Category: SHOWS

ADULT. at Substance 2025 by Chris Molina

Substance Festival 2025: The Post Pandemic/Post Punk Era

Danny Baraz November 14, 2025

Substance Festival in Los Angeles has become a right of passage in this city and this past November 7th and 8th we attended the 2025 installment in the festival’s return to the Belasco Theater. Approaching this Substance Fest review with any overt enthusiasm would be antithetical to the spirit of the way we revel in the morose nature of this art- the oddly mesmerizing decay of destruction/creation approached with a somewhat detached dreariness that is direct in it’s aloofness. But also… the fucking horrific beauty of it all… or whatever. related: Cloak And Dagger Fest- The Heart Of Los Angeles Bled From Dusk To Dawn Even with the orbits and cycles of pop culture and music circling back to black lipstick among the masses, the mainstream attention can cause a scene to go into lockdown and it’s members more discerning on where they spend their show dollars. So for Substance Festival, it was important to pull in the beating heart of the scene at the increased ticket price. related: Sextile At The Novo- The Most Important Band in Los Angeles? A touch for curation in the dark arts is what scene loyalists look for most and their return to the

The Saints at the Teragram Ballroom: Still Stranded After All These Years

Janky Smooth Central Command November 11, 2025

I never thought I’d ever get the chance to see The Saints live, especially after the passing of frontman Chris Bailey. When I heard the band was reuniting with a new lineup, I had my doubts. The Saints are a legendary Australian band whose influence shaped countless others. But seeing their current incarnation on November 5, 2025 at The Teragram Ballroom, featuring original members Ed Kuepper and Ivor Hay, proved that they truly do justice to the old classics. The lineup was rounded out by Mark Arm (Mudhoney), Mick Harvey (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds/The Birthday Party), and Peter Oxley (The Sunnyboys). Touring as The Saints ‘73-‘78, they focused on the band’s golden years-and it was everything a fan could hope for. Of course all the obligatory “hits” were played like “I’m Stranded” and “This Perfect Day.” The 90-minute set was perfect. related: Cruel World 2025 at The Rose Bowl – We’re Only Happy When It Rains Opening the night were The Chimers, an Australian guitar/drum duo who delivered a driving post-punk set that perfectly set the tone for what was to come. Words and Photos: Albert Licano The Saints at the Teragram Ballroom weren’t just a nostalgia trip-they

Soft Play and KennyHoopla Make WeHo Punk Again at The Roxy

Taylor Wong November 4, 2025

It was Tuesday, September 23, 2025 at the legendary Roxy Theatre on Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood, and the night had that undeniable buzz that only happens when a crowd knows they’re about to witness something unhinged in the best possible way. The audience was young, charged, and balanced; a good mix of people, but it was the women who owned the pit. They slammed, laughed, picked each other up, and set the tone for the night; wild but communal. The lineup was a dream pairing for anyone who still believes live music should leave a bruise: KennyHoopla and Soft Play, two acts with nothing to prove but everything to burn. related: L7 Celebrate 40 Years w/ Lunachicks And Friends at The Belasco KennyHoopla took the stage like a live wire, feeding on the room’s pulse from the first note. He was restless and genuine, bounding from one end of the stage to the other, never still long enough to cool down. His set felt like sprinting through an emotional minefield: loud, tender, and kinetic. Some of the tracks in the mix included “how will i rest in peace if i’m buried by a highway?”, “ESTELLA”, “hollywood sucks”, and “monalisa,

GBH at Ventura Music Hall- Street Punks In Paradise

Rob Shepyer October 29, 2025

The scene was the Hi Hat. One of the most vibrant venues during its short life on York, a must attend space on Highland Park art-walk nights. I don’t remember who was playing, just that it was a punk show because Blaque Chris was DJ’ing between the bands that night. During his set, Blaque Chris spun a track that stood out to me as especially vibrant and danceable, but in that street punk way, like kicking up dirt in the discotheque. I didn’t know the song at the time and went on a long journey trying to find it. Before seeing GBH at Ventura Music Hall though, the planets aligned to tell me the song was Big Women by GBH off their “Leather, Bristles, Studs, and Acne” album. GBH is quintessential street punk- the exact sound and spirit of the punk genre and look. Songs like Big Women are exemplary of that vibe. Comical, crass, gritty, simple, rhythmic, and too much fun to stop your body from hopping up and down. It took me far too long to see them perform, but finally, I had my punk rock rite of passage on October 17, 2025 by seeing them with Slaughterhouse

