Two of the bands that I was focused on catching at Echo Park Rising was Iress and Slugs at Bar Flores. I was one of the official photographers for Echo Park Rising so unfortunately I wasn't able to catch the full Iress set as there was another band to photograph, but the handful of songs I did catch were a thrill.
 |
| Iress at Bar Flores |
I believe the first time I came across The Dollyrots was at the now closed The Lava Lounge on January 27th, 2007. I was part of the Kiss or Kill scene though I arrived towards the tail end of it. In 2012, a documentary was made of the scene, which you can see the trailer for here. When I came onto the scene, everyone would mention The Dollyrots. Eventually, I asked, who are The Dollyrots. I was told they were one of the biggest bands in the Kiss or Kill scene, but were constantly on tour so they didn't get the chance to play Kiss or Kill that often. I finally got to catch them and the night has always stuck with me. It wasn't a Kiss or Kill night, but it was a night filled with Kiss or Kill fans. I still remember guitarist Luis Cabezas leaping off the stage and right at me. Who can forget something like that. Oh mercy, I was sold on the band from that point onwards.
 |
| The Dollyrots at The Echo |
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.
 |
| 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.
 |
| 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.
 |
| 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.
 |
| 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).
 |
| 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.
 |
| 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.
 |
| 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.
 |
| 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.
 |
| Kyra Fields at Hotel Ziggy |
I came across Chemical Therapy at Gold-Diggers, playing a Swyndle night event. The band started out in Charleston under the name Heyrocco. The members eventually moved out to Los Angeles and underwent a name change to Chemical Therapy. The band wasn't totally new to me (though I didn't figure that out until I started doing my band research for this post). I came across lead singer Nathan Merli briefly during another Swyndle night at Harvard & Stone when he did a cameo during a Bruvvy set.
 |
| Chemical Therapy at Gold-Diggers |
A Handful (Bucketful) of Show Alerts
Sunday, Aug 24th: Day 2 of Happy Sundays Long Beach.Though I've photographed Echo Park Rising for years now, even I still come across something totally unexpected. Last year I shot a band or two at Bar Flores and they were using their indoor bar as the stage. Part of me was wondering why bands such as Slugs (solo set by lead singer Marissa Longstreet) and Iress were playing such a small stage. I was thinking about how rude I was going to be, having to squeeze my way to the front of the stage to take some photos. My excuse would be that I needed to get to the front of the stage as I was shooting for the festival. I did not have to worry about that, because the stage was not inside the bar. There were signs that pointed ever so upwards until I got to a large open parking lot that part of me thinks is actually connected with a separate building. As I made my way up to the stage, a most amusing encounter happened. A young woman looked me straight in the eye and so I briefly stopped to listen to her complaint, "Do you know I just spent $30 on nachos? I've never spent that much." I looked at her and responded, "That is a lot." What can I say, that does sound laughably high.
 |
| Slugs at Bar Flores |
I don't get the opportunity to shoot the Greek Theatre all that often. When I got the opportunity to shoot Peach Pit at the venue, I obviously jumped at the opportunity. You can read my US Rocker Music review here.
 |
| Peach Pit at the Greek Theatre |
I will admit that the first thing I noticed when Anna Thoresen and her band hit the WFNM showcase at Hotel Ziggy was Maria Grace Ono on guitar. I just happened to catch her playing guitar a few weeks earlier for Julez And The Rollerz. You can read my blog post about that particular night here. The next thing I noticed was her bassist, Danielle Koppel who had a little stuffed animal hanging from a belt loop and there was a Pippi Longstocking quality. Ignore all that observation about Koppel, what really caught my attention was her boyfriend (assuming there is a connection there) was feeding her French fries that they'd bought from the Hotel Ziggy bar. I've had a couple of those French fries. I can say they're addicting.
 |
| Anna Thoresen at Hotel Ziggy |
GIFT from New York was recently on tour with Sunflower Bean and played the Lodge Room. You can read my review of the night here. I came across this band last year when their PR firm reached out to US Rocker Music about covering a set. Unfortunately, I couldn't head out to cover their set due to, you know, real life work that required some long hours. It was really unfortunate, because one of their sets was with Reb Ribbon who I had seen earlier in the year and had put them on my favorites list, which you can read here.
