Tag: featured

Photo Recap: Otoboke Beaver at The Echo

Janky Smooth Central Command October 27, 2022

Otoboke Beaver‘s first two concerts in LA took place at the Echo and over the course of these two performances, the band made LA music history, with their unique and original brand of Japanese power punk. We consider ourselves lucky enough to have a photographer there to document the evening of October 20th’s show. As you can see in these photos, the band is relentless and the audience reciprocates by giving them every ounce of energy. Otoboke Beaver is perhaps the most important punk band of this generation, transcending any status as a gimmick or an import or as a girl band. Photos by: Chris Molina Otoboke Beaver

Photo Recap: Otoboke Beaver at The Casbah

Janky Smooth Central Command October 26, 2022

Otoboke Beaver finally made their Southern California debut and Jankysmooth was present to see this Japanese Power-punk group redefine everything it means to be heavy, raw, and underground. At first what might’ve been considered a gimmick, punk rock through a J-pop lens, turned into an avant-garde rock and roll acid-trip, pushing the boundaries of what is possible in rock and roll. Otoboke Beaver began their tour de force through So-Cal at San Diego’s Casbah and we got the pictures to make them live forever on Jankysmooth. There is more to come as we had peeps at their Los Angeles shows as well. If you didn’t get the chance to see them this time around, don’t fret. They just extended their tour with more shows in Southern California to attend. You can buy tickets to those upcoming shows, including one at San Diego’s Music Box and another at Pappy and Harriet’s here. Photos by: Rebecca DiGiglio Otoboke Beaver

Photo Recap: Mars Volta at The Hollywood Palladium

Janky Smooth Central Command October 26, 2022

The Mars Volta‘s highly-anticipated comeback tour brought them to The Hollywood Palladium for a sold out show featuring a set of classics and new songs that made everyone recall how much they loved this band. Song after song made clear the memories of listening and singing along to these progressive, psyched out rock and roll adventures on wax. The more songs they played, the more the audience remembered that they knew every damn lyric. Though many years had gone by since the band took the stage before this tour, every member was in their element, showing mastery of both instrument and performance, with charisma that was just as other-worldly as the magic within every Mars Volta tune. This was one for the ages and we got the photos to prove it. Photos by: Grace Dunn The Mars Volta

A Cathedral of Hardcore: Ceremony at Echoplex

Alfredo Luna October 25, 2022

Ceremony has been a band that is ever-changing and in many cases prompts their fanbase to become very opinionated on their sound. Despite their evolution, and whatever people say they are or have become, the band has continually crafted a live set that is as raw and filled with emotion as it can get. After touring with Citizen and Turnstile, Ceremony harnessed the energy from that experience to power their “Vanity Spawned by Fear” tour. With support from Bay Area Hardcore Punk rising stars SPY and shoegaze bedroom pop laden Suzanne Kraft, Ceremony curated a perfect end to thee first leg of their tour. The night kicked off with Suzanne Kraft swooning the crowd with a set filled with jangly guitars and drowned out vocals to ease into the night. The ability to set a smooth tone and give a calmness to the crowd before the impending chaos worked extremely well. As they continued their set you could see a juxtaposed crowd of people swaying and feeling every hook as well as the pit taking shape and carving itself for the rest of the night. Forming itself like a drawback before a tsunami, the open space became ominous and as

Photo Recap: Citizen at The Regent

Janky Smooth Central Command October 18, 2022

For two sold out nights, Citizen treated Los Angeles’ softer side with post hardcore maladies and sweet serenades that left an eternal impression upon the Regent walls. Alongside Militarie Gun and Prince Daddy & The Hyena, this was a showcase that proved hardcore is for lovers, or at least fighters that fight for love. Photos by: Jason Murillo Citizen Militarie Gun Prince Daddy & The Hyena

Photo Recap: The Bronx, The Chats, Drug Church and Scowl at The Music Box

Janky Smooth Central Command October 18, 2022

There’s no better way to celebrate punk rock music than by bringing every flavor of the genre under the same roof. For their tour, The Bronx and The Chats took Drug Church and Scowl on the road making for a lineup that featured hardcore, post hardcore and punk. Stopping at San Diego’s Music Box for an epic show, we’ve got pictures from the evening. Photos by: Israel Perez The Bronx The Chats Drug Church Scowl

