Jonathan Reyes, Author at Jankysmooth

Jonathan Reyes

Midnite Communion V: Los Globos Doom Spa With Bongzilla and Bongripper

Jonathan Reyes November 27, 2018

The best part of every metal song, but now it’s the whole song, scratch that, now it’s the whole set. It’s the metal equivalent of a “drop”, a slow and steady build until the crowd’s eyeballs vibrate inside their skulls then a downstroke into a solo. I told someone about this show, Midnite Communion V, and they recommended me some fancy earplugs like I was complaining, I haven’t been afraid I was going to die at a show in a very long time. Thank you Bongs Ripper and Zilla and of course, the show’s promoter, Midnite Communion. related content: Prophets Of Doom: Yob And Acid King At Teragram Cloven – Long Beach represent. There’s a little house in the middle of the city where a slim man, a slender man, with a thick Rasputin-y beard resides. Just like the namesake, his distortion won’t die. I love when an opening band sets such a heavy tone. There could be 5 people in the crowd, doesn’t matter. Cloven came through. Cult of Occult – They are masters of suspense, it would be cool if they wore executioners masks to play into the name. But that’s the easily distracted youth in me needing a

Is This Dungeons and Dragons? No, Cloak and Dagger, Actually

Jonathan Reyes November 20, 2018

You go to a goth fest expecting 90’s Blade as a theme, but the black light shone the crowd for what they were. The weekend crowd from Halloween Horror Nights. The music was right, the expanded line up serviced all shades of goth. The venue was straight out of Miss Murder. Alas the crowd was 6 feet under aside from a few spurts of life during Boy Harsher and Health. related content: The Sound Of Sex: Boy Harsher Seduces The Echoplex I have a theory that the venue makes the show more so than the crowd, possibly even the band. Cloak and Dagger moving the show from the State to the Los Angeles Theatre was a mistake. I think they should have applied their strict code to the venue. Damn the crowd and damn the theatre. I wanted darkness, I wanted to feel like it was a privilege and not a purchase, smaller room, a darker room, a strict dress code. related content: Cloak And Dagger Fest: The Heart Of Los Angeles Bled From Dusk Till Dawn Beside wanting more ruffled Victorian shirts and latex the music and entertainment outstanding. The Jarson family known as Body of Light brought everyone

The Grandiosity of Spiritualized at the Orpheum Theatre

Jonathan Reyes October 22, 2018

I’ve never been inside a big church. I feel unwelcome by the grandiosity of the architecture. The people inside aren’t as divine as the room they occupy. Except it’s not a church, it’s the Orpheum Theatre, and the people on stage aren’t holy they’re Spiritualized. related content: Desert Daze 2017 Headline Here: Some Variation Of Rock’s Not Dead Spiritualized is listening to someone recounting their life on their deathbed. The Spaceman telling about the love he experienced on earth, the nearness to god he must have felt, and the loneliness of his silence. There’s a Nick Cave quality to them. A complicated history with love and god. I’ve always felt a connection to the idea that god wasn’t what you were told as a child but it wasn’t enough to remove you from the idea. You want a god but hate him for not existing. I was listening to a colleague talk about the importance of this band. Without them there’s nothing to inspire scores of British Men to gaze at their shoes. There’s no Blur, no Coldplay, no music to cry to when England boofs another World Cup. I’m very opposed to listening to music from a seated position.

I was Straight Edge for a Night: Slapshot at Toxic Toast Theatre

Jonathan Reyes October 3, 2018

Hardcore shows are weird when you can’t drink. It’s like everyone’s a designated driver, people actually have money for merch, and you can see the spinning heel kicks coming. The benefits of remembering every detail of the night is that you can vividly appreciate what you’re seeing. In this case it was Slapshot at Toxic Toast Theatre in Long Beach. I went in with a lot of ideas about the band. Why do hardcore bands have more former members than The Dead? How white can a person be? I’ve never seen so much Boston represented in a band. I had to double check that it wasn’t Whitey Bulger screaming into the microphone. I also thought this is what Dropkick Murphys sound like if they weren’t awful. Jack Kelly is so pure hardcore or “haadcorr” as he pronounces it, he doesn’t want to be a role model he just wants to be, he wants to be in his band lighting up the territories. Slapshot, a band fronted by a straight edge singer in a venue that doesn’t serve alcohol feels like Superman on the sun. It’s just pure hardcore music, nothing against any hardcore shows that have alcohol but when it’s just you

