Numb.er and Hit Bargain at The Echo

It was off to The Echo to catch Hit Bargain and Numb.er.

Hit Bargain's sound is about staccato vocals against speed demon sounds.

And then there are the occasional comments from the band:

"We'd like to thank our sponsors for the evening."

"We hope you've gained a deeper understanding to truly maximize your potential."

Hit Bargain

Numb.er was the May residency band. I was in for the surprise of my life. One of my favorite Los Angeles musicians, Laena Geronimo of Feels, is in the band. I had no clue she was in Numb.er. I swear, this band will have you thinking "Personal Jesus" from Depeche Mode. And when Laena brings out the violin, it adds a haunting nightmare to the sound.

Graves and the Bad Weather with The Grinning Ghosts/J. Bonigno at Harvard & Stone

It was off to see Graves and the Bad Weather. Back in 2017, they asked if I'd check them out. I happened to notice that they were playing at Harvard and Stone so off I went.

J. Bonigno opened things up. What did I notice: he was backed by a band. He didn't stand front and center. Instead,  he stood off to the side.

J. Bonigno

The Grinning Ghosts came up next. What did I notice: the lead singer's eyes kept on looking up at the ceiling. His eyes just above his eye glasses.

The Grinning Ghosts

Graves and the Bad Weather closed out the night. What did I notice: the lead singer just threw herself into their rocking set.

Graves and the Bad Weather

Junior High: Jett Kwong and Chris Del Rosario

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and to celebrate there are/were a series of music events being held in Los Angeles.

I happened to go to one such event recently where I caught Chris Del Rosario and Jett Kwong.

The night was rather relaxed. So relaxed that folks walked right past Chris Del Rosario while he was playing his set. Maybe it was too relaxed. Jett Kwong, who was hosting the night, gave a dirty eye to the person who did that.

Chris, of course, couldn't help but throw in some Asian jokes. He happens to be Filipino so he had to mention that his parents wanted him to study medicine and become a nurse.

Chris Del Rosario

Jett Kwong closed out the night with Chinese infused music. She play something called a Chinese guzheng. It's a vertical wood instrument that has a number of strings that you play with picks on your fingers.

I happen to have an interesting history of coming across Jett Kwong. While hanging out in San Francisco in 2013, I caught Queen Kwong. Jett was backing her sister that night. Also, one of my first photos on Instagram is of Jett Kwong.

Jett Kwong

Hotel Cafe: Rivers and Suns with Emme

It was a singer-songwriter night at Hotel Cafe on a Saturday night.

Both Rivers and Suns and Emme add a touch of folk to their songs.

This was Rivers and Suns single release party for the song Crooked Mind. The lead singer knows how to both sing a tune and put on a stage show.

Rivers and Suns

Emme brought out the guitar, singing tunes about love ending. Funny thing, a few days earlier, I happened to catch her roommate at The Hi Hat.

Emme

The Redwood Bar: ALÉ, Symbol Six and Broken Baby

If anyone should ever wonder, I do tend to pay attention to who follows me on Instagram. This applies to Broken Baby. They followed me on Instagram and I eventually was able to catch one of their sets at The Redwood Bar.

First up on the night was ALÉ. This band lives in the Boyle Heights area and brought their East Los Angeles rock to DTLA. What I couldn't help but notice was that the lead guitarist was using a wireless electric guitar. It gave the guy a lot of freedom to move around. In fact, he spent half his time out on the floor of the Redwood Bar. I say more bands should do this.

ALE

Symbol Six was up next. This punk rock band had it going. They had the head bandana. They knew how to move it on stage. They had the experience of putting on shows.

Symbol Six

Though Broken Baby followed me on Instagram, I have to admit I didn't do much research on them before heading out to catch them at The Redwood Bar. I just say, "Hey, I want to catch this band." When I got there, I thought, "They're going to be a shoegaze band." Was I in for a surprise. They take their cue, according to their Facebook page, from musicians/bands such as Cyndi Lauper and The Pretenders. I'd throw in Bananarama in there, as well. Broken Baby has this edgy pop sound going for them.

The Broken Baby

The Hi Hat: Arthur King & The Night Sea and teasips

A few weeks back it was off to The Hi Hat to catch a couple random bands: Arthur King and The Night Sea and teasips.

It was an interesting night of experimental music. There were wires going all over the place and multiple knobs on this night. As I was watching these two bands/musicians play, my mind flashed back to 2013 when I was hanging out in San Francisco for a few months. I hung out at places called The Lab, The Luggage Store and F8 where this experimental music was norm. Interesting memories.

