Hanging at The Roxy with The Mulhollands and The Automatic Music Explosion

I was out at The Roxy Monday night to catch two of my favorite bands: The Mulhollands and The Automatic Music Explosion. It was the Hollywood Roxxx night with Switchblade Kitty. I guess this night is meant as competition to The Key Club’s Steel Panther (Metal Skool.) It must be working, because Hollywood Roxxx used to be over at The Viper Room. The Mulhollands started the night out at 8:45 p.m., an early start. Erik from The New Hotness was the replacement guitar player for the night. Mofo Daniels (Murray) has a broken left arm. There were some technical difficulties that Sarah Jeanette needed to power through. One of the microphones that she was planning to use wasn’t working. And the main microphone she was using was going on the blink early on. Erik worked out just great for The Mulhollands. Hey, will they turn themselves into a five piece band? Sarah Jeanette was being offered drinks left and right during her set and finally refused one, saying, “I’ll end the set drunk with all these drinks.” Even though the old-school microphone was giving Sarah Jeanette some problems, I think it is a great little addition to their set. Sarah Jeanette has great vocals and the microphone just seems to highlight the fact that one should focus in on her vocals during the set.

The Automatic Music Explosion was up next. This was their first set of 2009. They also play Saturday night at their home base Fox and Hounds. They are giving Max (drums) some love. Jodie headed over to the drum set. There was some drum directed moves made by the rest of the group. Bands often leave the drummer alone in the back. The AME is showing the best dressed drummer some love now. A friend of mine came along with me for her introduction to The AME. I turned to her towards the end of the set and said, “It just gets better.” It did. The AME is just one of those bands that continues to turn the volume and excitement up until the very end. The set was turned up so much that The AME brought down the Roxy’s curtains. As they were concluding the night, the curtain came on down and the last ten seconds or so of their set was done hidden behind the curtains. An interesting end of their set – a mistake or planned who knows, but it made for a distinctive AME night.

Interesting note: I would say that three-quarters of those there during The Mulhollands’ and The Automatic Music Explosion’s sets were fans of those two bands. I stuck around for the next couple of bands (I skipped out on Switchblade Kitty – maybe another time I’ll catch them) and the audience appeared to change. It was like a significant number of folks came out just for The Mulhollands and The Automatic Music Explosion, and then went home for the night.

Jessie Deluxe was up next. She’s in a two piece band. She plays guitar and has a drummer. She’s just pure rock. This was the first time I’ve seen her though I have seen her name up and around before. On the Roxy’s large stage, her two piece band provided an interesting contrast. After the set, I saw her mingle on the floor a bit. There is always the chance of false first impressions, but she seems like a person you’d want as a friend. Perhaps that’s not cool to say about a rock singer, oh well.