Quarantine Online Sets: Version 2

Cancelled Fest was a 3 day event that I believe was put on by the local band Goon. I caught a handful of bands on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, I caught Eric Davis and Just. On Friday, I got to catch Alaska Reid, Draag, Jake Whitener and Skullcrusher.

Alaska Reid

The musician that I really wanted to catch was Alaska Reid. The last time I caught her was during Echo Park Rising 2019. She was playing at Little Joy Cocktails. For this festival, she came online a few minutes late, but when she did it was such a joy to see her online. She's currently in Montana, which honestly might be a better place to be then Los Angeles. There is just a beauty to her shy persona.

Skullcrusher

A big surprise of the sets I caught was Skullcrusher. I honestly was expected a solo version of the band's punk set. Some vocals screams to end the festival. Nope, I got this wonderful folk that just sweeps you up into a hug. Click here to catch her song "Places / Plans." What was amusing throughout the set was one member of the band putting together a jigsaw puzzle through out the set until I believe the final song where he finally joined in.

Jake Whitener

Jake Whitener mentioned that he used to play in Alaska Reid's band, Alyeska, so there was a nice connection there.

Draag

Eric Davis

Just

Quick Hit Band Interview: T Soomian

T. Soomian at the Bootleg Theater

Interview with the artist. Enjoy:

How would you describe your music? Late night party jams. 

What’s your favorite memory from one of your gigs or tours? Breakdancing at a bar in Eureka, Ca on a short run up the coast.

Quarantine Online Sets: Version 1

I can't go out to catch live music due to COVID-19 so it was off to catching online sets. My camera had been set aside for way to long so I started doing the lame thing of taking photos of my computer screen.

First up came Thursday, March 19th, when I caught parts of TOKiMONSTA's live streaming of her new album. I watched most of it, but as it was in the middle of the day and I needed to continue my work at home job duties. Also, I did step away for a few moments to go out and do some social distance walking. I had been cooped up in my apartment for so long that I just needed to go outside and stretch the legs for a few minutes. She was sitting with a friend, listening to her album and just talking and getting drunk. Her music was a lovely mix of genres and I would most love to catch a live set.

TOKiMONSTA

The Saturday and Sunday was spent catching some live sets from an online festival called Alone Together Fest. I got to catch a handful of bands/artists that I'd never seen before: Ness Lake, Pronoun, Sunsleep and I'm Glad It's You. Pronoun and Sunsleep really stood out to me. Too bad both aren't located in Los Angeles. I'm Glad It's You had cool fog machine effects. Ness Lake played the guitar with tender loving care. The reason I tuned into the festival was because talker was up on Saturday and Dan Sadin was playing Sunday. Talker really killed it with her acoustic set.

Ness Lake

Pronoun

talker

Sunsleep

 

Dan Saden 

I'm Glad It's You

Prior to tuning into the festival on Sunday, I caught BIIANCO. Earlier, she had broken her hand and it had healed. After her set, she mentioned on Instagram she felts she broke it again during her set. That tells you how much energy she put into her online set.

BIAANCO

Quick Hit Band Interview: Opus Vitae

Opus Vitae at The Hi Hat

Interview with the band. Enjoy:

What is currently inspiring your music? Music and writing has always been a therapeutic thing for me, the act of expression and trying to get an idea or feeling out into a song is what drives me. The tunes we've been playing live are from a record I wrote about a very crazy year I had. So they’re inspired by my personal life but also our collective challenges as people in this sometimes beautiful and sometimes often messed up world.

I noticed how the musicians switched around to various instruments throughout the set. How do you go about making determinations on how that is all done? So I wrote and recorded our record solo, and I held a few private listening parties and my old band came and they really liked the record. We decided to take it live. Because the record is super sonically dense and diverse it was a really big challenge to figure out how to bring it live without compromise. It was essentially reverse engineering and problem solving to figure out who would play what and when, and how to make everything happen as seamlessly as possible. I chose based on my band’s different strengths and also just logistically who can get to what instrument.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Mexico City Blondes

Mexico City Blondes at The Hi Hat

Interview with the band (with Greg). Enjoy:

What's the story behind how the band started? Allie and I met through an ad I put on Craigslist and hit it off right away. I loved her voice and we both had a similar vision for the type of music we wanted to make.

What inspires you to write/compose your songs? Mostly inspired by other music, our moods or even certain sounds. I get ideas in my head for how I want things to sound and work hard to try and get that to come out of the speakers.

Quick Hit Artist Interview: Sam Buck

Sam Buck at The Hi Hat

Interview with the artist. Enjoy:

What inspired you to start singing? I’ve been singing since I was a kid, but I think when I started singing country, I found my real voice. Not my narrative voice, but my actual singing voice. I think the best country singers are the ones who apply affect skillfully.

