First of all, I've gotta say 6th Street Warehouse is my favorite spot in LA for a show. Better than The Smell because you can drink, the stage is a real fucking halfpipe, and it just feels like a secret underground spot that most people aren't even aware of. I'm not even going to comment further nor give any hyperlink to this amazing spot, but if you've been there you know exactly what I mean.First up, Texas band Restaurant. They remind me a bit of Modest Mouse as well as Aussie band Spiderbait's version of Leadbelly's Black Betty that was a big hit a few years ago. They are self-described as being an "Electro/Country/Punk" band. I'd say that's about right.Restaurant live at 6th St. Warehouse:
Austin rock band White Denim was amazing. This triplet reminds me of The Black Keys but with the addition of a bassist who looks like he's still in high school. They are a bluesy garage rock two piece with some of the greatest guitar playing you're likely to witness today. I don't know what else to say besides these guys are going to be huge. They were recently featured in Rolling Stone's "Breaking Artist" section. Good for them. I met singer/guitarist James Petralli after the show and he's a super nice guy too.
A couple of oddballs spotted at the show:
Check out the numerous White Denim clips I captured from the show below!
Wow. What a great combo night. No Age and Liars back to back. Much better than sitting at home and watching that Home Improvement marathon that you’ve been wasting your time on. Tivo that shit and go to more shows like this.
Los Angeles minimalist punk revivalists No Age rocked the chandeliers at the El Rey with a scorching set of melody, rhythm, and experimental noise. Guitarist Randy Randall plays chunky repetitive riffs and excellent rhythm guitar on his battered up Gibson SG, which is absolutely fucking perfect for the sound they’re going for. He loops guitar on his Boss RC-20XL and uses plenty of delay on top of that to have a much larger sound than most people can pull off with only two band members. Drummer/Singer Dean Spunt takes charge with a minimalistic stage presence, but thanks the audience and Liars, and tells us it’s good to be back home on the final show of their shared tour with Liars.
The amazing thing about these guys is their charm. They play music that revives a crowd of people that’s identical to what you’d see in old punk documentaries, and they look happy the entire time. They realize they’re hitting it big and are doing what they love and what the fans love, playing great fucking rock ‘n roll music and being true about it. The crowd was extremely into the show and if you shot black and white photos of them, it wouldn’t be so far off from what you’d see in the book and film American Hardcore. This has to be one of the best and most involved crowds you’ll see at a rock show today. Black Lips stirs up a similar crowd behavior.
They played songs such as "Everybody's Down”, “My Life’s Alright Without You” and “Boy Void” from their debut album Weirdo Rippers, followed by a few new tracks off their upcoming LP Nouns, which is set for a May 6th release under Sub-Pop Records. By the sound of it, I expect this album to be a little brighter and have more focus on rhythmic guitar intros…that Randy Randall dude is really getting even better at guitar since I saw them open for Pop Levi back at the Echoplex in June ’07.
I have to say that they closed out their performance in what proved to be the absolute coolest fucking thing I have ever seen a band do to conclude their set. Randy Randall was pounding chords on his guitar, then he looped them together and handed out his guitar into the audience. Everyone put their hands up as if supporting a crowd surfer, and then suddenly the guitar got sucked into the audience like a ship in a sea storm being swallowed by a giant squid amongst the crashing waves. Shit was fucking epic. People were pulling off strings, beating it up, and they ended up completely snapping the neck off the body. Finally, the guitar was handed back to Randy, and he started shaking peoples’ hands and high-fiving everyone,all with a huge smile on his face.
Here is a short clip I captured from their performance of the song "Boy Void":
Here is a playlist of a few good No Age songs including the track Eraser off the upcoming "Nouns" LP. Also included is the Bjork cover "It's Oh So Quiet", followed by her original version:
Next up was the NYC experimental rock band Liars. Frontman Angus Andrew (vocals/bass) seemed really happy to be playing in LA just a couple months after injuring his back , which left him stuck seated on a stool for at least half of the show. Guaranteed he was still taller than you and me combined.
They played songs from all albums, including “Leather Prowler”, “Houseclouds”, “Plaster Casts of Everything”, “Clear Island”, "Freak Out", “Drum and the Uncomfortable Can”, “Pure Unevil”, “Let’s Not Wrestle Mt. Heart Attack”, and “The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack” (not in that particular order). And just because he had his back injury didn't mean he didn't move around. The entire time he danced awkwardly around stage, almost like I've seen Mick Jagger in videos. I watched nervously as if he was going to topple around on stage, but he stayed erect the entire time. Hey, you! Get your mind out of the gutter!