Arthur King & The Night Sea

teasips

The Colour Coast with Lone Priestess and Livingmore at The Satellite

I circled this date to head over to The Satellite. The reason was that Lone Priestess was playing. I wanted to see what Kimi of Draemings was up to with this new project. Was Lone Priestess going to be wild and crazy like Draemings? Well, it was actually very Americana. And there was Kimi dressed in red like a priestess.

Lone Priestess

Livingmore was the second band up and another reason why I circled this night. This band knows how to put the sultry in rock 'n roll. The more I see them the more I think of one of my favorite all time Los Angeles bands, The Mulhollands.

Livingmore

The Colour Coast was doing their residency night. They make you think of being in the tropics. And lead singer Marley floats across that stage.

The Colour Coast

Stonefield with Warbly Jets and Kate Clover at the Bootleg Theater

It was off to see Stonefield for my final time during their residency. Hopefully, I get to catch them again.

Up first was Kate Clover. She was dressed in a suit with a pencil sharp tie. I swear I was thinking The Pretenders. She rocked the Bootleg, throwing her hair this way and that with a sound that pumped up the heart. It was so cool seeing her on stage again. I like to joke with her that she plays 15 minute sets. This time around, I figure it was 27 minutes.

Kate Clover

The lineup was switched up with Stonefield doing their set at 10 p.m. versus residency band standard time of 11 p.m. What can I say, this band brings the metal. What was so funny was that during the last two times I went to the Bootleg to see them, I was on stage right. The keyboardist was always on stage left. So this time I decided to stand over on stage left to get some photos of the keyboardist. Yet, for some strange reason, she set up on stage right. Ugh. (Yeah, another switch.) I was talking to another photographer who said she'd taken a spot on stage left for the exact same reason.

Stonefield

Warbly Jets closed out the night. I hadn't seen them in over a year. I saw them twice during their January 2017 residency over at The Satellite. What was so amusing: before the music started, I was talking to someone. I was told that he'd stay for Stonefield, because he'd talked to Stonefield and they were sweet to him. He didn't plan to stay for Warbly Jets, because they weren't nice to him when he went up to talk to them. And so what happens within seconds of Warbly Jets' setting up their gear on stage? The keyboardist looks at me and says in a cool voice, "Hello." If the person I talked to actually left the venue before Warbly Jets, he missed a stylish stage performance.

Warbly Jets

Runson Willis and PLEASURES at The Hi Hat

This had to be one of the strangest nights at a music venue. You had a singer-songwriter and a band on the schedule who were about 180 degrees different from each other. Both talented in their own rights.

You had Runson Willis, which The Hi Hat mentioned in a tweet as having the sound of someone with "deep south Roots from LA."

Runson Willis

Then you had PLEASURES that The Hi Hat mentioned in a tweet as being a "Space Psych from Florida."

PLEASURES

Yeah, that pretty much explains the sounds of both. Though it was totally 180 when Runson Willis left the stage and PLEASURES came on, it still was a solid night as both had solid sounds.

Stonefield with Flat Worms and Cosmonauts at the Bootleg Theater

It was my second time out to see the Stonefield residency. There might have been one less photographer hanging out at the Bootleg Theater, but that just means it was just as crowded. Yep, us photographers are swarming the band. 

Opening up was Flat Worms and Cosmonauts. For Cosmonauts and Stonefield, the Mad Alchemy lights were on, but for Flat Worms that just had the normal Bootleg lights. It made sense. I don't think their punk sounds and energizer stage show would have worked well under those lights.

Flat Worms

Cosmonauts did have the Mad Alchemy lights on. How did they sound? At moments, as their music went along, I couldn't help but think about a train slowly coming to a stop and as it was coming to the last few inches, the train conductor went for a final train honk.

Comment of the set: Do you ever wish there was a song written just about you?

Cosmonauts

Stonefield was all Led Zeppelin on this second night. Their music just drives you constantly with rock intensity. I swear I haven't seen a residency like this at the Bootleg Theater for a year or so. Maybe all the way back to when ExSage had their residency.

Stonefield

What local bands could be seen hanging around on this night:

Dream Phases
ExSage
Pinky Pinky
Starcrawler
Veronica Bianqui

Broke LA 2018: Day 2 Highlights

FYI: I'm also doing cross-promotion over at CaliforniaRocker.com for Broke LA Fest.

This year, Broke LA Fest shifted from warehouse locations to DTLA's Regent Theater and surrounding areas. The festival also expanded from one day to two days. This expansion just meant more time to explore the local music scene as presented by the staff of Broke LA.


Some Day 2 Highlights:

Amusing Moments with Super Fan: Sizzy Rocket

She danced her way across the stage like Lady Gaga probably would.

