Rob Shepyer, Author at Jankysmooth

Rob Shepyer

Summon and Purge: Swans at the Lodge Room

Rob Shepyer May 22, 2024

Tasked to describe Swans to a friend and convince him to join me at this sold out Lodge Room show, I wasn’t able to pinpoint any genre to pigeonhole the band into an understandable phenomenon. With a little research, Swans is usually categorized as a noise rock band, but even that is reductive given the band doesn’t necessarily need to be loud or noisy to be themselves. What makes Swans sound like themselves is their urge to connect to the spirit world. This can be done with excessive volume or hair-raising whispers, or it can be done through mantra-like repetition which they often utilize, or as I witnessed firsthand at the Lodge Room, a band can connect with the spirit world simply by creating so much sustained musical chaos that every witness becomes completely spellbound by awe. To open the show, Swans steel guitar player, Kristof Hahn opened with moody ambient crooner tunes, the sort you might expect to accompany a David Lynch film or the slower side of an Orville Peck reverie. His voice was both sweet and seasoned, carrying the sort of pain that only comes with a life full of experiences both beautiful and tragic. Once Kristof

The Book of Revelation Records: Judge, 7 Seconds, Side by Side and Youth of Today at 1720

Rob Shepyer May 17, 2024

Revelation Records is perhaps hardcore’s most iconic record label. With heavyweights like Gorilla Biscuits, 7 Seconds and Youth of Today in their lineup, the label has cemented their place as a necessary pillar of an entire genre. Even today, Revelation Records is still just as relevant, giving hardcore artists like Torso and Primal Rite the “rub” that extends their reach all around the world, a world that would be much softer without Revelation Records. related content: Two Times The Biscuit Power: Gorilla Biscuits at The Roxy This special weekend, where four of the label’s most influential bands would share the same stage on two co-headlining nights, was an event that could only take place in Los Angeles, at 1720, and booked by SOS Productions. 7 Seconds and Judge on Night 1, Youth of Today and the final Side by Side reunion show on Night 2. This was a bill too good to be true even in New York, for all the legendary matinee shows they witnessed, they never got see a collaboration this epic. There was almost a religious aspect to the shows, as if hardcore kids all over California had to make pilgrimage to beat witness to this holy

Tonic Truth and Collective Consciousness: Kim Gordon at Ventura Music Hall

Rob Shepyer April 6, 2024

In her latest reinvention, Kim Gordon deepened her trip hop digs and redefined her signature noise rock stylings into a pure avalanche of disruption to pull our eyes out of our phones, whether to pay attention or escape into a headbang, so we may listen to what she has to say. This was my 2nd time seeing Kim Gordon live, my sole-previous experience was witnessing her headline Mosswood Meltdown 2022. Since then, she’s released The Collective the most defining album of her solo career and the Ventura Music Hall was the perfect place to perform. The venue is a uniquely chill hanger, resting in a uniquely chill slice of California. A true gem of the 805, it’s one of the best places to see a band for its great sound quality, acoustics, bar, kitchen and staff. Blessed by a painting of The Last Supper featuring the cast of The Big Lebowski in the darkened right corner of the room, every show is innately intimate at Ventura Music Hall. related content: Glorious Leader, Kim John Kill: Mosswood Meltdown 2022 The first track on the Collective, “BYE BYE”, was both Kimlet’s opener and closer for this tour. The song is a farewell

Pro(n)g Rock: Voivod at The Fonda

Rob Shepyer March 28, 2024

It’s a rarity that the Voivod UFO comes hovering over Los Angeles and to miss witnessing an event like this is simply a rookie metal move. Last time, the band came to El Rey opening for Revocation for an oddly mixed bill. Now, the band paired with Prong, who they took on the road decades prior to make this tour a metaphorical full circle around a distant sun. This tour saw saw them playing new music off Morgoth Tales and reaching up their sleeves to play classics and obscurities. related content: Heavy Metal UFO: Voivod and Revocation At El Rey Voivod is a child of thrash metal’s golden age but they were nothing like any of their contemporaries. They made songs that sounded like radioactive war ballads, long and sweeping musical tales featuring ranges of emotions, all-over-the-place instrumentation, and structure that would blow the minds of many musicians that only understood thrash as a blend of punk and metal. This was a co-headlining tour though, and many people came for Prong, partly as a way to connect to their Danzig worship, given that Tommy Viktor is the leader of Prong and long time guitarist for Glenn, and partly because Los

