When it comes to Echo Park Rising, I call Friday night the pre-party night and I spent the whole time hanging out at The Semi-Tropic. When it came to the actual day of the festival, Saturday, I focused my attention elsewhere until 9 p.m. when I just had to pop in to catch a handful of songs from Valley Queen.
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| Valley Queen at The Semi-Tropic |
Whenever I do band Q&As, I sometimes ask the following question: Would you rather be a 1 hit wonder known all around the world -OR- have a steady underground following? And then of course, why the choice?
In late June, I got the opportunity to catch Spacehog and EMF co-head at The Regent Theater. You can read my US Rocker Music review here. For good or bad, both bands are seen as one hit wonders. Spacehog has "In the Meantime" while EMF has "Unbelievable." Per Spotify, "In the Meantime" has been streamed nearly 136 million times. "Unbelievable" has been streamed 129 million times. I do believe that both songs were also their debut singles.
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| Spacehog at The Regent Theater |
MACKandgold (the moniker for Mackenzie Graham) closed out the Echo Park Rising Friday pre-party at The Semi-Tropic. With her funky beats, it was the perfect way to end the night. Her fanbase was pressed close to the stage. That very crowd is what makes the band's set so precious to attend. Their enthusiasm for her music is unmatched in the Los Angeles music scene. She'll give the fan base a look and you'll hear them singing back "I'm Your Dog" or any other catchy lyric.
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| MACKandgold at The Semi-Tropic |
EMF played the The Regent Theater in late June. I got an invite from their PR firm in late May. I waited a couple weeks and then was like, "Oh wait, let's see if I can get a photo pass." It worked out and it was a fun night -- other than afterwards when my car ran into mechanical issues while driving home. I shot the night for US Rocker Music and you can read my review here.
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| EMF at The Regent Theater |
A Handful of Show Alerts
Monday, Sep 1st: Addie Addie Addie at Harvard & Stone. Doors at 8 p.m.For the second year in a row, I was one of the official photographers of Echo Park Rising. I decided I would try to hit up as many venues as possible while still photographing some of my favorite bands. One of the smaller venues was P.F. Candle Co. They only had three bands playing, all one after the other. That meant I had a very tight window to photograph the venue. I decided I was going to photograph the first artist up: Addie Addie Addie (the moniker for Addie Weyrich).
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| Addie Addie Addie at P.F. Candle Co |
A PR person I've worked with for over a decade happened to mention to me that she could get me into the Troubadour to shoot Band of Skulls. I have to admit that I did not know who Band of Skulls was. When provided the offer, I did a look at the Troubadour calendar and noticed that the show was sold out. That indicated something to me. I was a go for sure. I was actually probably a go anyways even if I didn't notice that it was sold out, because I don't get the opportunity to shoot the Troubadour that often.
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| Band of Skulls at the Troubadour |
Echo Park Rising 2025 was such a blast. For those in the know, there was a pre-party that occurred on Friday night at The Semi-Tropic and Sticky Rice. I decided to just stick around The Semi-Tropic the whole night, because the line-up was filled with band that I love, but don't get to see on a regular basis. One of those bands was The Blushes. They're a trio that includes Lori Dorfman on guitar, Katie Jayne Earl-Hogan on drums, and Katy Rose (on bass). For long time LA music fans who are unaware, Katie Jayne Earl-Hogan is in the The Mowgli's.
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| The Blushes at The Semi-Tropic |
Shoe Shopping is fronted by Tiffany Lin and have an art nouveau approach to punk rock. Her bio has this to say about her background, "is an interdisciplinary artist working at the cross section of graphic narrative, social practice, and performance. Her varied projects parse through social conventions at odds with the natural world, utilizing drawing to investigate topics as austere as US Census data to doom metal inspired teeth people." What is doom metal inspired teeth people? I have no clue.
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| Shoe Shopping at The Goldfish |
Maybe once or twice a year, I show up to a venue and I'm shocked by how many people are already packed inside -- before any of the artists have hit the stage. (To clarify, I'm talking about it being totally unanticipated on my part versus showing up to a venue that is packed early because the artist is a known draw.) That happened on a recent WFNM showcase at Hotel Ziggy. I showed up and the place was filled with polite, and yet, eager tweens with their parents in tow. I was totally taken aback. What showcase artist is bringing out all these tweens? I started to think through the artists playing and I had to settle on Kyra Fields. This was my third time at a WFNM showcase where Kyra Fields was playing a set. I could not recall seeing so many young people hanging out with eager anticipation during the prior two shows. This had me thinking: I'm catching a breakout moment.
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| Kyra Fields at Hotel Ziggy |
