Review: Gold Star aligns the celestial bodies with Mercedes Kilmer

I admit I was a late convert to Gold Star. Gold Star, singer-songwriter Marlon Rabenreither, has been releasing music since 2012. That probably means he's been playing music since at least 2011? When did I finally come across Gold Star? In 2023. I went to Club Tee Gee to catch Mara Connor and came away with another favorite musician. I saw the band three times in 2023 and each time the venue played at was packed. The highlight of that year was the set at The Echo during Echo Park Rising. The venue was so packed that I had to squeeze and forced my way to the side of the stage in order to get some photos. As a friend said to me during one of those 2023 sets, “People show up for Gold Star, baby.” 

Gold Star at El Cid

Flash forward to El Cid Sunset and nothing had changed. Gold Star had the venue packed for his How To Shoot The Moon record release party. When I walked down the El Cid steps to the patio area, the place was packed with people. I hung out there for a few minutes until I heard the first notes from the opening singer, Mercedes Kilmer. I walked on into the venue and it was packed in there, as well. 

Gold Star at El Cid

Gold Star started off the night with the title track from that album. The song starts out with a slow beat and harmonica play. Then enters Rabenreither's vocals flowing with quiet confidence of someone who has crafted his skills throughout the years in the Los Angeles music scene.  

Gold Star at El Cid

The stage was decorated in a western-country style. String lights hung from ceiling to floor in the back of the stage and there were also string lights hanging off the stage to the venue floor. Hanging from the ceiling were stars and a crescent moon. The celestial bodies reflected the stage lights. On the microphone stands and other parts of the stage were red and white roses. 

Gold Star at El Cid

The imagery worked so well in helping to tell the story behind the song "Fentanyl" that was dedicated to Danny and Chuck. My two favorite songs of the night were played back to back: "Wild Boys" and "Surrender." Both songs reflect on the years of one's youth. "I spent twenty hours in a hotel room in Memphis dreaming about how it was when we were kids" are a couple of lines from "Surrender." 

Gold Star at El Cid

One had to notice how the audience around stage had a sparkle in their eyes and smiles on their faces throughout the set. What other crowd response would you expect for a band that brings the crowds every time they play a set. The vocals are so smooth with just a hint of gravel that lends to the emotional weight of the lyrics. The balance between the instruments and vocals allow for one to perfectly hear the tales told in the songs. 

As mentioned, opening up the night was Mercedes Kilmer. Interestingly fact is that I also first came across Mercedes Kilmer in 2023. That first time was at Gold-Diggers. And who was sharing the bill that night? Gold Star, of course. This is the third time I've seen the two team up. The second time was earlier this year at Zebulon for the single release of "Wild Boys." I wrote a review for US Rocker Music about that night. The two of them must enjoy playing sets together. 

Mercedes Kilmer at El Cid

She takes inspiration from old Hollywood. One of her songs was influenced by Elizabeth Short (Black Dahlia) while another is based on Norma Jean (Marilyn Monroe). She mentioned that her song "Fire" was written in Marlon's old house, which I'm assuming she meant Marlon Brando. Kilmer's vocals have a Celtic touch - lilting, quiet, and mysterious. Her brother Jack Kilmer was backing her on bass.

Mercedes Kilmer at El Cid

Of interesting note, this is my first time catching a Kilmer set where the stage lights were bright enough that I didn't need to shoot the set at ISO 10000 or higher. We all love Zebulon and Gold-Diggers, but they do like to keep the stage lights low.

Mercedes Kilmer at El Cid

Funny moment of the night: when Kilmer ended her set, the band started breaking down their music gear. El Cid at the same time brought the stage curtains across the stage (which I actually think this is the first time I've ever seen El Cid use those curtains). It resulted in half the equipment being behind the curtains and the other half being in front of the curtains. Kind of amusing, I've got to say, watching the band being in an initial state of confusion about what was going on. 

Mercedes Kilmer at El Cid

Gold Star setlist: How To Shoot The Moon, Beneath The Wheels, With You, I Think You Should Know, Fentanyl, Happy, Sonny's Blues, Searchlights, Wild Boys, Surrender, Fade Away, This Is The Sea

Mercedes Kilmer setlist: Big Star, Bird, Waltz, Betty, Vermont, Norma, China, Susan, Hit, Fire

NFV Song Spotlight: Funds for Jimmy's unclean.

I first came across Funds for Jimmy back in early 2022. They were playing at Harvard & Stone. I remember the sound guy was so amazed by their performance that he personally asked for an encore. I recently caught a set at the same venue. 

