This was my first time heading out to The Smell since venues started opening up again in June 2021. I might be missing a venue, but I believe I've now been to every music venue on the east side that I used to head out to prior to the pandemic (excluding those that have closed, of course): The Echo, Silverlake Lounge, Redwood Bar, Highland Park Bowl, The Goldfish (previously The Hi Hat), The Lodge Room, Harvard & Stone, Resident, and Hotel Café. Some of those aren't necessarily considered the east side, I suppose. I guess my definition is everything east of Hotel Café. I still have yet to venture west of Hotel Café other than Bar Lubitsch. So no Troubadour and the Sunset Strip venues.
I walked in as Eclipse was starting up. They're a three piece band that came in from Las Vegas. They let their music do the talking. Their music had a smooth jazz quality to it.
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| Eclipse |
What hit me about what had changed at The Smell since I was last there was the fact that the lights were just a touch better. I looked up at the stage lights and noticed that they were all new. Other than that, same guy at the door though there were now two dogs instead of one. It looked like there were the same magazines on the bookcase that probably should have been tossed during the pandemic. It looked like some of the newspapers at the very bottom had a layer of dust covering them. The couches were still torn up and should have been dragged out to the dump or upholstery done. In some way though, isn't that what we love about The Smell?
MoonFuzz came on next. I'd seen this band at Happy Sundays Long Beach. The guitarist and bassist love playing across from each other. The band concluded the same way as they did at Happy Sundays by allowing their drummer to go solo for a few minutes. It is awesome watching her take control. And it is just not me who loved it. The crowd was cheering every beat.
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| MoonFuzz |
Rain on Fridays concluded the night. They drove up from San Diego. Though they're San Diego based, I noticed that Strawberry Army and promoter In Fuzz We Trust follow the band on Instagram so they do have some fans here in Los Angeles. They have a grunge style and sound. As the set was concluding, I noticed three young women coming up to the front of the stage. Hopefully, they hadn't just walked in, because it looked like they were fans of the band and would have missed 90% of the set.
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| Rain on Fridays |
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