When you're invited to go watch a buddy's band play and they know you do show reviews, the initial anxiety can be a tricky thing to defeat. Regardless of who the people are, the first thoughts I have are "Will I like them?" followed by "Fuck. If I'm not into them, they're going to bug me about it for weeks and I'm just going to have to tell them I wasn't into them!"
Well, I'll tell you one thing, I am NOT one to give false compliments. I'm either positively honest, negatively critical, or hush hush. When it comes to a friend's band, I'd honestly rather skip the entire blog review rather than complain about me not enjoying their performance.
Thankfully, I did not have to worry about that with The Little Pieces @ Mariposa Cafe on Friday night (which had a similar feel and laid back atmosphere of San Pedro's Sacred Grounds, RIP). I already had a copious amount of enthusiasm since I already caught them a couple months ago at Charlie O's in downtown LA (see embedded videos below from that performance). Also, knowing that this group is fronted by none other than John Giovanni Boskovich, who is the best local guitarist I know, did not hurt either.
Immediately I spotted the genre and artist influences. I'd say that post-punk and old school 70's New York punk are probably the biggest influences. I've seen Stephen Malkmus twice and I'd say there's hints of his sound in the guitar licks and vocal stylings as well, but mostly, I really hear a good amount of Television's Tom Verlaine (and Patti Smith, a necessary comparison by association) and The Rapture's Luke Jenner in his vocals.
Bassist Alex Rubio and drummer Donovan provide incredible balance to John's guitar, most notably on the solo for the track "Periphery of Pop", where a stomped out bass line really carries us through the solo while we stomp our feet and bob our heads in the crowd.
J. Giovanni handles the switch from really incredible rhythm intro guitar into verses, choruses, bridges, and solos. A lot of bands utilize more than one guitarist to handle this task, but this guy's got all the talent needed in just one package. (It's no wonder he's been in multiple bands and teaches guitar on the side.)
He plays through a sunburst brown Fender Jazzmaster which already gained him a bunch of points in my book, and has it plugged through just a few pedals and into a 70s silverface Fender Twin! This amp produces those sweet sweet "hot knife-through-butter" reverby rhythms and solos that sound like you're listening to a band play in a grand cathedral from down the hall. This is the kind of heavenly sound where when you hear it, you look around the room until you spot someone else in complete awe who understands the importance of tone. At this split second, you both smile and nod heads in unison, for at this moment in time, you have made the connection of the mutual realization of amazement, and you realize you have stumbled upon something great before it hits the fan.
I am already hooked, and you will be too. Go check out The Little Pieces at Three Clubs on June 5th, and a private birthday show at Babe's Warehouse Long Beach on June 6th.
Additional pics from a backyard show at Chris Bautista's House on 5/26/08, Memorial Day:
Live videos of The Little Pieces at Charlie O's on 4/18/08:
Here is a cover they did of The Beat's "Rock and Roll Girl":
Periphery of Pop:
Sweet Little Friend:
The Voyeurs, who are still just a few months into their infancy (but years deep in experience) opened for The Little Pieces tonight. They have been reduced to just two members (singer/Nordist/guitarist Jon Hylander and drummer Sean Johnson). To be 100% honest with you, my friend Sean and I both agreed that they actually benefited from the simplicity of just two members. They are not far off from what they used to be, only now, there is more of a focus on the keys and drums, with guitar occasionally taking over. They covered The Kinks' "Sunny Afternoon", which was pretty awesome, being as it is one of my top three favorite Kinks' songs! At this performance, I also noticed something not realized before: a similarity in sound to Philadelphia's incredible Man Man, one of my favorite live bands of all time!!! Rock on Hylander and Johnson, rock on! (PLEASE NOTE: This wasn't my first time catching The Voyeurs; I know this is a little backwards since they in fact opened, but my emphasis in this review is on The Little Pieces because I just reviewed The Voyeurs recently.)
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