Allah-Las in La La Land: A cold, rainy night and warm vibes inside The El Rey Theater

On the heels of an extended fall tour, the release of their second album, “Worship the Sun” and the upcoming birth of the new year, Allah-las must have quite the lofty visions of 2015 in their collective third eye. On Thursday, December 11^th, the Allah-las made a stop at the El Rey in Los Angeles with Tashaki Miyaki. There was a mosaic of Burger Records alumni in attendance at this event.  There were also the usual caravan of beautiful women, chronic appreciators, an over flow of “man bun” hairstyles, retro-thrift store army’s of fashionable special forces and cocaine, Gucci attitudes that seem like permanent, fixed appendages to these types of L.A. shows. Burger stars such as Warren Thomas of The Abigails and Clementine Creevy of Cherry Glazerr were in the house as Burger roster mates usually are when their friends, mentors and influencers play local gigs.

The Allah-las took the stage to gaze upon a packed house. Almost instantly, a wave of good vibes washed over The El Rey Theater as the reverb hit our ears and the projected, live liquid visuals by Mad Alchemy hit our eyes. Lead Singer Miles Michaud cocked his head to the right, opened his mouth and emitted sunshine from his esophagus. He stood tall on that stage with his platform cowboy boots but his presence did not tower over anyone else in the band. The notes and chords picked and strummed by Lead Guitarist Pedrum Siadatiun hung in the air to be harvested by the band and transformed into a cornucopia of sound. The crowd was swaying gently until Growlers hype man/drag queen Alex Mars/DMTina came out and started dancing on stage. Stage security was confused and tried to corral Mars into the wings, grabbing at him and pulling until Michaud gave the head nod to security and the ancient, seductive dance was allowed to continue. DMTina gently laid back into the audience and was propped up into a floating, reclining chair of hands that sustained him for a surprisingly long amount of time, until gently placing his feet back on the floor. This was the cue the kids needed to start bouncing around into each other with what I like to refer to as a hippie mosh. The show kicked into high gear and Allah-las delivered a wonderful set, playing a mix of songs off their first album and a generous helping of newer tracks such as “Yemeni Jade”, “Buffalo Nickel” and “501-415”.

Opening act Tashaki Miyaki was a perfect appetizer to the electric kool-aid of Allah-las. Lucy Miyaki is mesmerizing behind the drums as her body almost folds, rhythmically with every hit of the snare, without losing a note, as she croons into the microphone. Rocky Tashaki has a Black Francis style of six string that resonates in feedback and dissonant but pleasing chords. Dora Hill is no longer playing bass or contributing harmonies but her replacement, whose name I couldn’t find anywhere, is just as competent but significantly less attractive. A stout young man who appeared to be learning things on the fly filled the spot admirably.

If you are a true music lover than you want to connect with every emotion.  I have been covering so much hardcore punk lately that I needed a night to soothe the savage beast- a night to focus on love, friendship and compassion- the more noble of emotions. Very few new bands can capture the spirit of the summer of love in the midst of a rare winter storm in L.A. like the Allah-Las did on Thursday night.

Words: Danny Baraz

Photos: David Evanko for Goldenvoice and Featured Image by Danny Baraz