Category: SHOWS

In the Red Records’ 25th Anniversary Party: Weekend at Larry’s

Rob Shepyer July 18, 2016

A quarter century ago, Larry Hardy formed In the Red Records in Los Angeles, California to release garage and punk records for an underground that is thriving now more than ever. Some call this scene the garage rock revival, in which case In the Red Records was the scene’s Lazarus. So with 25 years of releasing music ranging from down tuned stoner rock to twangy blues garage, from bands in Los Angeles to Detroit, Portland and NYC, how does Larry Hardy decide to celebrate? A three night festival taking The Echo and Echoplex hostage to host a slew of bands spanning In the Red’s sonic history. As soon as I crept down those pissed stained stairs from Sunset to Glendale blvd and checked in, it was nonstop rock. Wounded Lion’s party rock launched the festivities and loosened me up for the debauchery to come. Dancing and prancing around the stage, cramming the jams down our throats, I picked up a sweat bouncing and bobbing and dashed out the Echo down to its bottom-bitch Siamese sister venue. A man eyeballed me suspiciously and asked for my papers, so I showed him my Zig Zags. Zig Zags were the first of many

Mish of White Lung at The Teragram shot by Johan Ramos

White Lung and Plague Vendor Whip Crowd Into Frenzy at Teragram Ballroom

Michelle Hernandez July 11, 2016

On Friday night at The Teragram Ballroom, fans swerved right into the impulsive energy of Whitter, California’s own, Plague Vendor, opening for badasses, White Lung. The band kicked their tour off right in the pit of Downtown Los Angeles, serving up the tastiest tracks from Plague Vendor’s new album, Bloodsweat. There was no blood in sight but there was plenty of sweat splattered on stage. I still get euphoric flashbacks of singer Brandon Blaine’s performance, shaking his chest, thrusting his hips and whipping his hair around. No doubt he is a mad and sexy genius. Plague Vendor was opening for the almighty White Lung but I was there to see PV. High Functioning Flesh also played and are included in our gallery below. I took a look around at the crowd and noted that there was a majority in the audience; T-shirts with the Bloodsweat album cover on them, spread out in the cluster of people. And if they weren’t already fans then they sure as hell left that night new fans. The lights transitioned to red. Brandon Blaine entered and a score of applause welcomed him. With no words exchanged between band mates, drummer Luke Perine started the show with the

The Mummies at Burger Boogaloo by Joanna Bautista

Burger Boogaloo 2016: Bringing Rare Vinyl Back to Life For 7 Years

Danny Baraz July 1, 2016

There are many metaphors I could employ to describe what it was like to attend the annual Burger Boogaloo festival in Oakland for my first time, in the year of our Lord, 2016. It’s like going through your mom and dad’s moth-balled wardrobe from 1968 and realizing that you just hit the mother load of cyclical fashion. It was always there. It was just up to you to open that garage, suspend that disbelief that your parents were actually cool at some point in their lives and try it on to see if it fits. It seems that no matter how far technology advances or what new platforms are developed in Silicon Valley to deliver music and culture to the masses, new generations will always dust off old vinyl and make it new again. To transform themselves into a time that seems simpler than their own and to long for the good old days that they didn’t even exist in. Afterall, it is an American teenagers right of passage to be completely disenchanted with the here and now and it is the aging hipsters prerogative to revisit the haunts of their youth. All of these sentiments converge, year after year,

King Khan and The Shrines Bring Fans to Their Knees at Echoplex

Janky Smooth Central Command June 30, 2016

Have you ever seen an overweight Canadian/East Indian, with bleach blonde hair, screaming into a microphone about how he wants to be a girl and how he don’t regret a thing? I have, last night at The Echoplex. And it was good. The King…King Khan…King Khan & The Shrines. It was great to see the larger than life performance of Khan performing with The Shrines. Khan has been touring in support of King Khan and the BBQ Show and their record, Bad News Boys since the genius LP was released in 2015. And while the minimal nature of the Khan/Mark Sultan duo has captivated fans over the past year, the over the top gospel-funkiness of Khan being backed by the Shrines is it’s very own beast that needs to feed, every so often. I got to the show late and was able to catch a bit of the weirdest band, Giorgio Murderer, who absolutely killed it with their throbbing, melodic distortion blasting through the speakers like Man or Astro Man. I waited with my girlfriend in anticipation for the main event. King Khan did not disappoint. His ten-piece band, complete with sequins and capes, and all sorts of tomfoolery, were

