Tag: industrial
The Lost Coverage Of Substance Fest 2022- Los Angeles Theater
Janky Smooth Central Command
October 1, 2025
With Substance Fest 2025 quickly approaching on November 7th/8th in it’s return to The Belasco, it has forced us to look back. Amidst the exponential increase in the volume of content this year, in the scramble to preview this year’s Substance, we uncovered the unpublished coverage from a special year of the festival- Substance 2022. Laying in the debris of the pandemic, in the smoldering ashes of this music blog were the photos of Albert Licano- mostly unseen by the outside world. As we all rise again to attend or cover Substance 2025, let us not forget the elation and gratitude of the after years in which we thought live music would never be the same again. This was one of those years. Between October 21-22, 2022, Los Angeles played host to Substance Fest 2022, aka “LA’s Dark Underground Festival,” a two-night celebration of post-punk, industrial, darkwave, goth, synth pop, and ebm, et al. Held at the majestic Los Angeles Theatre, the fest brought together a collective lineup of established underground legends, emerging acts, DJs, visual art, and immersive environments. In this look back, we’ll break down the experience: the venue, lineups, standout performances, production, crowd vibes, strengths, and areas
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Avant-Garde Headbanging with The Armed at The Roxy
Rob Shepyer
September 24, 2025
Seeing The Armed at The Roxy on September 20, 2025 was not just a whim- for me it was a necessity. Whenever the Armed play in Los Angeles, I make it a point to attend. Their concerts feel like rare glimpses into a future world. With their latest tour stop supported by Prostitute, another heavy and unpredictable band, I wanted to break down not only the performance but also why The Armed matter so deeply and why their most recent album, THE FUTURE IS HERE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED, truly rules. related: One Friday Night In Hell- Show Me The Body and Twitching Tongues at The Regent The Armed have become my favorite modern band. I am not sure how it happened; I can’t always control what I gravitate toward. Perhaps they filled the vacuum left by The Dillinger Escape Plan, a band whose live shows once stood as the gold standard for ferocity and unpredictability. Perhaps they were the only group writing anthems with lyrics powerful enough to resonate like “Sport of Form” off Perfect Saviors, my favorite album of 2023. That track, which ends with a peaking sing-along verse of “Doesn’t Anyone Even Know You? Does
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Enter Das Bunker: Summer Massive 2025 at Catch One
Danny Baraz
August 12, 2025
One of our favorite club nights of the year, Das Bunker’s Summer Massive at Catch One was on August, 2nd 2025. Less than 2 weeks have passed but the mind and the heart have a hard time letting go. This post is mostly a photo recap but it’s also a shout out to the Das Bunker team for continuously producing events that bring all the generations of the scene together at this generation’s clubhouse, Catch One (rip Jewel). Along with Bar Sinister, Catch One has become the defacto collection point for those who mingle and dance in the dark and industrial arts- it has been thus regardless of changes of ownership through the decades. related: Pixel Grip, Spike Hellis and BLO Find Refuge at Das Bunker The chambers and pockets and staircases of Catch One were writhing with denizens deep into the guts of the venue while the walls wobbled with bass deep into the night. The hardwood floors of the main room and foyer had a particularly nice bounce to them underneath our boots. Every room had a DJ- mostly scene favorites with an appearance by the high priest of Cum Metal, Johnny Health. related: HEALTH at the Grammy
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Youth Code Break The Ice At The Echo: Yours, With Malice
Danny Baraz
June 12, 2025
This past Saturday, June 7th, the post-punk industrial outfit, Youth Code, returned to The Echo in Los Angeles for their first headlining show in this city in 9 years. L.A. is the city from which Youth Code spawned so, that hiatus is enigmatic on its own. Why has it been so long and why now? The latter, easy to answer — Yours, With Malice, the new EP released last month on May 16th by Sumerian Records. Spoiler alert: It’s a fucking banger. In the shadow of the ICE raids and protests happening downtown and all over the city, Youth Code and their supporting act, Sweat played a show- one of the best club shows I’ve seen all year and it was fitting it was at The Echo for many reasons. I knew nothing about the band Sweat but they announced their presence with authority. Sweat are a hard-hitting hardcore-punk trio from Los Angeles, formed in 2019 by veteran SoCal scene members Tuna Tardugno (vocals), Justin Smith (guitar/bass), and Anthony Rivera (drums), formerly of outfits like Graf Orlock, Dangers, and Dogteeth . With razor-sharp riffs, metallic hardcore energy, and an unhinged and frenetic live show by their ringleader, Tardugno, they channel influences ranging from Cro‑Mags
