Sticklers plan one last gig Saturday

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Punk rockers The Sticklers — Otto, Alex and Dave Noodle — will break up after a final concert Saturday night at the Pink Cadillac. Advertiser library photo The Sticklers: The Last Show With Secretions and Buckshot Shorty 6:30 p.m. Saturday $5 Pink Cadillac 946-6499, 256-5992 Also: The Tanner Boyle Quartet plays today at 10 p.m. at Coffee Factory, 1372 S. King St. Also playing: Mindless Rebellion and Black Square. $5.

"It's just time. It was my decision," said vocalist/guitarist Dave Noodle, about his move to end one of Honolulu's more enduring punk-inspired bands. "I didn't really get tired of it, but it's been five years ... so it's just time to end it already."

If not exactly one of the more polished bands playing the Honolulu club scene, certainly one of the most energetically entertaining, The Sticklers were a reliable presence at many local punk shows. One of the band's first big gigs was playing the local-act stage at January 1998's Honolulu stop of the Vans Warped Tour; one of its last was a well-received opening slot at The Strokes' sold-out World Café concert in February.

Noodle said the band had gone "pretty much as far as we could go" locally, and he wanted to end it on a high note.

"It was always just about fun. It wasn't about making money or anything," said Noodle. "And a lot of (the break-up) has to do with it not being fun, to tell you the truth. For me, at least, it became almost like a job. And I have a real job, so I really don't need that."

Noodle admitted that the rest of the band — first-name-only-please bassist/vocalist Otto and drummer Alex — didn't initially share his desire to end the group, but eventually agreed. The band gets along well enough, said Noodle, "but we don't really hang out anymore. The three of us all kind of do our own thing."

Otto and Alex have kept part-time residencies in other bands for some time. Noodle has led The Tanner Boyle Quartet (named after one of the Bad News Bears' littlest hellions) for the last few months.