Funds for Jimmy at Harvard & Stone

The band describes their sound on Instagram as "watercolor emo." I would add in there a soft jazz influence. Lead singer and guitarist Molly Grace has vocals that are always on tune. This isn't a singer-songwriter set, but vocals are emphasized. Their sets are definitely not scream fests (not that there aren't some screams) to cover up vocal defects. Listen to "Quid," the lead single off of their debut album Bankrupt, and tell me those aren't some awesome vocals. 

Funds for Jimmy at Harvard & Stone

You also have to love the energy that Molly Grace puts into the band's sets. When playing the guitar, she'll go on a face-off battle of the guitars with her fellow guitarist. And though it didn't happen at this set (most likely due to the small stage), she's more than willing to sprawl on the stage floor for dramatic effect. Throw in multiple shoulder length hair flings and you get the idea that the stage show is always part of the set. And one last detail: for this particular set, there was a stuff animal on stage. 

Funds for Jimmy at Harvard & Stone

This band has to be one of the most active Los Angeles bands. For the month of October, the band played five sets. Those sets were also geographically spread all over the Los Angeles map. They played Long Beach, Covina, Pomona, Hollywood, and Cypress Park. If you're a Los Angeles fan of this band, you don't need to worry about driving long distance. They'll likely play close to you within a couple months. 

Funds for Jimmy at Harvard & Stone

On this particular October set at Harvard & Stone, the band played one of their latest releases, "unclean." And the use of a period is not me putting in a punctuation. The period at the end "unclean." is in the song title.  This is one of their songs that has that soft jazz start with tender vocals from Molly Grace. The music soon turns into a symphony of instruments with vocals layered atop. Then as to trick the crowd, they go near silent for a split second and let the crowd cheer before picking it up with an instrumental outro. That leads to one last round of cheers. 

And I'm stalling the breaking news
Its better
For me than you

The band will be playing The Smell on November 29th.

Review: The Spyrals bring their album 'Retrograde' to life with help from Devon Ross and Primitive Ring

On a chilly night in Los Angeles, The Spyrals had their record release party at Gold-Diggers for their fifth studio album "Retrograde." I actually crossed paths with this band back in 2013. How do I know I saw the band? Considering that the band's first album came out in 2012, I decided to look through my archives. The name popped up in a 2013 draft blog post that simply has four Facebook links to the bands that were playing the Bootleg Theater on that specific July night. I obviously never got around to finishing up the blog post. 

The Spyrals at Gold-Diggers

I then looked through my photo archives and I have photos of only two bands from that night and I do believe one of those two bands is The Spyrals. I had to look through the 2013 Facebook posts from the band as the band members have changed over the years. Also, of interest, is that this band started in San Francisco and during that timeframe I spent a few monthly flying back and forth between San Francisco and Los Angeles due to real life work. 

The Spyrals at Gold-Diggers

On that specific night, Gliss was on the bill (via the flyers I saw on The Spyrals' Facebook page) and I do not have a link Gliss in that draft blog post nor any photos of the band. So did Gliss have to drop out at the last minute or did I somehow miss them due to showing up at the wrong time or did something else happen that night? Hmm, I also remember that around that time, The Fold (which was booking the Bootleg Theater at the time) decided to stop allowing photographers into the venue who didn't have a photo pass. So was this the night that I got escorted out of the venue? If this was the night, how did I get my camera into the venue in the first place? Well, the door guy knew who I was and let me in with my camera. I then got called out by the person working the bar and The Fold kicked me out. That may have resulted in me deciding not to do anything more than have a draft with band links so that I would know who I took pictures of. Of course, that still doesn't explain why I don't have a Gliss link. Hey, that was 11 years ago, I don't recall all the details.

For those who have never heard of the Bootleg Theater: it was a venue that thrived during those years. It had a few down years after The Fold and the Bootleg Theater parted company. Then Sid the Cat picked up the bookings and it thrived again. There was apparently some ownership disagreement that popped up (not related to Sid the Cat) when venues shut down and so the Bootleg Theater is no more.