GØGGS a-go-go at the Teragram Ballroom

Jonathan Reyes September 19, 2018

Is it C.F.M or Ty Segall, the Muggers, Freedom Band, Parliament? I don’t even think they know half the time. I think they show up to a venue, in this case it was The Teragram Ballroom and whoever gets the mic first decides which band is performing that night. related content: New Album Review: GØGGS is Damn Good Gravy On The Ty Segall Catalog There is one way to tell and that’s when Chris Shaw saunters over with that thousand yard stare. You know right away you’ve got GØGGS. Which is just enough time to make your peace with your teeth because the energy he infects the crowd with is fucking bonkers. It’s not often that you get a band that can be so intense but maintain the musicality they obviously work so hard on. They could easily just do the one band and call it a day. The branches of the tree of creativity that they come from stick out in so many unique ways. But they don’t let complacency tempt them into mediocrity and fans respond with pits that don’t neutralize after the first song, they keep their phones away because how could a cellphone ever capture what

Summertime in the LBC: This is Your Dad’s Hip Hop

Jonathan Reyes July 16, 2018

Most people read the first part then skim through for pictures of themselves so I want to say this before it gets ignored. The Game never took off his jacket in 100% heat and Ja Rule has those deep dick muscles. The second year of Long Beach-centric music festival Summertime In The LBC felt like it finally lived up to its namesake with the inclusion of the face of Long Beach hip-hop Snoop Dogg. Last year felt like NYC in the LBC with Wu-Tang and 50 Cent being the headliners but this year was like the west coast took back its territory, with that comes some great benefits like great weed everywhere but there was also a dude dressed like a cholo clown popping and locking around like tattoo flash come to life. related content: Summertime In The LBC: Love Letter To A City That Doesn’t Always Love Back Snoop Dogg performed Doggystyle in its entirety and as cool as it was to see its hard not to see its age. As fun as wondering when exactly the jack off hour is, when I listen “Ain’t No Fun” it makes me want to hug 93’ Snoop Dogg and tell him it’s ok to fall in love

The Growlers Six: Abuse, Healing, Feeling Shards Of Shattering Glass Ceilings

Jonathan Reyes November 20, 2017

I felt it all again Sunday night, just like I did 8 years ago. When I was a younger I popped my cherry with Coachella. Like every other old fuck, the one I went to was the last good one “before it got too big” but in my case, it was. Way before the holograms and second week cash grab. In my years, I got to see Gossip, Crystal Castles, and Girl Talk. Not all three played the same year but I can’t recall which is which and googling is for fucking posers. Sunday, October 28th, I got to see them all again. related content: The Secret Journal Of A Pizza Spy At Coachella 2017 I was late to catch all of Beth Ditto’s set. I heard it in the distance and was trying to rush but let out an annoyed “fuck” because I knew I still needed to be searched by security. To my delight and horror, security didn’t check me at all. In fact, his exact quote was, “I don’t give a fuck about this.” Let that sink in. My short term, instant gratification has given way to waking up in a cold sweat every night since those words were uttered- but

Desert Daze 2017 Headline Here: Some Variation of Rock’s NOT Dead

Jonathan Reyes October 25, 2017

When you get a ticket to Desert Daze, you know what you paid for, such as Iggy Pop’s last performance of the year and the holy sounds of Spiritualized. But there are things included in the price that you probably didn’t expect or ask for. Things like a Defense Against The Dark Arts class or learning there’s more than one form of sound healing. related content: Iggy Pop Performance Archives for 2017 related content: Punk Rock Bowling 2017: You Can’t Be What You Were… Desert Daze is a nondenominational psychedelic gathering for people who want to expand their minds but is welcoming to people who just want to get high and bang their heads to Sleep. It’s like burning man without the orgy tent. Or was it? I never went to the mystic bazaar which might have been code for orgy tent. I was too busy trying to stay drunk in the desert which is harder than it sounds but went down with a little help from the buds with the suds from Spaceland (shout out to Rooster)- It all worked out. related content: Desert Daze 2016: Quantifying The Physics Of A Good Time The anti-festival is here. DD has all the

