JH and the Squares, Vaudeville, Abe Vigoda, and Mika Miko @ Comic Bug, 10/28/07

Comic Bug in Redondo Beach hosted a show last night which included the lineup of South Bay locals JH and the Squares and Vaudeville, following LA underground music scene giants Abe Vigoda and Mika Miko. Around 100 people showed up for what promised to be quite the entertaining night.

Check THIS link for more pics from both the Comic Bug show and the big after party at the Vermont House behind Vermont Shoes on Vermont Blvd.

JH and the Squares:

Joe Hylander is a busy man. When not touring with locals E>K>U>K, he's practicing and writing songs alongside fellow local man Jesse Hoffman of two-piece chicken dinner OHHOME! When these brilliantly creative forces combine, they make up JH and the Squares. Or, JH and the Motherfucking Squares!!! as I like to call them. Joe Hylander's vocals bear an uncanny resemblance to Elliott Smith's, and Jesse's stage presence is one of a statute confidence.

These guys are definitely coming to rock your world into a million tiny pieces (not to be confused with the shitty book that Oprah endorsed). If you were a toilet seat they would stomp you in half with a steel-toe boot. If you were a house of mirrors they'd blast through you with an AK-47. If you were a field of daisies they would run you over with a motherfucking John Deere. And if you were Steve Buscemi, they'd chop you up into tiny pieces and stuff your leg into a woodchipper with your socks still on. Yes. They rock that hard. And they're great guys, too!

These are some badass motherfuckers.

ENJOY THE PICS!




Loungy. Jazzy. Jammy. Psychedelic. Zappa-esque. Local heroes Vaudeville have been around the block and back, with fat catchy bass riffs, great smooth rhythms, and one of the best, if the not the best drummers in town, Sean Johnson (also of E>K>U>K, and formerly of From). If you live in the South Bay and you haven't at least heard of these guys, you're probably not cool. I'm serious. No I'm not. Yes I am.

Caribou @ Troubadour, 10/26/07

Wow. What can I say? Caribou rocked harder than I thought they would have. The best part about this live performance is that singer/drummer/keyboardist Dan Snaith rocks so hard at drums.

Now I'll come out by saying this: I don't know the slightest thing about drums except there are high hats, low hats, a bass drum, and a snare. I'm a guitarist and a keyboardist. Drums and me don't mix. But I do recognize fucking talent. And Dan Snaith has truckloads of it. His drum skills came as quite a surprise! Many of the songs included dual drum banging performances by Dan and the main drummer (I'm not going to pretend I know his name, nor will I Google that shit because it's fucking late and I'm buzzed).

If you've ever heard the word "Manitoba" then you don't need much else of an explanation about these guys. They're indie electronic 60s sounding sunshine pop.





This guy has nothing to do with Caribou but I spotted him at a Halloween party on Vermont. He looks just like him!

Man Man @ Troubadour, 10/23/07

I first got into Philadelphia's Man Man when reading about them on Pitchforkmedia early in the year.

I bought the album Six Demon Bag and it was awesome. Then I saw them open for Modest Mouse at the Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal City Walk after the show was moved from the Greek Theatre due to raging wildfires in the mountains and LA Fire Dept. setting up station there. Let's just say I felt bad for Isaac Brock and Co. ...I left to the Man Man merch booth during a Modest Mouse song to buy their first album, The Man in a Blue Turban With a Face. Equally engaging as the first with more of a children's sing-along vibe.

Man Man is one of the top 5 live bands I have ever seen in my life, and I've gone to Coachella the last four years in a row, along with hundreds of other great shows in Los Angeles. This show was fucking incredible and incredibly fucking packed was the Troubadour.

The place was super fucking hot due to all the damn Southern California wildfires and smoke. Dammit, every time Man Man comes to town, there's a huge array of wildfires. Coincidence? Or maybe they rock so hard that they set the world around them on fire. Last band that did that didn't make it out alive.

Rarely does a band have the kind of energy and chemistry on stage as these manly men do! They sound like a bunch of drunken singing fishermen who broke into a New Orlean's lounge bar and beat the shit out of the jazz band. They sound like a band of twee influenced gypsies wearing pots and pans on their heads while singing Tom Waits' covers and falling down the stairs.

