Quarantine Online Sets: Version 9

Weekends start on Thursday afternoons, right? Maybe in this new virus world it does. Thursday thru Saturday was spent with Buzzbands. Thursday brought Hamis Handerson. He hooked in some 70s guitar rifts from Australia. YIP YOPS were up on Friday afternoon. Just like their live shows at venues from The Hi Hat to Echo Park Rising, they had the lights flashing bright. The drummer was slamming those sticks. The lead singer left everything out there. Saturday was spent catching a short 15-minute set by Starcrawler. It was lead singer Arrow's birthday the previous day. Two members of the band kicked it in what seemed like an industrial setting. Both wore masks with Arrow wearing red gloves. It was a laid back and yet in your face type of set. I'm not sure if that sentence makes much sense, but it seems like a good description.

Hamis Handerson

Yip Yops

Starcrawler

Saturday was a busy day in terms of watching online sets. Prior to Starcrawler, I caught Emily Kinney. First on Facebook, which resulted in technical issues. Her vocals kept cutting out. Her fans convinced her to switch over to Instagram so to Instagram we went. She said something like, "This feels like me telling everyone that we should just jump to the venue across the street." She handled the Facebook vocal problems with a very cool and calm outlook. Personally, I would have thrown up my hands and said, "Sorry, we'll have to meet up on another day." Over on Instagram, around the same number of people tuned in so everyone did jump from one venue to the other. A couple years have passed since I last caught a set from her. I realized that the next time she plays Hotel Cafe, I'm there.

Emily Kinney

Closing out Saturday was spent catching Mara Connor's record release party on Zebulon's Instagram page. She did a round with her favorite musicians. She would do a song and then pass it off to a friend. Sam Outlaw was up first playing from Nashville. Desure played from Los Angeles. There were a number of Internet glitches. Somehow he kept dropping off of Instagram. On one occasion, someone off camera whispered to Mara, "He's dropped off." Maybe there was an Android vs. Apple familiarity issue, because Mara shut down Instagram Live and came back on using a new phone. Cale Tyson joked about hanging with friends on the patio of Zebulon. He then let on that he was hanging out in Texas with his parents. (Honestly, what's up with Texas. I know a handful of people who have left California during this pandemic and are in Texas.) Ryan Pollie played his set from his car after he'd gone grocery shopping. He bought toilet paper, coconut milk, and wine. Ryan and Mara admitted that this was the first time both of them played Zebulon. It was so amusing watching cars driving pass during his song. Leeann Skoda played in front of a rather futuristic metal backdrop. Amusing moment was towards the end, Mara accidentally starting clapping while Leeann was still singing. The problem was that Instagram froze for a few moments so Mara figured the song was over. Will Fox closed out the guest with some pink/blue room lights.

Mara Connor

Mara Connor with guest Desure

The Hi Hat: Purple Bite night

Purple Bite highlighted some of their current and former clients this past Friday night. The night was filled with variety of sounds and the crowd was filled with familiar faces.

Alicia Blue started the night off with some singer-songwriter sounds. I just recently saw Alicia Blue at a Wild Riot event at El Cid. I didn't even know she was playing The Hi Hat on this particular night and when I saw her coming on stage, I was thrilled. There is something magically about her vocals. And she had the comment of the night, "I've always been an old soul. Interestingly, all my recent boyfriends have been younger than me."

Alicia Blue

Dyllan has a pop sensibility. I happened to cross paths with Mikel of Purple Bite in late April and asked him about his new clients. He mentioned Dyllan. So yeah, I won't lie, Dyllan was one of the main reasons I showed up at The Hi Hat for this event. You can tell she has a passion for music and I can't wait to hear her throughout the years.

Dyllan

Molly Moore is someone I saw last year at Chinatown Summer Nights when she was singing in a band called Cosmos and Creature. Her set on this night brought the dance tunes to The Hi Hat. And I noticed that her guitarist brought her own fans with her. Just before their set was about to begin, a couple friends came over to the stage and gave her some waves and love.

Molly Moore

Magic Bronson turned up the funk volume. Or is it funk? I find it hard to describe their music. It is a sound that makes you want to Pogo dance. It is a sound that makes you want to form a mosh pit. Though no one formed a mosh pit, you could see folks in the audience having big smiles and going just a bit wild in their dance moves.

Magic Bronson

Georgi Kay is someone I've seen on various bills throughout Los Angeles for a while now. I've also seen her hanging out at various venues. I've just never gotten a chance to catch a set. Well, on this night, I got to do so. She's a one person show with her electric drum, computer and vocals. It was one enjoyable set.

Georgi Kay

Closing out the night was the Yip Yops. The Yip Yops have gone from a four piece to a two piece as two members of the band decided to head off to college. Yep, this band is still very young. I believe when I first came across the band, at least one of them was still 16. On this particular night, the floor lights flashed bright and the music was electric with slamming drums and guitar riffs. We'll have to see if they stick with the two piece or eventually add in new members.

Yip Yops

Quick Hit Band Interview: YIP YOPS

YIP YOPS at Chinatown Summer Nights

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


How would you describe your sound? It's almost impossible for us to describe our sound accurately from our perspective. Being that we are coming from the inside. It has to come from the outside perspective to give a valuable description. - Ison Van Winkle (lead vocals)

I saw that the band got to play Coachella this year. That's impressive. How do you believe the band has progressed from your beginnings to now? Thank you so much. Playing Coachella was an amazing experience. Like any band, we started off playing to nobody, but we have always had the ambition, work ethic and Ison's unbelievable songwriting behind us that has helped us achieve our goals up to this point. Growing up in the Coachella Valley, of course playing Coachella was going to be a huge goal for us, but it is just the beginning. We are hungry for more and we are continuing to work harder and harder every day to evolve as a band as well as making a name in this business. - Ross Murakami (drummer)