Song Spotlight (and The Goldfish reopens): Annie Jets' Avalanche

Note: The Goldfish re-opened a few weeks back. I also recently did a Max Look review of his The Goldfish night. It took a little bit of time for this one to get posted, which was my first 2025 visit to the venue.

It was a hot minute since I last walked into The Goldfish. In early 2024, Rosie Tucker had a residency and I was able to make it to one night of the residency. That was it, I do believe for my 2024 visits. I would always visit their Instagram page and website to see what was going on and never noticed anything. I believe it was in December that I finally saw some hope that they would return to live music. There was mention that they'd finally gotten their liquor license. A few weeks later, they were scheduling events.

The Goldfish

Anyways, I got a little busy with attending other shows and work and life and the thought of heading out to The Goldfish drifted to the back of my mind. Then suddenly I got this random thought in my head about The Goldfish and so I checked out their Instagram page again. They had an upcoming night that was being presented by Rocknite.LA. I had planned to head to one of my other hunting grounds, but I quickly made a change of plans. I was going off to The Goldfish. 

I walked into The Goldfish and it took me a second to adjust. During their temporary shut down, they'd done a major redesign of the space. The old space was a wide open space. The new space has a floor to ceiling wall that separates the kitchen, bar, pool table area from the stage. There is an open window between the two sides at the bar so that people don't need to leave the venue to get a drink. It now has a similar look to the Moroccan Lounge and Genghis Cohen. Actually, I think the Moroccan Lounge might want to build in an open window into their layout so that the audience doesn't need to leave the venue to buy a drink at the bar.

The Goldfish

The venue itself still has the 1950s cafe decor with the table booths and black /white checkered flooring. What bands may find an improvement is the stage. The stage now has straight lines versus the original curved stage. Personally, I didn't mind the curved stage, but I know some bands didn't approve. When it comes to stage design, the opinions of bands matter far more than the opinion of a photographer / blogger. 

Lead singer and guitarist BreeAnn Getman of Annie Jets came up on stage with an enthusiasm that was infectious. Looking at the venue, she took specific notice of the disco ball and the people that were standing right below it, "That's a Final Destination way to go." One gets the sense that she loves horror movies as later she said, "I guess you can wear a shirt that says 'I will kill you with a hammer.'"

Annie Jets at The Goldfish

Getman and three bandmates has the Edie Brickell & New Bohemians influence going. The band's folk alternative rock sound got the crowd filling up the venue. The band mentioned that they are recording new material, "This is a product of my mind and the way that I think." The music slides in the direction of near independence by each of the band members. It was like each of them was doing a solo bit at their own time signature. That resulted in an artsy sound that was enjoyable. The crowd couldn't get enough and demanded an encore. The sound guys said go for it and so the band entertained us all with an encore. 

Annie Jets at The Goldfish

I have to believe that if one had a lazy brunch with Getman (for the first time) that person would walk away knowing her life story. It wasn't long into the set that you knew what she did that day, "I went to the dentist today and got a brand new tooth." During a song break she talked about how she had video of a car driver swiping her car (she gave out a portion of the license plate) in Atwater Village that ended with the side mirror being destroyed. She's going to nail that person. She also comes to California from Missouri. I propose that the band plays a set with fellow Missourians The Doohickeys (one half of the duo).

Annie Jets at The Goldfish

What's an excellent song to introduce you to this band's sound? I'll go with "Avalanche" which is off their 2023 EP Geo Geo Geode. A little ode to mother earth. Considering how I suspect that she would tell a near stranger her life story right off the bat, does she work in geology? Geo. Geode. Avalanche. A song about not allowing someone back into your life after a four year relationship. 

I'll cross out words that I
No longer agree with
And shut open doors
That lead back to you

The band is scheduled to play The Goldfish once again on May 30th.