Every band has "hits," the songs they have to play in concert or no one will pay money to see them. Alkaline Trio is no different.

Thanks to nine studio albums, including My Shame is True (released today), singer/guitarist Matt Skiba, singer/bassist Dan Andriano and drummer Derek Grant have a plethora of tunes that are damn-near guaranteed to make any set list, which means there's a good chance you'll hear "Radio," "Nose Over Tail," "Clavicle," "'97," "This Could Be Love," "Mercy Me," "Crawl," "Cringe" and "Bleeder." While there's nothing wrong with these (in fact, they are some of the band's best material), there are also a bunch of songs that rarely -- if ever -- get played. But they should.

There's no way of knowing what we'll hear from My Shame is True, but "Kiss You to Death," "Young Lovers" and "Until Death Do Us Part" are bona fide awesome and are worthy of replacing the oft-played "She Took Him to the Lake" and "Private Eye." And, if we are lucky, the addition of new material might force the band to dig into its catalog to pull out a few oldies-but-goodies.

So, here, in no particular order, are six songs that should be added to the band's set list when they kick off their upcoming tour at The Observatory on April 25.

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Max and the Moon

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Mary Bell

Billy Kernkamp: Doesn't like covers, or covering up

See Also:
*Billy Kernkamp Headlines Plugged Into Local on Aug. 29 at Time Out Tavern
*Jack Grisham's New Band the Manic Low to Headline Plugged Into Local, a New OC Weekly Concert Series
*[Slideshow] Plugged Into Local: The Manic Low at the Observatory-July 25

Tomorrow night, the Weekly's new concert series Plugged Into Local heads down to South County haunt Time Out Tavern in Aliso Viejo. And to make that long-ass drive well worth the gas money (at least for you Northerners), we've put together a folky lineup with artists who are full of surprises. Take our headliner Billy Kernkamp for example. For as long as he can remember, he's hated performing covers. "I don't mind listening to other people do them," he says on the couch in his Costa Mesa apartment. "It's just never been for me as an artist, I dunno what it is, I can't get my self to do them."

But we found out quickly that despite his distaste for acoustic homages, he does have one go-to cover up his sleeve. After busting into his humble abode on a recent afternoon to get some promo footage for the show, he decided to flip the script on the terse, distorted surrealism of the Pixies' track "Wave of Mutilation"--turning it into a contemplative campfire jam that enunciates the poetry of Frank Black rather beautifully. It may sound a bit more gentle, but it takes some serious cajones to tackle any track from the Pixies hallowed sophomore album Doolittle.

Make sure to cruise down at 9p.m. to catch him take the PiL stage with South County regulars Micah Brown and Live Oak Revue. The show is free, all you have to do is RSVP for the event and you're in (provided you're 21 years-old and wiser). Find out how to get into the show and check out the exclusive video of Kernkamp breaking his "no-covers" rule after the jump!

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No music genre is safe!

Based on looks alone, few people would peg Pablo Francisco as the voice of celebrity culture--until he opens his mouth. With a list of impressions more than a mile long-- from R&B singers and John Travolta to the Allstate Insurance guy and Aaron Neville--some might wonder if there's any famous person this vocal shape shifter can't emulate. But he doesn't just list his impressions to the stars, but to entire musical genres. It's a skill that only a  comedy-seeking You Tube sifters usually take the time to truly appreciate.

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Francisco Montes

Death Hymn Number 9

See also:
*Checking In On...Crystal Antlers

*Mr. Elevator and the Brain Hotel get organ-ized

Last weekend, the paint-slathered ball of psychedelic sound that is Moon Block Party exploded in the middle of Pomona's Downtown Arts Colony. We're still cleaning ourselves off. But while we do that, we'd like to offer those of you who didn't make the haul out to P-town a rapid fire taste of what you missed. In the span of about five minutes, local fest connoisseur Mike Meza (who's KILLYR TV You Tube channel will be posting stuff like this every Wednesday with partner in crime Natalie Bonilla  and a collective of local creative types) and a stable of Moon Block cohorts put together this rad video volley of basically anyone that played so much as a note at this grassroots festival.

