I was going to say how Thanksgiving marks my 12-year anniversary of going vegetarian or how I've been vegan for about six years, but I figured you wouldn't care about me and my diet. But you might care about Mike Ness. It seems that the Social Distortion singer/guitarist might agree with me that tomorrow you ditch the turkey in favor of something healthy that didn't used to be alive.
If you ever hang around a group of aging punk rockers, you're ultimately going to get an earfull about the mayhem and magic of the glory days when legendary bands walked the earth and tore up the stage. Splice that in with a bag of comical life lessons, misadventures and a pinch of borderline psychosis and you have Joe Sib's one man "broken word" show, "California Calling." The show takes place tonight at The Boathouse in Costa Mesa at 8 p.m.
As the co-owner of SideOneDummy Records, Sib's story of growing up punk rock in the early '80s can sound a little farfetched at times, but that's exactly what draws you to it. Stories of suburban angst and the underbelly of punk culture collide to produce a coming-of-age tale like no other. Sib's style of caffeine-fueled storytelling (hopefully it's just caffeine) is too sincere and passionate to ignore as he rattles off sweaty memories from mosh pits in Northern California, and the moments that ultimately allowed skateboarding and punk rock to take over his life.
In addition to Sib's performance, you can also expect an acoustic set from well-known punk rockers Jay Bentley (Bad Religion), Steve Soto (The Adolescents), Mike Roache (T.S.O.L.) and Randy Bradbury (Pennywise). The admission is a $20 donation to UCP (United Cerebral Palsy) Wheels for Humanity, a non-profit group that refurbishes donated wheelchairs and hand fit them to children and adults in developing nations. Check out a video clip of Sib's performance after the jump.
How do you sum up 25 years of blood-drenched stage shows, rubber-mutant costumes, cannibalized pop-culture effigies and heavy-metal savagery? You can't. But Oderus Urungus sure can. As the quasi-satanic frontcreature of GWAR, the galaxy's most brutal band of man-eating mutants, Urungus (aka Dave Brockie) is used to spreading the shocking gospel of this legendary tribe. But anyone who has followed the band knows that his interactions with the public aren't restricted to the stage in front of GWAR's frightening legion of metalhead stoners. He's also known to grace the limelight of mainstream media.
Over the years, talk show hosts, faux news anchors and raging conservative ideologues on public access TV have salivated over the idea of sitting down with such a shocking intergalactic specimen. In honor of GWAR's show tonight at the Glass House in Pomona, we give your our favorite GWAR-vs.-The Media moments--otherwise known as some of the funniest You Tube bile you'll watch all week.
It's Wednesday, aka Hump Day, and I'm not allowed to post any videos of people humping (although I suspect the hits would go through the roof if I did), so here's a little ditty to help get us all through this long work week.
Seriously folks, if you listen closely, it almost sounds like he's saying "the Hump Day dance."
After the death of guitarist Ron Asheton, many hoped Iggy Pop and his bandmates would recruit former axeman James Williamson and keep the band going. Well, they did and by clicking this link, they'll get to hear a bunch of professionally shot videos from the new lineup's first show.
Of note is the band's inclusion of Iggy solo songs "The Passenger" and "Lust for Life," along with Stooges outtakes such as "I Got a Right," "Cock in My Pocket" and "Kill City."
True love knows no bounds (or sense of shame). While we've all seen public proposals at sporting events, this adventurous young romantic popped the question to his lady love while both were cosplaying as Pokémon characters at Anime Weekend Atlanta earlier this fall. Is it sort of inappropriate that the dude is in costume as a Raichu and the girl is dressed up as a Pikachu, given that a Raichu is an evolved form of a Pikachu? Some type of icky Lolita fantasy or a reinforcement of rigid, traditional gender roles? Or is that looking into things far too deeply? Either way, The Best Part is probably at 2:10: "That could have been me!"
In case you didn't hear, Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh reunited this weekend at the Cypress Hill Smokeout. And in case you really didn't hear, it wasn't with singer/guitarist Bradely Nowell, who passed away in 1996 from a heroin overdose. Nope, this reunion was with a new singer/guitarist -- an OC resident nonetheless -- named Rome Ramirez.
