brought a bit of the music and arts festival to Great Scott on Friday night. That partly had to do with roadies adorning all the microphone stands and the drum set with plastic daisies for their headlining set, recalling the flower-crowns being worn in droves by those attending the festival in Bleached’s native California. But it also had to do with the volume of talent packed into a short few hours, as Bleached were joined by Providence’s Gymshorts and fellow Los Angelenos No Parents for a modern punk showcase that filled out the Allston rock club.

The lack of a total sell-out may have been explained by the stiff show competition going on nearby, as post-punk band Parquet Courts played the Paradise just up Commonwealth Avenue, while PINS and the Subways were at Brighton Music Hall just down Harvard Avenue. But there was no denying what was on stage at Great Scott.

Gymshorts have made a name for themselves in Boston, opening up for buzz-worthy punk and indie bands like Twin Peaks and Vundabar, and even managed a spot at last year’s Fuzzstival, a three-day psychedelic rock event in Cambridge. The Rhode Island band finished up their set with their single, “Hey Parents”, a stoner dropout anthem with reimagined lyrics from The Runaways hit “Cherry Bomb”.

Up net were No Parents, and they quickly tapped into some so-called Boston pride. “Matt Damon… check check. Ben… check check”, vocalist Zoe Reign quipped at the start. No Parents warmed up the audience with aggressive pop-punk; the singer and the guitarist took turns careening into the audience in an unsuccessful attempt to start a mosh-pit. Their first song, “Die Hippies Die” set the tone for the cock-rock five-piece. Bleached singerJennifer Clavin was dancing in the front-row during their set, and she gestured to her choice of a flower-skirt to Reign while he sang, indicating her loyalty to the hippies and not the punks. Curiously, the bass player of No Parents removed his shirt before the set began. This apparently was not to show off his tattoos, but to show off the set list, inscribed across his abdomen. They won the audience over with their fast-paced punk and ridiculous songs about taboo sexual favors, disappointed grandmothers, and “cock surfers”, and ended their set with a surprisingly good punk cover of Lenny Kravitz’ ’90s hit “Fly Away”, leaving the audience giggling or utterly confused.

Finally, Bleached took the stage. They packed a high-energy set that managed to follow the acrobatic dynamic of No Parents. Clavin was up and down, rolling on the floor, and hyping up the crowd. Unlike punk bands where the objective is just to be loud, Clavin can actually sing.

The LA band is touring to support their latest release, this month’s Welcome to Worms, an upbeat break-up album that showcases the best songwriting of Clavin’s career. Their set at Great Scott included old favorites, like 2011’s “Think Of You”, a surf punk song that muses about the risks of admitting to romantic feelings. Clavin has said the most recent album was written about an abusive relationship she was in, but has since ended; using music as her means of therapy, she escaped the negative influence in her life: “I can’t keep wasting my emotions on you”, Clavin triumphantly sings from track “Wasted On You”. She’s moved on, and now everything’s coming up daisy.

Follow Jennifer Usovicz on Twitter @jausovicz.