Category: SHOWS

Shannon and the Clams shot by Lester Guijarro

Shannon and the Clams: Case of the Mondays at The Griffin

Paige Vreede May 20, 2015

When mastermind Jason Finazzo (singer of The Birth Defects and manager of The Griffin) began brainstorming with musical genius, Ty Segall, they decided Monday nights will no longer serve as a night of post-weekend blues, but as a night of prodigious talent. With previous acts such as Thee Oh Sees, Wand and The Coathangers making appearances at The Griffin in Atwater Village, it was no surprise that the raw talent of Shannon And The Clams were invited to immerse us in their tasty tunes this past Monday. Upon entering The Griffin for the first time, I immediately felt as though I had stepped into a different era. With candle lit tables and exposed brick arches, I felt as though I was meeting me mate William Johnson for a few lagers at our favorite pub. I was extremely curious as to how the night would proceed given the context of the genre amongst the seemingly intimate backdrop that surrounded it. To my surprise the room presented itself as nearly empty – something that made absolutely no sense to me considering the extraordinary talent that was to come. In a state of boredom, I decided to walk to the neighboring liquor store

Fat White Family Go Commando at The Troubadour

Danny Baraz May 19, 2015

Fat White Family have a huge buzz surrounding them amongst the nouveau punk scene developing world wide. This scene has the required rawness to be given the moniker of punk but the bands that fit in the category, exist on a plane somewhere between pop and hardcore- Fat White Family are no different. No Different would also be an accurate description of the sound itself. They aren’t attempting to break new ground or even clean the ground that was painted with the vomit of their predecessors. There are no frills with Fat White Family. There is no polished, pre meditated look. If I were to sum up the ultimately inconsequential summary of their “image”, I would label it, “disheveled” or “unkempt”. Their sound is often down tempo, dark and brooding, awash with the vibrations of reverberated guitars that are so prevalent in most of the young, garage bands’ repertoires of today. I was curious how songs like “Is It Raining In Your Mouth” and “Cream of the Young” would play live and I was very happy to find that their live sound was true. One thing that was clear early in their set list at The Troubadour on this past

Corners Homecoming at The Echoplex

JustinThomas May 15, 2015

“Where are we captain”, Corners bassist, Bill Changer, asked last night to an all aged audience. The answer was obvious; we were in Echo Park congregated to see Corners homecoming show after a lengthy tour consisting of 80 shows spanning from California to Lithuania. A tip of the hat goes off to Crap Eyewear and What Youth for putting together a rad line up of bands. Each of which complimented each other quite nicely, and the crowd, which unsurprisingly dressed in mostly black, was extremely receptive and got increasingly looser as the rainy night persisted. I stumbled into The Echoplex in somewhat tardy fashion around 9 PM (I blame Southern California’s tendency to suck ass at driving in the rain) just in time to see popwave rockers, Popheart. The appropriately named four-piece, Popheart, played a nice blend of; you guessed it, pop. The four-piece performed their poppy ballads with an eerie hint of Joy Division-esque darkness. Their groovy sound warmed up the rain-drenched crowd nicely. Next up was Tropical Popsicle, who in my humble opinion wins the award for dopest band name. The four-piece, lead by Timothy Hines, are fresh off a two year hiatus, and I for one, am stoked

No Parents & Colleen Green Steal Thunder at The Echoplex

Janky Smooth Central Command May 12, 2015

Who is Rat Fist? That was my first question when I saw them headlining a show with both No Parents and Colleen Green, two artists who could just as easily headline their own show at The Echoplex. It seemed that many of the other attendees must have also been wondering the same thing, as a good portion of the crowd left before they played. Rat Fist, though not universally notorious themselves, is the side project of members of No Age (Randy Randall) and Pissed Jeans (Sean McGuinness), two pioneers of the current west coast garage punk scene. The opener, Chew Toys, was an excellent and authentic throwback to old school punk. In a scene ruled by reverb and chill vibes, genuine raw punkers like Chew Toys deserve some recognition. Husband and husband, Jay Tag and Kevin Dickson, make up the queercore duo and boy can they play their instruments. Their influences are clearly rooted in early punk bands such as The Ramones and The Clash as well as later interpretations of folk punk, specifically The Dead Milkmen. And as the Chew Toys demonstrated, power chord and pop punk vocally dominated punk still kicks ass. The next act, Colleen Green, could

