Quick Hit Band Interview: Paradise Vultures

Paradise Vultures at The Satellite

Q&A time with the band (via Tommy Senter). Hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? I would describe the sound of Paradise Vultures as kind of an amalgam of the brash swagger of rock and roll with pop sensibilities in terms of songwriting mechanics; combined with the raw expressiveness of grunge. Throw in a dash of glam theatricality and camp to keep it fun and sexy; not taking itself too seriously. We take what we do seriously, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously.

What’s the story behind how your band started? The band originally started back in 2015 under a different name in a garage in Burbank. We had all known each other for years from playing with each other in different bands, and this band just formed organically from some songs I had started writing and had started jamming with Joe and Jace. In late 2016 we decided we wanted to put a little record together, and did so with the help our friend (and incredibly talented producer) Phil English. We kind of piece-mealed our record “Gourmet Carrion” together over the course of about 9 months, released it in August of 2017, and started playing shows immediately afterward. We’ve got a lot of exciting things in the works for 2018 and are looking forward to meeting the new year head on.

P.S. The album “Gourmet Carrion” is available on all major streaming platforms.

Here are the links:

Spotify and Apple.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Dream Phases

Dream Phases at The Hi Hat

Q&A time with the band (via Brandon). Enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? Petty + Sativa, Young + a Kaleidoscope, Harrison + Liquid Lights

What’s your favorite Dream Phases' song and what makes it the favorite? I think my favorite song(s) to play are the medley we do with the first four songs, Maybe Tomorrow > Easy Love > Frightened Man > Promise of Promise. We've been working on transitions between each song to make them seamless and appear as one long song.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Young Creatures

Young Creatures at The Hi Hat

Q&A time with the band (via Michael). Enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? We like to let our fans/listeners decide what our sound is. We don't think too much about this but sonic weird trippy space shit that sits well over some nice melodies is a good way to describe it.

Other than Los Angeles, where could you see yourselves living/playing music and why? We love LA, but life or death situation . . . maybe the UK because it’s something we’ve never seen before and a market we would like to tap.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Livingmore

Livingmore at The Hi Hat

Q&A time with the band. Enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? There’s definitely a mixture of different elements in our music. But to sum it up, we’d say its Mod Rock with an Americana flare.

Do you find greater enjoyment writing a great song or performing a great song? Why the choice? Writing and performing are equally valuable to us, we’re just happy to be sharing our original material.

Quick Hit Band Interview: PHEVR

PHEVR at The Satellite

Q&A time with the band (via Derek). Enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? In an attempt to avoid clichés, I describe our sound as a sonic Polaroid. It is a real moment in time. We try not to bother with perfection, which is difficult since we are both perfectionists!

What are some of your favorite spots, locations, areas in Los Angeles? What make them your favorites? As for myself (Derek), I have been a film buff since I was a kid so my favorite spots are the theaters that still show 35mm film. The New Beverly Cinema and the Egyptian Theater are at the top of my list.

The Smoking Flowers at The Hotel Cafe

I got an invite to catch The Smoking Flowers at The Hotel Cafe. This band hails from Nashville and revolves around married couple Kim and Scott Collins.

Side topic: I'm pretty sure I've never seen this before at any venue . . . while The Smoking Flowers was setting up, a random individual got up on stage. I figured the person was part of the band. This individual lifted up the keyboard cover and started to play. Nothing loud. It looked to me like the person was just fiddling around before getting reading for the set. But no, a staff member of Hotel Cafe had a quick discussion with the person and off the person went. No big confrontation, but hysterical.

The Smoking Flowers set brought the Nashville sound to The Hotel Cafe with some rocking good sounds. This band had me thinking of another two piece band, Crushed Out. Perhaps the main driver of this comparison is the fact that Kim Collins and Moselle Spiller of Crushed Out steal the show during their sets. Kim Collins went from drums to accordion to tambourine to an awesome solo all within a span of 45 minutes. And all this while proudly wearing some red high heels.

As for Scott: sometimes I was thinking, you've got to do more than just play the guitar. Help carry the load, bring out a trombone. Nah, he carried the load with some awesome guitar play filled with energetic riffs.

It was an extraordinary fun night out. 

Movie Review: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Mildred's (Frances McDormand) daughter was raped and murdered. As time passes, the police are no where near figuring out who committed this horrendous crime just yards from where Mildred lives. As she's driving down the road that passes her house, she notices three billboards that have long been abandoned. She goes to the advertising company that owns the three billboards and purchases ad space that read:

"Raped While Dying."

"And Still No Arrests?"

"How Come, Chief Willoughby?"

It doesn't take long for news of these ads to reach Chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson). He goes to Mildred's home to say he thinks that those billboards are unfair. Mildred won't bend. Though Willoughby sees the chess move that Mildred has made and doesn't hold it against her, one of his police officers, Dixon (Sam Rockwell), does.

Soon, skirmishes form where both Dixon and Mildred do very regrettable actions.

To me, this is a tough movie to like as the two main characters, Dixon and Mildred, are impossible to like. The movie largely revolves around Dixon, Mildred and Willoughby.

Willoughby ends up being a likable character. He's a police chief who tried his best to solve the murder, but just can't. He's also an individual that is dying from cancer and will be leaving behind a wife and two young children.

Then we have Mildred and Dixon.

We learn some of the backstory on Mildred. She was abused by her ex-husband. And the day her daughter was raped and murdered, Mildred got into an argument with her daughter where she actually said she hoped her daughter got raped (there is additional context, but those are awful last words). So there is a lot of personal vendetta that has built up inside her, which is driving her need to find her daughter's murderer. Though one can sympathize with her taking out the billboard ads, her actions after that are wrong headed moves that put innocent lives at risk.

Dixon is a hot headed, drunk racist who is known to have tortured an African-American teenager. (Of course, the fact that he is still on the force is a major ding on Chief Willoughby.) He takes offense to what Mildred has done and so he also takes actions that are horrendous.

Also, what I found hard to like about the movie is that many of the characters are just plain dumb. It makes it feel like this is a movie that has an agenda to make small town folk look silly. To me, it is one thing to have a movie that shows the quirks of a small town versus a movie that seems just mean spirited towards small town folk.

I'd say this is a movie that one can wait for until it hits Redbox, Netflix or pay TV. If you're looking for a better independent murder investigation, I'd say go watch Wind River. If you're interested in a vendetta movie, driven by the murder of a child, go watch Prisoners.