Echo Park Rising 2026: Sunday Chill

In many ways, Sunday at Echo Park Rising was far more chill for me than Saturday. This was helped by the fact that there were far fewer stages to visit -  though I was still attempting to visit some stages so that I could include them in my photos that I sent off to the festival organizers. Chill doesn't mean I wasn't catching a lot of bands; however. Instead of seeing 31 bands like I did on Saturday, it was reduced to 17 bands on Sunday. That is a lot, but it was less chaotic and I actually saw full sets for a number of bands.

 

Dyes at Echo Park Rising

Echo Park Rising 2026: Saturday Brings the Heat

I was shooting Echo Park Rising for the festival so Saturday was jumping around from one stage to the other as I was trying to give some love to as many of the stages as possible. So do I remember much of anything? I do and I don't. I captured 31 bands and singer-songwriters. Is that crazy? The day started off at 12 noon and didn't end until around 10 p.m. I would have pushed it harder, but The Semi Tropic was so packed that I couldn't get in to see Harry Katz and The Pistachios (even with a photo pass). I made the assumption there and then that I wasn't getting in to see The Mainliners at The Echo and so I went home. (Earlier in the evening, I saw a line curved out nearly to the bank, waiting to get into The Echo.)

Supershrew at Echo Park Rising

Echo Park Rising 2026: Friday Kick-Off Had Style

Echo Park Rising was advertised as a Saturday / Sunday event, but the festival had a "kick-off" on Friday evening / night. There were four stages involved. It was technically supposed to kick off at the Echo Park Farmers Market, but there was a delay and so the kick off was at The Echo with Ellery Harper playing to the 5 p.m. early arrivals. The night was filled with a nice mix of bands and singer-songwriters that I'd seen before as well as new ones. (FYI: I wrote specific posts about BEL, Creakbed, and WINN WINN so they're not being mentioned here). 

American Sigh at Echo Park Rising

Echo Park Rising 2026 Schedule

Note: Saturday (8.29) Morning Updates

Gentlemen's Breakfast set times updated

Reverie Bookstand schedules for Saturday and Sunday added

Short Stop Saturday schedule updated as two bands had to drop out and two bands added along with new set times.
Stories Books and Cafe schedule updated with additional bands

Friday

Echo Park Farmer’s Market
1146 Logan St

*4:30 PM American Sigh

5:00 PM Zach Bailey
*5:30 PM Sie Sie Space Trash
*6:00 PM Maybellene Ryder

Sticky Rice
1801 Sunset Blvd

Sticky Rice Stage (Outdoors)
7:20 PM Much Prec
7:40 PM Winn Winn
*8:30 PM Revenge Wife
9:20 PM TheBandFriday
10:10 PM Milkblood

Spirit Stage (Indoors)
7:00 PM Elijah Wells
7:30 PM San Lucar
8:20 PM BEST DAD
9:10 PM Smoking Mother
10:00 PM Belly Belt
11:00 PM Sandy Hawkins

The Echo
1822 Sunset Blvd

5:00 PM Ellery Harper
5:50 PM Creakbed
*6:40 PM Charlie Havencik
7:30 PM Ayleen Valentine
8:20 PM Grace Sorensen
9:10 PM BEL
*10:15 PM Emily Yacina

The Semi-Tropic
1412 Glendale Blvd

8:00 PM Anti-Spirit
*9:00 PM Dream Phases
*10:00 PM The Blushes
11:00 PM Aquínomás


Saturday

Bar Bandini
2150 Sunset Blvd

1:00 PM Jutty Taylor
1:45 PM The Irish Goodbye
3:00 PM Bandini Comedy All-Stars
4:30 PM Groceries!
5:30 PM Floating Problems
*7:00 PM Holy Cuts

Bar Henry
1228 W. Sunset Blvd

3:00 PM endorphines
4:00 PM Short Frenzy
5:00 PM Fime
*6:00 PM Cosmic Kitten
7:00 PM Datamaps
*8:00 PM Marni
9:00 PM Nuzzle

Bar Flores
1542 Sunset Blvd

2:00 PM Carlos y Charlos
3:15 PM Chapis
*4:30 PM Tolliver
*5:45 PM Twolips
7:00 PM The Mexican Standoff
8:15 PM Doris Anahi

