I came across The Letter Openers via a music collective called Kiss or Kill that was a force to be reckoned with in the 2000s and was my introduction to the Los Angeles music scene.
Based on one of my Instagram Q&As, the band broke up around 2009:
"We actually broke up for about a decade. A couple years ago, Martin Ransbury and I [Mac Dunlop] reconnected and started jamming on some of my new songs. We weren't planning to reform The Letter Openers, but that's what the new music sounded like. So, we decided to revive the name, brought Matt Peter back into the fold, and drafted Jon Rygiewicz in, to play drums. We started playing out a year ago, and have been gigging and recording ever since. As far as what keeps us coming back for more . . . I think we really enjoying playing together, have a decent amount of overlap taste-wise, and we still get along pretty well."
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| The Letter Openers at The Escondite |
That interview took place in 2019. I had just seen the band for the first time since the late 2000s at the House of Machines (a venue that was in the Arts District and wasn't able to make it through the shutdown of 2020). In my short blog post of that night, I wrote, "There was a nice crew of Kiss or Kill folk in attendance to catch some rock and roll."
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| The Letter Openers at The Escondite |
Flash forward to 2024 and I got to cover their Go With The Atmosphere album release at The Redwood Bar for US Rocker. That night also had a Kiss or Kill flavor to it. That flavor was seen via the crowd that showed up as well as the fact that one of the bands playing that night was Aurora Sect. The band includes members from Kiss or Kill alumni bands Silver Needle and Underwater City People. One really should say those two bands were Kiss or Kill royalty along with The Dollyrots.
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| The Letter Openers at The Escondite |
Does this blog post continue on with the Kiss or Kill walk down memory lane? Of course, it does. Fast forward to Grammy Night where I was hanging out at The Escondite. The Letter Openers were playing alongside fellow Kiss or Kill alumni Pu$$y-Cow. There is something special when I get catch two Kiss or Kill alumni bands on the same night.
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| The Letter Openers at The Escondite |
The set opened up with a joke, "They were looking for us over at the GRAMMYs. We told them we'd be right back." Then Martin Ransbury must have been more than ready to hit those rock and roll beats, because it really sounded like he took off singing "Birds of Prey" just a split second earlier than the rest of the band anticipated. The band was anticipating to play 10 songs, but ended up playing only 8. Why? Well, as mentioned in my recent Pu$$y-Cow blog post from the same night (you can read that article here), there was a real desire to get everyone home early on a Sunday night. It was a set of rock 'n roll fun. "Have fun, Es Con Di Te."
The song of this blog post is "Camerford, Where Ya Been?" The song is about a "little street in Hollywood." The song relentlessly drives forward with Dunlop taking vocal leads and throwing in the occasional Steven Tyler inspired vocal screams. Why focus on this song? I am curious. Yes, this song was released in 2024 and I had plenty of time to resolve my curiosity, but I really do want to walk down this short street of Camerford Ave. It is just north of Larchmont Village. Per LA Street Names, it is named after Comerford Whitehouse McLoughlin. He grandfather apparently misspelled his 10 or 11 year old grandson's name wrong on the street application (Cam vs Com). Though he got a street named after him when he was just a pre-teen, he probably earned it later in life. He fought in both World War I and World War II.
Setlist: Birds of Prey, Hurry Up, Can't Stop Calling You Back, Studio City, Camerford, Where Ya Been?, Don't Get Me Wrong, You Get Me So, I'll Keep Holding On.
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