Devon Ross at Gold-Diggers

Back to Gold-Diggers: The Spyrals has a blues-rock sound. On guitar, harmonica, and lead vocals is the band's founder Jeff Lewis. Dare I say his vocals has a John Cougar Mellencamp influence? On keys is Georgia Feroce. Another side mention, during the time when venues were shut down, I saw a set of hers online. This band likes to jam out on certain riffs and the interplay between Lewis and drummer Dash Borinstein is key. An example of that is the song "Uh Huh." On the record, the song clocks in at just under 5 minutes, but the live version came in at 7 minutes as the band took on a riff as if they were trying to find just the right synergy between guitar and drums before moving on. It brough additional interpretation to the song. To end the set, Lewis spun his guitar body on the stage to cheers from the audience.

Devon Ross at Gold-Diggers

Opening up the night was  Devon Ross and Primitive Ring. I am a huge fan of Ross. One of my US Rocker Music articles was written because Devon Ross was playing on a particular night of Escape Artist Lovers' 2024 March residency at Zebulon. (I do love Escape Artist Lovers. I went to three of those residency nights.) In one way, Ross and The Spyrals are similar. They love to put catchy riffs on repeat. A example of this for Ross is the song "Swim." The riff played gives a hypnotic tone to the song, but only for a few repetitions. The riff gets taken up an octave and then Ross totally destroys it by taking a drum stick and scratching her guitar strings to turn the riff into a total chaotic interpretation. The song's frenzied moments perfectly fits the lyrics, "Just sing about your wife and the rain while I sit and withdraw. Well it’s a lonely little life when you’re controlled by another." 

Primitive Ring at Gold-Diggers

As for Primitive Ring, they were playing their first show ever. It didn't sound like it nor did it visually seem like it. Oh wait, the band consists of bassist Bert Hoover and drummer Jon Modaff. Both of them are from the bands Hooveriii and Groop. (Groop is the lesser known of the two. The band has a long term residency at Zebulon where the residency takes place once or twice a year.) On guitar is Charles Moothart who plays in the band GØGGS with Ty Segall. Maybe it was their first show as a band, but it wasn't the typical first show. The band opened the night with the sounds of hard rock metal. Their PR has this to say about the band, "A band of three individuals (ring) tapping in to their collective sound (ring) to form a solid bond (ring) in which to burn away superfluous modernity (ring)."

Primitive Ring at Gold-Diggers

The Spyrals setlist: New War, Uh Huh, Dream Believin', Danger Us, Turns to Me, Eyes Filled with Gold, The Rain, Until All My Love Has Gone, Disguise, Lonely Eyes, What's Real

NFV Song Spotlight: Hailey Wild's Wake Up

The USC Thornton School of Music senior Hailey Wild had the WFNM night at Hotel Ziggy rocking. It was a perfect blend of hard rock anthems and the Sunset Strip. She opened up the set with Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box" that solidified her rocker bona fides from the start. 

Hailey Wild at Hotel Ziggy

To the side of the stage, a handful of friends hung out on the venue's long couch. She waved them to hang-out at the front of the stage, but they had the casual Los Angeles music attitude and with smiles indicated they were sitting tight.

After her Nirvana cover, she sang her most recent release "Wake Up" (and the spotlight song of this post). It had her putting on that classic Sunset Strip performance. She let her guitarist Christopher Justin start off the catchy vibes of the music. When she joined on vocals, her lyrics immediately got to the point of the song, which highlights the seedy nature that the music business can be, "In the back room, that's where she goes to have some fun. Chasing dreams that will never fully come." Her backing vocalists Aden Black and Sophia Rae helped kick up the volume as the three belted out "Living in heaven but you're dancing with the devils." 

Hailey Wild at Hotel Ziggy

She definitely has studied up on her Sunset Strip band history as she bent her knees, leaned back and brought that microphone up high to hit the high notes of the song. She also tossed in the class hair fling. Showing how relaxed she is at performing, she took a singing break and took a couple steps over to her other guitarist Manuel Martinez, "Manny, are you a wake. Are you awake? I need you f*cking awake!" Wake up, Manny." That was his clue to duck between the two backing vocalists and take his place at the front of the stage to show off his skills. 

The song lyrics take us on the journey of a young woman who wants that dream of being a rock star. A person in the industry be it a music executive, a fellow musician, venue owner, media journalist, or anyone else associated with the scene promises her a short cut to that dream. That short cut involves drugs and sex and being just one of millions that this individual has manipulated for his own abusive pleasure. The song ends with a depressing ending, "She never woke up."   

Hailey Wild at Hotel Ziggy

Did Wild's friends on the coach ever go to the front of the stage? Well, when keyboardist Eyén Paredes took to the stage to join in on some of the songs, a friend was convinced that this was the moment to take some iPhone music videos.  There always has to be an impetus. 