Cantiq
1571 West Sunset Blvd

3:30 PM 3371
4:30 PM Lxs Cochinxs
*5:30 PM Pegzilla
6:30 PM Spooky Marvin
7:30 PM C/Aus/E
8:30 PM Night Scene
*9:30 PM BONAVEGA
10:30 PM Fusion Babies

Chocolate Dispensary
1605 Grafton Street

12:00 PM Shantilly
3:00 PM Enjonu
6:00 PM Balou
8:00 PM Tadgh Nolan

Dada
1606 Sunset Blvd (enter from the alley)

2:00 PM The Lazy Janes
*3:00 PM Chloe Saavedra
*4:00 PM The Anti Groupies
5:00 PM The Silvertone
*6:00 PM Mackandgold
*7:00 PM OP ED
8:00 PM Caravan 222
9:00 PM SHĀHERI

Fluffy McCloud’s
1814 Sunset Blvd

2:00 PM Sugar World
2:45 PM julie f the rulies
3:30 PM A VIOLET IN YOUTH
4:15 PM Sticko
*5:00 PM Pillow Fight
5:45 PM Toulouse Control
*6:30 PM The Feebies
*7:15 PM Tender Misfit

Gentlemen’s Breakfast
1101 Mohawk St

4:00 PM (est) Pet Rats
4:45 PM Innuendo
5:00 PM I Know I Know
6:15 PM Steel Wool
7:00 PM angelsaur
8:00 PM Chicano Thunder & The Lightenings
8:45 PM (est) Mask Appeal
*9:30 PM (est) Nail Polish

KG Bakery
1471 Echo Park Ave

12:00 PM Supershrew
1:00 PM Dead By Sunday
2:00 PM Ranger Jane
*3:00 PM Polartropica

Little Joy
1477 Sunset Blvd

3:00 PM decay
3:40 PM Lecx Stacy
5:15 PM the burbank police department
6:00 PM trit95

Lowboy
1540 Sunset Blvd

1:30 PM Exhale
2:30 PM Green Hippie Brown
3:30 PM Love Pig
4:30 PM Saint Kid
5:30 PM Mensaa
6:30 PM VCR Monster

Men & Beasts
2100 W Sunset Blvd

1:00 PM Rosalie
2:00 PM Deli + Julian
5:00 PM Roksana
6:00 PM Lilah + Cam
7:00 PM A Violet in Youth

P.F. Candle Co.
2205 Sunset Blvd

2:00 PM Delilah Brao
4:00 PM Serene Grace
*6:00 PM Addie Addie Addie

Pitfire Pizza
2141 West Sunset Blvd

2:00 PM Tiny Toy Cities
3:00 PM Dark Dazey
4:00 PM The Roosevelt Motel
5:00 PM Road Trip
6:00 PM Sugar World
7:00 PM Glitter Ghost
8:00 PM Field Daze
9:00 PM The Dares

Raven’s Gallery
1545 Sunset Blvd

12:00 PM Twinracer
1:00 PM Posie Pocket
2:00 PM softpower
3:00 PM Ivan Page
4:00 PM Cynthia & Rich
5:00 PM New Elvis
6:00 PM Oscar Barcelli
7:00 PM The Latiniti Infiniti Band
8:00 PM TBD
9:00 PM Stryfe

Reverie Bookstand

1519 W Sunset Blvd

7:00 PM Solar Trees

8:00 PM Sayde Price

9:00 PM Kate

10:00 PM Miss World

11:00 PM Lucien Valen

12:00 AM Subliminal Kidd

Sick City Records / The Ravine Club
1381 Sunset Blvd

12:00 PM Joel Nass
1:00 PM God Is Evil
*2:00 PM Ciggy Bop!
3:00 PM Louden Swain
4:00 PM The Hazards
5:00 PM Paul Danke and the Klee Klee Klees
6:00 PM This is a Revolver
*7:00 PM Babe Ruthless
8:00 PM LUCKYANDLOVE
*9:00 PM CHALK TEETH