Well, like everything in the mdoern era, footage of the show has hit Youtube.com. Enter "Sublime Cypress Hill" and you'll come across all sorts of clips. And if you're too lazy, here's one for ya.
As you rabid RX Bandits fans may have noticed, the Seal Beach band has migrated to Brazil for the month of October. And while that may be good news for those who live there, those of us to stuck in the country to the north can only hope that their latest voyage to Latin America will produce even more glorious results on the next batch of songs they bring back stateside.
Fortunately, a couple days ago, we were graced with a little something to hold us over: a summer recap of their tour with Zechs Marquis (who are on the road again this month with Long Beach's Free Moral Agents). ZM only opened for RXB on the first round of tour dates in the south and southwest, so most of us missed out on seeing these two bands together (even though their California openers As Tall As Lions weren't too bad either). Anyway, this 10 minute video, shot at The Culture Room in Florida, is an awesome look back at all the fun that went on back stage, with great music and drums a plenty. Check it out after the jump.
Tomorrow, as you're flipping through the Weekly's music section, you'll probably come across a piece we did on East L.A. soul band Stedapol C.C. Watt. For the past six months, this high energy three piece (Rodney Gardiner on vocals/guitar, Jonny Brill on bass, Rob Brill on drums) has leaked slowly onto the Downtown Fullerton music scene, creating a buzz on the dance floors of the "SoCo District." Stick around to watch the video of their live performance posted below, and you'll see why.
There's only so much that one can really say about this band until you just have to break down and see them live. And while this recently released video of their song "Jonny Beat" is a step in the right direction, you won't truly get what they're about until you see their set. What does manage to seep through, if you've compared it to the recorded version on their MySpace page, is the fact they their songs never seem to sound exactly the same way twice. You'll read more about that tomorrow, but for now, do yourself a favor on your lunch break (or what's left of it) and check this out:
A few things have happened since we last checked in with Brushfire artist and Huntington Beach resident Matt Costa. Though he's been MIA for the last few months, it seems like he's back, but not without a few new developments.
His Facebook page just posted this semi-new (recorded in August, it seems) YouTube vid of a live performance of some new material, a song titled "Miracle Drug" that he has performed live. Appearing with him? His new wife, Casey. Aw.
Costa also seems to be starting fresh with a whole new band (as announced on the official Brushfire Records Twitter account) and, as we discussed previously, will be embarking on a mini-hometown small venue tour around Southern California in November.
Way back in May, we told you about how Long Beach band Repeater were hand-picked by big-time producer Ross Robinson (the Cure, Korn, At the Drive-In, buckets of other various stuffs) to serve as his next project. We met with them at Robinson's home studio in Venice Beach--where the band lived for weeks while recording an album.
Long Beach-by-way-of-Huntington Beach power-pop troupe Hellogoodbye haven't released a full-length record since 2006's Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!, but they're finally back to putting out new music. A as yet-untitled new album is on the horizon, and the band's recently posted a video for single "When We First Met"--a song that's on their free "mini EP" of the same name, available tomorrow on the band's official site. (For the unbeatable price of free, you'll get that song, the video and an additional track called "Not Ever Coming Home.")
That's not all that's new with Hellogoodbye: guitarist Ryan Daly recently left the band to focus on his project, Long Beach's Parade of Lights. The band's also currently on tour with Hanson. Yes, "that" Hanson. The closest their "Use Your Sole" tour will get to OC/LB is November 7 at Club Nokia in LA, but Hellogoodbye were just at Chain Reaction in Anaheim last month. (Read our review of that here.)
Miley Cyrus is really popular. Hit songs, hit movie, hit TV shows, she even "wrote" a "book." But not everyone is quite so enthralled with the teen pop star/country singer/actress/author/maker of somewhat questionable career decisions. Like these folks, who protested outside her show in San Jose on Sunday.
When Long Beach/Cypress band the Lyrics Game were profiled in OC Weekly's Locals Only section last month, one observation in the article was the lack of focus on their cellist, Chris McCarthy, on their five-song EP Home Edition. It was speculated there that things would probably be different in a live context, and this video seems to back up that theory, with the cello (quite literally) front and center for a performance of their newest (as yet untitled) song, at a gig this past Friday at Clancy's in Long Beach.
