It was a Rock Nite LA night at The Goldfish. It was my second time heading out to this weekly (Wednesday) night of free music. So far, Rock Nite LA is two for two in my book.
Maddie Ross closed it out on this particular Wednesday. Playing with her was Zach Bilson. I bring this up, because there used to be this music festival called Brokechella that was forced to change their name to Broke LA for a legal reason. The festival focused on the Los Angeles music scene. Anyways, back in the 2017 version, Bilson played in 4 or 5 bands. That is just a memory that stuck in my head. What also stood out that year was that it was the first time I came across my favorite American Idol, Zealyn. It was also the first time I came across Thumpasaurus. Got to say, it was a solid festival line-up.
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| Maddie Ross at The Goldfish |
The night was attended by various members of the Los Angeles music community, including Cheekface, illuminati hotties, and talker. It was cool seeing familiar faces in the crowd. Of course, Sarah Tudzin of illuminati hotties showing up to support her wife Maddie Ross on stage isn't something out of the ordinary. Ross mentioned, "I met my wife here in this room when it was The Hi Hat." Interestingly, I first came across Maddie Ross in 2017 at The Hi Hat." It would be most amusing if that was also the night the two first crossed paths. I also saw Maddie Ross in 2023 when she played a line-up headlined by talker.
Back to that 2017 The Hi hat encounter, she responded to one of my Q&As, which I figure readers of this post might find interesting:
Would you rather be a 1 hit wonder known all around the world -OR- have a steady underground following? And then of course, why the choice? I would definitely rather have a steady following. I fell in love with music by being a fan of music. Having meaningful interactions with my favorite artists and watching them grow over the years is what inspired me to become a musician. My favorite part about being an artist is meeting people and performing. I would rather work another job but get to do what I love for years and years than have a brief amount of money and fame before it all goes away.
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| Maddie Ross at The Goldfish |
She opened The Goldfish set with "Hometown," which was released in 2018 and was perhaps played on that night in 2017. The song had an alternative rock sound that reminded me of Six Pence None the Richer. "Dumber" was the next song performed and is an unreleased song, "Help, I'm getting dumber. It's an autobiography."
Out in the crowd, a brief conversation was heard in between songs, "We're Instagram friends!" Ross responded, inserting herself into the conversation, "I hate missing fun conversations." I do think she likes to be in the middle of any fun encounter. When she first started the set, she asked everyone to come closer to the stage, because she wanted to see people's faces.
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| Maddie Ross at The Goldfish |
Her songs "Loners" and "Ears Bunny" are bookend songs about relationships. "Loners" is about being in love. "Nice girls love kissing the loners. I like your hand in my pocket." "Ears Bunny is about a break-up, "Running with the hotties. I'm a Maserati. You can take the bus now." That song was performed with heavy bass sounds and more than a few angry foot stomps stomps. After finished the song, she mentioned, "It's obviously clear that I listened to a lot of Eminem growing up."
The song that probably got the loudest response from the crowd and had everyone singing along was her most recent release "Trash Fire." She introduced the song by saying, "This is another fun break-up song. In my day to day life, I'm a pretty happy smiley person. I have dimples, which was always pointed out to me from a young age . . . you're so happy. As an artist you get to express things in your art that you don't get to in your daily life. You can let out anger. You can let out happiness. This song is about going through a breakup and feeling really numb. And you are getting high off of watching people you're mad at blowing up their lives." It is grunge driven with a catchy refrain that had people singing:
Dream girl, became my nightmare.
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| Maddie Ross at The Goldfish |
So hey, I feel a little stupid. I went into the little video game alleyway and decided to put a quarter into the Area 51 video game. When the game asked that I select the start button, I was like, where's this start button? I decide to put another quarter in once I realized my initial quarter had done no good. I once again went looking for the start button. How exactly do you start this arcade game? Maybe I'm just getting "Dumber."
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