Surfs Up: Twin Peaks And An Ocean of Crowd Surfers at The Echoplex

Janky Smooth Central Command June 29, 2016

Last week, Chicago, Illinois’ own, Twin Peaks dove directly into an ocean of young, Los Angeles, crowd surfing music fans with an inspired performance at The Echoplex. The night began with the typical, slow and steady pace of early arrivers coming to either party or check out the opening band, Golden Daze. As the show progressed, Ne-Hi drove the early crowd into the highest of spirits with their engaging performance. When I say spirits, I mean alcoholic beverages. When I say high, I’m referring to the glasses containing the liquid infiltrating the livers of fans being raised above our heads in salute to the valiant performance of the openers. They don’t call alcoholic drinks spirits for nothing, The audience inched closer and tighter to the stage. The room was dark with only a small television turned on with white noise, static and the letters “TP” spray painted on the screen. With anticipation, fans screamed for the band and then, one by one Colin, Connor, Cadien, Jack and Clay glided onto the stage. Twin Peaks opened the show with “Butterfly” from their new album Down In Heaven, causing the first movement in the small sea of people. Hands went up, reaching out to the music, trying

NOTHING Unhinge Echoplex Audience By Bending Sonic Waves

Rob Shepyer June 25, 2016

My night began with loading up on free booze provided by a high end art show. After cruising through all the pretty pictures and people and pounding down as many Peroni’s as I could, I bounced out early, opting for more contact, a rush, an absorbing experience… like bathing in the shoegaze riffs of Philadelphia band, NOTHING who were playing a show at The Echoplex. Ubering out to Silverlake, trading Hollywood glitz for hipster art farts, while buzzing drunk with a dead phone, my driver turned onto Glendale blvd and crept beneath the bridge that loomed over the line of kids that stretched down the block. They stood there, marinating in the pain of missing out because they knew they weren’t getting in. Be quick or be dead. This is LA and Nothing is playing. Don’t you know Nothing sells out LA? I cruised into the Echoplex, mid set of Miami band Wrong with their heavy, alt rock sound. They put everything out on the table in this pounding communion, bouncing up and down, making the stage their bitch. The audience followed suit, jumping and jiving in a pure mess of rock. Their sound reminded me of the heavier 90’s grunge bands like

Giant Sand at the Echo: 30 Years of American Desert Roots Alt Country Rock

Todd Anderson June 17, 2016

“Giant Sand isn’t broken, we’re just putting it to bed after 30 years” said singer, Howe Gelb, as he launched into a hauntingly slow and ethereal set of American Desert Roots Alt Country Rock… Whatever box you need to put it in, it’s a music that borders on a psychosis of David Lynchian proportions. Giant Sand is an obvious labor of love, and boasts an impressive line up of members over the last 30 years. Not to mention a noteworthy (bad ass) cast of guest artists; including the likes of PJ Harvey, M. Ward, Neko Case, and Isobel Campbell… to name a few. I knew I was witnessing something special at The Echo when after asking for more vocals in the monitor, Howe said “I shouldn’t be singing above a whisper” as his deep smooth voice fell in with the Waltz already in progress… I don’t know too many people that can come off so unaffected while wearing an old black snakeskin suit and white cowboy hat as Gelb pulls it off effortlessly. Giant Sand’s performance took twists and turns, as drummers changed out and picked up guitars, guitar players took over vocals, and a pedal steel player appeared, disappeared,

Nails at Sound and Fury shot by Todd Anderson

Sound and Fury Hardcore Festival Comes of Age All Across Los Angeles

Rob Shepyer June 16, 2016

I am not a hardcore kid. I do love plenty of hardcore bands but I’m a metal kid that found his way to punk. So by virtue of that, what I really seek out in music is extremes and as soon as I discovered Sound and Fury, I could tell it was the most extreme 2 day fest Los Angeles offers. Sound and Fury is a home for the hardcore kids, the truest of which as Nails front man Todd Jones pointed out, come from broken homes. The west coast and east coast have constantly been trading influences since the dawning of punk and as the east coast created hardcore and nurtured it with festivals like Philadelphia’s This is Hardcore, Sound and Fury Fest became the West Coast’s rebuttal. Sound and Fury’s history was all about showcasing rising bands and staying in low key venues around Ventura County for a DIY, homely feel that would foster brutal moments of pure letting go. Now having moved to the Regent Theater as its home base, the festival is bigger than ever with a lineup that crossed every flavor of hardcore punk. I bought my ticket the moment I saw Ceremony and Nails

