Tag: DIY

Van Nuys Police Poop On DIY Valley Punk Rock Pity Party

Janky Smooth Central Command July 28, 2017

The show planned for Saturday, April 29th, was supposed to be a banger. All the teens and young adults of the valley were prepping their tightly laced shoes and punk blazers for the boiling mosh pits that were bound to take place considering acts from bands like Sad Park, Clit Kat, Beach Bums, and Pity Party. related content: Sloppy Jane at The Smell- When Being A Mean Whore Became A Compliment For whatever reason, there aren’t many good DIY shows happening in the valley. If you really want to be in with the LA underground punk music scene, you’ll be taking the red line to downtown LA every weekend. But this show was supposed to be the exception. Van Nuys? I’m there. Lucifurnace? Count me in. That’s what we were all saying on Friday during lunch. We even picked up a bunch of stuff from Goodwill to bump our self-esteem for the event that would rival any prom. But to our great disappointment, it was shut down. It wasn’t a traditional DIY show. The flyer on Instagram announced that it was to begin at 3pm and end at 10pm. Typically, shows start at 7:30 or 8 and go until midnight.

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

Ty Segall and The Smell Founder Jim Smith

The Rally To Save The Smell And The Horrid History of DIY Venues in L.A.

Danny Baraz September 15, 2016

This past Saturday night Ty Segall headlined a sold out benefit show at The Teragram Ballroom. Save the Smell was organized by the two 19 year old musical entrepreneurs of Penniback Records. Penniback represents the 3rd wave of scene kids that have had their DIY awakening at The Smell and with the help of Julian Montano and Luis Ho and so many others, it MIGHT just ensure that the legend of the humble but vital venue continue to be written. But even with the outpouring of support that recently extended an extra year for The Smell community to save itself from being demolished, the ambitious strategy to do so is to raise $1.4 million to buy a permanent home somewhere in a close proximity to it’s current iconic Main Street location. Some scoff, some scowl, some cry foul but The Smell has such few haters for a DIY venue of it’s kind. The kind that always seems to spawn legions of outsiders that feel scorned or slighted. Because those folks are so few and far between, maybe that can explain why the Smell is in the midst of an unprecedented run. If history has taught us anything it’s that DIY

Way Strange Fest: Teenage Promoters In Way Over Their Head

Jai Chebaia September 2, 2015

Way Strange Fest was the brainchild of two teenagers from the Inland Empire, Esmeralda and Nora, who managed to gather over 50 bands from Los Angeles and beyond for one exhilarating day. It had been a while since I’d seen this many bands crammed into one tight space in an even tighter day, so I was curious to say the least. There had been growing speculation about the legitimacy of the festival for some time, with some bands dropping off the festival last minute, leaving others who had made the trek out wondering how the two teens were going to pull everything off. Located in Upland, CA, Way Strange was hosted at an aptly named venue called Imagine That; in true D.I.Y. fashion the venue was most notable for its quinceaneras, as I read on a company truck nearby, which made the whole layout of the festival make a whole lot more sense. There were three stages, in three separate rooms, directly adjacent to each other. You could walk from one end of the venue to the other in probably 30 seconds. Each room was bigger than the last, housing bigger acts as they went throughout the night. The stages

Runaway Fest: Double Reviewed & Fiercely Photographed

Janky Smooth Central Command July 14, 2015

Runaway Fest Review 1: Paige Vreede When I was 18 years old I thought I was cool drinking cheap vodka out of a plastic bottle at a friends house whose parents were out of town. However, the dudes at Danger Collective Records are actually the epitome of “cool kids.” This past weekend I faced a sad reality upon realizing I have now become “old as fuck,” among the new emerging music scene stemming from teenagers in Los Angeles. In collaboration with Michael Morin of &? Productions, Danger Collective hosted Runaway 2015. Even after being plagued with a last minute venue change at Los Globos, this group of High schoolers presented a show with over 35 acts including some of L.A.’s most impressive bands. Though I saw more “Xs’” on hands here than I would have at a vegan hardcore show; half a personal pizza and 17 shots of tequila later, I felt cool enough to hang with the kiddos. As I sat in a corner completely exhausted, I felt a very confrontational moment of “you look like a fucking chaperone” and realized, given the contagiously rousing environment, I needed to get my ass up. While there were many noteworthy acts