What is interesting is seeing how Wild's music style has changed over the years. You can see that via the songs that are up on Spotify. During her high school years, the music was pop and R&B in nature. Now in college, she has shifted to Sunset Strip hard rock. And it just has to be mentioned that a future song release could include a bit of kinky sex as there was a song with the title "S&M." Hmm, I wonder what that stands for . . . 

Hailey Wild at Hotel Ziggy

Setlist: Heart-Shaped Box (Nirvana cover), Wake Up, Rotten, Gimme, Ghost, S&M, Paralyzed

She will be playing Rockout Knockout tonight (Nov 15th).

NFV Song Spotlight: Wayne Redfern's Without Saying

I do enjoy going to Club Tee Gee on occasion. Why? I often don't know anything about the bands or singers on the bill. It is an exploration of the unknown. I seldom even do any preliminary research on who is playing on the bill other than a cursorily look at Instagram pages. And honestly, sometimes the fewer Instagram followers the better, because I'm looking to be one of the first photographers to capture some photos of a band or musician. 

Wayne Redfern at Club Tee Gee

Another reason I like going to Club Tee Gee is that the bar is walking distance from where I live. I will admit that everyone has their own definition of walking distance. To me, a 30 minute walk is walking distance. I've had conversations with other photographers about where some of the cheapest spots to park are. I mentioned that there was a spot near the Forum that was only a mile walk away and was told that a mile is way too far to walk. I will admit that on this particular night I did drive to Club Tee Gee as I was in the middle of a 5 day stretch of going out to catch bands. I just wanted to make sure I got  home quickly so that I could jump into bed for some sleep and be well rested for work the next morning. 

Up first on the night was Wayne Redfern. He had a 6 piece band backing him up on vocals, which made for a tight fit on the Club Tee Gee floor. There were two guitars, a bass, keys, trumpet and drums. It being a pre-Halloween night, there were some costumes to be seen. Redfern was subtle with Vulcan ears. His guitarists also dressed up. One went with the Dracula look. The other did the pirate eye patch, but that only lasted so long as it sounded like it caused problems while playing. When he removed the eye patch, one of the band members joked, "Do you still have the scare?"

Redfern's Trumper Player at Club Tee Gee

The band played a nonchalant jazz set. Redfern modulated his vocals and the trumpet set the musical style. When the sound technician was out of the room doing something and the keyboardist was asking for a sound adjustment, Redfern went over to the soundboard in an attempt to resolve the issue. He wasn't all that successful and eventually the sound technician came back and made the appropriate changes.    

To end the set, Redfern let his trumpet player take to the microphone and he walked off into the audience. The band did a cover of The Cure's "Just Like Heaven." 

Wayne Redfern at Club Tee Gee

As for the song to highlight, I'll got with "Without Saying." Redford only has 4 songs released on Spotify. There is a 5th showing up on his page, but that looks to be a collaboration with another artist. I would argue that the sound of the songs on Spotify differ from what I heard on stage, but that is just my observation and not a negative comment. Instead of a smooth jazz sound, the song "Without Saying" has an opening that would fit in perfectly on a Los Angeles hometown heroes Local Natives record. The song has the folk indie-rock sound that initially blasted onto the Los Angeles music scene circa 2008.   

NFV Song Spotlight: Pom Poms' I Think You're Right

I've seen Pom Poms at least 6 times throughout the years. The band has played alongside some of my favorite local bands each of those 6 times. I first came across Pom Poms when they played with The Controversy at one of my previous favorite stomping grounds, The Satellite. It was a shared residency and I saw the pair team-up twice. In regards to The Controversy, it appears that the band is on hiatus though I do know that lead singer Laura Vall and husband / bandmate Thomas Hjorth are still involved in music. 

Pom Poms at Harvard & Stone

I next crossed paths with Pom Poms when they played with Cellars at the Bootleg Theater, another previous favorite stomping grounds. Cellars is currently living in New York City and I noticed that she recently played with Los Angeles to New York City transplant Silent Mass. I have a long and wonderful music history with the lead singer of Silent Mass, Ammo Bankoff. More recently, I've seen the band play alongside Surprise Baby (member of Slugs) and Oddnesse. 

Pom Poms at Harvard & Stone

And finally, I saw Pom Poms play this October during Jesika Von Rabbit's residency at Harvard & Stone. It being the Saturday before Halloween, lead singer Jessie Payo was dressed up as a sultry red devil, which included playing a red guitar. The bandmates were dressed up as The Phantom from The Phantom of the Opera, the sexy maid, and I'm guessing the masked Zorro. The music is retro-1950s rock with Payo leaving everything on the stage. 