 |
| GIFT at the Lodge Room |
Celebrating their 20th anniversary as a band, Pu$$y-Cow hit the indoor stage at The Escondite, playing in front of a packed house. An interesting side note for the night is that Ben Reddell was running the sound. For those in the country-folk world, you know that he books Grand Ole Echo, which is also celebrating their 20th anniversary. To put 20 years into another context, I've been shooting bands for nearly that same period of time though not yet at 20 years. Numbers. Numbers. Numbers.
 |
| Pu$$y-Cow at The Escondite |
I will admit I was a bit late to get on the Sunflower Bean band wagon. It took a pandemic for me to finally in love with the band (though I'd heard of the band maybe a year or two prior to that). The band played an online set on the Dr. Martens' Instagram page. The song I really appreciated was "Twentytwo." You can read my brief thoughts about that online set here.
 |
| Sunflower Bean at the Lodge Room |
Sunday's Echo Park Rising Afterparty Schedule:
Dada Echo ParkJazzy K went old school for the WFNM showcase at Bar Lubitsch. She has a unique talent at writing verses to songs of well known singers. During her set, she highlighted this by singing her own verse for Toni Braxton's old school song "Un-Break My Heart." In fact, this song writing talent got her the opportunity to join Coldplay on stage in Australia back in 2024 during the song "We Pray." She got to insert her own verse into the live set -- not just once, but on back to back nights. You can see the Youtube video of one of those nights here.
 |
| Jazzy K at Bar Lubitsch |
Here's the Saturday schedule for Echo Park Rising -- the official day of the festival though events are happening on Friday and Sunday.
The official program can be found here, but there's just a certain way I like to look at schedules so the below is how my mind works. Apologies for any misspelling and bad set times -- some may not even be my fault.
Band names in bold are my suggestions.
Saturday (Aug 16th):
1:00 PM: Orchids of Jupiter
2:00 PM: Reverse Cowgirls
3:00 PM: Franx
4:00 PM: B.E.G.
5:00 PM: Lord Friday the 13th
6:00 PM Shamon Cassette
7:00 PM Bitchkiss
8:00 PM: Dagger Polyester
9:00 PM: Donzii
10:15 PM: Aurat
3:00 PM: Nancy Sanchez (replacing Belligerent Swans)
4:00 PM: Op Ed
5:00 PM: Host Family
6:00 PM: Dagger Polyester
7:00 PM: Sweet Nothin's
8:00 PM: Zoe Lloyd
9:00 PM: Caravan 222
2:00 PM: Toulouse Control
2:45 PM: George Children
3:30 PM: Quad Super Six
4:15 PM: Pillow Fight
5:00 PM: The Freebies
6:00 PM: Nail Polish
7:00 PM: The Collarbones
8:00 PM: Chicano Thunder & The Heat
9:00 PM: Junaco
10:00 PM: Angelsaur
12:00 PM: Siam Jem
1:00 PM: Flesh For Fantasy
2:00 PM: Dead By Sunday
3:00 PM: M-16
1:30 PM: Mermaid
2:30 PM: Moselle
3:30 PM: Chloe Entoinette
4:30 PM: TwoLips
5:30 PM: JMK Jr. and Friends
6:30 PM: Pio Gabriel & Friends
7:30 PM: Smiley Bone Jones
8:30 PM: Solomon
3:00 PM: Addie Addie Addie
4:30 PM: Sonoda
6:00 PM: Teal Pop
4:00 PM: Buckets
7:00 PM: Kit Major
1:00 PM: Jamie Ruiz Risch
2:00 PM: SaintKid
3:00 PM: Tawny Ellis
4:00 PM: Cynthia Catania & Rich Devletian
5:00 PM: Rowan Drake
6:00 PM: The Latini Infiniti Band
7:00 PM: Storms
8:00 PM: Shimmer Bed
10:30 PM: New Elvis
1381 W. Sunset Blvd
2:00 PM: Virulents
4:00 PM: Lucky and Love
6:00 PM: Duderella
7:00 PM: This is a Revolver
Main Stage
12:00 PM: Telecomm
1:00 PM: Annie Jets
2:00 PM: Pelo Grande
3:00 PM: Vinyl Williams
4:00 PM: J3
5:00 PM: Harry the Nightgown
6:00 PM: Magic Bronson
7:00 PM: Dark Fantasy
8:00 PM: Normans
9:00 PM: Intestinehead
Spirit House Stage
1:00 PM: Lovepig
2:00 PM: Laney Tripp
3:00 PM: Bunny Lowe
4:00 PM: Kelcey Ayer
5:00 PM: Dmytryk
6:00 PM: Bradley Hanan Carter
7:00 PM: Winn Winn
1:00 PM: The Heartstrings
1:40 PM: Cian (time change)
2:20 PM: Swimming Bell (time change)
3:15 PM: Bloody Death Skull (time change)
4:00 PM: Stephen McBean (time change)
4:45 PM: Gabriel Bernini (added)
5:30 PM: Jeffrey Davies
7:00 PM: Good Heroin Comedy
5:00 PM: Noir Dalis
5:45 PM: D.R.E.A.M.