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Cruel World 2024: A Legacy Forms in Year 3 at The Rose Bowl
Danny Baraz
May 27, 2024
It’s very rare for a music festival to have a storied legacy to live up to after just 2 years. But after a total lunar eclipse that turned the moon blood red before completely disappearing during Bauhuas for Cruel World 2022 and inclement weather and lightning that thwarted Siouxsie Sioux from performing on Saturday in 2023 and adding a 2nd day on Sunday, it felt like raising the bar could be quite dangerous. For a moment, it looked like the massive storms on our star might cause the Aurora Borealis to materialize for a SECOND night in Southern California for Cruel World 2024. Was there some type of deal with the devil to manifest this excitement, pleasure and existential angst? Maybe a collab with the folks at CERN to find the physics of the post punk genre through the mysteries of particle colliders? Alas, we could not view the Northern Lights here in the southland but the stars fell from the sky and landed on the 3 stages, Brookside at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena for yet another celestial Cruel World experience. related: Cruel World 2023- Redemption and Romance at The Rose Bowl Fandom has always been weird, wonderful and
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Gary Numan and Frontline Assembly at The Fonda: An Evening of Synths and Industrial Bliss
Saryn Christina
May 8, 2024
On April 7, 2024, The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles welcomed the eager fans of Gary Numan and Frontline Assembly with a line stretching around the block. The atmosphere buzzed with anticipation as the doors swung open, revealing a packed theater ready to witness both artists take the stage. Frontline Assembly kicked off the evening with a thunderous set that fused industrial beats with haunting melodies. Starting right on time, they strode from the darkness and exploded with sound. Playing classics like “Mindphaser” and crashing into newer tracks that showcased their evolution, Frontline Assembly delivered a performance that was as intense as it was mesmerizing. The entire band performed with an energy that set the stage for an incredible night. The crowd, bathed in pulsating lights and engulfed in a wall of sound, was entranced from start to finish. Related: Nitzer Ebb And Flow – A Night Of Dance And Darkness At The Music Box Soon after Frontline Assembly exited, Gary Numan took the stage and from the opening notes he captured the audience with his enduring sound. He delivered a career-spanning set that perfectly balanced his early, more pop-oriented sounds with the darker, industrial leanings of his later work.
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3Teeth at The Teragram: Industrial Dystopia
Danny Ryan
February 8, 2024
Love for gothic industrial and nu-metal aesthetics seemed nonexistent for a while, being almost universally seen as cringe and outdated as indie rock and trap music dominated the airwaves in the late 00’s and early 2010’s. With political tensions rising after the 2016 election however, angry and darker music came back in a massive way that can be seen with festivals like Sick New World selling out quickly and the industrial scene feeling as relevant as ever again. 3Teeth is a band that took full advantage of this shift in attitude, bringing the angsty edge of 90’s greats like Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson to a new audience that’s just as wild at live concerts. In celebration of their newest album EndEx, 3Teeth transformed the Teragram Ballroom into a cyberpunk wasteland and hosted a late night of industrial sounds from every era; with ear-piercing distortion, infectiously dancey synthesizer melodies, and leather as far as the eye can see. With Skold, Straight Razor, and 8mm as surprise openers for the evening, there was a treat for all fans of industrial music no matter what their preference may be. Straight Razor’s performance began with an eerie but blissful ambient intro, almost
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Nitzer Ebb and Flow: A Night of Dance and Darkness at The Music Box
Danny Baraz
November 3, 2023
Star date Saturday, Sept. 2nd, 2023… San Diego, California. Nitzer Ebb is the band. Modern.wav and Lethal Amounts are the pilots and The Music Box became the vessel for the only U.S. show scheduled this year for the British EBM/Industrial pioneers. It was perfect timing for Venus to come out of retrograde as the stars aligned to bring lost loves back into our lives. Last time I saw Nitzer Ebb was at Substance 2021 and as fun as that set was, it was missing front man Douglas McCarthey with composer and energizer bunny Bon Harris insuring the show went on. This show was a collaboration between Lethal Amounts and San Diego goth scene impresarios, Modern.wav, whose line-ups, clubs and vibes have been drawing me down to San Diego on a more regular basis over the last year. As one might imagine, Nitzer Ebb drew Angelenos down to the southern most part of California so the crowd was filled with familiar and friendly faces. related: Nitzer Front- Cold Waves 2022 at The Mayan The lineup was stacked with quality, dark music acts, bondage exhibitions and DJ’s between bands. Opening the show was synth pop group, Normal Bias. Normal Bias have a
