Tag: featured
As Real as Punk Gets: Bouncing Souls and the Bronx at the Fonda
Rob Shepyer
May 17, 2019
I have trouble thinking of a band that makes pop punk music as lasting and classic as the Bouncing Souls. Their three decades of real and romantic pop punk music, created by with the same four original members, has impacted multiple genres of punk from emo, to hardcore, to pop punk. The Bouncing Souls were always on the outskirts of the 90’s mall punk tsunami but all this time, they’ve kept a lasting, steady, and diehard following that has more devotion than the biggest bands could ever wish for. related content: Jawbreaker At Riot Fest: The Moment I Stopped Hating Pop Punk Hailing from New Brunswick, New Jersey, heritage has everything to do with the realness and low key vibe of the Bouncing Souls. Their lyrics always hit home to anyone who lives for good times with friends and hopeless romance. You can tell this band’s parents listened to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It’s almost like if Billy Joel had a punk band. These maladies could get the drunks in any down and out piano dive bar to sing all the words. To celebrate their 30 years of making punk hearts float, Bouncing Souls took their Crucial Moments
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This Stage Belongs to Amanda Palmer: There Will Be No Intermission at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel
Rob Shepyer
May 15, 2019
What’s the longest set you’ve seen an artist perform? Once I saw the Cure play three hours. I hear the Dead used to keep going until they were just too high. Amanda Palmer took her There Will Be No Intermission tour to the Ace Hotel and kept that stage all to herself for four and a half hours. To have that kind of endurance or even enough to share, you have to consider the stage a second home of sorts, you also have to be well versed in more than music, in Amanda’s case she is a poet, storyteller, woman, mother, feminist, survivor, mime, and warrior, and we got every one of those during this show. related content: Gothic Interiors: Cold Cave At The Ace Hotel The sort of people that came out in droves and filled the legendary Theatre at the Ace Hotel for this performance were misfits of every stripe, color, gender, and age. The stories she regaled this diverse group of diehards ranged from various parts of her life that knit together a quilt of so many moments of her life threaded tightly together by the themes of womanhood and personhood. With four and a half hours to
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Space Roses: Ionnalee at the Fonda
Rob Shepyer
May 15, 2019
Ionnalee is an international mystery, the scale of which parallels the mystery of the very cosmos in which she sings about and is clearly in sync with. It’s rare that pop music fans in America embrace a Swedish import as tightly and devoutly as they have with Jonna Lee but after seeing this futurist angel made of flesh and chrome perform live, the real mystery is how she isn’t on the top of the charts with monuments of her erected of the moon. related content: Adult. Interview: Warriors For Weird Formerly performing under the moniker, Iamamiwhoami, Ionnalee’s synth pop is polished, sweeping, danceable, vogue-able, and communicates both in sound and lyric, ideas and feelings that make you realize your insignificance existing between space and time but also your transcendence above space and time as as a soul and stars made into flesh. Ionnalee shines with star power through her skin. She takes control of every stage, dancing without pause for over an hour with moves and artistry only she can execute. She only creates the visual component of her set, projections of space, black and white Richard Avedon-esque dramatic realist imagery, science fiction, all in starkly contrast shadows and highlights.
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Music Video Premiere: Kali Kazoo Band’s “Take A Dive”
Janky Smooth Central Command
May 14, 2019
Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill, step to the side, there’s a new voice bringing the sweet sounds of alternative rock and she’s a turquoise haired animator and brilliant songwriter from El Segundo, California. Kali Kazoo band‘s latest single and music video, “Take a Dive”, give us a glimpse into the mind of Kali Kazoo. The video, directed by Ben Pluimer, uses strong splashes of vibrant color and sun-kissed imagery to bring a psychedelic element to the song and video. A forest full of ordinary people wearing cultists robes really brings out a central theme in Kali’s work: uncovering the mythological in the banal. It’s no wonder she’s been compared to existentialist and insect king, Franz Kafka in the past. I suppose this is what one should expect when cartoonists pick up guitars. Kali Kazoo band’s third album Bleed Darker & Deeper Than The Sea Of Hell, produced by Toshi Kasai (Melvins, Tool), comes out today, May 14th and can be purchased here. The band’s next Los Angeles show will be at Zebulon on July 1st.
