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I was Straight Edge for a Night: Slapshot at Toxic Toast Theatre
Jonathan Reyes
October 3, 2018
Hardcore shows are weird when you can’t drink. It’s like everyone’s a designated driver, people actually have money for merch, and you can see the spinning heel kicks coming. The benefits of remembering every detail of the night is that you can vividly appreciate what you’re seeing. In this case it was Slapshot at Toxic Toast Theatre in Long Beach. I went in with a lot of ideas about the band. Why do hardcore bands have more former members than The Dead? How white can a person be? I’ve never seen so much Boston represented in a band. I had to double check that it wasn’t Whitey Bulger screaming into the microphone. I also thought this is what Dropkick Murphys sound like if they weren’t awful. Jack Kelly is so pure hardcore or “haadcorr” as he pronounces it, he doesn’t want to be a role model he just wants to be, he wants to be in his band lighting up the territories. Slapshot, a band fronted by a straight edge singer in a venue that doesn’t serve alcohol feels like Superman on the sun. It’s just pure hardcore music, nothing against any hardcore shows that have alcohol but when it’s just you
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Who’s The Better Brother? Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel at Echoplex
Rob Shepyer
September 28, 2018
I love Gene Loves Jezebel. I love Jay Aston and I love Michael Aston. So, I will do my best to contribute to this band’s legacy by casting judgement on which twin brother’s band is the better Gene Loves Jezebel. Along with seeing a rare L.A. show by Jay Aston performing their favorite songs, many in attendance came to compare the two Gene Loves. Most likely looking to Michael Aston’s Part Time Punks show from years previous which I attended and enjoyed. Check out my review of that show below: related content: Gene Loves Jezebel Play Immigrant In Entirety At Part Time Punks Gig If you don’t know the band’s history, Michael and Jay Aston are twin brothers that each have their own version of Gene Loves Jezebel. Michael’s is based in the U.S., Jay’s is based in the U.K. Michael was the lead singer and Jay was the guitarist, back-up vocalist, and songwriter. After a tumultuous breakup resulting in a legal battle to see who gets to tour under the name Gene Loves Jezebel, they both play the same banner. It’s an interesting question to ponder. How do you cement ownership of a song? Is it the writer or
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F*ck Feelings: Lagwagon Performs “Lets Talk About Feelings” at El Rey
Rob Shepyer
September 27, 2018
Are we, as a society, officially retiring the adage “sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me”? For a minute there, I thought this was the case but after seeing Lagwagon‘s degenerate onstage horseplay shit on the importance we put on feelings, now I can officially say, we as a society still think feelings are bull shit. Also bullshit: Joey Cape, lead singer of Lagwagon. Ask him yourself, he put it on a T shirt and the damn thing sold out. Fat Wreck Chords is still flying the punk flag proudly. That doesn’t necessarily require being ass holes but it doesn’t hurt, especially when it’s toward your bandmates, not the audience. In all seriousness though, Lagwagon and all its members fucking killed that stage. Lets Talk About Feelings was released twenty years ago on the same night as this show at El Rey. Even back then, Lagwagon’s music was teaching people to be worse human beings, whether they were kids playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater or adults skating in real life. related content: Me First & The Gimme Gimmes Inter-Review At The Fonda Theater A Vulture Wake began the night with one of the tightest,
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CHVRCHES Give the Greek a Religious Experience
Aria Silva-Espinosa
September 27, 2018
Sunday night’s show at The Greek Theater brought a massive slew of concert-goer traffic to the thin winding roads at the base of Griffith Park, overlooked by the throngs of tourists lining the observation deck of the Observatory. Back in the day, you were permitted to abandon your automobile on the precipice of the canyon overlooking the city of Los Angeles, now you have to pay gratuitously for parking in less perilous locations designated by L.A. Parks & Rec. The Greek is an imposing white amphitheatre-style building, an open-air venue that backs up to the darkened cliffside. This makes for a long walk through sports arena-style seating to find your seat with the assistance of an usher or if you’re like me and too proud to ask for direction, your cell phone flashlight. related content: Hot Chip Make Machines Come To Life At The Greek Fittingly, there was an almost full moon hanging in the sky on Sunday night. Lo Moon, the opening act from Los Angeles, delivered a fittingly lovelorn performance early in the evening. Lo Moon is a relatively new formed indie rock trio. Lead vocalist and guitarist Matt Lowell played the song “Loveless“, which he had been
