The Real McKenzies

Once every six months or so, I see (or hear) someone ask: Are there ever punk or metal shows in this town?

And for the 17 years I’ve been here, the answer has always been “yes” — though in varying degrees of prominence, frequency and visibility.

We’ve had stretches where big-name heavy bands like Black Flag, The Melvins, Strapping Young Lad, Machine Head, Circle Jerks, Cattle Decapitation, Halestorm, the Dead Kennedys and GWAR played big shows at sizable local venues. Heck, Mastodon and Korn played what’s now Hayden Homes Amphitheater! (Not together.)

But more consistently, Central Oregon’s punk and metal scene has often been kept alive by DIY promoters bringing smaller bands to local bars, after-hours restaurants, sympathetic tattoo shops, empty warehouses and, well, just about any spot with some square footage and a willingness to host a night that could get wild.

Most of this kind of stuff is happening at Silver Moon Brewing and The Capitol in downtown Bend, and it’s happening thanks to longtime promoters like 1988 Entertainment and the Bend Pyrate Punx, a local chapter of a loosely affiliated network of punk-show facilitators active across the Western U.S.

The Pyrate Punx are behind this weekend’s return of The Real McKenzies, a band from Vancouver, Canada that has been cranking out anthemic, high-energy Celtic punk rock for more than 30 years. They’ll play at The Capitol on Sunday night.

There are dozens of former members of the McKenzies, but the core of the band (and its namesake), singer Paul McKenzie, has been dedicated to the Celtic punk movement since Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly were mere gleams in their mama’s eyes. Even so, they still sound great; the McKenzies’ most recent album, 2022’s “Songs of the Highlands, Songs of the Sea,” is 36 minutes of fist-pumping, bagpipe-blowing, tradition-minded fun.

If You Go

What: The Real McKenzies, with It’s Chaos and Redhead Bombshell

When: 7 p.m. Sunday

Where: The Capitol, 190 NW Oregon Ave., Bend

Cost: , $20 in advance, $25 at the door,

Contact: realmckenziesbend.brownpapertickets.com.

What: Zao, with Body Void, Mouth For War, Godcollider and FOES

When: 8 p.m. June 16, doors open 7 p.m.

Where: The Capitol, 190 NW Oregon Ave., Bend

Cost: $25

Contact: 1988entertainment.com.

Then on Friday, June 16, The Capitol will host a very different kind of punk show thanks to the efforts of 1988 Entertainment. This one is headlined by Zao, a long-running West Virginia metalcore band that fuses elements of heavy metal and hardcore punk. Zao comes out of the same wave of metalcore as bands like Converge, Hatebreed and Earth Crisis, which as you might guess means their music isn’t exactly “fun” like The Real McKenzies. Indeed, Zao’s sound is brutally heavy and harsh, bringing together jagged guitar riffs, snarled vocals and dark lyrical themes.

The June 16 bill features a number of bands, and any or all of them might be great. But one I know is great is Body Void, a band that started in the Bay Area and moved to New England before releasing their incredible 2021 album “Bury Me Inside This Rotting Earth.”

If a slo-mo collision of snail’s pace doom metal, blackened crust punk and grimy noise is your thing, make sure you get to the show early enough to catch Body Void.