I got an invite to catch Figure Eight at El Cid. I had not heard of this Oakland based band until my industry connection pinged me about them. I took the invitation without hesitation. First, I trusted the person who made the suggestion. Second, the band was playing alongside three Los Angeles based bands that I adore: donna, Host Family, and Mo Dotti.
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| Figure Eight at El Cid |
Closing out a recent Rocknite showcase at The Goldfish was memoryloop. Interestingly, this was the night of bands who have changed their name. Opening up the night was Essencer, which used to be called Wizard Puffs. (You can read my Song Spotlight post on Essencer here.) Memoryloop used to be called Pedestrian. Both decided to go through name changes in 2024. I will say I do love the choice of memoryloop as a band name. It fits in so perfectly with their ambient shoegaze sounds.
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| memoryloop at The Goldfish |
Back in early February, the editor of US Rocker Music sent over a request for coverage of Hotel Fiction that was playing the Regent Theater on March 6th. The band was opening for The Strumbellas. The request revolved around coverage and a potential interview with the band. I have a regular job as well as keeping this personal blog site up and running. Putting in extra research into coming up with questions for a band can be draining. My default was that I was only interested in photographing and writing a review of the night. Before responding, I decided to check out their music (I had never heard of the band). It didn't take long for me to fall hard for their tunes. I decided to put in the extra time to come up with some questions for the band. You can read my US Rocker Music review as well as the band's full interview here.
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| Hotel Fiction at the Regent Theater |
The Rocknite LA showcase at The Goldfish recently had Essencer on their schedule. I've been following the Lee Jenkins (vocalist and bassist) and Alec Nelson (guitarist) founded band since 2022. One might say Essencer has only been around since 2024, but back in 2022 there was a band called Wizard Puffs that crossed my radar when I went to Highland Park Bowl (they used to have bands playing in a side room) to catch Diva and the Pearly Gates. Nelson kept playing a recording of a voice-over saying "Wizard Puffs" and Jenkins would start cracking up. I figured they were a dreamy-eccentric pop band.
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| Essencer at The Goldfish |
Taylor Jules took to the Bar Lubitsch stage for a WFNM showcase in front of a significant crowd of friends and family (from what I could tell). She was the first artist of the night and I missed perhaps half of her opening song "Real Love." As I maneuvered my way to the front of the stage to take my photos of her and her band, I came to an immediate conclusion, "Taylor has big time vocals." The night was to celebrate her debut EP The Good The Bad and The Ugliest that was being released the following night, February 27th.
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| Taylor Jules at Bar Lubitsch |
JESSA (Jessa Hadik's mononymous name) took to the Bar Lubitsch stage for the WFNM showcase, bringing along her broken hearted emotions, "I'm not singing about all my happy, heartfelt, amazing . . . whatever. I've dealt with a lot of heartbreak." Those feelings were expressed via pop / R&B vibes.
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| JESSA at Bar Lubitsch |
Living Hour joined The Pains of Being Pure at Heart for a mini-tour along the West Coast, which included a sold out show at The Echoplex. They ended their coastal tour with a secret performance at the Rocknite showcase at Zebulon. I guess it wasn't totally secret, it was announced the day before Rocknite. It wasn't last minute either, due to the fact that Rocknite mentioned there would be a secret guest. I suppose the correct definition is that the set announcement was under embargo due to their The Echoplex performance.
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| Living Hour at Zebulon |
Rocknite did what they do best: highlighted to me a brand new band that thrilled on stage. On a Tuesday night at Zebulon, the first band of the night was Modern Cult. From what I can tell via social media, this Miami based band is so new that they were only playing their second show ever.
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| Modern Cult at Zebulon |
I didn't get to catch the January version of the Americana Joy showcase at the Bigfoot Lodge. I decided I would just have to head over in February. It helped that Gilbert Louie Ray was scheduled to perform. Before heading off to the Bigfoot Lodge, I just couldn't help myself and took off to Zebulon to catch Cissi TV (a band that made my list of favorite new finds of 2025). As soon as their set ended, it was a 2 mile drive over to the Bigfoot Lodge. From art punk to Americana country -- that's just how I do things when it comes to the LA music scene.
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| Gilbert Louis Ray at the Bigfoot Lodge |