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HEALTH/Author & Punisher at The Music Box: Let The Ceremony Begin
Danny Baraz
April 20, 2023
Last time I saw HEALTH in San Diego was opening for Crystal Castles in May 2011 at the now defunct Fluxx Nightclub. Last Saturday it was HEALTH who were headlining The Music Box in San Diego as the last stop on their Dark Territory tour, and the only thing that HASN’T changed in the nearly 12 years since that show is that HEALTH completely shredded the stage. related: HEALTH at The Echo- First L.A. Show in 3 Years Delivers There were multiple story lines unraveling in through the evening and indeed, the complex and cryptic folds of the universe itself. Returning back from ceremony in Mexico on the day of the show, HEALTH was also the band me and my partner saw on our first date the night I touched her for the first time at 1720 a year ago. I love you Jules (fuck face). All that along with promoter Modern.Wav calling out the San Diego goths to convene in their own ceremony and indulge their kinks with an epic lineup that also featured Author & Punisher and openers Matte Blvck and Straight Razor, whom I woefully missed. Luckily, photographer Becky DiGigglio did not. We walked in during
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Janky Smooth Sessions: INVA//ID at Bar Sinister
Danny Baraz
February 5, 2023
Goth, Industrial, EBM, Dark Wave, Post Punk, et al, born in the shadows, is having it’s moment in the sun- to the dismay of some of its denizens. But to Industrial acts like INVA//ID, the spotlight is deserved and somewhat welcome. After all, bands want people at their shows. On this Saturday night at Bar Sinister in Hollywood, there was no lack of patrons. Janky Smooth got a chance to speak with Christopher Rivera and and Krz Greenhaw of INVA//ID about their music, the state of the scene and the sounds and places that have influenced them. One of those influential places is Boardners/Bar Sinister and it’s constant presence in Los Angeles post punk and other scenes and genres cannot be understated. So it was fitting that this was the setting for both the show and our interview. Keep an eye out for the next single from INVA//ID dropping on Feb. 14th with the full length expected in July 2023. INVA//ID: Bandcamp Instagram Videographer: Chris Shaibi Video Editing and Words: Danny Baraz Photos: Jessica Moncrief
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Full Moon on a Friday the 13th: Cold Waves L.A. Showcase at the Regent
Rob Shepyer
September 20, 2019
I make it a point to never miss a Cold Waves event whenever they rear their heads in Los Angeles. I only wish you all did the same. You do realize this is the country’s premiere industrial music festival, don’t you? Taking place in the heart of that genre’s American upbringing… you get that right? For some reason, I feel Cold Waves never get their due in Los Angeles. Maybe industrial isn’t as popular as metal or punk around these parts but come on, if you’re into fast, loud, heavy music and don’t give the genre a try, then you’re just closed-minded. related content: Cold Waves LA: Heaven For Industrial Kids Anyway, with their Los Angeles showcase taking the place of their three-day festival, Cold Waves brought an all-star lineup of deliciously insane acts to The Regent including the likes of avant-garde legends Test Dept from the UK and Severed Heads from Australia. With the showcase falling on the evening of a full moon and a fateful Friday the 13th, their was much anticipation for what sort of soul-altering experience The Regent was in for. None of us could’ve guessed though, just how revelatory Test Dept were going to be,
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Take This: Win Two Tickets to Cold Waves LA Showcase at the Regent
Janky Smooth Central Command
September 9, 2019
The country’s greatest industrial festival, Cold Waves, returns to Los Angeles for a night featuring legendary bands of the genre. The Cold Waves Showcase will bring Test Dept. to the Regent along with Australian duo Severed Heads and Pop Will Eat Itself. The party all goes down on Friday the 13th for a bloody good time with some dark electronic music. Anytime Cold Waves comes to the West Coast count on us to be there for you. YOU CAN BUY TICKETS HERE OR: ENTER TO WIN 2 TICKETS TO COLD WAVES LA SHOWCASE SEPTEMBER 1ST AT THE NOVO 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 INSTAGRAM, TWITTER, or FACEBOOK Cold Waves LA Showcase Ticket Giveaway Post WINNER WILL BE SELECTED ON SEPTEMBER 10TH AT 11AM PST VIA EMAIL CONFIRMATION
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