Ceremony at The Palladium by Albert Licano

Ceremony Gets Their Flowers at the Hollywood Palladium

Rob Shepyer March 4, 2024

As 2024 launches into orbit, I see our Los Angeles music scene and its veterans coming full circle as the year’s trajectory begins to take shape. Ceremony’s epic Palladium show celebrating the anniversary of 2010’s Rhonert Park EP was the biggest headlining show of their career, performing in front of 3,700 people. It was a moment created completely by the organic devotion of their fans and not by a music industry needing new rock stars. It was the moment Ceremony received their flowers. related content: If Ever A Band Was My Home: Ceremony’s HOME SICK Festival at the Phoenix Theater For as long as Ceremony has been my favorite band, I’ve considered them an underground darling. Their shows were more energetic than seeing a major rock band. You’d go to a show and think “everyone who loves live music ought to see this at least once”, yet people just assumed hardcore couldn’t break the ceiling above any underground music act. Sound and Fury, though, could imagine otherwise. The festival had been the engine behind Ceremony’s Southern California icon-status, giving our hardcore scene unforgettable sets with the band like their 2016 Regent set, their 2018 headlining Belasco set, their Your Life in

Transgressive Transcendence at The Getty’s Latest Exhibit: William Blake: Visionary

Rob Shepyer October 27, 2023

One of Los Angeles’ most iconic cultural center’s, The Getty, has long bridged together music and art. Providing a space where classical and modern artists can inspire musicians of every age and ilk, the Getty’s latest exhibit might just have the most potential for invigorating any creative that visits that shining temple on a hill. So, if you are a creative in Los Angeles, William Blake:Visionary is a must-see exhibit. The many musicians that were inspired by William Blake all share one thing in common, a worldview that includes a higher power or a reality beyond material existence. Nihilists may find Blake intriguing but he doesn’t capture their imaginations quite like those that believe in God, destiny, or a soul. These musicians include Van Morrison, Iron Maiden, U2, Patti Smith, Bob Dylan and many more. And getting to preview the exhibit before the public, the press was treated to a playlist featuring the music of these artists while enjoying a feast and cocktails with just as much William Blake homage as the tunes. Getting to tour the new exhibit along with many of the Getty’s patrons and beloved followers, we got a glimpse into the mind and imagination of William

The Erections at Moroccan Lounge shot by Corina Cline

Erect Tricks and Loose Rails: The Erections and Hat Trickers at Moroccan Lounge

Rob Shepyer October 5, 2023

From either end of the Pacific Ocean, Nacho Corrupted is known as a punk icon, flying the flag of East Los all the way to the far east by bringing Japan’s wildest punk bands to Los Angeles for this year’s C.Y. Fest. Catching The Erections and Hat Trickers at the Moroccan Lounge is a rare treat, so street punk faithful dug through their crates to excavate that precious punk rock imported vinyl to offer up to the bands like sacrifices to be signed for the 2nd to last C.Y. Fest side show of 2023 related: Manic Japan: Death Side At The Regent The last time Hat Trickers came to Los Angeles was for a one-off side show after Manic Relapse 2019. A whole pandemic later and that band returned to even more fanfare and excitement than the previous show. The air was buzzing with punks awaiting this set, making everyone anticipate a show that would imprint itself on your memory, for better or for worse, but unquestionably for good. It was a night jam packed with punk rock and mine began seeing local punks, The Rails, wreck the stage with blasting, unhinged guitars and true to street percussive rhythms, boots

Metal Injection Festival Will Conquer Orange County September 16th-17th

Rob Shepyer September 12, 2023

Having served the global extreme music underground since 2004 when they were launched by co-owners Frank Godla and Robert Pasbani, Metal Injection has become the premiere source for heavy metal and hardcore news, reviews, humor and more. To celebrate the magazine, its contributors, readers and the bands they love, Metal injection has evolved into a festival with just as much power and style as they’ve always put out. Since their inception, what’s made Metal Injection stand out from the rest of the flock is the exceptional curation and vision held by its creators and family of contributors. The very first Metal Injection Festival features that same sort of expert eye for talent and timing with two nights of metal and hardcore heavyweights, old and new. At the top of the first night’s bill, Saturday September 16th’s Observatory Orange County opening night features Max and Igor Cavalera returning to their first albums, Morbid Visions and Bestial Devastation. Those who experienced their more recent Arise/Beneath the Remains tours and their Roots revival before that, know this regression in form only adds up to more volume, brutality and mosh pits because these songs, though you might not know them like the back of

