I've followed Bloody Death Skull for over a decade. I first came across the band at a long gone music venue called Pehrspace (which still lives on as part of 2220 Arts). The night was hosted on by the New L.A. Folk Festival. Going back a little further in time, in 2012 the actual festival was held at Zorthian Ranch. I covered the festival for the first blog site that I started working for called inTraffik. I'm sure if one looked hard enough via the Wayback Machine, one can find my write-up and photos. The festival had a really solid line-up, some of whom are still active and would be a festival highlight if we jumped to the present day: Dust Bowl Revival, Guy Blakeslee, and Leslie Stevens are just three that pop to mind.
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| Bloody Death Skull at The Fable |
I would catch Bloody Death Skull every so often here and there through the years that would follow. The year 2017 was a big moment when they had a residency at the Echoplex (some who read this will not even know how important residencies were pre-2020) and they played with Sloppy Jane at Zebulon. That Zebulon night is a big moment for me personally as it was the first time I went to the venue. That venue quickly became and still is a venue I frequent way more than others.
The year 2017 is also another noteworthy moment for me. The blog site inTraffik shut down around 2013 and so I was spending time just shooting around town and doing my own blog site (this site) and not really taking it all that seriously. The lead singer of Bloody Death Skull, Daiana Feuer, also worked with Buzzbands. I got pinged in August about covering Echo Park Rising. Now I know that Buzzbands had a group of photographers who would shoot various concerts across town so I suspect that most of the photographers didn't want to deal with the grind of shooting the multi-day festival so they figured why not ask that ringer of a photographer. It resulted in two outcomes. First, it started a long relationship with me shooting for Buzzbands. Second, it got me hooked on Echo Park Rising (the last couple years I was one of the official photographers for the festival). Before that date, I would just circle a couple bands / singers that I wanted to catch and just head over for a couple hours.
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| Bloody Death Skull at The Fable |
In the present year of 2026, In Sonic Dreams made me aware of the fact that Bloody Death Skulls was going to play a Sunday night set at The Fable. It had been awhile since I last saw a full set from the band (I did see a brief set during a Murder Ballads & Dark Songs event -- you can read that review here).
How would I sum of the band in one word? Quirky. They're a fun quirky band. The band decorated the stage with four skull tchotchkes. Self-made Valentine hearts were handed out to people in the crowd. For their "Baby Animals" song, the drummer, Andrew Renteria, wore an Easter bunny head.
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| Bloody Death Skull at The Fable |
It was mentioned that Feuer almost broke up with Renteria, because of a dream she had -- which might have revolved around Jane Fonda in Barbarella. One song took an interview that Erykah Badu gave and turned her words into a song. There were also songs about Vanna White and Sky Ferreira. (Sky Ferreira. Tell me how to wear my hair like that.) Bassist Jun Ohnuki decided to take each song break to grab his glass of beer and take a sip. As the set came to a conclusion, Feuer stepped away from her microphone, took to a venue bench, and reclined across her friend who laughed at the funny interaction.
As a note about their songs: they clock in at 2 minutes or less.
The crowd wanted an encore. Feuer fiddled around for a few moments with putting together an encore, but was having a little difficulty so concluded the set with a, "Nope, I don't got it.
Partial Setlist: Rattlesnakes, Rudy Was A Basketball Player, Vanna White, Baby Animals, Sky Ferreira, Rainbow Chaser (Nirvana UK cover)
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