Is there a process that you go through to come up with your song titles? Song titles are hard, I usually just name songs after something I say in the chorus. Usually the word or phrase or concept I've built the narrative of the song around. On the contrary, one song has been titled "groovey" for years because I couldn’t think of a good name for it. It just had a good groove.

Quick Hit Band Interview: The End

The End at Sick City Records (shot for Buzzbands)

Interview with the band (via Athena). Enjoy:

What would Lester Bangs say you sound like? If Eno kidnapped X, held them captive in a Victorian front parlor and forced them at gunpoint to read Andre Gide while standing on their heads eating ice cream cones. Then, very politely, ask them to sing about it.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Veneer

Veneer at Little Joy Cocktail (shot for Buzzbands)

Interview with the band (with Pat). Enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? Chris Ziegler of LA Record says “Raggedly charming Bowie-Lou street rock that sounds like it broke off the leading edge of 1976.” I like this description best.

Where is your favorite spot to write music? And why the spot? Everywhere. Blone Noble sends me a stream of ideas and I just do my best to keep up.

Final Own Q&A: Who is Blone Noble? A. I’m still finding out!

Quick Hit Band Interview: Jet Trash

Jet Trash at The Satellite

Interview with the band (with Marshall). Enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? I would describe our sound as California Indie with a healthy dose of Rock n’ Roll and Ramones-era punk thrown in for good measure.

It was mentioned that the band hadn't played a set in 2 years. What inspired the band to come back on stage? We’ve always felt that even if we aren’t able to be a totally active band all the time, we still enjoy the hell out of playing together. When opportunities arise to dust off our tunes and get back on stage, we’ll always take them!

Quick Hit Band Interview: Love Nothing

Love Nothing at The Satellite

Interview with the band. Enjoy:

What's the story behind how the band started? After several failed bands we all kinda came together and decided we were tired of being in bands that didn’t care or didn’t put the time and energy into the music. We’re all incredibly passionate people and we wanted to play music that reflected that passion.

What is your favorite Love Nothing lyric and what about it makes it so special? My favorite lyric is “throw it all away now, leave no trace at all, you gave it all to Jesus, locked it in your dresser drawer.” It’s from our newly released single “American Spirit” and it’s about how the current political divide in our country is dividing us even in our personal relationships with people. In this instance, it’s about how someone close to me seems to have so much love for their religion that they seem to have no more compassion to give to those around them.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Inspired and the Sleep

Inspired and the Sleep at Chinatown Summer Nights

Interview with the band/ Enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? East LA Psych-Pop

How do you go about combining lyrics and sound? When it comes to songwriting, for me, everything revolves around melody. I attach a concept that is relevant in mind and then the song writes itself.

Own unique final thoughts: We are all adamant Fernet drinkers.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Skippin Stoned

Skippin Stoned at The Smell

Interview with the band. Enjoy:

How would you describe your music? We see ourselves as a psychedelic progressive punk band bringing a trippy twist to a heavier groove.

Other than Los Angeles, where could you see yourself living/playing music and why? We are actually getting ready to take our sound up to Humboldt County in two weeks. We would like to see how we fair to a crowd who might like a different take on their heavily influenced psychedelic scene. Aside from that anywhere! Our keyboardist Jamil is from Nicaragua and we would be stoked to check out the central American scene if we can make it happen!

Own final thoughts: Influences. We all came from different backgrounds of music . . . genres like metal, funk, grunge, Latin music and hip hop, all will poke through in our sound!

Quick Hit Band Interview: The Slop

The Slop at The Smell

Interview with the band. Enjoy:

What's the story behind how your band started? Mickey and Kiki met, they fell in love and a couple years later they decided to jam and it sounded really sloppy so they called it the slop.

What motivates you to write your music? We just love rock n roll!

Own final thoughts: Rock and roll all the time.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Kicked Off The Streets

Kicked Off The Streets at The Smell

Interview with the band. Enjoy:

What is currently influencing your music? We all have different influences right now:

Christian (singer) - The Wytches Milo (bass)- Rancid Karrick (drums)- Tool Matt (guitar)- Slayer

Are there any high jinks or funny (or even mundane) tendencies that the band is known for – during sets, band practice, otherwise? during practice we like to scream really loud and flail our arms after we finish jammin a song

Final thoughts: What makes us unique as a band is that we are like brothers to each other. It’s not just a band it’s a brotherhood.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Light Shadows

Light Shadows at Shaken Vanity Block Party

Interview with the band. Enjoy:

How would you describe your music? Still evolving! Our first LP, "Dreams From the Underground", leans electro + alternative/gothic vibes

Where is your favorite spot to write music? And why the spot? No one spot - happens every waking moment and sometimes in dreams.

Own final thoughts: We are friends not just bandmates. When we rehearse we also sit, have a drink (or tea, we love tea), chat, or indulge our sci-fi geekdom. That's an important part of our process.