Hollywood punks The Mainliners hit Backstage at Revel on a December Monday

The young LA band plays Albuquerque's 300-capacity room on Monday, Dec. 14, with The Nu-Viles on the bill.

A Monday-night punk show sorts the crowd fast: nobody in the room is there by accident. That's the setup on Monday, Dec. 14, when The Mainliners play Backstage at Revel with The Nu-Viles on the bill. The show starts at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are on sale through eTix following the Oct. 28 announcement.

The room holds about 300, which is the right size for this band at this point. It's small enough to feel packed on a weeknight, and big enough that the pit has somewhere to go.

If the name is new to you: The Mainliners are a Hollywood punk band formed in 2020 and fronted by singer Cash Mathieu. In a 2024 conversation with UC San Diego's KSDT, the band talked through the offbeat way they made their debut EP, *Mainliner Motel*, and explained that their name loosely borrows from Social Distortion's *Mainliner: Wreckage From the Past*. That's a good clue to where they come from. Café Du Nord's artist page pitches them to fans of TSOL, Descendents, D.I., Circle Jerks and The Adolescents, a list that reads like a map of Southern California punk.

A list that reads like a map of Southern California punk.

They've also had some unusually big nights for a band this young. In 2024 they were the only punk act at Tyler, the Creator's Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival, and they've opened for Dropkick Murphys and Bad Religion, including a Spokane date on that tour. Reviewing the New Hampshire stop, Loud Hailer Magazine heard Bad Religion's influence in their sound. That's high praise when Bad Religion is playing after you.

Coming down from amphitheater stages to a 300-cap room is the whole appeal here. You get a band that's learned to play to big crowds, in a space where the singer can see every face in the place.

Backstage at Revel is the smaller of the two rooms at the Revel complex on Alexander Boulevard NE. Revel's own venue page describes it as an intimate space with a stage, bar, greenroom, dance floor and VIP seating, while the Main Stage next door takes up to 3,000. The smaller room has become a regular stop for touring acts working their way up, and a December Monday with a punk bill is the kind of booking it handles well.

The Nu-Viles round out the night, so get there in time for the whole bill. On a school night, a local-feeling lineup and a 7:30 start mean you can see everything and still be home at a reasonable hour, more or less.

Monday shows are a small act of faith on everyone's part: the band driving in, the room booking it, and the 300 people who decide the week can start loud. Be one of them.

Sources: The Mainliners, Albuquerque – eTix (etix.prf.hn); Performance, pride and punk: a conversation with The Mainliners – KSDT (ksdt.ucsd.edu); Mainliner: Wreckage from the Past – Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org); The Mainliners – Café Du Nord (cafedunord.com); The Mainliners – First Avenue (first-avenue.com); Dropkick Murphys and Bad Religion with The Mainliners – Visit Spokane (visitspokane.com); Bad Religion and Dropkick Murphys at BankNH Pavilion – Loud Hailer Magazine (loudhailermagazine.com); Our Venues – Revel (revelabq.com)