Category: SHOWS

Color Me Punk: Rubella Ballet Plays First L.A. Show Since 1985 at Echoplex

Rob Shepyer September 20, 2018

Rubella Ballet comes from a time when there weren’t as many boxes for you to cram bands into. There was punk, metal, and a few subgenres in between. They were associated with the anarcho movement, namely Crass, in England in the late 70’s and 80’s but musically, their albums show more diversity than any label could commit them to. Their songs and look represented the essence of anarchy. Rebellion, even against itself. When everyone wore black, they wore Day-Glo. When everyone played fast, short songs, they experimented with slower rhythms and more nuanced arrangements. Singer Zilla Minx and guitarist Sid Ation still know how to get weird. For all these young kids born after Rubella Ballet’s heyday, this was a show unlike anything they had ever seen. Rubella Ballet’s latest album, Danger of Death, brought them back to Los Angeles to play Part Time Punks at the Echoplex for the first time since 1985. Along with a few death rock, anarcho, and post punk bands, their combined effort made for a very special night of music. related content: Gene Loves Jezebel Play Immigrant In Its Entirety At Part Time Punks Gig Spain’s Fatamorgana was the first to take the stage. Made

GØGGS a-go-go at the Teragram Ballroom

Jonathan Reyes September 19, 2018

Is it C.F.M or Ty Segall, the Muggers, Freedom Band, Parliament? I don’t even think they know half the time. I think they show up to a venue, in this case it was The Teragram Ballroom and whoever gets the mic first decides which band is performing that night. related content: New Album Review: GØGGS is Damn Good Gravy On The Ty Segall Catalog There is one way to tell and that’s when Chris Shaw saunters over with that thousand yard stare. You know right away you’ve got GØGGS. Which is just enough time to make your peace with your teeth because the energy he infects the crowd with is fucking bonkers. It’s not often that you get a band that can be so intense but maintain the musicality they obviously work so hard on. They could easily just do the one band and call it a day. The branches of the tree of creativity that they come from stick out in so many unique ways. But they don’t let complacency tempt them into mediocrity and fans respond with pits that don’t neutralize after the first song, they keep their phones away because how could a cellphone ever capture what

The Sax Maniac Cometh: James Chance and the Contortions at Zebulon

Rob Shepyer September 17, 2018

Zebulon was the stage of choice for James Chance’s return to Los Angeles since his monumental last appearance at the Echoplex, his first show here in 34 years. Something about James is a magnet for young Los Angeles beats, punks, eccentrics, hipsters, and anyone down with it. So, for two nights, James took the Zebulon by storm, regaling us with tunes as diverse in age as the audience. related content: James Chance and the Contortions Play First Show In L.A. Since 1984 I try to make it out to any James Chance or No Wave performance in the area because unlike so many scenes that have come and gone, this small fixture of New York 70’s culture never lost its intrigue or cool. Combining nihilism, stream of consciousness poetry, black and white cinema, all into one off-kilter, jarring jazz-punk style, No Wave is the ultimate stand against musical orthodoxy. Anything goes because James says so, that was the mantra for this night of music. Traps PS opened up with some cool post punk vibes that wrung the audience out with plenty of dancing and sweaty rhythm. Reminding me of such greats as Gang of Four, Traps PS features perhaps Los

Prophets of Doom: Yob and Acid King at Teragram

Rob Shepyer September 14, 2018

In times of social decay, metalheads thirst for one specific strain of heavy music to level their peeking frustrations and fears simply by crushing them equal to all other feelings. Call it masochistic but with all the suffering in the world, being enveloped by riffs so heavy that your teeth tremble in your gums, actually treats the pain. So, give us heavy, crushing guitars. Give us slow riffs that stretch longer than life lines. Give us drums that crash like thunder in storms too thick to see through. Give us doom, impending, loud, and full of sorrow. Doom is the sonic version of the abyss we stare into and see our reflections in. No American doom band today is quite as powerful live as Yob. Not since Saint Vitus has this subgenre seen such soul within it. I take plenty of bands into account when I make this bold verdict and if you disagree then leave me with my opinions to a solitary death and purple satin upholstered casket. related content: Pallbearer & Gatecreeper Stop At Echoplex Reminds Us- Guitar Solos Matter Doom lyrics in reviews aside, Church of the 8th Day booked another monstrous show with Yob, Acid Bath,

