Holy Fuck, A Place To Bury Strangers, In Waves @ Spaceland, 3/1/08

I've already reviewed In Waves twice.  They are a great band if you love that lush and ethereal atmospheric type sound (which I do!). They played a set as good as ever tonight, and paved the road nicely for the heavy and abrasive sounds of A Place to Bury Strangers.  A good and mellow start to the earth shattering noise that would soon be murdering us.

Although I'm a huge fan of all three bands, Brooklyn's A Place To Bury Strangers was the main reason I went to this show, and they came on and just raped the shit out of everyone's eardrums with glassy shards of frozen icepicks. It was as if singer/guitarist Oliver Ackerman was told by the sound guy during soundcheck that the music was too loud so then he turned it up even more. I don't know what the decibel count was but I'll tell you this much: I had makeshift cocktail napkin earplugs and I still felt like I was going deaf. This band has such a huge following lately that none of the hardcore fans even care that they have blood trickling out of their ears and down the sides of their faces. I had previously seen them at the Viper Room in Hollywood with In Waves and Eulogies last year, and I don't remember them being this loud!

They came on to a stage in a room that was completely pitch black. I don't know how the bartenders walked around and served drinks without flashlights because it was really that dark. I saw the strobe lights set up on stage and they weren't using them until a few songs deep into the set. I waited patiently as I new what to expect after seeing them before. Not only does the sound get louder, but I've never in my life seen a band use strobes for such a long period of time. Fog also fills the room, and it gets so thick that it reminded me of the time that the Flaming Lips took a motorcycle on stage and revved it up, filling the room with thick exhaust.  

They played most of the songs off their incredible self-titled debut album, including To Fix the Gash in Your Head, I Know I'll See You, and The Ocean.  I especially enjoyed In Waves' bassist Tim Gregorio's surprise guest appearance, providing extra vocals for the amazing APTBS song "My Weakness".  I did a little research online and found that he also added some vocals on the  album as well.  If you're a fan of this band, check out my interview with all three members here.

True to form, Oliver went completely violent on his guitar, wrapping the cables around the neck and body, dropping it repeatedly, and dangling it from his fingers like a drunk and possessed puppeteer putting on a show in hell. I have included a video below...epileptics beware!

I'm not sure who this chick is, but she came out and sang with them on one of the songs.

APTBS Setlist:

Next up,  Toronto electronic rockers Holy Fuck. Honestly, I don't really have a great memory of them playing because I failed you, as the reader, by drinking at this show. I figured I wasn't driving and I love seeing APTBS so much live that I'd have a few. I do remember them sounding much better and clearer than when I saw them at the Echoplex with Super Furry Animals and Abe Vigoda (not that they were less than perfect then). I was, however, able to snap a picture of one of their gear boards, which is literally a road case flipped upside down and set on top of a cheapo keyboard stand. It actually adds to the show because they have two of these and they are very floppy. I noticed people focusing on the gear setups more than the actual performance, anxiously awaiting an avalanche of keyboards and guitar pedals.

White Denim / Restaurant @ 6th St. Warehouse 2/27/08

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!

Liars / No Age @ The El Rey 2/22/08

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"

Black Lips @ Detroit Bar 2/10/08

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.

Black Lips @ Glass House 2/9/08

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):

Hippie, Hippie, Hoorah
Buried Alive
Dirty Hands
Cold Hands
O Katrina
Veni Vidi Vici
Boomerang
Bad Kids
Sea of Blasphemy
Not a Problem











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!