The five or six dudes in Man Man jump up and down with their all white clothing: tank tops and T's, cutoff shorts, sailor shoes and those white Keds that your grandma still wears, and they rock the fucking house down. They pound the shit out their drums, use random items to beat with the drumsticks such as pans and empty oxygen tanks, and most of all, they just look like they are having a great time on stage. Every one of them seems to have at least one drumstick in their hands at any given moment. Keyboards, horns, guitar, bass, xylophones, drums, flute, melodica, drums, etc. I'm surprised they don't have a banjo and an accordion. Maybe on the next album, guys? Please?

Everybody sang along. You could barely find a path to the bathroom and if you did it'd take you five minutes just to get through.

Too bad I didn't show up early enough to take really good pictures. Enjoy.

Anton Corbijn's CONTROL @ Nuart, 10/22/07

Tonight after getting off of work, I quickly hopped on the 405 N. from El Segundo and began my heavily congested commute to the Nuart on Santa Monica Blvd. to see the Ian Curtis biopic Control.

This movie was hands down one of the best films of the year. Beautifully shot in black and white, music video director Anton Corbijn’s masterpiece presented an emotional impact not seen in many of today’s rockstar biopics (think Gus van Sant’s ultra-shitty Last Days).

I appreciated the subtleties in the character’s personalities and minds, such as Ian Curtis' (Sam Riley) tendency to wander off and focus on the trivial in his sad state of mental and emotional isolation; when called upon by his chemistry teacher, he is completely spaced out while he focuses strictly on the letters "OH" on the chemical chart.

I must say that Sam Riley is one of the best new actors I have seen today. He looks and sounds like Ian Curtis (and resembles Jack White, Johnny Knoxville and Leonardo Dicaprio).

I was born in '84 so I obviously missed Joy Division live (Curtis killed himself in 1980) but from what I've seen in videos, Riley's stage performance was dead on. His voice resembles Ian Curtis' and he has the exact same sort of awkward arm shuffling spasms and dancing while on foot were, in my opinion, almost a way of foreshadowing Curtis' real life complete loss of control when suffering a seizure on the floor.

There are lots of likable people in this movie, and you are really left feeling sorry for more than one of them. This is one of those movies where you can't decide who's side you are on because all of the characters really do have a lot of good in them.

I especially felt bad for Ian Curtis’ wife Deborah (Samantha Morton) who spent most of the movie crying and feeling sorry for herself and her deeply troubled husband, who suffered from epileptic seizures.

A favorite scene of mine was when Ian Curtis' psychiatrist prescribes him an overwhelmingly long list of hard to pronounce medication, and then completely belittles the dire side-effects. It's no wonder the guy was depressed!

I really enjoyed the comical performance from Toby Kebbell as Joy Division tour manager Rob Gretton. Whereas most tour managers are portrayed as greedy assholes, this one seems genuinely caring and friendly to the guys in the band, which was a refreshing take on the usually selfish character. I loved his first scene when he calls the potential Joy Division manager a "das cunt" and tells him he's nobody because nobody has heard of him. And he's also got a great scene where he tries to bribe a random dude to step in and sing a song with the band while Ian Curtis is backstage having an anxiety attack. "I'll give you 20 quid, just go out there!" The guy walks out, starts singing, and is booed off-stage by angry bottle-throwing fans of the real thing. He then walks backstage and asks "Where's my 20 quid?" and Rob Gretton yells "in my fuck-off pocket!" FUCKING CLASSIC!

Freelance journalist Annik Honoré (played by the super sexy Alexandria Maria Lara, who was born in Bucharest, Romania, the same exact city that my father was born in!) ends up being Ian's side dish, and a smoking hot one at that. I put myself in his shoes after he meets her, and I felt his pain and confusion. For an actor to be able to get you to look through his eyes like Sam Riley does in this movie, you've got to give them some serious fucking credit. He's in his early 20s, married too soon, in love too soon, with a newborn child too soon. His wife is a homely homebody who has gained weight naturally through pregnancy, and although he does love her, here comes this young and fresh pretty little thing staring at him with those big brown eyes. What a temptation! Click HERE for a super hot picture of her from the movie.