Sleepy Bangers/Hard Lullabies: The Book of Love at Teragram

Rob Shepyer September 10, 2018

Over the last few years, The Book of Love has been playing shows to celebrate their three decades long career. Los Angeles, as a city that means so much to their career, was the one city that was missing from their tour schedule until Friday night’s show at the Teragram ballroom presented by Lethal Amounts. related content: We All Scored At Lethal Amounts’ Pure Trash With Sylvain Sylvain Philadelphia Synth-pop duo, The Book of Love is made up of nightingale siren Susan Ottaviano and Electro-maestro Ted Ottaviano. What’s amazing about the group is their musical formula of taking synth lullabies and turning them into hard, dance floor bangers. This was “dream pop” before pop knew how to dream. The destined-duo are unrelated but their families trace back to the same Italian village. From start to finish, the crowd of 80’s kids was bopping and dancing madly to the music. People were making out like mad during the set. The band even seemed to have their own gaggle of groupies. The audience was in step for the whole show, eating out of Susan’s palm as her heavenly, serene voice swept over them. Songs that resonated hardest with the audience were “Alice

Magick Man: Killing Joke at the Regent

Rob Shepyer September 7, 2018

Killing Joke is a band that cannot be pigeon-holed. The moment you call them a post-punk band, they put out an industrial album. But within either camp, they were always the misfits of the bunch. Their post-punk was more rhythmic and off-kilter than their peers and their industrial was more lyrical and poetic than the average black leather electro act. Then you have a lead singer like Jaz Coleman, a true enigma. Most singers paint pictures from their own personal experiences but often times with Killing Joke, their songs take on the perspective of eternity. And what I mean by that is, Jaz would step out of his shoes and trousers and into the shoes of time itself, watching human history and making connections we can’t see through his lyrics. related content: The Growlers Reclaim Castle Beach Goth And All Is Right With The World Again One of the rarest acts you could ever see play in America, these English gentleman of the dark arts came out with an album called Pylon in 2015, which they planned to tour in the US, playing the Regent. As fate would have it though, Illness befell the band and they cancelled all their American

Long Live The Funk: George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic at the Observatory

Jessica Moncrief September 6, 2018

George Clinton has come a long way since forming The Parliaments as a teenager in a barbershop in Plainfield. Since the beginning of his career, the legendary godfather of funk has been making music and inspiring young creatives for more than 6 generations. In April of this year, he announced that he would be bidding farewell to the stage with a world wide tour in 2018. While the news is saddening, hanging up his hat in style with around 50 golden years of touring seems more than appropriate. While walking up to The Observatory I heard a group of teenage girls chatting when one exclaimed, “This is the best ever, my heart is so full right now!” I’m sure it was the molly talking, but I couldn’t help but reminisce about my own first time seeing Parliament in 1998. Some shows change the course of your history much like Parliament has for the modern face of music, seeing George Clinton had a huge impact on my personal passion for live music as well and happened to actually be my very first show to be guest-listed. related content: Summertime In The LBC: Love Letter To A City That Doesn’t Always

Groveling Before the Gods of Grind: Napalm Death at Teragram

Rob Shepyer September 5, 2018

Of all the epic metal shows Church of the 8th Day has ever put on, Napalm Death at the Teragram has got to be my favorite. The creators and gods of Grindcore, Napalm Death, changed music forever by goofing on certain elements that other genres wouldn’t dare experiment with at the time in 1981. Partially a farce, Grindcore didn’t care about what lyrics their growls were actually belting out and whether they actually matched-up with what was written. They would also do something as absurd as write songs under 10 seconds long. This was so groundbreaking at the time that the band generated mainstream attention by people that were just curious about how such a strange and shocking art form could exist. related content: Satyricon’s Final Los Angeles Show At The Regent: A Night Too Blackened To Forget Underneath this musical insanity and humor, Napalm Death has always carried the most serious political messaging behind their extreme sound. Their first album Scum opens up just the same way their Teragram set did, with “Multinational Corporations” going into “Instinct of Survival” which is a very confrontational, diagnosis of the world’s disease. Greedy, self-serving, corporations making money off of people’s plight and dying.

