Category: SHOWS

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

Photo Recap: The Smashing Pumpkins Oh So Shiny And Bright Tour at the Forum

Janky Smooth Central Command September 2, 2018

The Smashing Pumpkins have reformed with three of their original members (Billy Corgan, James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlain) for their Oh So Shiny and Bright Tour which took The Forum by storm for two consecutive nights. Metric opened for the legendary band and along with the classics, The Pumpkins played a set filled with oddities and covers like “Space Oddity” and “Stairway to Heaven”. With The Forum’s usual brand of epic stage production, The Pumpkins pulled out all the stops visually, to do something people have never seen before and can never forget. Photos by: Jessica Moncrief The Forum Metric The Smashing Pumpkins

Photo Recap: New Age Records 30th Anniversary at Garden Amphitheater

Janky Smooth Central Command August 31, 2018

Legendary Southern California hardcore record label New Age Records held their 30th anniversary show at Garden Amphitheatre where landmark alumni and current bands of the label played insane sets. Bands like Trial, Mouthpiece, Strife, and A Chorus of Disapproval played to name a few. New Age Records is what hardcore is all about, keeping it real, tried and true, for thirty fucking years. Here are some photos from the anniversary: Photos by: Albert Licano Trial Mouthpiece Strife Mean Season A Chorus of Disapproval Safe and Sound Countervail Drug Control Decline Crow Killer Last of the Believers One Choice Walk Proud Hellfire Trigger RedBait Collateral Damage

Dead Moon Night: A Tribute to Fred Cole at the Echo

Audrey Kemp August 31, 2018

Metal-heads, goths, rock-n-rollers and cowboys young and old packed in like sardines before a stage festooned in funerary flowers and a dead man in the moon under a dim red haze. The chemistry that bonded them? A common love and appreciation for Dead Moon and the late Frederick Lee Cole. Toody Cole, co-founder and bassist of DIY rock-n-roll band Dead Moon, hand-picked her entourage of unique L.A. musicians, including former guitarist of Cat Power Gregg Foreman, Warren Thomas of The Abigails, Zumi Rosow and Cole Alexander of the Black Lips, Cheap Tissue, Sons of the Southwest, Sharif Dumani of the Alice Bag band and others, for a special night at the Echo in Los Angeles to honor Fred Cole and to commemorate the release of the new Dead Moon art book on his would-have-been 70th birthday. related content: Berserktown II: Music Fringe Binge At The Observatory The groups covered some highlights from Fred’s vast repertoire of work, including that from bands such as The Lollipop Shoppe and Dead Moon. The festivities began with a screening of Kate Fix and Jason Summer’s documentary, Unknown Passage: the Dead Moon Story (2004), a story Warren Thomas of the satanic Outlaw Country band the

Unplugged and Undying: Six Organs of Admittance, Wino, and Xasthur at Resident

Rob Shepyer August 30, 2018

When Bob Dylan first plugged in and went electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963, he was harangued, mocked, and shit on by the same followers that professed their total devotion to him as a folk singer. Similarly, when metal goes acoustic, there are always detractors. Yet, with the talent exhibited by the artists Church of the 8th Day booked to play The Resident, Xasthur, Wino, and Six Organs of Admittance, the voices of those detractors seemed to shrink under the monumental weight of the emotions in these folk songs. Proving that Kansas can be just as dark as Darkthrone, Alhambra’s Xasthur was once a one-man black metal machine, pumping out the haziest, most brutal black metal in California. Having soaked in all of isolation’s inspiration, Scott Conner knew there were muses he had to follow beyond the boundaries of electric music. Startling the purist following he had garnered, Xasthur went acoustic and the fans that once battled his skeptics, became skeptics themselves. related content: Satyricon’s Final Los Angeles Show: A Night Too Blackened To Forget Taking the stage as a three-piece, all on acoustic guitars, Xashur wore a bandana to cover his face while Christopher sang his lyrics and

