Silverlake Lounge: The Gooms with Chase Petra and Mashugana

The Gooms are the October residency band at the Silverlake Lounge. Like many bands, this was their first live set since the start of the pandemic. Opening up for them was Mashugana that had a nice chill sound. When the spirit took hold, the lead singer let loose with some vibrant moves on stage. The band got a touch excited when someone in the audience yelled out their band name with the proper pronunciation. I had to look up the word. It means someone who acts crazy or nonsensical.

Mashugana

Up next was Chase Petra. This is a band I saw three different times during the pandemic -- all online. I saw them playing Echo Park Rising, the Six at Six, and Wonder & Awe. Their music has a pop punk flavor to it. Having seen them online so many times, I was super eager to catch this band for the first time live. Yes, live. What did I notice that was different from catching their music online? Mercy, this band is so fun to photograph -- especially when the bassist and guitarist face off with each other.

Chase Petra

The Gooms closed out the night. Now, here's what I noticed about both Chase Petra and The Gooms. Their fans packed the front of the stage. I feel like this is the first time I've seen this happen when hanging out post-reopening at the Silverlake Lounge. No one was getting to the front of the stage if they didn't get their prior to the start of Chase Petra's set. The Gooms is just a fun band. They play their music fuzzy and, well, they like to make amusing facial expressions. I've followed this band since early 2019 and just was so happy to catch them again.

The Gooms

Quarantine Online Sets: Version 71

Wonder & Awe Productions hit Facebook / Zoom on a recent Monday night. Wonder & Awe Productions is put on by Brenda Carsey. The performers go through rounds versus sets. 

Starting off the rounds was McKail Seely who was celebrating her 27th birthday. Her set had a country leaning and one of her songs was about a breakup that occurred just as she starting quarantine. Her comment of the night had to be, "My ego just had an orgasm."

Kid Lightning followed. His guitar playing really inspired me. I was thinking, "Wow, that guitar playing sounds thrilling." His vocals layered a folk-country sound. Lyrics of the set, "This is the era of the taker. Our architecture is just built that way." He has a real way with words. 

This was my third time catching Chase Petra. I've only seen this band online. Kind of interesting fact. They were all wearing masks and dedicated one of their songs to the capitalist overlords. Their use of masks as well as their distance from the microphone gave their music a muffled sound. 

Ending each round was Brenda Carsey. Her first song had a big, old school, showtune sound to it. Another tune was like the music from The Rocky Horror Picture Show or watching Dracula rise from the grave. Her vocals can soar like very few and her keyboard playing had the camera shaking. 

Quarantine Online Sets: Version 60

The Satellite held their October "Six at Six" presented by The 6660s monthly series. 

I already did a specific post on Mars Rodriguez, which I got to attend in person to do some photography. For the rest of the series, I watched online.

Chase Petra opened up that part of the series for me. I just recently came across this band during Echo Park Rising that was held online in September. The band played as a two piece, their drummer wasn't able to attend. The band actually started their set late due to traffic jams as they were coming in from Orange County, which was impacted by a fire. Their acoustic set just highlighted how great the vocals are. The band knows how to carry a tune. 

Humorous moment: "Hunter usually brings the skeleton of a song." Then the two members of the band pointed to the Halloween skeleton that was situated in front of them. 

Chase Petra

Mediocore was the second band up. I always forget that Cindy Clark has those screaming vocals. I first came across her in Earthsleep, her prior band. In that band, her vocals screeched to the point of what I have to assume strains her vocal chords. Why I would forget that fact, I don't know. Her new band, Mediocore has a garage, experimental rock feel that brings in some unusual chord structures. 

Humorous moments: during one song, the electricity went out for a split second, causing the stage lights to blink and the pedal board to scramble. Then at the end of the sent, the amp picked up a local radio station.

Mediocore

Cartalk had those folk rock vibes going on. The guitar was played down to bass level. There was a request to lower the guitar volume, but I got to say even then the music still blasted in great fashion.

Had to notice: Jail Weddings joined the Livestream. And so did Jessie Deluxe - I haven't seen this one person dynamo in way too long. 

Cartalk

Tony Knox of Crisis Actor was the only band from the series that I had never seen. The set reminded me of 80s Bon Jovi doing an acoustic rock set. He tapped his shoe to the beat of his music.  