Please stay tuned for videos from the show...they should be up by the end of this weekend!
The Liars playlist below includes a Crystal Castles remix of "It Fit When I Was a Kid"
Ok so tonight was similar to last night and they pretty much played the same song selection. What a fucking party! Everyone was wasted off their ass. It was another wild and crazy night!
The main difference was, this club is 21+, and they only allowed girls on stage this time. Smart men. I got on stage and security pulled me down in half a second. My shins still hurt from being smashed against the stage which was only about two feet from off the ground. The band was shooting silly string all over the place all night. Other than that, it was fairly tame, by Black Lips standards. My friend drove us over 40 miles to get to Detroit Bar, but it was damn worth it.
Wow. I don't even know where to start. What a great fucking venue for the Black Lips to play at! The music was loud as hell, they looked like they were having more fun than ever, and the crowd was absolutely out of fucking control. Non-stop pit action. I got hit in the eye with someone's head, and fell on my back at least 3 times. The crowd at a Black Lips show is usually more wild than any show I've ever been to.
When they were setting up stage, a young Mexican girl in front of me screamed out and asked singer/guitarist Cole Alexander if she could have some of his beer. He shrugged and gave her his Tecate and kept on walking. She didn't look a day over 18. Ahahahaha. She later ended up being the first person to jump on stage, and rocked out with the band for a couple songs.
This started a trend of people constantly going on stage, and Black Lips were super cool about it because they don't get mad and they seem to really like the chaos of it all. One short bald guy jumped on stage, screamed, ripped his t-shirt off right down the middle, and then did a front flip into the crowd. All that happened in less than 4 seconds. And after the band was done with the show, grillz guitarist Ian Saint Pé asked the crowd "Who's not old enough to drink?" and everyone yelled and he gave his drink to a young girl up front. Classic.
And that is what a Black Lips show is like.
Songs played throughout the night (not in this order):
The Black Lips are the most fun live band I've ever seen, and the Glass House is a blast in itself (even if I have to drive 45 miles to get there). If you haven't seen them yet, you're missing out! I already bought tickets to see them again at Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa tonight. I've never seen a band two nights in a row until now, so stay tuned for yet another Black Lips review!
Unfortunately I missed most of Abe Vigoda's set at the Echoplex last night. I did however catch a couple songs, and I was really into it! They sounded better than ever!!! I'm so glad to see these guys doing so good. They're really nice and down to earth, and have been playing local shows forever at everywhere from the Comic Bug in Manhattan Beach to The Smell for quite some time now. Be sure to check them out at this year's SXSW! and at The Smell on March 25th.
Abe Vigoda:
"HOLY FUCK!" people started screamed from the audience. "HOLY FUCK!" "HOLY FUCK, it's hot in here!" I yelled before the band went on. I felt like I was at fucking Coachella, although there was no occasional breeze.
Toronto electronic group Holy Fuck, which has been heralded for performing live shows without the use of computers or pre-recorded backing tracks were up next. These guys fucked everyone in the face with their loud and nonstop electronic blasts of melodic noisy beats.
With two tables full of all miscellaneous guitar pedals, effects, and electronic gadgets looped to various cheap keyboards (which they switched rapidly through the night), they look like mad scientists who have been staying up all night in their labs, drinking lots of coffee and tweaking everything within arms reach and shuffling and experimenting with things.
They played songs such as The Pulse, Royal Gregory (my favorite), Frenchy's, Super Inuit, and Lovely Allen.
Holy Fuck: I was fortunate enough to catch Welsh band Super Furry Animals at a venue like the Echoplex where I was able to get right up front. This band sounded big enough to play the fucking Dodger Stadium. They opened with psychedelic electronic experimentation of Slow Life where after a couple minutes of buildup, frontman Gruff Rhys walked out on stage with an oversized full face red Power Ranger helmet on his head. This was such a funny and memorable moment in live music history, similar to when Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips walked in the giant bubble at Coachella 2004.
My favorite moments of the night was during the heavy guitar explosion at the end of Receptable when Gruff Rhys, Gibson Goldtop guitarist Huw Bunford, and other unidentified guitarist all ran to center stage where they clashed guitar necks like Star Wars characters clanging light sabers. Too bad I failed to capture this moment on film; I was too far away getting water since it was so fucking hot at the Echoplex. Anyway, this was so fucking cool, and it reminded me of when Sonic Youth did the same thing at the Greek Theatre in 2007 when they played Daydream Nation in it's entirety.
SFA sounded amazing live and it was a show I won't soon forget. I can't fucking wait until they play again. Hopefully next time it's at the Greek where it's not all hot and cramped.
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