Melody's Echo Chamber at The Lodge Room by Grace Dunn

Melody’s Echo Chamber at The Lodge Room: Dancing On A Psychedelic Planet

Rob Shepyer May 11, 2023

Melody Prochet and her solo project as Melody’s Echo Chamber have always been a much revered group in the world of psych rock since their inception. Able to fuse together so many of vintage rock’s most powerful musical signatures; from disco-dancing to space rock zero-g guitars, the band can just as easily fill an audience with stoner haze, Fleetwood Mac feels or mindblowing bombast at the snap of Melody’s fingers. It wasn’t just the proposition of having your brain melted that mesmerized Los Angeles into selling out three Melody’s Echo Chamber shows at the Lodge Room, these performances were symbolic of much more to the artist herself. related: Desert Daze 2022- 10 Years In the Evolution of a Music Scene If you want to make a comeback, Los Angeles is the best place to make an impact and the Lodge Room is the best venue to ensure sanctuary, spirit and an endless feedback loop of mana between artist and witnesses. Supporting her 2022 album Unfold, Melody’s Echo Chamber was back doing what she does best, and with tears in her eyes and sonic keys of euphoria in her voice, Melody unlocked the minds of every sparkling-rainbow soul inside the Lodge

Luna Lodge: Moon Duo at Lodge Room

Rob Shepyer November 16, 2022

The moon had a strange glow on this Monday night. Its light was bright but diffused behind a noir Highland Park haze. It was other-worldly, as was the neighborhood. For those who don’t frequent concerts on Monday nights, Highland Park can be a dead scene on a Monday. There’s nowhere to go, nowhere to hide out but within a bustling crowd at the Lodge Room’s loud and joyous happenings. No matter what sort of muted weirdness can be going on around Highland Park, so long as the Lodge Room buzzes, the beating heart of the neighborhood won’t let the city flatline into irrelevance. It’s this spirit that led the Lodge Room to 5 incredible years of music, making an unforgettable splash in Los Angeles music at its inception and now over its young life, we can see a scene its created that can be equated to the Sunset Strip in some senses, hosting a space for indie music of every variety to thrive. This was my second time seeing Moon Duo at the Lodge Room but my first time documenting the experience. I had to write down my observations of this performance because its one of the closest things in

Noise Punks on Potassium: Melt Banana at The Roxy

Rob Shepyer November 16, 2022

It had been years since Melt-Banana came to Los Angeles. Their last show at The Troubadour featured a lineup that pitted them beside Napalm Death and The Melvins, and though Melt-Banana didn’t headline that show, as time went on and the musical landscape changed, enough years had passed by 2022 that they became a very hot, headlining commodity in the world of weirdo music. No matter what scene you were in you had to be there, the urge was felt across punk, metal, hardcore and goth. So, in 2022, Melt-Banana returned to Los Angeles before a sold out Roxy Theatre and demolished the crowd that hailed them as legends of noise. Not only was the Japanese duo in question in rare form performance-wise on this night but every band they brought along in their crazy punk rock caravan put on equally wild and mind expanding sets. Psychic Graveyard were one of the best noise rock bands I’ve ever seen. Flipping switches, turning knobs and playing with doo-dads to create this massive behemoth of angry, artsy dysfunction. They jam hard, making electronics feel more rock and roll than any band I’ve seen, and as a result, you are washed in this

Holiest of Holies: Om at the Lodge Room

Rob Shepyer October 11, 2022

What doth God have to do with doom metal? Is there a spiritual element to a musical genre so heavily associated with demonic and satanic imagery? In the eyes of Om, absolutely. At the heart of a riff, at the very core of that vibration, there is a spark of God in every note. There is no more sacred a space to explore such ideas as the holy Lodge Room in Highland Park, and there is no more appropriate a state of mind to discover the truth about the spiritual nature of doom metal than on a little bit of indica. In my younger years, I used to smoke a hefty amount of flower, in the hopes that derangement of the senses would allow for unique artistic output. What I discovered through marijuana was a spiritual space within myself, a sort of link to the collective unconscious, an information super highway for all human truth that connected every being on this planet to a warm and golden source. In other words, marijuana connected me to God, the same way it did Bob Marley and every other stoner that every smoked a doobie then put on Sleep’s Holy Mountain. Sleep was