Ahead of his Timelessness: David Byrne at The Shrine Auditorium

Jessica Moncrief August 29, 2018

A lone brain sits on a fold out table complete with a wooden chair directly under a spotlight. This abstract scene of living art set the stage perfectly for a journey into the psyche and imagination of the legendary David Byrne. With bare feet, white disheveled hair, and a cool gray retro suit to boot, Byrne looked like a mad scientist or guru to a new age religious cult, the church of Byrne. He walked out onto the stage, sat in the chair and picked up the brain. While solemnly singing into his headpiece, a glittery beaded curtain raised from the floor. From there, the production went full psychedelic with a marching band of smiling, dancing, barefoot instrumentalists and back up singers, all uniformly dressed in the same retro grey suits. They gracefully emerged from the curtain in what would be the beginning of a fully choreographed spectacular production that was completely wireless. No amps on stage, no cords dangling from instruments to step over, the drums were attached to their player’s bodies instead of fixed on a kit. related content: Finally Admitting It’s Real: Portugal. The Man At The Shrine This had to be the most avant-garde concert tour

The Industrial Virus is Spreading: Das Bunker Presents Kanga at Resident

Rob Shepyer August 28, 2018

Das Bunker has returned, this time out of the post-apocalyptic brick humidifier that is Los Globos’ crumbling upstairs bomb shelter to the posh but mosh-approved Resident for a Kanga and Cyanotic duel-headlining show. The horror on the faces of those yuppies that were trying to peacefully go about their networking on the patio was a beautiful thing for us creeps to behold. We blackened the Resident like a flock of crows descending upon hipster carrion. related content: One Friday Night In Hell Part 2: Das Ich At Los Globos Coming from Toronto and exhibiting that same sappy Canadian authenticity that seems so easy to be cynical against, For All The Emptiness, began the show. His songs were desperate pleas for change out of a numb and uncaring world and though this translates well on his records, over his catchy industrial dance beats, live the combination of fast-paced music, overly-dramatic singing, forgettable stage antics, and lyric-videos plastered on the backdrop via projection, didn’t quite hit the mark. Digital music and lyric videos just scream karaoke no matter how good the performance. In his favor, I will say the his album art and music video for “Hearts Against Minds” have top notch aesthetics

Cinema of Sound: Timber Timbre at The Moroccan Lounge

Dillon Vaughn August 27, 2018

Timber Timbre‘s unbelievably cinematic sound conjures some of the most distinct imagery with ease; thankfully they were able to bring that experience to fans at the Moroccan Lounge in DTLA last week for two sold out nights. Embedded in their music is an intimacy fitting for the most tense moments of desolation; compositions that harken to a lovesick killer brooding in the most remote diner in the Nevada desert late at night. (Interestingly enough, the group so capable of capturing the classic sound of the American west hails from Ontario, Canada.) Deceptive softness and melancholy shroud what’s truly music for a bad man (in a Coen Brother’s sense) and the beauty translates perfectly to a live setting. The well-earned hype and buzz surrounding this group will only continue to grow. related content: How To Trip Off Volume: Elder At The Roxy related content: Too Heavy to Die: Boris’ 25th Anniversary With Melvins At Echoplex Opening both performances was Thor and Friends, the avant-garde project fronted by former Swans associate and percussionist Thor Harris. Unassuming at first, the ensemble quickly captivated those in attendance with hypnotic swells and some of the most lush instrumentation to grace the Moroccan. They’ve performed around town frequently

The Hardest So-Cal Has to Offer, Strife Plays “In This Defiance” at The Roxy

Rob Shepyer August 27, 2018

Southern California has always been a hotbed for hardcore punk from Black Flag to The Circle Jerks but carrying on the torch into the 90’s was a band from Thousand Oaks, California called Strife. Exhibiting that classic straight edge, beat down character, Strife was a band that from the get go, had the feel like they belonged on a stage with a pit belonging right in front of them. Their second album, In This Defiance, with its many guest appearances by Dino Cazares, Chino Mareno, and Igor Cavalera, became the band’s definitive album. They were a band that could get hardcore kids to dog-pile and sing together songs so undeniably powerful and demanding of an audience, that they became essential to the Southern California hardcore canon. related content: For The Children 2017 At The Echoplex: Hardcore Is The Gift That Keeps On Giving Strife’s impact resonated beyond their sound though. Each band that would perform on this evening at The Roxy had a connection to the band. Beginning first with Fixation from Philadelphia, who even though are in the early stages of their career, played a set that was cohesive and powerful enough to make you envision a long and

Too Heavy to Die: Boris’ 25th Anniversary with Melvins at Echoplex

Janky Smooth Central Command August 23, 2018

Boris celebrated their 25th anniversary of being a band at The Echoplex opening for the band that they take their name from, Melvins. Both classic sludge rock staples played incredibly loud, noisy, and heavy sets. Photos by: Dillon Vaughn

Category: SHOWS

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