6:30 PM: El Colmo
7:15 PM: TBD
8:15 PM: Flotilla
The Den Studios
1260 W. 2nd St
Note: Admittedly, a bit far from the rest of the festival venues, but this line-up is awesome.
1822 W Sunset Blvd (The Echo)
1154 Glendale Blvd (Echoplex)
Grand Ole Echo Stage
3:30 PM: Ned Casual & the Tombstone Blues
4:30 PM: Sweet Nothin’s
5:30 PM: The Tone Slingers
6:30 PM: The What Four
7:30 PM: Tribute to Thin Lizzy
8:30 PM: Same Ol’ Smile
Grant Owens threw himself a birthday party at his WFNM showcase at Bar Lubitsch. I've been going to WFNM nights for quiet awhile now. I've had some memorable moments hanging out at his various showcases. The night in 2021 when I came across both King Mala and Halo Kitsch at Bar Lubitsch was top notch amazing. In 2019, which I believe was also a Grant Owens birthday party, Kat from Holy Wars took a ride on the shoulders of fellow photographer Scott Free. Also playing that night were Christina Castle and Fever Joy who I always enjoyed catching live. I've seen numerous favorite new bands and artists for the first time at a WFNM showcase. That applies to King Mala and Halo Kitsch, but also to Lizzy Land (technically I'd seen her prior in Mating Ritual, but WFNM was the first time I caught her on her own project), Ava Maybee, and many many others.
With all that history, I do try to head out to his birthday parties. One of the highlights on this 2025 edition of his birthday party was Grace Kay (the moniker for Grace Korkunis) who had this to say, "I just want to say thank you so much to We Found New Music and Grant. The first show I ever did as Grace Kay was at We Found New Music." She also mentioned that on that particular night, she released the video for "Open" which is currently her best performing song.
 |
| Grace Kay at Bar Lubitsch |
Friday (Aug 15th):
7:00 PM: Common People
8:00 PM: Blame My Youth
9:00 PM: Double Wish
10:00 PM: Mac Hanson
7:00 PM: Giant Waste of Man
8:00 PM: Buckets
9:00 PM: Mac Hill
10:00 PM: The Blushes
11:00 PM: MACKandgold
The Jonas Brothers made a shocking surprise appearance at the WFNM showcase at Hotel Ziggy. Before I cause the rumors to fly (wouldn't it just be amusing if the AI search engines tossed out that, as they call it, "hallucination"), it was a joke tossed out by Melia Franks during her set with sister Samantha Franks. The two form the duo The Franks Sisters.
 |
| The Franks Sisters at Hotel Ziggy |
Everett Beau dressed in black and sported a black tie took to the WFNM showcase stage at Hotel Ziggy. I think it is safe to say he mesmerized the crowd with his elegantly quiet singer songwriter set. I don't believe there was much talking during the set. I would say it was the proverbial situation of being able to hear a pin drop. As his short 6 song set progressed, people were drawn into the venue from the hotel lobby.
 |
| Everett Beau at Hotel Ziggy |
It was a Friday night. I had put in for a photo request that did not get approved. I decided to take a glance at Showlist on Instagram and noticed that Annie Hardy was playing at Stories Books & Cafe. It was almost like it was meant to be.
I've been aware of Annie Hardy since I encountered her band Giant Drag at the Indie West Fest in 2011. By that point, the band was well established in the Los Angeles music scene, having formed in 2003. It took a few years -- jump all the way to 2019 -- before I crossed paths with Hardy once again. She was on the same music bill as Queen Kwong (a favorite of mine). During that set at The Redwood Bar, I knew she looked familiar and then she mentioned the band Giant Drag and it started to click. I saw her one last time in 2019 at Stories Books & Cafe.
 |
| Annie Hardy at Stories Books & Cafe |