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Make American Green Again: The Great American Smoke Out
Janky Smooth Central Command
September 25, 2018
Words and Photos by: Maggie St. Thomas Master rap artist Snoop Dogg celebrated 25 years of Doggystyle, his debut album on Death Row Records. Produced in 1993 by Dr. Dre with cover artwork by Mr. Joe Cool, Doggystyle sold almost a million copies within its first week of being released. While taking the sold-out arena back to the days of old school hip hop using the microphone as a time machine with heavy weights Cypress Hill, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, and adding a heavy dose of hazy funky infusion with Slightly Stoopid and reggae legend Don Carlos. Though the words on the flier read that Wu Tang Clan, Berner, and Warren G were scheduled to perform, so were the words ‘line-up subject to change.’ It didn’t seem to matter as the legends murdered the stage, and if you were a participant in that hot-boxed arena at The Great American Smokeout you got more than your money’s worth. Musical Youth, Afroman, Kottonmouth Kings and DJ Quik were also featured performers of the night, but let’s concentrate on the headliners. related content: The Queens Converge At Outside Lands 2018 Cypress Hill opened with “Band of Gypsies” taking our minds to strange and welcome places. B-Real took the stage mixing his helium style rap lyrics with Sen Dog’s rhymes performing their anthems like “How I
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Nirvana Leads to Nothing… at the Regent
Rob Shepyer
September 25, 2018
90’s alternative music is having an organic and overlooked revival that is making for some of the best rock and roll of this decade. Whether it be the post-grunge sounds of Culture Abuse or the hardcore infused shoegaze of Nothing, you should get into these bands before you miss the boat. related content: NOTHING Unhinge Echoplex Audience By Bending Sonic Waves Having just released an album and made the cover of Revolver magazine, Nothing is riding a wave at the moment with a cult-like following of hardcore kids that fell in love with gaze. This new album, “Dance on the Black Top” is for my money, the band’s best. You’d think that would make this Part Time Punks show at The Regent something magical to me but such wasn’t exactly the case. Nothing isn’t a bad live band, they’re just hit or miss. Hit or miss because something is missing. What great live music does, which is suspend your thinking mind and connect everyone by making them forget themselves, Nothing achieves this phenomenon better on record than in performance. It’s a big deal when Part Time Punks moves from the Echo or Echoplex to the Regent and opening up the
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Riot Fest 2018: The Riot Still Rages
Janky Smooth Central Command
September 22, 2018
Words and Photos by: Meghan Breedlove This past weekend in Chicago, Riot Fest 2018 wrapped up their 13th year and Janky Smooth was there to capture some of the scenes from the weekend. Even though Riot Fest shared some devastating news regarding Blink 182’s cancellation (due to health issues) a few short days before the festival, Riot Fest was able to recover quickly by booking Weezer, Taking Back Sunday, and Run the Jewels. related content: How Riot Fest Chicago 2016 Survived The Misfits Subpar Performance Even with Blink 182’s absence, there was no shortage of their songs, with multiple Blink 182 covers sung over the weekend to honor the band, with both Weezer and Young the Giant covering “All the Small Things”. The festival layout was somewhat cozy, with five stages of proximity, a freak show, a variety of carnival rides, and of course pretty much any fried food your heart desired. Overall, Riot Fest 2018 was a major success despite some last minute lineup changes, so here is a recap of my adventure in Chicago this past weekend. related content: Jawbreaker At Riot Fest: The Moment I Stopped Hating Pop Punk Day 1 I first arrived at the festival
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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
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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
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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
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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,
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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
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