Ty Segall at The Smell shot by Julien Kelly

Ty Segall Unplugged at the Smell

Danny Baraz May 9, 2015

The sky was illuminated by a brilliant flash of light followed by a loud and ominous rumble. The rain was coming down on me as I walked down the alley behind Main Street in Downtown Los Angeles approaching The Smell. As I got closer to the entrance, I saw Jason Finnazo of The Birth Defects nervously smoking a cigarette in the rain. He had been the opening act of the evening in which the band Feels and Ty Segall were trading in their face melters for acoustic guitars. “Did you feel naked up there?” I asked him as he took a deep pull off of his smoke. “Yeah, everytime I do this, I always say that I’ll never do it again”. He proceeded to go through the inventory of issues he had and I kept thinking how musicians were like chef’s- always pointing out where the meal was too salty and never giving any credit to the deliciousness of their creation. I was bummed I missed his set because I love The Birth Defects and one thing that is hard to imagine is The Birth Defects unplugged. It’s exhilarating when artists go out on a limb. I did make it

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion Detonate at The Echoplex

Taylor Wong May 8, 2015

It was a rainy Thursday night out here in Echo Park. I could imagine no other acceptable way to spend this rainy evening than at the John Spencer Blues Explosion show at The Echoplex. Now I’m a noob when it come to Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, but what I have heard is that they put on an explosive show. Pun intended. So a little fact about me- I’m compulsively early to almost everything I do. This came in handy this specific evening. There were only 2 bands scheduled to play this last night. Opening for Jon Spencer Blues Explosion was a band by the name We Are Hex. About 15 minutes before they went on I realized, being human and all, I had forgotten something necessary to cover the show. I was able to rush home and back by the time they were 2 songs into their set. I was extremely glad I made it back in time, not only because I still had a job to do but because We Are Hex were simply incredible. Front woman Jilly Weiss reminds me of a grungier Exene Cervenka of X mixed with a little Brody Dalle of the Distillers. She awkwardly/adorably danced around

Desert Daze 2015: The Festival for the 21st Century

Danny Baraz May 5, 2015

It was 4:30am on Saturday morning. I pulled the Janky Smooth RV into a dusty parking lot. I had been driving this carbon spewing behemoth since 1am, after the hour it took to load it up with instruments, sound equipment and beer- The essentials that would push me through a crazy 36 hours in the Mojave Desert for Desert Daze 2015. There were hints of blue shading the dark desert sky at the edge of the horizon that peaked over some sleepy mountains. A sense of dread washed over me at the sight of this beautiful event. It meant I only had a few hours to get a little bit of sleep before setting up the DNA Vapor sponsored, Janky Smooth Jam Lounge in preparation for our open jam after party. I knew I shouldn’t have taken that dab before loading up all that gear. After being led to our lakeside cabana by a sleepy eyed angel named Art, it became clear that we were the first ones to plant our flag in this particular patch of land. By the time I woke up a few hours later, the deserted road I parked our camper on was swarming with

The Dead Milkmen Over Deliver at The Troubadour

Danny Baraz April 27, 2015

Words: Danny Baraz Photos: Taylor Wong If listening to The Dead Milkmen doesn’t instantly put a smile on your face and get your foot tapping then you are completely dead inside. For 32 years, The Dead Milkmen have taken a genre that can take itself too seriously and made a mockery of it and every other taboo and sacred topic known to man. Just like most other coveted punk bands of their era, they have recently reactivated to write new music and tour. Last night, I had a chance to see The Dead Milkmen at The Troubadour and remedy the fact that I have never seen one of the funniest bands in the world play live before. I got to The Troubadour around 9:45. Unfortunately, I missed a great local band. Johnny Madcap & the Distractions had just finished playing when I arrived. I waded through the crowd of salt and pepper patrons and parked myself next to the bar and ordered a beer. Without delay, The Dead Milkmen took the stage. “Rodney Anonymous” Linderman charismatically connected with the crowd instantly as they opened with the song “Nutrition” off of Big Lizard in My Backyard. The Dead Milkmen un ceremoniously