Nitzer Front: Cold Waves LA at The Mayan

Danny Ryan October 12, 2022

The number of different types of artists and sounds that fall under the banner of “industrial music” is incredibly wide, ranging from full bands with live instruments to solo artists with only a backing track behind them. While industrial influences can be found in scenes such as goth, noise, metalcore, psych rock and different forms of electronic music; the origins of the movement are not always credited as often as the artists who took these influences. Cold Waves Festival at The Mayan Theater focuses on bringing the roots of the industrial live experience to a modern audience, showcasing rare performances by international artists from all different eras and sounds within the genre. Cold Waves Festival is truly a one-of-a-kind event, as it’s rare to see a festival so dedicated in paying respect to a genre’s history while equally hosting upcoming artists that carry the torch for its future. Leathers was the first performer of the evening, being the solo project of Shannon Hemmett from the post-punk band Actors. The project has a lot of 80’s synthpop influence in its instrumentals, with the echo effects on Hemmett’s voice creating an element of distance in its sound to stand apart from these

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

Photo Recap: Clutch, Quicksand, and Helmet at the Regent

Janky Smooth Central Command October 11, 2022

Sometimes a tour comes around town that is so stacked it’s hard to believe when you first see the marquee. Such was the case when The Regent hosted Clutch, Quicksand, and Helmet. Each of these bands could headline a show and gather a crowd but all together, this has got to be one of the best alternative metal hardcore tours of the year. All three bands dabble in all three sounds and their audiences aren’t too far apart if you ask me. Although it’s a lineup that’s hard to believe this lineup makes a lot of damn sense. These bands come from different places and scenes, they all got different histories but it’s all rock and roll. We’ve got pics from the show that you gotta see. Photos by: Albert Licano Clutch Quicksand Helmet

Emo Never Dies: My Chemical Romance at T-Mobile Arena

Janky Smooth Central Command October 10, 2022

Las Vegas is normally known for its bright, flashy lights and vibrant colors, but on Friday night it was a little different. 20,000 fans dressed in black and red, representing the many stylings spanning My Chemical Romance’s career, took over the strip. Camped out from the early morning, it’s no surprise fans were anxious as ever. From the first announcement of MCR’s reunion tour after their 2013 breakup, the excitement quickly came to a halt after the band announced its postponement due the COVID-19 pandemic. But two years later, that excitement returned with even greater power. As the lights dimmed and red and white lights flashed throughout the arena, the sold-out crowd roared in anticipation with chants of “MCR, MCR!” The band finally took the stage and dove into their latest single, ‘The Foundations of Decay.’ From there, My Chemical Romance tore through some of their biggest hits from their extensive catalog. The crowd never stopped screaming and singing along. As the night drew to an end, the band closed out their set with ‘Helena’ before coming back out to perform the final two songs of the night, ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’ and ‘Cancer.’ The night ended just as

Embracing ‘the blues’ with Crowjane’s Heather Galipo

Audrey Kemp October 10, 2022

While Heather Galipo is a musician in many now-legendary LA bands – including deathrock outfit Egrets on Ergot, no wave sensation Prissy Whip, and most recently, Cunts – she never planned to release her solo music. The songs she kept to herself were different. They comprised a sonic diary of sorts – a way of staying afloat when she was drowning in heartbreak. Known for her punk, noise and experimental music, she also felt that her fans wouldn’t understand her most personal project. “It hasn’t been that way, though,” she tells me. “And now I think it’s a cool practice to write whatever the heart wants. Sometimes that looks like an angry punk song. Sometimes that looks like indie, folk or blues.” Paul Roessler (of LA synthpunk band The Screamers) would eventually change her mind. During the pandemic, he encouraged her to turn years of work into a 10-track album on his label, Kitten Robot Records, at his studio of the same name. The album would be called Mater Dolorosa. Sorrowful Mother. Heather’s moniker, “Crowjane,” comes from an old blues song by Skip James. “There’s so much moody music in the world, but the blues is emotional,” she admits. “There’s

Perfection Does Exist: Porcupine Tree at the Greek Theatre

Rob Shepyer October 7, 2022

Prog rock is a guilty pleasure for me. When no one is around on a lonely drive, speeding down a highway late at night through the desert, I roll the windows down and blast prog. Something about the perfection of the sound rings through the night and motivates my ride with a more epic quality. If there were someone else in the car though, I’m not so sure the music would hit right. These are personal anthems I keep somewhere close inside. Times I’ve tried to share prog music with others, most people seem not to get it. They don’t see what I see. Which is that prog musicians are some of the most courageous artists around, not just for pushing the boundaries of craftsmanship but for their songwriting and lyrical content which touches upon subjects rock and roll usually strays from, more heady, authentic themes like psychology and philosophy find a home in prog rock. Straight forward rock and roll thinks its too cool for these themes which feel on the surface a bit “bookwormish”. Porcupine Tree‘s absence may not have been felt by the punks, or even most of the metalheads, but to the prog rockers, there was