Youth Brigade at Punk Rock Bowling shot by Todd Anderson

Punk Rock Bowling 2016: 18 Years of Limping Las Vegas

Janky Smooth Central Command June 9, 2016

Don’t’ let the fights fool you; Punk Rock Bowling is a pure, unabashed, hippie love fest. Anthropologists should study the dynamics of a slam pit to understand a punk in his natural habitat because there is so much love in that stew that a few fists flying could never dampen the warm feelings we have for each other. That’s what terrified parents watching expose’s on the terrors of the punk scene in the late 70’s and early 80’s never understood. A jumper on the roof of The Golden Nugget? Doesn’t matter. Sporadic loneliness and bad acid aside, It’s one of the few times a year when MOST attendees feel like they are a part of something bigger. Because under the spikes, tattoos and snarls are a group of individuals who are overflowing with sensitivity and love. They party hard. They fight hard. They dress hard and they look hard, despite the whiskey dick. For the past 18 years, Punk Rock Bowling has served the punk community during both boom and busts of the scene. When NuMetal was hammering the last nail in the coffin of the music industry, Punk Rock Bowling was being born and punks kept sticking to their

Ty Segall And The Secret Show: A New Tradition in Los Angeles

Brent Smith June 1, 2016

I caught wind of the secret—and free—Ty Segall and the Muggers show at the Griffin from a Mikal Cronin tweet around 10pm. It turned out being a hushed triumph for the community, the local scene—now largely represented in the hip enclave of working class L.A. artists that arches across Los Feliz, Atwater Village, Eagle Rock, Highland Park, and Mt. Washington. Luckily I don’t live too far, otherwise I would’ve just as easily succumbed to the old Angeleno proverb of “I’m staying in tonight.” I’m glad I decided to go, it provided some much needed reenergizing, and highlighted our special moment of L.A. music history. Even L.A. Weekly (that old, tired whore of a culture rag) was sage enough (however contrived) to dub Segall “L.A.’s most prolific and enigmatic rock star”—which would put him in the running for such a tag worldwide—and he doesn’t need ticket sales to prove it. I showed up to the Griffin maybe 5 or 10 minutes late, tops, sauntering to the back of a line that was definitely sizeable for a Wednesday night, and the Muggers were already wellinto their set. This was my view for a good portion of it. As it turned out, never

Wild Nothing At The Regent: Tight Jams And Tantrums Abound

Johann A. Ramos June 1, 2016

Wild Nothing sold out The Regent Theater in Downtown Los Angeles Friday night along side dream-pop queen Charlie Hilton on their Life Of Pause world tour. Both are very special acts with consistent demographics that have been getting a lot buzz in the media lately, particularly Wild Nothing after their new record “The Life Of Pause” (No, not the life of pablo) dropped. Frontman Jack Tatum carries a bag-full of influence with every record he puts out – krautrock, shoe gaze, post rock – not unusual for indie rock acts now a days. What sets him apart from other dream pop acts in the market (see: diiv, blouse, beach fossils, etc) is his singing versatility and his blisteringly catchy, lush, modulated guitar progressions that’ll have the crowd spending $70 on Stub Hub resold GA pit tickets. Damn you ticket scalpers! “Nocturne”, released in 2012 paved the way for many indie rockers yet to come. Charlie Hilton opened up the gig at a much slower pace than I expected and I mean that in a good way. She set the vibe of the show and chilled me out with her whispy, quiet vocals – which I appreciated because I drank one

Brian Jonestown Massacre at Teragram Ballroom

The Brian Jonestown Massacre Play 3 1/2 Hour Set For Night 1 at Teragram

Natalie Somekh May 30, 2016

Sunday nights in downtown LA can be magical but particularly so when seeing ‘60s psychedelic rock outfit The Brian Jonestown Massacre is playing a gig. The band is an eclectic mixture of ‘60s British Invasion, ’80s dream pop and shoegaze, as well jangly folk thanks to Anton Newcombe’s talent to tailor-make genre-specific sounds into his own. The first night of three sold-out shows at the Teragram Ballroom consisted of organs, tambourines, and loads of sass from The Brian Jonestown Massacre percussionist, Joel Gion. Opening up for the iconic band was Los Angeles’ very own Mystic Braves, who will be embarking on a national tour with Dream Ride this September in support of their newest album Days of Yesteryear. At one point during the Mystic Braves’ set, the band invited Rob Campanella, Brian Jonestown Massacre keyboardist, to accompany them on a few songs. Definitely a crowd pleaser.The Mystic Braves have been dominating the Los Angeles music scene with their psychedelic tunes and charisma since 2011. This showed last night when Julian Ducatenzeiler (guitar & vocals), Tony Malacara (bass & vocals), Shane Stotsenberg (guitar & vocals), Cameron Gartung (drums), and Ignacio Gonzalez (organ/tambourine) effortlessly captivated the Teragram Ballroom with their psychedelic aura