I recently got to cover a night at the El Rey Theatre for US Rocker Music (you can read my article here) and the band that perhaps impressed me the most was the opening band Velvet Chains. Why? They've a hard rock band that just took me back to the days when Def Leppard and Poison ruled the airwaves. As I mentioned in my review, their song "Dead Inside" reminded me of Evanescence.
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| Velvet Chains at the El Rey Theatre |
Bar Lubitsch was the place to be on a recent night for a WFNM showcase. WFNM was testing out a new concept called the Almost Acoustic Showcase. There will be a second round on April 27th. It is similar in nature to the long running Monday Monday at Hotel Cafe series. WFNM starts earlier than Monday Monday so performers got to play 5 songs as compared to 3 songs at Monday Monday. This debut Almost Acoustic Showcase culled performers from the WFNM family. Of the ten performers, I had already seen 7 of them at a WFNM showcase. Of those 7, I've written up articles on 3 of them (you can read those articles by clicking on the following links: Dama Blake, Nikki Hahn, Yagki).
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| Molly Bergman at Bar Lubitsch |
I missed the first trio of songs of EZ Tiger's set at Frogtown Brewery. I misjudged how long it would take to do my Friday evening exercising. Others did not make the same mistake as the outdoor venue (that is walking distance from Zebulon) was packed. It was potentially the most packed crowd I've seen at the venue. The impetus for the crowd was twofold. First, the band was celebrating the single release of "Outside Your Sun." Second, it was the birthday celebration for drummer Kristy McInnis. I was told that McInnis used to be in one of my favorite "back in the day" bands called The Randies. I think her time as their drums ended after I crossed paths with the band. My first photos of The Randies are from Dec 2006, at which time they had a different drummer. Though I saw them once prior to that -- maybe she was on drums for that show, but I can't recall.
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| EZ Tiger at Frogtown Brewery |
The last time I crossed paths with Honeychain was in 2017. I actually saw them 4 times within about a 1 year's timeframe that stretched between 2016 - 2017. Three of those four moments occurred at a Los Angeles river location called The Frog Spot, which I'm rather sure no longer exists. Let's just say that I was waiting for them to play another set in the Frogtown area in order to break my Honeychain drought. That opportunity arose in late March at Frogtown Brewery.
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| Honeychain at Frogtown Brewery |
The three-piece band includes vocalist-guitarist Hillary Burton, backing vocalist-bassist Andre Tusques, and drummer Loye Aubrey Jr. I've known Tusques for years via the band Silver Needle. So even if I first came across the band in 2016, my connections with the band dates back much further.
The set started off with Tusques wanting to put the foot to the pedal, but he had to go into neutral as drummer Aubrey was getting his gear settled, which included putting on his Ahead drummer gloves (which looked like race driver gloves). Once the gloves were put on, the band kicked off the set, led by Burton's Kay Hanley-like vocals.
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| Honeychain at Frogtown Brewery |
For this old-timer Los Angeles music junky, the first two songs of the set had me in flash back heaven. "Bombs Away" took me back to the Kiss or Kill Club days of The Randies and Bang Sugar Bang while "Crushed" had that Letters to Cleo (Kay Hanley's band) touch.
The band put on an entertaining stage show with headbutts and instrumental battles. When they were particularly pleased with certain aspects of their set, smiles were broad. In his band Silver Needle, Tusques has guitar duties while John Arakaki plays the bass. For Honeychain, he took on the spirit of Arakaki and the showmanship of a bassist by taking a stand on the beer barrels at the front of the stage.
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| Honeychain at Frogtown Brewery |
What did I notice: there were some young adults off to the side who were supporting their elder family members.
Song spotlight goes to "Easy to Forget" which "starts on G." A song about a two-timing guy.
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| Honeychain at Frogtown Brewery |
Setlist: Bombs Away, Crushed, Easy to Forget, Let's Get Pretty, Pocket Full of Good Luck, Little Sin, Go Away, Z89, Ready for the World to End, Going Thru Your Purse, Lucky One.
A Handful (Bucketful) of Show Alerts
Sunday, Apr 12th: Dutch East Indians at The Escondite. Doors at 3 p.m.Theatrical and expressive. Those are two words to describe Bossi's WFNM showcase set at Bar Lubitsch. Her set opened up with a 3 minute recitation of a personal poem.
So many missteps and redirects. |
| Bossi at Bar Lubitsch |
Wearing denim, Vince Palmeri took to the Bar Lubitsch stage for a WFNM showcase night. His set started off with "RENT" that had my 1980s mind pinpointing his sound as a combination of Bon Jovi and Richard Marx. Throughout the set, he griped his microphone stand like a dance partner, turning it into an extension of the set.
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| Vince Palmeri at Bar Lubitsch |
Joey Siara (best known in Los Angeles for The Henry Clay People - 2003 thru 2013) played a recent In Sonic Dreams showcase at The Fable. He mentioned that he had just moved back to Los Angeles from New York. He was welcomed back via a packed house at the venue. I personally was not sure what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised as the back half of the set was dedicated to playing songs from The Henry Clay People music catalog. As for the first half of his set, he played songs from his other two bands Near Beer and Rat City Sunrise.
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| Joey Siara at The Fable |
In Sonic Dreams has been bringing back the Los Angeles bands from yesteryear to The Fable. In February, Bloody Death Skull and Eli Tarantulas of The Monolators were featured performers. This March, one of those yesteryear bands was Pisces (the moniker for Sarah Negahdari). For those who have been hanging out in the Los Angeles music scene, you are likely more familiar with Negahdari's other band Happy Hollows.
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| Pisces at The Fable |
The five piece Ted Z and The Wranglers band came up from Orange County to play the Americana Joy showcase at Atwater Village's Bigfoot Lodge. Fronted by Ted Zakka, the set was filled with Americana and roots rock music.
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| Ted Z and The Wranglers at the Bigfoot Lodge |