Insane Clown Posse at House of Blues Anaheim by Chris Mounts

Juggalo Halloween Party: Insane Clown Posse at House Of Blues Anaheim

Danny Ryan October 28, 2025

Insane Clown Posse was not a band I ever expected to see in my lifetime, especially if you would have asked me in my younger years. Between their goofy carnival-sounding production, overly edgy lyrics and imagery, trailer trash fanbase, their beef with Eminem; the list of reasons not to like them upon first impression is endless. As time goes on and Juggalos get older however; the perception of Insane Clown Posse has changed drastically over the years with Vice’s documentary about their Gathering Of The Juggalos festival, their collaborations with Danny Brown and more recently Jelly Roll, and their song Miracles becoming a viral sensation upon its release. ICP are the black sheep of music as a whole, and the world has mostly decided that we were a bit too hard on them over the years. related: OC Did It All For The Nookie: Musink Tattoo Convention And Music Fest 2019 I decided I wasn’t doing my due diligence as a music journalist if I had never experienced them live, and being as they never visit Southern California; this was one of the few chances I had. House Of Blues Anaheim made the ridiculously insane decision to book them right

Sextile At The Novo: The Most Important Band In Los Angeles?

Danny Baraz October 22, 2025

A bold question. What elements create rank of importance in art? It’s easier in a music scene. Sextile played The Novo on October 11, 2025 and they left a lasting impression for anyone who was there to witness it. Walking into the venue that night felt like stepping into a vortex where underground club culture, raw post-punk perfection, and Los Angeles local band chaos fused into something futuristic. I’ve seen Sextile before, but this was different. This was a band leveling up in real time, playing like they were headlining a festival the world hasn’t invented yet. And Los Angeles showed up to The Novo, hard. The Novo was already buzzing the second I walked in, bodies packed shoulder-to-shoulder on the floor, the balcony filling fast with goths, punks, ravers, skaters, fashion kids, and aging industrial heads who looked like they’d been waiting 20 years for a band like this. Sextile draws tribes. And when a band pulls that many subcultures under one roof, you know something important is about to go down. related: Dark Entries- Bauhaus at The Palladium related: The Lost Coverage of Substance Fest 2022 – Los Angeles Theater The night kicked off with the kind of

French Outfit AIR Takes Us On A Moon Safari in San Diego

Grace Dunn October 15, 2025

San Diego, California was in for an ethereal experience transitioning from summer to fall with legendary French band Air on their stunning North American tour. Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel have been on the road for a significant stretch of time earlier this year enchanting crowds with their compositions flowing out of their iconic white cinemascope ratio spaceship. I have been in grand anticipation to catch their clean, nouvelle architectural stage design celebrating their 25th anniversary of “Moon Safari” since I missed their set last year at The Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. related: Sensory Interference – Thom Yorke At The Orpheum Theatre Once the tour was announced, I originally sought out to photograph their set. To my delightful surprise, I was granted the sumptuous opportunity to capture Air in the written word; like lightning in a bottle. Venturing on a road trip midweek was a blissful escape from Los Angeles to San Diego in preparation for ascension into the cosmos by way of “Moon Safari”. Nestled in an intimate, open air venue, built 1941 into an existing canyon on Montezuma mesa, CalCoast Credit Union Amphitheater greeted patrons with a cozy and alluring aura on this brisk Autumn evening. Walking

Cannibal Corpse at the Majestic Ventura Theater: Butchered By The Beach

Rob Shepyer October 13, 2025

Cannibal Corpse at the Ventura Majestic Theater almost sounds like a sick joke the first time you say it out loud to a local. Why on Earth would the timid, even-keel Pleasantville of the Central Coast host the most violent, vulgar, visceral death metal band of all time? Perhaps it’s because Ventura locals are, somewhere inside, the most violent, vulgar, visceral metalheads in California. For the longest time, this sub-species of Californian, geographically isolated on the Central Coast, never felt represented by the events happening locally. So often, concerts in Ventura ranged from reggae to Grateful Dead covers, with their one outlet for heaviness being Nardcore. Now though, with new booking leadership at the Ventura Majestic Theater, a whole new range of heavy metal bookings is on the horizon; including this October 3, 2025 Cannibal Corpse show. related: Dark Angel Brings Us Back To Our Primal Basics at Majestic Ventura Theater Cannibal Corpse’s autumn tour in particular brought together one of the most insane lineups in modern metal and hardcore. Bridging death metal, grind, and thrash, bands like awe-inspiring fresh blood Fulci, the animalistic, demonically possessed Full of Hell, and toxified-to-the-teeth party speedsters Municipal Waste rounded out the cannibalistic carnage