Sticky Rice
1801 Sunset Blvd

Sticky Rice Stage (Outdoors)
12:30 PM Pushing Daisys
*1:20 PM I’ll show you magic
2:10 PM Sorry Ghost
*3:00 PM Small Forward
*3:50 PM Ryan Pollie
4:40 PM Pink Skies
*5:30 PM The Aquadolls
6:20 PM Loch Raven
7:10 PM The Sophs
8:00 PM Sedona
*8:50 PM Primer
9:40 PM Indigo De Souza
11:00 PM Knazaal

Spirit Stage (Indoors)
12:10 PM Lula Fortune
1:00 PM Jack Demeo
1:50 PM Christian Taylor
*2:40 PM Baby Fischgrund
*3:30 PM John Errol
4:20 PM Nick Dorian
5:10 PM Mal Not Bad
6:00 PM Nick Kivlen
6:50 PM October Tooth
*7:40 PM Adriana McCassim
8:30 PM MadisenXOXO
9:20 PM Bethlehem Shalom
10:10 PM Dominique Da Silva

Stories Books and Cafe
1718 Sunset Blvd

1:45 PM Jenny Greenteeth
2:30 PM Linus Hablot
*3:15 PM Eleni Mandell
4:00 PM Gatlin
4:45 PM Junker
6:00 PM Return Eternal

6:45 PM Dylan Thom

7:30 PM Wormwood Star

8:15 PM Rib Cage

*9:00 PM Seko


The Douglas
1400 Sunset Blvd

4:45 PM Huzzy
6:00 PM Pyrenees Love Triangle
*7:15 PM Buckets
*8:30 PM Syster of a Down

The Echo
1822 Sunset Blvd

3:00 PM Gusty
3:50 PM Girljockey
4:40 PM Truman Flyer
5:30 PM Double Helix Peace Treaty
*6:20 PM Nymphlord
7:10 PM Heathers
8:00 PM Ballet
8:50 PM Blaketheman1000
9:40 PM Babe Dylan
10:30 PM The Mainliners

The Echo Patio
1822 Sunset Blvd

*3:00 PM American Sigh
*4:00 PM Ned Casual and The Tombstone Blues
5:00 PM Excess Express
*6:00 PM The Tone Slingers
7:00 PM A Rock Legend: Tribute To Thin Lizzy
8:00 PM Same Ol’ Smile

The Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd

3:00 PM Belcher
3:50 PM Charm School
4:40 PM Croaker
*5:30 PM Seko
6:20 PM Slumped
*7:10 PM Blimp
8:00 PM Teather

The Majic Factory
1004 Echo Park Ave

3:00 PM Brynn Allison
3:45 PM Dakota Dry
4:30 PM Lizzy & The Palm
5:30 PM Chad Opitz /Pippa Spindel/Kayla Hardy – comedy
*6:00 PM Tristan Lake Leabu
6:40 PM Practice
7:15 PM Glissin
*8:00 PM High Tatra
8:30 PM Boo Milligan/Angel Hernandez/Stevona Delgado - comedy
9:00 PM Bonnie’s Casket
9:30 PM Desert Pinguinos
10:00 PM Velvet Penny
10:30 PM Voice on Tape

The Semi-Tropic
1412 Glendale Blvd

1:00 PM Dearie
2:00 PM Garet Camella
*3:00 PM Niantic
4:00 PM Coast Red
5:00 PM Supergloom
6:00 PM Tele
7:00 PM Dead Monks Club
8:00 PM Slim Jeff & The Homies
9:00 PM mari
*10:00 PM Harry Katz and the Pistachios
11:00 PM Foliage
12:00 PM Modern Lover

The Short Stop
1455 Sunset Blvd

3:00 PM Friction
3:50 PM Agua
*4:40 PM Spiral Teeth

*5:30 PM El Colmo

6:20 PM LOCH

7:10 PM PUREST FORM

8:00 PM Los Tranquilos

The Stronghold
1624 Sunset Blvd

1:00 PM Green-House
3:00 PM Fin Argus
7:00 PM Primary Care


Sunday

Bar Henry
1228 W. Sunset Blvd

3:00 PM Sad Name
3:45 PM Pop Noir
*4:45 PM Belle and Chain
5:45 PM Silverplanes
*6:45 PM Julez & the Rollerz
*7:45 PM Jagged Baptist Club