Lyric of the set: You say you want to meet me in the Champagne Room.

I was standing on one side of the stage, taking photos, when a super fan came rushing towards me from my blind side. When she came up to me, she shoved me away from the stage. Hmm. I decided to stay out of her way and moved to the other side of the stage. A few moments later as I was looking through the photos on my camera, another shove came via my blindside. There was just no where near the stage to stay. I moved away from the front of the stage for the rest of the set.

Sizzy Rocket

Dawson's Creek Set: Small Forward

Am I the only one who sees James Van Der Beek when looking at the lead singer?

While watching this band inside the Love Song Bar, I was brought back to when I took a vacation in Iceland. On my first day in Iceland, I ran across a music festival of singer-songwriters that was held across various bars and outdoor areas across Reykjavik. What pleasant memories rushed back while listening to Small Forward.

Small Foward

Double Duty: Blushh

This band is fronted by Shab. I've crossed paths with her a number of time throughout the years. Not as a being part of a band, but various times while she was doing photography or promoting an event. This time she had some double duty going on. Not only was she running the Love Song Bar stage, but she was also played a set on that stage.

Comment of the set said with a guitar pick in her mouth: That was not Radiohead.

Blushh

Fans fans fans: CLARA-NOVA

She brings the sophisticated to her lyrics. Who can't love the lyric: I trace the constellation.

And there are those power vocals backed by bass and synth vibrations.

Oh, and the fans. As soon as the set ended, her fans came up one by one to say how much they loved her set. Others came over, wanting her to sign their CLARA-NOVA purchases. She was barely able to tear down her music equipment to make way for the next band.

CLARA-NOVA

Hanging outside: Flavia

Comment of the set: My name's Flavia. Yeah, that's my name.

Comment of the set 2: This song is for all the exes that stayed too long.

She brought the electronica sounds to the Outdoor Stage. I previously caught her at Hotel Cafe about a year ago. I was hoping for some LED shoes, but I guess that wasn't going to happen at 3 p.m.

Flavia

It's Sunday, Time for Church? One High Five

The whole set was like watching a good old Southern Baptist pastor holding a religious revival. Or an African American church service where hands are held high. The whole set brought out the desire to hold out your hands and give praise to the band.

One High Five

The Colour Coast with Night Talks and Michelle Young & The Collection (The Satellite)

Michelle Young and The Collection opened up the night at The Satellite. There was a poetry reading, which was for Emery Becker. Becker is a fellow photographer that was killed recently while riding his motorcycle on the 5 freeway. It was an emotional moment. The band also had current American Idol contestant, Effie Passero, on stage as a backing vocalist for a couple songs.

Michelle Young & The Colleciton

This was my first time seeing Night Talks in 2018. And the first thing I noticed was the band was 2 musicians short. I learned that the keyboardist is busy with school while the second guitarist decided to pursue DJing. The reduced band size actually tilts the band towards a more rock sound vs pop.

Night Talks

The Colour Coast is the residency band at The Satellite for April. This band intertwines some stage choreography with tropical pop sounds.

The Colour Coast

Ramonda Hammer with Livingmore and illuminati hotties at the Echoplex

The most important debate that I was having with myself was: when will the bands start their sets? There were five bands playing Ramonda Hammer's 2nd residency night. Usually, there are 4 bands playing with the first set time at 9:15 p.m. I decided to show up at around 8:45 p.m. to see if that would work out. I obviously didn't get the memo. I walked in and there was a nice crowd already inside and the first band up was half way through their set.

My first full band set was illuminati hotties, which was a band that another photographer was there to see. That got me interested. The photographer mentioned something about them being a full of energy band. Then they started their set. The first song started on a very mellow pace. I was like, "What's this photographer talking about?" It didn't take long for the band to drive it up a couple notches. It was a fun set.

illuminati hotties

Livingmore is a band I've seen a handful of times. I figured I knew what to expect from the band, a bit of country influenced tunes with a charismatic lead. For this set, they turned down the country and went full on rock. It was awesome.

Livingmore

Ramonda Hammer is a band I last saw in late 2016. I'd noticed them playing around town, but never got to head out to their set. Well, they are the residency band for April at The Echo and since I love residency bands, I had no excuse. What did I notice: I guess they were doing eye glasses night. The lead singer was wearing eye glasses. At one point during the set she tossed the glasses off her face and it landed in front of her. Another band mate was in constant movement and my eyes kept looking at the glasses, seeing how close his foot would come to smashing the glasses. I don't believe the glasses were of any real value so all was good either way. The breaking of the eye glasses never happened for those interested.

Ramonda Hammer