Pom Poms at Harvard & Stone

Payo moved along that stage with confidence in her showmanship, often interacting with her guitarist Christian Wunderlich and bassist Marcus Buser. Drummery Riley Bray could be seen yelling and having fun throughout the set. On occasion, Payo would execute the perfect leg kick alongside an emphasized music beat. 

Pom Poms at Harvard & Stone

The band's most recent release is a video for "I Think You're Right" from the band's 2024 album release Main Meat. Payo introduced the song by joking, "The video makes no sense, there's a swamp monster, dancing hotdogs. If you don't like dancing hotdogs then don't watch it, trigger warning." Along with a swamp monster and dancing hotdogs, the music video blends Tron computer graphics, early DOS coding, 70s fashion, and toss in at the start an FBI VHS warning. The song has a psychedelic rock intro that has one imagining lava lamps - the video should have also included lava lamps. As for the live version, the band had the most fun dancing and smiling to the musical bridge while snarling through the lyrics.   

Pom Poms at Harvard & Stone

Setlist: I Put a Spell On You ("Screamin' Jay" Hawkins cover), Hotel Figueroa, Gimme You, Galaxy, Lady Velvet, I Think You're Right, Go Go, Turn You Out, Money On The Floor, Astro Zombies (Misfits cover)

NFV Song Spotlight: Together Pangea's Misery

The band Together Pangea was the special guest headliner for Kills Birds' performance at Gold-Diggers. The Los Angeles based band has been around for north of 10 years. How many times have I seen Together Pangea? Zero times. For as much time as I've spent catching bands across Los Angeles, there are still bands out there that I've never seen. I had to admit this at the venue. A person who knows how long I've hung out in the scene joked that I must have seen the band when they first started out. I responded honestly that I knew of the band, but had never seen them. 

Together Pangea at Gold-Diggers

As I walked up Gold-Diggers, I had no idea who the special guest headliner was. I took a look at Kills Birds' Instagram page and didn't notice any clues. I went to Gold-Diggers' Instagram page and nothing was there either. I got to within a baseball throws distance of the venue and noticed their sidewalk curb sign announcing that Together Pangea was the special guest. I was thinking, "So that's why they kept it under wraps and I finally get to see them play!"

Together Pangea at Gold-Diggers

This was a free night, but that didn't stop the band from putting on a full set. They played an 18 song set list that included a rather cool cover of The Ronettes' "Be My Baby." At the end of the set, the fans wanted an encore so the band performed one additional song to make it 19 in total. The biggest fan of the night was Kills Birds' own lead singer Nina Ljeti who bounced her way to the front of the stage and danced throughout. She had so much fun that she nearly (blindly) crashed into her friend's drink (he was standing right behind her) multiple times.

Together Pangea at Gold-Diggers

This was perhaps the best introduction set to catch for someone (me) unfamiliar with the band. Nine of their songs were from their first two albums, Jelly Jam and Living Dummy. I'm sure it was a nice flash back for the band (lead vocalist and guitarist William Keegan, bassist and backing vocalist Danny Bengston, drummer Erik Jimenez), thinking about their younger versions first playing those songs. Though the Gold-Diggers stage is rather tight, it still gave enough room for Keegan and Bengston to face off on each other. 

Together Pangea at Gold-Diggers

The song "Misery" was not played on this night, but it is the song I'll highlight here. It is the title song from their EP Misery. There's an aching and longing emotion that comes through the music and lyrics. The music has a singer-songwriter quality to it. Their bandcamp page mentions that Keegan wrote the songs for a solo release during the pandemic, which no doubt impacted the song title.

But I can’t die yet
I want a cigarette

Misery, misery, misery, death

If taken into context that this was written during the pandemic, one can feel the isolation in those lyrics. Is there hope? As life opened back up, maybe that influenced the song's ending as the final minute brightens up with cool upbeat rhythms.       

Setlist: Marijuana, I Ran, Better Find Out, Make Myself True, Straight Dumb, I Wrote a Bible, My Heart, Be My Baby (The Ronettes), Friend of Nothing, Money on It, My Head is Sick, Los Angeles, Sick of the Waste, Black and Blue, Night of the Living Dummy, Too Drunk to Come, River, Lithium (Nirvana cover)

The band will play The Echo on Nov 22nd to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of their album Badillac.