Chocolate Dispensary
1605 Grafton Street

1:00 PM VINSON
6:00 PM Rahana

Dada
1606 Sunset Blvd (enter from the alley)

2:00 PM Beatrix
2:45 PM PULSARS
3:45 PM Lando Chill
4:30 PM Outside Dog
*5:30 PM Send Medicine
6:30 PM SHADESOFBLUE
*7:30 PM Dolly Creamer
8:30 PM Star Parks
9:30 PM Holy Shit

Little Joy
1477 Sunset Blvd

3:00 PM Ardo + Grump + Coyote + Ce Tochtli
3:40 PM calycosa
5:15 PM YgG (yograbbagrabba)
6:00 PM Amindi

Raven’s Gallery
1545 Sunset Blvd

1:00 PM Brianna and Emily
2:00 PM Summer Winter
3:00 PM Sonora Pines
4:00 PM London Boots
5:00 PM Melo Gia
*6:00 PM Ali Angel
*7:00 PM Belle and Chain
8:00 PM Jackie Straw

Reverie Bookstand

1519 W. Sunset Blvd

6:00 PM Flynn

7:00 PM Mia Day

8:00 PM Truman Flyer

9:00 PM Sedona

10:00 PM Wet Bikini

*11:00 PM Dolly Creamer

Sick City Records / The Ravine Club
1381 Sunset Blvd

1:00 PM Fingernail
2:00 PM Nick Coury & The Black Night Satellites
3:00 PM The Outside Agitators
4:00 PM The Death Chat
5:00 PM Charm School
*6:00 PM Duderella
7:00 PM STORMS

Sticky Rice
1801 Sunset Blvd

Sticky Rice Stage (Outdoors)
12:00 PM DYES
12:50 PM cinnamon
1:40 PM Mia-Loren
2:30 PM Clyde Crooks
3:20 PM Dre’es
4:10 PM Mynameisntjmack
5:00 PM Phoenix James
5:50 PM Brent De La Cruz
6:40 PM Godly the Ruler
7:30 PM Sugar Pit
8:20 PM Telescreens
9:10 PM Teilz
10:00 PM Uffie

Spirit Stage (Indoors)
12:10 PM Justin Tuell
1:00 PM True Jackson
1:50 PM Holly Blair
2:40 PM Jacob Cummings
3:30 PM Madeline
4:20 PM Sam Broido
5:10 PM Amber Ryann
6:00 PM Valley Boy
6:50 PM Shelailai
7:40 PM SWSH
8:30 PM Drelli
9:20 PM Flesh Clink
10:10 PM DNSN
10:45 PM Horse Laugh

The Echo
1822 Sunset Blvd
Grand Ole Echo - Free
Doors historically at 5:30 p.m.

The Incantations
Paisley Fields
*The Tone Slingers
*9:00 PM Emily Rose & The Rounders

The Semi-Tropic
1412 Glendale Blvd

*1:00 PM Gigi
2:00 PM 2KINETIC
3:00 PM Zap Star
*4:00 PM Small Shake
5:00 PM Friends Of
*6:00 PM Valley Queen
7:00 PM Tan Universe
8:00 PM Liam Finn
9:00 PM Lyncs

The Short Stop
1455 Sunset Blvd

4:05 PM LOVEPIG
5:45 PM Situations
6:35 PM The Reflectors
*7:15 PM OP ED
9:45 PM The Zeros

The Stronghold
1624 Sunset Blvd

1:00 PM Nigel Deane plus String Quartet
3:00 PM Trinity Mei
5:00 PM closing shift
7:00 PM Lina Cooper

Review: UGHH Proves Sundays are for Jumping (an evening at Happy Sundays Fest)

UGHH is the definition of high energy punk band. They're also a band with a soft spot for kids. This past Happy Sundays Fest at the Port City Tavern stage was the third time I've seen the band play live. Interestingly, even though this band plays quite frequently in the Los Angeles area, I've only seen the band play Happy Sundays events. The first time I saw them was back in 2022 when they played a pre-festival concert at DiPIazza's. I then caught them in 2023 during the festival and once again at this year's festival. 

