Song Spotlight: Iress' Shamed (a night at Bar Flores during Echo Park Rising)

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

Lead singer Michelle Malley is the queen of darkness in the Los Angeles music scene. Her vocals rage and soar while her bandmates thunder away at their perspective musical instruments. One might imagine a dragon coming down on you, breathing fire. 

I would say that the live performances of their songs allows for the power of the music to shine bright. Seeing them live lets the sound waves vibrate off the body and shatter your ear drums (if you're not wearing earplugs, which you should). You can also feel the intensity of Malley as she gut punches the lyrics. 

Moment of the set has to be when Malley shared a smile while looking at bassist Michael Maldonado. A couple words were exchanged. I think they were exceptionally happy with how the set was gong. 

Iress at Bar Flores

I had to duck out early to catch another band, which led to this story. Once back onto the streets of Sunset Blvd, someone waiting in line at Bar Flores immediately flagged me down and asked about Iress. The time was 8:20 pm and I unfortunately had to tell him that the set had started right on time (maybe even a minute or two early). He was the second person in line and I had just left the venue along with a couple other people so hopefully the security guard let him in so that he could catch the last couple songs. 

Interestingly, I first caught Iress at Echo Park Rising in 2019. It was a memorable set for one reason alone: Malley played the set with her right arm in a sling. And if you're interested, I covered their 2023 Echo Park Rising set for Buzzbands, which you can read here and one of their 2024 sets for US Rocker Music here. I guess that qualifies me as a big fan. 

Iress at Bar Flores

As for the song spotlight "Shamed," I do have to say it is a perfect representation of how the band's live performance can hit the emotional doom metal buttons:

Now my pain shines through

The two most humorous moments of the festival (for me) both happened at Bar Flores. I mentioned the first in my Slugs review, which you can read here. Here's the second: while Iress was setting up for their set, I over-heard a conversation between a guy and a friend via a phone conversation. His friends were over at The Echo and they wanted him to come meet them there. He responded, "Where's The Echo?" When he hung up, he looked at a person near him and asked, "Do you know where The Echo is?" The individual shrugged their shoulders. For someone like me who loves the Los Angeles music scene, I found that totally amusing.