On the weaker side, TV personality Tony Wilson (Craig Parkinson) may not have been as fucking PHENOMENAL as Steve Coogan in 24 Hour Party People, but the focus was less on him this time around, and Steve Coogan has impossibly big shoes to fill anyway. Craig Parkinson's Tony Wilson did, however, have a funny scene in Control where he signed the band contract in blood. I'll leave it at that.

At 23, the same age when Ian Curtis killed himself, I really have a higher appreciation for Joy Division than ever before. I felt myself relating to him with his relationship struggles, feelings of confusion based on obligatory love and extracurricular lust, and his ultimate overwhelming anxiety and indecisiveness that led to his inevitable downfall. After all, love will tear us apart...

GO SEE CONTROL NOW! Showtimes HERE.

Black Lips @ Echoplex, 10/20/07

Just a day after missing Wolf Parade's Spencer Krug's main side project Sunset Rubdown at the El Rey (still bummed, I had my ticket, but ended up meeting up with co-workers at Union Cattle in Hermosa Beach for one too many drinks), Black Lips played at the Echoplex.

I arrived there early enough to catch openers The Spits and Pierced Arrows. The Spits, who are known for wearing crazy costumes live, had one of the craziest fucking pits I have been in in a while. These 30-years old or so bald Seattle dudes came out looking like skinhead Klansmen in loose white cotton sheet gowns, ink dots on their foreheads, and the guy on the keys was wearing a big fuzzy sasquatch-esque body suit and a welding helmet (think Homer in the opening credits for the Simpsons.)

They pumped out crunchy and raw power-chord punk that reminded me of Suicidal Tendencies with a synth, and even The Ramones on some tracks. Lots of singing-along, crowd surfing, and just an all out wild crowd. I had no idea this band had such a following!


I pretty much sat out the second band and then I worked my way up front to see Black Lips. Holy cow! I FUCKING LOVED THIS SHOW! I can't get over it! These guys have such a raw sound live. You can hear the crackle in the guitar's reverbed distortion as if someone is punching a Twin Reverb while the pickups are being run on a fading battery (I have an Eric Clapton Strat that uses Lace Sensors, and these active pickups sound exactly the same when the 9-volt is running low).

They really sound like a bunch of high school kids in the 60's getting drunk and singing along to old-school garage punk, and they do it extremely well, with catchy hooks that don't grow repetitive or annoying.

While their stage presence didn't include bodily fluid centered antics that they have become infamous for (urinating, masochism, vomiting, nudity, etc.), they still had a fucking awesome set and I really didn't miss the absence of cocks and barf on stage.

The crowd was really into it: yelling and singing along, pitting, crowd surfing, etc. but a lot of fans were also flicking them off and cussing them out and telling them to do crazy shit like "make out with each other!" and "take out your cock!" and "what the fuck happened to the good ol' days you motherfuckers!?!?" Some people were even throwing beer cups at them and they were getting splashed a bit. Nobody seemed to mind much except for thickly moustached bassist/vocalist Jared Swilley, who looked at the crowd, wide-eyed, with a look of contained-anger.

The band did well of keeping their cool until grillz-sporting guitarist Ian St. Pe broke a beer bottle on stage and the band was forced to pack it up with 5 songs left to play! Sucked! Everyone waited at least half an hour for them to come back on, booing and yelling, but they weren't allowed. Probably now banned from the Echoplex...

Dappled Cities / Figurines @ Spaceland, 10/16/07

What can I say...I got there early, had a Tanqueray dirty martini, picked a few songs on the jukebox in the smoking lounge, played pool through the One AM Radio set, and then waited for Dappled Cities to start. I had heard the name but wasn't familiar, and usually I'll at least check the myspace page for the opening bands prior to the show, but I didn't this time. Not that it mattered, because I was completely blown away by Australian band Dappled Cities.

The singer transitioned from low to higher falsetto notes with fluid ease, and the entire band was tight, crunchy, and poppy throughout. The vocals were very similar to the Shins and Weezer's River Cuomo on some tracks, and I spotted obvious influences by Mercury Rev, Flaming Lips' Soft Bulletin, and a little bit of Pavement and Arcade Fire. Now I know there are a lot of bands that consist of "white boys with guitars" as an former Mexican co-worker once put it, but these guys made good use of keyboards/guitar/bass/drums. Great chemistry, good energy...a really fun live show! The crowd was fairly large for this one, and people seemed into it, so that always helps an opening band.