The Daytona Experience: Pusha T at the Observatory

Rob Shepyer September 4, 2018

2018 has been an amazing year for rap. We’ve seen the return of Slim Shady, five Kanye West produced albums, and one of the most volatile rap beefs to ever occur in the game with Pusha T completely destroying Drake. Along with making a star fall, Pusha T created my favorite album of the year, the first of the five Kanye produced albums of 2018, Daytona. related content: Summertime In The LBC: This Is Your Dad’s Hip Hop From the very beginning, when the album cover was released and we saw Whitney Houston’s addiction exploited for art with a photograph of her drug strewn bathroom as the cover, Daytona garnered controversy and hype. Then with “Infared”, the last track on the short, seven song album taking shots at Drake, nucleur heat was generated between the two rap Gods. For the first time in a long while, traditional rap stabbed through trap’s control of hip hop media. Finally, there was a ray of hope that hip hop could rekindle its golden years when the metric of quality was lyricism and beef elevated everyone in the game. So Pusha took shots at Drake with “Infared” then Drake came back with “Duppy Freestyle” and Pusha

The Olive Branch Extends to Irvine: The Scorpions at FivePoint Amphitheatre

Rob Shepyer September 4, 2018

The Scorpions play everywhere, from Israel to Beirut, to Siberia to their Irvine show at FivePoint Amphitheatre for the Crazy World tour. And what an aptly named tour it is, having seen so much of the world’s diversity and political strife, what is unique to The Scorpions is that they are loved and respected as the hard rock ambassadors of world peace. This band represents the chance that we could all get along some day. related content: Slayer’s Final So-Cal Show At Five Point Amphitheater: The Most Insane Review I’ll Ever Write This string of North American dates were makeup shows from a tour the band had to cancel last year while touring with support from Megadeth. On this tour, they brought along classic prog-metal kings Queensryche to open. The band played every song you’d expect but “I Don’t Believe In Love” off their seminal concept album and sonic-action experience Operation: Mindcrime. Instrumentally, they had incredible precision and a soaring epic quality. Todd La Torre sings with a powerful, booming voice that makes the 80’s fucking cool again and honestly sounds just like original singer, Geoffe Tate. Original guitarist Michael Wilton is a powerhouse and you can hear that power in

A Super Rad Super Kickstarter for The Aquabats Super Show at El Rey

Rob Shepyer September 3, 2018

Saving the world is often a thankless job but for over twenty years this has not been the case for The Aquabats. This is a band of superheroes/musicians with a fan base so die hard they not only have their own uniform and vernacular but they pass down their love and admiration for the band to their children. For many kids, those who attend the shows with their parents and those that watch The Aquabats Super Show on television, this band is their introduction not only to punk rock, but to music in general. So how does this fan base show their appreciation to the band? The attendance numbers and longevity speak for themselves but if that’s not enough, the Super Kickstarter seems to be a good metric. Trying to crowd fund new episodes of the Super Show, The Aquabats threw a three hour party at El Rey Theatre that included a slew of amazing guests and bands. Before they even played, The Aquabats announced they had raised enough money to record a new album, so I set my hopes high for new episodes of the Super Show to be on their way. related content: The De-Evolution of Burger Boogaloo

A Calling for Club Shows: X at Marty’s on Newport

Maggie St. Thomas September 2, 2018

Word and Photos by: Maggie St. Thomas It was standing room only for punk rock legends X, featuring an all star line up of all original members Exene Cervenka, John Doe, Billy Zoom and DJ Bonebreak, and with Craig Packham on drums for two songs, allowing Billy Zoom to serenade us with his saxophone with DJ Bonebreak’s primal percussion and vibrating bars. related content: OC’s Alright If You Like Saxophones: Psychedelic Furs and X At The Pacific Amphitheatre Celebrating their 40th anniversary and wrapping up a tour with The Psychedelic Furs, X packed Marty’s Cocktails in Tustin to maximum capacity. Quite the change of scenery from when I last saw X at OC Fairgrounds. X seemed to be full of delight at being back in a packed small club. Their powerhouse performance, commanding power beats, and vocals blasted out of the amplifiers at an unapologetic volume while they belted out their hits like ‘Must Not Think Bad Thoughts,’ ‘Los Angeles,’ and ‘New World.’ John and Exene shared the spotlight while their harmonizing vocals playfully complimented each other and intensified the energy just as well as any of their studio albums. Billy Zoom shredded the chords of his guitar with his signature ear to