UGHH at Happy Sundays Fest

Review: Tijuana Panthers Exceed High Expectations as Echo Park Rising Headliners

Tijuana Panthers were the headliners of Echo Park Rising and based on the response from the audience, they exceeded expectations at the Echoplex. Considering the fact that the band has been around since 2005, one would think that there would be a more Generation X / Millennial vibe to the crowd, but the venue was mostly filled with those in their twenties. The band enjoyed the adoration and at one point they told the audience, "You guys are wild." 

Tijuana Panthers at the Echoplex

Sunstock Solar Festival 2017

Sunstock Solar Festival. Just to get it out of the way: there were major technical problems with one of the stages and some minor ones on another stage that resulted in four bands not getting to play their sets: YIP YOPS, SWIMM, Fuzzy Crystals and Wild Cub. The festival organizers dealt with it great. I had wanted to see YIP YOPS for a second time as I knew they'd put on an amazing show. I walked over when I began to suspect that something was up and I over-heard one of the organizers talking with them and expressing the festival's regrets. Trapdoor Social, during their set, mentioned the names of the bands that weren't able to play. In fact, if it wasn't for a special appearance, it sounded like Trapdoor Social would have given up their spot to one of the bands. And then the festival itself gave out a drink ticket to everyone as a make up. A great response.

Bloodboy opened the festival, jamming her way through her set with some '60s poetry slam sounds. She commanded the stage, putting on moves that sent her on multiple journeys from one end of the stage to the other. Freedom Fry went up and had to deal with some stage issues. They dealt with it gracefully. The band went to the edge of the stage and played an acoustic song until the situation could be rectified. Wildling had to deal with the same stage issues as with Freedom Fry and made lite of it with some humorous quips, "The sun is out, right?" They ended their set doing two acoustic songs with just the metal barricade separating them from an adoring group of fans. For me, the troubles that resulted for Freedom Fry and Wildling ended up making the early part of the festival more intimate. And brought out some nice quips when one of the bands said something really old-school, "You know we're not Milli Vanilli."

The technical issues got resolved and the festival kicked into high gear. First though, some bands needed to go through sound checks. Run River North was doing their sound check when one of the sound guys said, "You have three minutes left." Someone in the band asked, "Why?" Response, "Some acoustic guitar guy is coming on in three minutes. That's all I know." Ha ha, Chris Whitehall of The Griswolds, who was that guy, obviously overheard that and used it a few times while on stage. "You can find me at AcousticGuitarGuy dot com . . . dot au."

Comment one of the festival by Chris Whitehall: In America, you worship God. In Australia, we worship kangaroos and Vegemite.

Run River North brought the indie folk sounds. Here's what I noticed: the violinist was stuck in this small section of the stage during their whole set until the very end. At the end, she put down the violin and went wild crazy on stage. It was awesome.

Comment two of the festival by Run River North: I'm Steve Aoki and this is my side project.

Trapdoor Social went all out for their set. Prior, I noticed that a high school band had shown up. I was thinking that maybe there was going to be this special moment where they were going to blast out a couple fight songs. I never even thought that for Trapdoor Social's final song that the high school band from South Pasadena would encircle the festival goers and play along with the band. It was awesome.

Best band of the festival award: Yeah, Trapdoor Social killed it with their catchy tunes and, of course, the high school band guest appearance.

Robert DeLong gave us the pulsating electronic sounds. Though my bias was towards Trapdoor Social as being the band of the festival, the festival goers were all behind Robert DeLong. The festival organizers brought out the balloons and a balloon party went on throughout the set. Some of the balloons would end up in the photo pit and various photographers would toss the balloons back into the eager crowd. It was party time at Sunstock Solar Festival.

The Soft White Sixties lead singer knows how to slide across a stage floor like Fred Astaire. With dancing like that, you have to feel inspire.

Comment three of the festival by The Soft White Sixties: What happened to that molecule you were tossing around?

Ra Ra Riot closed out the night with some pop indie sounds. They had a moment of hilarity when the lead singer, Wes, jumped behind the bassist, Mattieu, stuck his arms between those of his band mate's and gave the audience two thumbs up.