Summertime In The LBC: Love Letter To A City That Doesn’t Always Love Back

Jonathan Reyes August 11, 2017

Finding out the Summertime in the LBC festival was not actually in the Queen Mary had me feeling like they literally missed the boat on this one. Why couldn’t they figure out a way to have it on the actual boat? That’s only the tip of the iceberg that almost sank this festival. Almost. But instead, the performances were worthy of the type that were on the deck of the Titanic, just before it went down. This review is gonna be all ocean references… I’m naugty by nature. Festivals are tricky. There’s got to be dumb shit to preoccupy your time with in between sets. Like a tooth jewelry vender or the Swisher Sweet booth meant to let you know how deeply this fest embraced the Long Beach vibe, or over priced food and drinks. Summertime In The LBC had all this but lacked a couple of things that could’ve made the festival smoother and whole- a consistent DJ between artist’s sets, for one thing. But in a way, it honored the spirit of our city, because the cleaner and more gentrified they make Long Beach, it’s still the place where I once saw a man get out of his

Jonny Cat Cancer Benefit at Alex’s Bar: Punk Rock, Love & Compassion

Jonathan Reyes July 26, 2017

It’s hard making fun of something when that thing revolves around someone dying of cancer but all my friends know me to pick the lowest hanging fruit so here we go. I’ll present this as half review and half roast. “Didn’t this show already happen 15 years ago?” A fair point from the man in the band playing surf rock in animal masks in 2017. Another good point he made was why a bar would have a curtain behind the band. There was definitely a feeling like this was a fire that had been diminished but relit for a honorable cause: Trying to Save Jonny Cat from cancer. I wasn’t familiar with Jonny Harbin aka Jonny Cat but the effort being displayed by his loved ones made the night feel like paying for a PBR was a noble act. Jonny is based out of Portland’s music scene. His most notable band being Cyclops before starting Jonny Cat Records, putting out records of local PDX bands. Plenty of people do the same but from talking to his friends and learning about him, I believe he stands out in the crowd. RELATED CONTENT: IN THE RED RECORDS’ 25TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY: WEEKEND AT

Quintron & Miss Pussycat Break From The Traditional At Ebell Club

Jonathan Reyes July 8, 2017

Driving up to Highland Park from Long Beach, the first thing I noticed was that all-day parking was only 2 bucks. Scored points for that but lost the game when I had to park next to a guy who’s car was covered in foil and hubcaps. I hate guys like that, who’s whole personality is tied to their car. It’s like he put anything interesting about him on his car and now we have to pretend it’s nice. Walking up to The Highland Park Ebell Club, I saw old friends and now friendly competition, Cool Tite‘s Sergio and Crystal. Shout out to them. Also spotted Vice Cooler, who if you don’t know, you’re fucking up majorly because he’s so fucking original and talented, I once saw him ride a guitar on stage. I caught Feels and I’m always like why don’t I watch them more often. They never disappoint and they also remind me of like Making The Band because they all seem different from each other but also really good friends. related content: New Album Review: 1 Week With Feels Debut LP From Castle Face Records Two years ago I saw Quintron for the first time performing with his

Learning New Words Like Zorched w/ Wild Wing & Surfbort is Lit AF

Jonathan Reyes June 20, 2017

I know I’m getting old when I see posters with words I don’t know. I saw a poster for Zorched LA from LowNSlow DIY and I was like, do I “get Zorched” or do I just start calling things Zorched the way I do with lit? I also didn’t know where it was so I started thinking how not L.A. I’d become. I parked and ate at Yoshinoya because I like that stringy meat they sell and noticed some teens in the current alt punk fashion of short pants and so ironic it’s not ironic tees. I followed them into a dreary looking building and this is what I saw and/or heard… I legit heard a kid say “I hope no one sees that I’m wearing a USC shirt” then he pulled out the $20 bill his parents gave him to go to the show. Win 2 Tickets, Vinyl & Other Band Merch for Dirty Penni Fest w/ The Shrine, Deap Vally & MORE Denim Skull – Kinda sounded like if Animal from the Muppets fronted Pissed Jeans. It reminds me of when I’m angry and I want to start a band to yell about things but I don’t flesh