Bridging the gap between genres in counties that house some of our weirdest, loudest and most promising local talent, there's no question that this installment of the event was a weekend highlight on par with previous MBP endeavors including Desert Daze. Creator and organizer Phil Pirrone gathered rock tribes of all pedigrees, including a performance from the psychedelic virtuosi of the Entrance Band, Dahga Bloom and Crystal Antlers. And just in case you have an averse effect to seeing a full days-worth of activity creatively crammed into the time it takes to microwave a chicken dinner, then let's just say you've been warned. Check out the video after the jump.For those of you prefer to take things slowly...the photos are here.

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Mike Meza

Ecelctic Roots Festival

Last month, the Eclectic Roots festival at Irvine Lake seemed to spring up on us pretty unexpectedly. The locally-grown offering of bands and artists was a hastily constructed celebration honoring psych rock of all pedigrees. It also happened to be my first foray into Orange County as the Weekly's new music editor. Not only was it rare to see an enthusiastic, rookie promoter like Michael Hammerson pull off an impressive, 25-band lineup of OC, Long Beach and LA-based acts with the help of organizers Natalie Bonilla and Mike Meza, but they even managed to rope in flocks of artists, boutique vendors, fire breathers and a skate ramp for us to bust our asses on while listening to ungodly amounts of crushing drums and reverb billowing from the three different stages. For those that weren't there or just want to relive the experience again, we recently got a short and sweet video recap in our inbox that reminds us of how it all went down. Check it out after the jump.

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​Ladies, I've got a secret for you: Men don't like Valentine's Day.

I mean, we just got over the pressure of the holidays and now we're expected to come up with more gifts to show our love and appreciation. And do we ever get it right? Of course not. We're guys and we suck.

But we know if we play our cards right, tonight's almost a slam dunk in the bedroom. With this on our minds, we're acting all soft and cute with our roses, cards, teddy bears and chocolates, but what we're really thinking about is getting naked with you. (To be fair, we're also thinking about how to get you naked on the other 355 days of the year, but tonight, the odds of that happening are much higher and we like when the odds are in our favor.)

So while you're thinking about how he went to Jared or how every kiss begins with Kay, plain and simple, we're thinking about fucking you. Just so you can't say I didn't warn you, here's the soundtrack to what's going through our minds as you gorge yourself on chocolates and white wine spritzers.



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There's a billion of Gillionaire!

​There's literally no better way to wake up than to an email from rapper Gillionaire telling you he's got a new song/video. I should know because that's exactly what happened to me his morning.

You see, since I've been writing about Gillionaire, I'd like to think we've grown close. Don't get me wrong -- he doesn't call me when his fish dies nor do I text him to tell him how my mom is dealing with chemotherapy, but still. In my mind, we're friends.

And what do friends do for one another? Two things. First, they tell each other when they post new videos on Youtube. Second, they give each other Valentine's Day love and I'm assuming Gillionaire's email to me this morning was no fluke. He's showing love (in that hip-hop way, yaknowwhatimsayin?) and because I consider every person who reads this blog a friend (sorry I haven't called you on your birthday), I'm now passing along the information so you can have an awesome Valentine's Day.



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Had he not passed away on Feb. 10, 2006, beloved hip-hop producer J Dilla would have turned 38 years young Tuesday. Although his official cause of death is cardiac arrest, Dilla suffered from a rare blood disorder called thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.

In honor of J Dilla's birthday, his premature passing and his awesomeness, we are going to post one must-hear track every day until Friday.

Happy birthday, J Dilla, and rest in peace!
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​Had he not passed away on Feb. 10, 2006, beloved hip-hop producer J Dilla would have turned 38 years young Tuesday.

In honor of J Dilla's birthday, his passing (Dilla suffered from thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, although is official cause of death is cardiac arrest) and his awesomeness, we are going to post one must-hear track every day until Friday.

Happy birthday J Dilla and rest in peace! More »