New Music Alert: Spelles' "Machete"

I first came across Spelles in 2017 at Echo Park Rising. I remember how lead singer Kathryn used her arms to tell her story. 

In their song "Machete," the lyrics take the lead, "Spilling rivers of blood where light used to be . . . Seven years swimming in the belly of the beast." Against those lyrics, background vocals chant while Kathryn preaches in the desert like Jonah no doubt did after being spit out by the whale. Unlike Jonah who spent a few days in the belly of the beast, Spelles is dealing with seven years of drought. During those seven years, one must definitely steel themselves to deal with that length of adversity. Is there hope even when you steel yourself? Seven years is a long time, but seven years does end.

photo taken at Gold-Diggers

July 2019: Chinatown Summer Nights

It was obvious. The Chinatown Summer Nights' crowd came to catch BIIANCO (Gabby of Smoke Season). I've follow Gabby since 2012. I have to say that BIIANCO is special and unique. There are still significant borrowing from Smoke Season. Her stage presence and synths are still there. During the set, she climbed atop and jumped off both the bass drum (unused for her set) and light truss. She switched off from the synth to electric drum set with ease. And her interpretive dance moves were evident. Those are all taken from Smoke Season. The difference is the sound. The soul sounds of Smoke Season are replaced by full on electronic dance. The sounds pop at just the right moment. The vocals are refined by years of singing. Those vocals soar at just the right moment and stay at those levels for just the right amount of time. I do believe this is her second set ever. The first was at School Night. The news of that set's success must have gotten out, because as the minutes ticked towards her set time, the crowd size grew and grew.

BIIANCO

Though I think BIIANCO stole the night that doesn't mean the line-up for Chinatown Summer Nights was just a BIIANCO night. Weslee is an import from London. The duo is now hanging out in Los Angeles. The RnB groves definitely caught the crowd's attention as the fence at the beer garden was lined with listeners. Okay, so nothing can separate folks from their beer, not even some music groves.

Weslee

Mmmonika was a surprise. They definitely had a fan base show up. A group of female fans bought blown up face photos of the various members of the bands. I think they were too shy to actually wave them around during the set though. The band is led by the breezy vocals of their lead singer, Ryan. With a 6 pm set time, it was some wonderful golden hour music.

What I noticed: the band did a group meeting on stage, run by Ryan. I couldn't hear everything that was discussed, but there were definitely pointers being given out about what they wanted to accomplish for specific songs. And in the end, I believe I heard, "Let's remember to have fun out there."

Mmmonika

I also happened to catch a couple bands that I've seen in the past. Beauty Queen opened up the day. I caught about half the set. Lead singer Katie cheerful personality is infectious.

Beauty Queen

SPELLES is a band I first came across at Echo Park Rising in 2017. I also caught a couple songs in late 2018. The band vocals are deep and rooted in Southern blues. The songs to me that really stood out were "Teach Me How To Pray" and "Down To The River."

SPELLES

Quick Hit Band Interview: SPELLES

SPELLES at Echo Park Rising

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

How would you describe your sound? I would describe our sound as a little spooky, bluesy, and cinematic with tribal elements in the drums and background vocals.

What’s your favorite gig/set/tour story or memory? My favorite gig thus far was the show we played in July at the Hammer Museum. It was the biggest crowd we've played to and they were so warm and engaging. I also love the museum so it was an honor to play there.