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Take This: Win Two Tickets to Kirin J Callinan at the Lodge Room
Janky Smooth Central Command
May 14, 2019
Kirin J Callinan might seem a bit strange to those being introduced to him just now but if you’re paying close attention, you’ll know he’s gearing up for an astronomic rise with a new album that harkens back to the ballads that marked entire eras of music. “Whole of the Moon” is one of those songs and this show will feature plenty of epics off the new album and moments that we think you should witness for yourself. That’s why Janky Smooth is happy to be giving away two pairs of tickets to see Kirin J Callinan’s Lodge Room show. YOU CAN BUY TICKETS HERE OR. ENTER TO WIN 2 TICKETS TO KIRIN J CALLINAN MAY 21ST AT THE LODGE ROOM Step 1- Join Our Newsletter (look for pop up every time you arrive at jankysmooth.com) Step 2- Tag a Friend in the comment section of our Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook Kirin J Callinan Posts WINNER WILL BE WILL BE SELECTED ON FRIDAY MAY 17TH AT 11AM PST VIA EMAIL CONFIRMATION
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Sand in my Sax: Back to the Beach Festival
Dave Unbuckled
May 13, 2019
I voluntarily didn’t arrive to Saturday’s show until minutes before Reel Big Fish took the stage at around 4:00, which gave me plenty of time around town to observe the legions of bat wielding ANTI-FA members, as well as the brigades of MAGA hat wearing Trump supporters, that had gathered at the Huntington Beach Pier. I still haven’t found out if this was some coincidence or planned meet up or perhaps if some Ska against Racism club just showed up early with bandanas and baseball bats to walk around town, before going to skank to their favorite band. Regardless, the crowd inside seemed arguably worse, and considerably goofier than I had anticipated, but I suppose this should be expected when three of the four festival headliners (Aquabats, Reel Big Fish and Goldfinger) were nineties-era ska bands who’s music was more prevalent in between Nickelodeon and Disney Channel shows than they were on Punk Comps. related content: Offspring In The Air: Sabroso Taco & Music Fest I shamefully grew up listening to Goldfinger, Reel Big Fish and Blink 182. They were my gateway drugs into the underground as I entered adolescence, and YES there was a time in the mid-nineties, outside of
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Take This: Win Two Tickets to Deicide at 1720
Janky Smooth Central Command
May 13, 2019
Holy hell, we are giving away a pair of tickets to see one of the pillars of American Death Metal, the controversial, Deicide. Glenn Benton burned an upside-down cross in his fucking forehead, I challenge any metal band to show that much commitment, or maybe not, actually don’t, please. Still though, I’ve loved Deicide long enough to remember scaring the shit out of my middle school with their T shirts, so it’s an absolute honor to let someone else see the band tear up 1720. YOU CAN BUY TICKETS HERE OR. ENTER TO WIN 2 TICKETS TO DEICIDE MAY 15TH AT 1720 Step 1- Join Our Newsletter (look for pop up every time you arrive at jankysmooth.com) Step 2- Tag a Friend in the comment section of our Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook Deicide Posts WINNER WILL BE WILL BE SELECTED ON TUESDAY MAY 14TH AT 11AM PST VIA EMAIL CONFIRMATION
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Doom in Paradise: Psycho Smokeout at Catch One
Dillon Vaughn
May 11, 2019
Nearly two years ago Psycho Entertainment began teasing the return of Psycho California – the fest that ran its initial three years proving itself and building its reputation in Orange County before being taken away from us by Sin City. Despite the slight name change, the fresh presentation of the inaugural Psycho Smokeout lived up to the reputation of its predecessor with a streamlined experience and highly curated lineup of Psycho alumni and first timers alike. related content: Catch One Hell Of A Night With Integrity And Pageninetynine Presented By Psycho Entertainment With a lineup filled with Janky favorites it’s hard to decide where to begin. The stacked scheduling fueled a rush through the maze-like floorplan of Union granting access to rooms and passageways I’d never even known existed. Each twist and turn through black painted halls seemed to bring me to another section of the club where something insane was happening: three separate rooms with live music (one of which included pole dancers), a smaller room with burlesque shows, live glass blowing outside, walls of merch, and a corner devoted to Painkiller Kim DJing next to an (unfortunately out of order) Icee machine. (Apparently the Icee guy never arrived