Chances are, either you're going to be charmed by Kyle and Natalie's upbeat melodies and sugary girl/boy vocals, or sickened by them. Really, there's not much room for middle-ground. Count us in the former category, though, and excited to share this video of their song "All In Your Head." Sure, there's not much too it--just stringed together live performances of the song (including their recent gig at Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa) and shots of them hanging out and goofing off, but it's some solid and refreshingly earnest bubblegum pop for those looking for such a thing. (And why wouldn't you be?)
Kyle and Natalie co-wrote the song with Marc Roberge, vocalist and guitarist for "perfect band to hackeysack in the quad to," O.A.R. Their brushes with fame continue: according to their Twitter, they recently met with "Disney Publishing," which seems like a pretty natural fit given their tunes. They've got no more local shows scheduled right now, but that could very well change soon.
Orange County's the Colourist know how to make a video, as evidenced in the stellar clip for their song "Oh Goodbye." They're at it again, this time with a fun short film (very short, as in, like, just more than a minute), featuring the band being stalked by a suspicious character. Spookiness!
Normally, a television commercial hyping the Canadian release of a cell phone that's been out in America for nearly two months wouldn't be that big of a deal, but it is when the spot uses music from one of our local Orange County artists. It's "Touch and Go" by singer/songwriter Stacy Clark, a song from her new EP that will be on iTunes next week. She recently wrapped recording a new album up in Venice, and I was able to stop by the studio to hear some tracks (they were cool). We first wrote about Stacy back in June with this Locals Only; she's got a local show coming up this Thursday at Chain Reaction in Anaheim, opening up for Mike Herrera of MXPX fame.
Let's hope this northern invasion by OC musicians continues--maybe next we'll see a local band hawking Poutine?
So my visit to New York tomorrow won't be nearly as cool as this video, but it'll give you an idea of what sorts of things I'll be doing there. I've never been to NYC, so needless to say, I'm fired up. See ya in a week.
Last Friday's EP release show for the Colourist at the Yost in downtown Santa Ana was a real gala event (even if the magician scheduled to perform got into a motorcycle accident and couldn't make it, which the band at first thought was part of his act, hope he's doing OK!). Opening act BLOK was rad (more on them later), and the highlight was possibly the unveiling of this darling video for the Colourist's unfairly catchy "Oh Goodbye." And I think their lead singer looks a lot like Matt Berry, but that very well might just be me.
The Colourist's next show is August 28 at Detroit Bar. Mmhmm.
Newport Beach five-piece talented-beyond-their-years the Jakes have weathered the loss of keyboard player Ehson Hashemian, and continue to rack up fans and acclaim, generally standing out as "the" Orange County band to watch; the one most likely to break out into the mainstream, and soon. They're on Red Light Management alongside names like the Dave Matthews Band, the Decemberists and Alanis Morisette (and Local Natives, formerly of OC and now of Silver Lake) and headlined the House of Blues in Anaheim on July 24, two days before wrapping up their Sunday night residency at LA hipster trap Cinespace. They're working on a new record, with lingering-yet-not-confirmed rumors of a record deal floating in our scene's ether.
What we do know is that they just posted a video of a new song (yet to be named, so right now it's just "New Song 1"), performed at their final Cinespace show. And here it is! (Also, feel free to read our article on the Jakes from a few months ago, and you can download the entirety of their old EP, Shake My Hand, from their MySpace. Oh, and you can check out lead singer Sameer Gadhia's Heard Mentality blogs from their May residency at the gone-but-not-forgotten eVocal, too.)
Costa Mesa-by-way-of-Malaysia singer-songwriter Zee Avi first netted attention through YouTube videos of her performances, some of which have racked up more than 800,000 views. Now she's on Brushfire records and touring the country with Pete Yorn, but she hasn't abandoned her .flv file roots, thus this new video of her and her bandmates covering "I Fought the Law" during a spare moment on the tour.
She's playing sort of-ish near here on Aug. 29, as part of San Diego's (sadly now Beastie-less) