Quick Hit Band Interview: The Millennial Club

The Millennial Club at Wild Riot Summer Sessions

Interview with the band. Enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? RnB, jazz-influenced, pop music.

What is your favorite The Millennial Club's lyric and what about it makes it so special? "Alcohol and cigarettes is early death, but something about it calms you down." It's the most special, because it's something we all can relate to. Things in our life that kill us, things we know aren't good for us, that we do anyways because we can't help it.

 Own Q&A. How tall is Jake? Too damn tall.

Quick Hit Artist Interview: TIMBALERX

TIMBALERX at the Roosevelt Hotel

Interview with the artist. Enjoy:

What inspires you in creating your sound? What currently inspires me is lots of Sean Paul 2002 type shit. Early aka Save Ferris etc. And ‘90s movies like Wayne’s World 2. I Dream in Colors. Kanye’s YouTube videos of him raping with his mother in the kitchen. Being a brown queer inspires me because I didn’t have a voice for so many years before I was living an authentic life. Now it’s like Slipknot’s “Fuck it all! Fuck this world! Fuck everything that you stand for!” meets Juan Gabriel’s Amor Eternal.

 Own final thoughts: I love my curves as a big brown fem man . . . I’m not missing no meals.

The Hi Hat: Janelane, Jody, Lunch Lady and Mo Dotti

It was off to The Hi Hat to catch Mo Dotti, Jody, Lunch Lady and Janelane.

Mo Dotti

Jody

Here's a story about the night. The night started off with Mo Dotti. I was enjoying the start of a fine lineup of bands. Then Jody came on stage and it started to feel like deja vu. Looking around the crowd I noticed Sally from French Vanilla in the audience. This is way to familiar, I thought. I looked through one of the band's Instagram account and it hit me. A little over a year ago at The Smell; French Vanilla, Janelane, Jody and Lunch Lady played a show together. Lead singer for Mo Dotti was backing Janelane. One happy group of musicians/friends for a pre-Thanksgiving event.

Janelane

Lunch Lady

School Night: WILD and Didirri

I was scrolling through my e-mail and noticed that WILD was playing School Night. I hit RSVP. I love WILD, but Didirri was a big surprise. He opened up the night. He walked on stage with just his guitar. And then came the most down to earth set I've seen in awhile. His vocals and style just caused the crowd to listen with their full attention. Usually, when music is of the Hotel Cafe style, you can hear folks talking in the background. For his set, he held the attention of everyone.

He also told some fun stories.

One example came from his time in London. He was at a convenience store, waiting behind a 75 year-old who kept on asking the clerk where he could buy weed. Didirri, meanwhile, was just wanting to pay for an avocado. The 75 year-old wasn't getting any answers so he turned around and said, "I'll just ask this lady." Didirri replied, "I'm a dude." The 75 year old then responded back after hearing the accent, "You're from Australia? I'm from New Zealand. F-uck off."

Didirri

WILD came up next. This is my 3rd time catching this band. The first time I saw them was in September at Tarfest. So yes, I've caught a set about once a month since that time. I just love how their vocals and music just seamlessly blend together. Currently, I appear to be one of the few photographers in Los Angeles that catches this band on a regular basis. I expect that to change at some point. 

WILD

Quick Hit Artist Interview: JR Slayer

JR Slayer at The Echo

Interview with the artist. Enjoy:

What are the influences that impact your music? My life and my environment. Elliott Smith. New Order.

What thrills you about performing live? I get to be my complete self. Nothing can affect me when I am performing. I get lost and it’s the safest place to be. It's home.

Holy Wars (Gold-Diggers) and machineheart (Madame Siam)

Holy Wars was playing their final set of 2018 at Gold-Diggers. This is a venue that I'd actually never even heard about. Kat of Holy Wars mentioned to me earlier that it used to be a strip club. In fact, LA Weekly called it the best strip club in 2013. Now it appears to be a venue for DJs and bands. And based on the website, there is also a boutique hotel and recording studio in the building. From the outside, it doesn't look like much, but from the pictures on the website, a lot of work has been done to make things look classy inside.

The place was packed in with familiar faces such as Lauren Ruth Ward, Emma Cole, Kevin from Buzzbands to name a few. This night was actually the second time that week that I'd run into Lauren Ruth Ward. She yelled across the room to me, "We have good taste in music." Annabelle from MetronOhm and Michelle from Michelle Young and the Collection backed up Holy Wars for a couple songs. The night was a fun celebration of a part of the Los Angeles music scene that I so enjoy. Holy Wars, of course, killed it. I've said this before and I'll say it again, listening to Holy Wars is just so cathartic.

Holy Wars

Now I actually saw machineheart back in October. So I'm a little late in writing something up about the night. I saw the band a couple times in 2016. I first saw them at The Satellite. Then I later caught a truncated set at Music Tastes Good. They had these awesome pop tunes at the time. I noticed that they were playing a free show at Madame Siam and I knew I had to catch their set. Their music on this recent October night shifted more towards a rock sound.

It was actually an interesting set to watch. Madame Siam has a lengthy stage, but it is basically cut into three smaller stages due to pillars. So the way the band was set up, lead singer Stevie Scott was on one stage with the drummer while the bassist and guitarist were on the far left and right stages. Stevie actually mentioned how strange it felt to have her band mates basically playing close, but separate. I really do hope I catch them again in 2019.

machineheart

Quick Hit Band Interview: The Terns

The Terns

Interview with the band. Enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? We're a guitar driven rock band with melodic harmonies and arrangements. Our sound is reminiscent of 1960's rock, mixed with elements of more current indie/alternative rock. We try to write music that is honest and moving; music that we, ourselves, would enjoy listening to.

Are there any unique, funny, high jinks, mundane, etc tendencies that the band is known for – during sets, band practice, otherwise? We're constantly making fun ourselves. When we practice we change lyrics, make up alternative silly names to our songs, sing in operatic voices, and sometimes we'll make hilarious sped up ska versions of our songs or any covers we're doing at the time. On a more serious note, we almost always open practice with a long, improvised jam that we collectively write on the spot. It keeps things light and sparks creativity even though most of the time we don't remember what we played. It's kind of a shame because we've done some really cool stuff before, but never got them recorded.

Own Q&A: What would you say to your fans and supporters? A. We love what we do. We love the music we play, and we love to perform on stage. There is truly nothing like being on stage, performing our songs for people to enjoy. So to all those who have supported us over the years, who have come out to a show, who have paid to see us play, we are truly grateful. You keep us excited and motivated to keep this train going. Thank you!