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Real Horror Show: Hat Trickers and Lower Class Brats at the Bootleg Theater
Rob Shepyer
May 10, 2019
Welcome my brothers, to a gathering of Clockwork soldiers, the likes of which you’ve never seen. Among us were Adicts, Brats, and Trickers, all in for a smattering of the good ol’ ultra violence. Manic Relapse gave the West Coast a first taste of the moloko plus but it was only a few days later that Los Angeles got their fix, oh yes we did, my brothers. related content: Manic Japan: Death Side At The Regent Hat Trickers and Lower Class Brats sharing a stage at the Bootleg Theater is what droog dreams are made of. Even Monkee from the Adicts was in attendance for this horror show. Hat Trickers, all the way from Japan, are the East’s premiere Clockwork Orange inspired horror punk band. Their songs are reckless, violent, and anthemic and could lead a young man on the streets of futurist London to commit all sorts of atrocities in the name of youth, ennui, and chasing happiness. Of all the band’s that play with that movie’s aesthetics, I’d expect Hat Trickers would be Alex’s favorite. All lineup long, true punk brethren let their lights shine with some of the most visceral and in your face punk rock you
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Manic Japan: Death Side at the Regent
Rob Shepyer
May 9, 2019
The last great punk festival on America’s West Coast, Manic Relapse was in season and so, the bands that were booked to play this year’s wild, raucous Oakland rager made the rounds along the coast and wound up in Los Angeles. In the case of the festival’s headliner, Japanese hardcore punk legends, Death Side, were set to play the Regent theater for their very first Los Angeles appearance. I’ve seen almost every kind of festival under the sun but have yet to attend the madness of Manic Relapse. From what I can tell though, it’s perhaps the most special, eye-opening weekend any punk can attend. It probably changes everything you think is possible at a music festival, whether it’s anarchy in a skate park, rare bands from exotic countries performing, or completely unhinged crowds at the Oakland Metro or backyards, there’s nothing else like Manic Relapse. related content: Beast From The East: Sand At Toxic Toast Theatre Combining forces with Manic Relapse, the likes of Spaceland, 84, and Suburban Fight joined together to bring us this amazing lineup beginning with Los Angeles’ own, Hate Preachers. This pack of West Coast wolves delivers a serrated and grimy variety of punk in
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Take This: Win Two Tickets to the Bouncing Souls at The Fonda or Observatory
Janky Smooth Central Command
May 7, 2019
The Bouncing Souls have been a beloved, game changing band for so many punks and hardcore kids around the world since their beginning and now they’re playing the Fonda for a show that will surely please anyone in attendance. For all they’ve done for hardcore, pop punk, emo, and New Jersey, we are proud to be giving away a pair of tickets to their show. YOU CAN BUY TICKETS HERE OR. ENTER TO WIN 2 TICKETS TO THE BOUNCING SOULS MAY 11TH AT THE FONDA OR MAY 12TH AT THE OBSERVATORY Step 1- Join Our Newsletter (look for pop up every time you arrive at jankysmooth.com) Step 2- Tag a Friend in the comment section of our Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook The Bouncing Souls Posts WINNER WILL BE WILL BE SELECTED ON THURSDAY MAY 9TH AT 11AM PST VIA EMAIL CONFIRMATION
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Take This: Win Two Tickets to ioonnalee at the Fonda
Janky Smooth Central Command
May 6, 2019
The voice of an angel combined with the electronic dance tracks of the devil makeup the goddess that is Swedish singer, producer, and director, ioonnalee and we are giving away a pair of tickets for one of you lucky people to behold the beauty. YOU CAN BUY TICKETS HERE OR. ENTER TO WIN 2 TICKETS TO IOONNALEE MAY 10TH AT THE FONDA Step 1- Join Our Newsletter (look for pop up every time you arrive at jankysmooth.com) Step 2- Tag a Friend in the comment section of our Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook ioonnalee Posts WINNER WILL BE WILL BE SELECTED ON THURSDAY MAY 9TH AT 11AM PST VIA EMAIL CONFIRMATION
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