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.

Chinatown Summer Nights: Francisca Valenzuela, The Americans and Zealyn

It was the last Chinatown Summer Nights of 2017. I've always done a hit and run at Chinatown Summer Nights. By that I mean I don't stick around for all the bands. I catch 3 or 4 bands and then leave. I suppose that isn't necessarily a hit and run as catching 3 or 4 bands is sticking around for around 4 hours. Anyways, forget the technicalities, the issue is that I always try to catch the bands that I believe I'll enjoy the most.

This time around, I knew I wanted to catch Zealyn so everything revolved around her. Taking a look at the line-up, I noticed that at 6 p.m. there was someone named Francisca Valenzuela. I took a look and I noticed that she had a large number of both Instagram and Facebook followers. I was like, why is she playing at Chinatown Summer Nights? I took a deeper look and saw that she is from Chile. Well, I used to love this music festival called Culture Collide, which brought musicians into Los Angeles from around the world. So I decided I just had to see her and see what a large number of Chileans loved about this artist. So yeah, I don't speak any Spanish what so ever and all her songs were in Spanish, but mercy me it was inspiring watching her on stage. For 30 minutes, I didn't realize that it was like 105 °F. And for 30 minutes, I did realize that I had a silly grin on my face that lasted well past the end of her set.

The Americans came up next for me. I first saw this band at Villains Tavern a few years back. I just remember that night heading out to this tavern that was on the outer edges of the Art District (or maybe it isn't even in the Art District) and thinking, "This out in the middle of no where tavern is showcasing this really awesome band." It was awesome to catch this band again with their Americana sound. And one of the best things in the music world is seeing a stand-up bass on stage, right?

Zealyn ended the night for me. I've said it before, but this woman has some power vocals. This was my fourth time seeing her. I love her vocals and I love her sound, but what I was keying on was catching a solid photo. I first saw her at Broke LA. I got some decent photos, but I had to take my ISO up to 8000, which isn't ideal. At other venues, I realized that shooting at shutter speed 320 was too slow for some of her moves. Well, at Chinatown Summer Nights I took the shutter speed up to 400 and guess what, still wasn't fast enough. Mercy. Anyways, not only does she have great vocals, but she also has a very friendly personality. She's going on a tour across the US. Folks should catch her tour.

Quick Hit Artist Interview: Shane McKenzie

Shane McKenzie at the Bootleg Theater

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

Thoughts about your Monday night set? Last night was an experiment in self sabotage... forcing people to tolerate their surroundings and not expect something better than what they are already experiencing. "great set"

Quick Hit Band Interview: The Tissues

The Tissues at the Bootleg Theater

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

How would you describe your sound? Dark-art-dream-scream

What’s the favorite part of your set? When people dance!

Where can someone find The Tissues music? Bandcamp!

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.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Pair of Arrows

Pair of Arrows at The Satellite

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

How would you describe your sound? Our sound is a little bit of dark wave, little bit of new wave but with a lot of modern day bass.

What motivates you to write your music? We all make music because we can’t not. I believe that when one has a persistent passion for something creative, things can go terribly wrong if they don’t pursue it wholeheartedly.

Quick Hit Artist Interview: Chris Price

Chris Price at Chinatown Summer Nights

Q&A time with artist. Hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? Very hard for me to describe my sound, because it really is all the things I love and have internalized thrown in a blender and interpreted the way I see, hear and feel them. My stuff obviously owes a debt to the classic pop sound of the '60s British Invasion bands, the confessional singer-songwriters of the early '70s and the power pop world, but I am also deeply in love with Brazillian music of all kinds, Soul music, English folk and other things that can't be so easily classified. I would pretty much say that my music sounds like me, and the things I love.

Do you find greater enjoyment writing a great song or performing a great song? Why the choice? I think I prefer writing because the fulfillment I get upon completing a new song is really unlike any other feeling in the world. It's euphoria times a thousand.