Final thoughts: an unfortunate technical problem to start off the festival, but it ended with a bang. This is the second year of the festival. I wasn't able to go to the first year (which featured a favorite band of mine, Cults) Here's hoping to continued growth for this festival and continued improvements and advances in solar power.

Quick Hit Artist Interview: Tickle Torture

Tickle Torture at Broke LA

Q&A time with the artist. Hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? Sex pop.

Your set was very theatrical. How did you come up with the ideas for the set? Stealing other people's ideas from the internet mostly.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Ugly Sweaters

Ugly Sweaters at Broke LA

Q&A time with Mandla from the band. Hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? We describe our sound as Caffeine Rock, it isn't heavy but it requires some pep in your step. We want people to have fun watching us, and hope that our energy feeds the crowd. It's hard to find a genuinely entertaining live indie band in Los Angeles, we try to fill that void.

What’s the story behind how your band started? The story behind our band is as follows: I, Mandla, grew up in rural Zimbabwe and dreamed of moving to a big city. When I say rural I mean rural: outdoor toilets, thatched roofs, no hot water, mambas etc. When I got the opportunity to move to the USA to live permanently I jumped on it. I came as a student to study music and through different projects and connections I met the rest of the band. They liked the songs I was writing and decided to join in!

Own Q&A. Favorite part of an Ugly Sweaters show? When we jump up and down and people watching start jumping up and down too.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Zealyn

Zealyn at Broke LA Fest

Q&A time with Zealyn. I hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? It's always tricky to put an exact label on my sound, but I would say I'm an alternative / electronic artist.

If you weren’t pursuing music as a career or passion, what do you think you might be doing in its place? If I wasn't doing music, I know I would be doing something else in the arts like painting, dance, or photography. Other ways to express my creativity.

Broke LA Fest 2017 Review

Raener

Broke LA Fest. A perfect day for Broke LA Fest in East Los Angeles. I will admit that I took some looks at Weather.com, which was showing a 50% chance of rain. I think it rained late Friday night/early Saturday morning, but on Saturday the storm stayed to the north of Los Angeles. The advantage of potential rains was that it brought great festival weather to Los Angeles.

Background. During this year's open submission period, over 1,000 bands/musicians wanted to play the festival. Talking with the Broke LA Fest team, they listened to every band. From there, listening teams started the hard task of selecting the bands that best fit the festival. Eventually, around 25 bands were passed on to the head curators, who make the final decisions. Around 80% of the bands come from this submission process while the other 20% were bands booked by the festival to help round things out.

The above process guaranteed that there were going to be some difficult choices to determine which bands to catch. Like the Broke LA team, I made some similar hard decisions in my scheduling. My goal for this festival was to check out bands/musicians that I hadn't previously seen. That made it easier by seven, but still allowed for a lot of options. I don't know if that shows my lack of knowledge of the Los Angeles music scene or just how large our music scene is.

Even though my goal was to focus in on bands that I hadn't previously seen that apparently didn't apply to musicians. I happened across one musician, Zach Bilson, a number of times on stage. After seeing him in two bands, I had to ask, "How many times are you playing today?" His response, "Four, across two stages." I half wondered if Broke LA made an extra effort to keep bands to the schedule so that one of those 4 bands wouldn't end up without a bassist.

Enough of that.

My most awesome bands/musicians (can't nail it to just one band):

Brasstracks
Kid Wave
Zealyn

Note that this is in alphabetical order.

Brasstracks had some technical difficulties that delayed their set by a few minutes, but this only got their fans energized even more. The Jungle Gym stage was packed for this Grammy winner duo. When they hit go, they brought the big horns and powerful drum beats. It was nonstop with lights blasting. What did notice: the smile that crossed the face.

I got to interview Kid Wave during Broke LA's media day. I love the fact that Lea (lead singer) spent time in London. During the interview, we spent a few minutes talking about the London music scene as I got to catch a couple bands there during my brief vacation in London. Kid Wave is actually from Sweden and so I say she represents the glorious wave of Swedish musicians that have made Los Angeles their new home away from home. She ended the set with my personal favorite Kid Wave song, "Wonderlust." There is just something so catchy about the melodies in that song. What did I notice: Lea can give you that "I don't give a F*ck" look.

