Song Spotlight: The Blushes' Celebrity Sex Cult Party (a night at The Semi-Tropic)

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

My first encounter with the band occurred in 2022 at a music festival called Hot Line Fest. The festival unfortunately had to go head to head against an unofficial version, perhaps a testing of the waters, of Echo Park Rising. For me, the two competing festivals didn't matter, because I got to fall in love with The Blushes. 

How do The Brushes describe their sound? Via their Spotify page, they have the following description, ". . . a surprising rawness, calling back the excitement of the early 90’s West Coast music scene. Setting out to inject joy, glitter and hardcore girliness into alternative rock . . ."

The Blushes at The Semi-Tropic

Dressed in lingerie and hair curls, the band came up on stage and asked the audience, "Are you ready to f*ck shi*t up?" There was no doubt that the Echo Park Rising early bird fans were ready for 30 minutes of raw rock-punk sounds. Their song lyrics span the spectrum from the political like "War on the Poor" to the tongue and cheek (or maybe not) like "Celebrity Sex Cult Party."  

Why did the band get on stage in lingerie and hair curls? "We forgot we had plans tonight. We were at a slumber party." 

Moment of the set had nothing to do with the music. During a break in the music, attention turned to a pet bird that one of their friends had brought into the venue, "Everybody give it up to our bird friend." The bird flew onto the left hand of Katy Rose. Then the bird quickly flew back to the owner, which gave Rose a slight jolt of excitement. 

The Blushes at The Semi-Tropic

Comment of the set after having to restart a song, "AI Is never going to stop a song and own it. F*ck the robots."

I'm going with "Celebrity Sex Cult Party" as the song spotlight as it is the song that won me over immediately back in 2022. I think their story behind the song has changed over time. I believe back in 2022 they had to play their set blindfolded. Now it seems that they were able to interact with those at the party. Either way, an NDA was signed and the band is hoping that their fans won't spread the news about the celebrity sex cult party they attended. I don't want to get the band in trouble so I won't repeat the lyrics where they're naming names:

Everyone is buzzin
From the punch that we're sippin
But I'm Haulucinating
Acid water's got me trippin