L7 Celebrate 40 Years w/ Lunachicks and Friends at The Belasco

Danny Baraz October 7, 2025

The Belasco’s air was sticky, buzzing, electric- like static before a tornado on Friday Oct 3rd. L7 and Lunachicks had a gig in Downtown Los Angeles. Those bands shared the stage again, for the first time in decades, in what felt like a life event for everyone involved for L7’s Fast and Frightening 40 Years Anniversary show. As much as I love Riot grrrl scene, the L7 legacy always stood on it’s own and I never appreciated pundits who would lump every hardcore girl under the Riot grrrl label. L7 had their own brand of feminism which included the Rock For Choice festivals that spanned over a decade and I include the times I saw them perform on the lawn of the Federal building in Westwood for causes that varied from saving rainforests, to legalizing cannabis at a time when people were still doing long prison sentences for the plant. But what I appreciated most about L7 was that they fucking shred. Say everything and anything else you want about them, every single one of them, at the top of their craft amongst their peers. And that was still the case as of October 3rd. related: L7 Stop Pretending They’re Dead

Ruining Our Makeup with Samia at The Fonda Theater

Michelle Evans October 3, 2025

I love being uncomfortable. Uncomfortable movies. Uncomfortable books. Uncomfortable art. Uncomfortable conversations. I’ve become anxiously attached to the little wasps in my chest who buzz too loudly and flap around in awkward situations. But finding comfort in the uncomfortable comes at a cost: ugly doesn’t scare you anymore. You even start to seek it out. This is where Samia comes in. Samia steals all that discomfort, all that ugly, right out from your chest. As a songwriter she is an alchemist, spinning your insecurities into a quilt. The kind of quilt your grandmother wraps around you while you read comics at her house as your parents are downtown signing divorce papers. You know the kind. On the warm night of September 19, 2025 night in Hollywood, Samia steps coyly onto the stage of the Fonda Theatre. The crowd roars relentlessly as she seems taken aback – it’s clear how deeply she is needed tonight, right here in this moment. related: Photo Recap – Ethel Cain At The Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever She starts the set with “Triptych,” a song from her debut 2020 album, “The Baby,” with lyrics so abruptly intimate that listening would feel like a violation if

The Lost Coverage Of Substance Fest 2022- Los Angeles Theater

Janky Smooth Central Command October 1, 2025

With Substance Fest 2025 quickly approaching on November 7th/8th in it’s return to The Belasco, it has forced us to look back. Amidst the exponential increase in the volume of content this year, in the scramble to preview this year’s Substance, we uncovered the unpublished coverage from a special year of the festival- Substance 2022. Laying in the debris of the pandemic, in the smoldering ashes of this music blog were the photos of Albert Licano- mostly unseen by the outside world. As we all rise again to attend or cover Substance 2025, let us not forget the elation and gratitude of the after years in which we thought live music would never be the same again. This was one of those years. Between October 21-22, 2022, Los Angeles played host to Substance Fest 2022, aka “LA’s Dark Underground Festival,” a two-night celebration of post-punk, industrial, darkwave, goth, synth pop, and ebm, et al. Held at the majestic Los Angeles Theatre, the fest brought together a collective lineup of established underground legends, emerging acts, DJs, visual art, and immersive environments. In this look back, we’ll break down the experience: the venue, lineups, standout performances, production, crowd vibes, strengths, and areas

Circle Jerks Throw Birthday Party For Keith at The Hollywood Palladium

Danny Baraz September 29, 2025

On Friday, September 19, 2025, the Circle Jerks played a show at the Hollywood Palladium in honor of Keith Morris’ birthday and he invited some friends. The Circle Jerks, Ceremony, Negative Approach, and Rocket From The Crypt- a nice final touch for connoisseurs. It’s the kind of lineup that makes you shake your head and laugh at how good we have it when a night like this comes together. The story of the night was celebrating the birth of Keith Morris with all his friends and his band, the Circle Jerks. Somehow, at 70 years old, there is no noticeable decline. In fact, the eye test reveals that he’s thriving. It would be illogical to suggest he doesn’t suffer from some unseen ailment that comes with wear and tear on the human body. But… if his shoulder hurt, his hemorrhoid was flaring up, his arthritic pinkie knuckle burned, or he had to piss every 20 minutes at the age of 70- there was no hint of any of that. As far as I could see, his feet were planted firmly, his diaphragm engaged, and there was no pee-pee dance. But there was most definitely joy. related: Janky Smooth Interviews Keith Morris

Category: SHOWS

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