Zealyn, Angie Miller, has the singer-songwriter vocals down. Those vocals will make you gush in praise. Now she came into Broke LA with a less than stellar week. She mentioned that she'd gotten into a car accident and came down with a cold. That didn't prevent her from dancing around the stage in an abandonment moment to celebrate life. Her last song was "On a Hillside Looking Up." Oh mercy, so beautiful. What did I notice: I think she would make a good orchestra conductor, if she so desired, as she has some great hand motions.

Most entertaining stage shows:

Fellow Bohemian had two mannequins on stage, holding a white sheet with their band name on it. Couldn't help but notice the red painted finger tips and lips on those mannequins.

Tickle Torture went all out with the back-up dancers. I didn't get to catch the whole set, but did notice how one moment he had Aztec dressed dancers on stage while the next moment there was a guy in bondage gear.

You move way too fast:

Kolaj moved on stage so fast that she was often a blur to my camera. I thought my shutter speed was set pretty fast. Just not fast enough! Her music also had a subliminal way of getting everyone to dance.

Meditation moments:

Raener had me in a meditative mood. Those vocals. It made those large balloons hanging from the Ball Pit stage ceiling take on a near philosophical meaning. And then there was the hula hoops off-stage.

Lyrics that hit you in the heart:

Bloodboy's fashion has to be mentioned. Red gloves and red shoes. Okay, let's go on to those lyrics from "Mom, I've Changed:"

I'm in trouble with my mother 
She's concerned that I've lost my mind, for real this time 
But I told her that if I never had it anyway

So powerful.

Yes, I did see a band I previously saw (technically, no, but):

Velvet is fronted by Emily Gold, who I previously saw a few months back at Harvard and Stone. But I saw her as Emily Gold and not in this new form of Velvet. I just loved her awesome downbeat.

Early, but awesome:

Candy Cigarettes opened the day for me at the Jungle Gym stage. His set had these pulsating sounds mixed with a bit of blues. And yet, his personality was so relaxed that at the start I wasn't even sure his set had started.

Thumpasaurus sure stands by their name. With sax, drums, percussion and rapid fire vocals, this band thumped it up.

Ugly Sweaters brought the fun to life with some nifty moves on the stage monitors.

Here's waiting to next year's Broke LA Fest.

Broke LA Fest Interview: Kid Wave

Kid Wave at Broke LA Fest

Broke LA Fest was a blast yesterday (Saturday, April 9, 2017). A formal review will be coming soon. For now, I hope you enjoy this Q&A with Lea Emmery, a Swede who moved to London and is now in Los Angeles.

How would you describe your sound? Indie guitar pop, rock with a big sound. A good chorus with nice hooks.

What’s your favorite Kid Wave song? My new song “Everything Changes.”

Are there any interesting differences between Los Angeles and London bands? Bands in London have more of an attitude. English bands are cocky and outspoken. This comes naturally. Los Angeles tends to have better musicians. Los Angeles bands look to London for attitude, but it is hard to imitate Oasis. This comes from different cultures. Both have different skills, crafts. The London rock music scene is smaller than Los Angeles. The London scene is focused in East London. The Los Angeles scene is spread across the city.

What are some of your favorite spots in Los Angeles? Any specific reasons they are your favorites? Having margaritas at Salazar. Also, when I first came to Los Angeles, I stayed with friends who lived in Elysian Heights. I loved the view, walking in the hills.

When people ask you what they should do during their Swedish vacation, what do you tell them? Go in the summer unless you really love the cold. Go to Stockholm for a few days. Then go out to the countryside up north, which is very beautiful. Rent a cottage and experience country living.

Do you have a favorite Kid Wave story/memory? While on tour in England we had a day off. Our manager wanted us all to get some fresh air so he took us to Yorkshire Sculpture Park. There were some cows in a field and our bassist went up to the cows. The cows were friendly. We then turned to walk away and heard this rumbling behind us. We turned around and two bulls were chasing after us. I never ran so fast in my life. We had to run across a river. We were terrified. Chased by bulls is my favorite Kid Wave memory.