Fuzz Unleash Distorted Heavy Overdrive On El Rey

JustinThomas April 25, 2015

Words: Justin Thomas Photos: Taylor Wong Last night Ty Segall, and his longhaired trio, Fuzz headlined the sold out El Rey Theatre in West Hollywood with support from Endless Bummer and CCR Headcleaners. Heads were banged, faces were fervidly melted and stoner jams tirelessly ensued. News Flash: Mr. Ty Segall knows his way around a fucking drum set, Ladies and Gentleman. Arriving just after 9 PM on a Friday night, with the venue nearly one third full, Endless Bummer were already creating mass amounts noise in the realm of psychedelic bong-rip friendly jams. The Los Angeles locals, Endless Bummer, carried the torch of the thriving garage scene well. Like Fuzz, as a three piece they did an efficient job producing a wall of noise while working in the ambit limitations of two dudes hammering guitars and a girl ripping the drums apart. Next up were the San Francisco five-piece CCR Headcleaners. The Headcleaners set the pallet well for Fuzz and warmed the waters for the crowd that was beginning to trickle in. CCR had some stand out moments during their set, one of which included a stoney version of Free the Freaks off their 7 in. split with Fuzz, LAMC

Faith No More Wind Up The Wiltern on Opening Night

Danny Baraz April 24, 2015

Words: Danny Baraz Photos: Dirt Junior If I HAD to list one musical influence that could encapsulate my love of listening to, creating, performing, critiquing and obsessing on music, without hesitation or pause, I would tell you Mike Patton. Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Fantomas, Tomahawk, and Lovage. His dynamic vocals, the musicians he plays with, the uniqueness of his sound, his twisted lyrics and commentary and the prolific nature of his creative output are everything I aspire to as an artist and the measuring stick to which I compare all others. To say I am a bit biased on this subject would be an understatement. Faith No More were a part of a musical awakening for me and were also the gateway to discovering my favorite Mike Patton fronted band, Mr. Bungle. I was 14 years old when Faith No More’s, The Real Thing was released. I had never yet and still to this day, heard anything like it. You can imagine the excitement and trepidation I experienced when a new Faith No More tour and album were announced last year. Last night, Faith No More played the first of 3 sold out shows at The Wiltern. I was

Coachella: No Sense of History in your Hate

Danny Baraz April 23, 2015

Words: Danny Baraz It’s funny how hating Coachella is the cool thing to do now. Every year, almost everyone you know talks trash about the Coachella lineup, patrons and prices and every year the festival sells out two consecutive weekends. Countless articles are written about how the people who attend Coachella are the worst kind of people and other such dick-ish, click bait non-sense yet, almost every music lover you know attends either weekend 1 or 2. The festival commentary is filled with more hate each and every year and the reasons for the hate are as diverse as the musical lineup and the attendees of the festival themselves. I could just as easily make this a standard review about the performances that took place on weekend 2 of the biggest festival in America. I could talk about what an amazing year for hip hop this was- how Run The Jewels steals the show of every festival they play. How standing between the two stages that hosted Lil B and Ab-Soul playing the same time slot revealed a huge discrepancy of talent between the two men. It deepened the Based God mystery to me and why that dude has

The Replacements at The Palladium- Shot by David Evanko

The Replacements: Alt-Heads, Why the Palladium sucks and Whole Foods Blues

Brent Smith April 18, 2015

Words: Brent Smith Photos: David Evanko I typically bemoan the fact that kids and grownups are listening to the same music nowadays. Where that’s not annoying is in the case of seeing The Replacements live—that notoriously ‘unpopular’ no-band band. They’re hard to pin down. I mean what do you call The Replacements? They’re a formidable mix of hard rock, punk, blues, maybe a hint of new wave, etc. which is why they were ultimately pigeon-holed as the godfathers of ‘alternative rock’ and opened the door for the bands that dominated the 90s. I attended the ‘Mats second consecutive sold out show at the Hollywood Palladium, the fourth pit stop on their 2015 Back By Unpopular Demand tour, wedged between both weekends of that big festival thingy happening in the desert (those of you who caught it last year know they rocked it on Day 1 to a scanty crowd). I arrived dodging traffic and bad noise. 7pm is an ugly time to get anywhere in Los Angeles, especially Hollywood, where they’re currently building L.A.’s New Great Slums in the form of corporate-living skyscrapers with shopping malls for lobbies. The last time I saw a show at the Palladium, embarrassingly enough,

Category: SHOWS

Subscribe to the Janky Newsletter

ticket giveaways, exclusive content, breaking news and of course- Music, Art & Activism