I purchased their CD, the wonderful self-titled Dappled Cities, and I really like it! It's kind of like the first time I heard the Shins' Chutes Too Narrow. Great catchy hooks, just like seeing them live, and a good powerful production. I realized that on some songs, singer Tim Derricourt has a very Morrissey sounding voice, something I hadn't noticed seeing them live.



By the time Danish headliners Figurines went up, the crowd grew a little more full, but dwindled down to a scarce number after around 4 or 5 songs. They played around 12 songs total but most of them are fairly short. Definite highlight of the night was their performance of "The Air We Breathe" which is a great song in the style of Beach Boys. Fucking amazing vocal harmonies on this one!



Thanks to my sister Sheri for helping me to take a some amazing photos!

Black Francis @ Safari Sam's 10/15/07

Last night I saw Black Francis at Safari Sam's in Hollywood. If you haven't been there, you should go. The shows are usually cheap, and they're always giving away free or discounted tickets; plus, the parking is free in the HUGE 99 Cent Store lot.

I've only had a couple weeks to absorb his latest solo effort, self pronounced by the man himself as a "rock opera". The album is probably the closest to old Pixies material since his first two albums under the Frank Black name. There are some weak tracks, but at least 50% of the album is really solid hard rocking material, with Black Francis showing some of his signature screams that we all love. Most notably, check out "Threshold Apprehension" and "You Can't Break a Heart and Have It".

I got there at least 2 hours before B. Francis was on, just to secure a spot front 'n center. I awaited patiently for Mr. Black while drinking a 3-second white russian (yeah I'm not going to lie, it was "The Dude" who got me into this drink early on in college) and I kept a keen eye on the portal to the backstage. The crowd was full of older people, maybe late 20s being the average bloke. There was around 3 fat bald men in the audience, and every time one would walk by, everyone would stare over, and someone would shout out "wrong bald guy!"

Black came out completely calm and subdued, modestly sipping red wine from a clear plastic cup. I've got to say that he's a bit shorter than I thought. I've seen Pixies three times, but I've never been two feet away like last night.

Anyway, he got on the mic for minutes, describing how Bluefinger was wholly inspired by Herman Brood, a Dutch musician, painter, and poet who lived the sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll cliché and then jumped off the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel in 2001 at the age of 54. Black Francis then went on to play every song off the new album in shuffle mode, admitting that the sequencing of the tracks on this one doesn't really matter. I was so close to the man that if the stage wasn't so high up, I'd be standing face to face with only a mic stand in between!

The first few songs weren't quite loud enough so I dumped my makeshift wet napkin earplugs, only to regret this later when things got really fucking LOUD! Which was awesome. He didn't move around too much and get crazy like I had seen on his recent live performances on YouTube, but it's a small stage. However, he did sweat and scream and spit like a homicidal maniac on everyone in the front stage. Sick, I know, but his sweat and spit absorbed into my skin and maybe now I will become more musically talented, ahaha!

Some of the people in the crowd were slightly annoying and disrespectful. They shouted out random stupid requests while he was explaining the songs' meanings. Black Francis even commented on all the disruptive requests coming from the crowd. He said that if this were a "request tour", then it would've been announced, and followed this statement with the smart ass, sarcastic tone of "I wouldn't want to confuse the market." I think he handled it extremely well. One guy kept pushing his way to the front with a bundle of cash, trying to give it to Black as a tip. Luckily, he didn't even look down and acknowledge this rude offer. Come on, guy, he's not a fucking stripper, put your fucking money back in your fucking wallet where it belongs!

The highlight of the night, by far, was Francis' bonus performance of a few Pixies tracks, which he introduced as "memories". Grungier versions of "Cactus", "Break My Body", and "Bird Dream of Olympus Mons" were performed!!! I couldn't believe it! Trompe le Monde was my favorite Pixies album and in the past he had only been known to perform "U-Mass"! Amazing!

When the set was over, a stagehand threw out some guitar picks, and I was fortunate enough to have grabbed one from off the floor! It is a beaten-up orange .60 mm Dunlop Tortex, my pick of choice for the last 5 years!