What did I notice: the sun glasses.

And fact: the drummer of the band is learning how to be a trucker.

Tony Knox

Egg Drop Soup took their punk sounds into the world of the unplugged. This was the first time I've seen the band since getting a new drummer. Their minimalist punk set also highlighted some Halloween fun: scarecrow, Kurt Cobain, and a pterodactyl. Like Brian, who was hosted the event, I also thought the pterodactyl was an alligator.   

Lyric of the set: If I'm not supposed to dream like this, pinch me now.

Egg Drop Soup

Echo Park Rising 2020: Online Edition Part 2

I ended Part 1 of my Echo Park Rising review with Veneer  After their set I took a short break and then returned to Portia Street Studios Youtube page to see Spare Parts for Broken Hearts. Their set just blew me out of my apartment. Did I need to wear ear plugs!

Spare Parts for Broken Hearts

From there, I jumped over to Bands in the Barbershop via Twitch. I caught the last song of Jagged Baptist Club. Then Chase Petra came on. All members of the band wore masks. I liked that fact. What I noticed was how the bassist and guitarist bounced their feet to the beat in the same directions. Their duo vocals perfectly built on top of each other. 

Jagged Baptist Club

Chase Petra

ModPods' lead singer wore a hockey type mask. The drummer started the set off the stage, watching her band members. "My headache is like a bullet." The band is like a lounge singer deciding to go punk. The band goes without a guitarist and the drummer / bassist switched off. The lead singer asked, "Are other bands better at banter?"

ModPods

Broken Baby's lead singer wore a t-shirt that said, "We are RBG." Her energy just takes her body in every direction. The microphone stand traveled along with her sometimes ending up on the stage and other times ending up on the floor and sometime held high like an exclamation point. It got a workout. "This is the first time we've practiced since April . . . no, February." Pretty good practice session.

Broken Baby

Back over to the main Echo Park Rising site, Alica Blue played "Queen of Echo Park," a song dedicated to Lauren Ruth Ward. And Lauren Ruth Ward joined in for part of the song. Leila Sunier shared the stage with Alica Blue. They did a two person round. Leila Sunier had the wind blowing through her hair throughout the set. I learned that Alicia Blue wanted to be a poet and that she wakes up at 6 a.m. What was interesting about the set was watching the shift from late afternoon to night fall. They finished the round singing Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide.

Alicia Blue, Leila Sunier, Lauren Ruth Ward

Clit Kat hit the Bands in the Barbershop Twitch page. Their set started off with a brief John Williams introduction and then their Blade Runner inspired android punk music took over. They scream with a metal growl. I noticed that the band members (other than the lead singer) all wore midriff t-shirts and gym shorts. The Twitch comments section was all about mosh pits. The floor lights of the Barbershop were flashing. And the lead singer had her notes on the floor, which might be a reason why she spent moments throughout the set looking down at the floor.

Clit Kat

A jump back over to the main site had Skullcrusher up. I first saw this musician during this quarantine. I got to catch her a second time during this quarantine. She has a soft approach to her music that is filled with emotion. She played her set on the edge of her bed. Winter made what I think was a surprised appearance as I don't believe it was on the schedule. She did a one song set. 

Skullcrusher

Winter

Ramonda Hammer also played a one song set with each member of the band playing from different locations. Their song was their recent release "Big Hands." The video was done in B&W.

Ramonda Hammer

Slaughterhouse took over at Bands in the Barbershop. The lead singer was dressed in a leopard dress suit. And to end the songs, she'd often shake her head and make a kick with her right foot. The vocals at one moment are screaming and the next they're like a giant taking its time to crush you as you run as fast as you can away from it (of course, with those long legs, a leisurely stroll by a giant means they're rapidly closing the gap no matter how fast you run). A couple members of the band couldn't help but crack smiles throughout the set. In the comments section it felt like it was a live show. Instead of emojis people were typing out comments like, "Didn't put on deodorant so I can smell like I'm there."

Slaughterhouse

For me, I closed out my time at Echo Park Rising by heading back over to Portia Street Studios to catch Naia Izumi who was a blissful way to end the night. A guitar aficionado providing jazz vocals. But wait, was that some recorded growling during one song? 

Naia Izumi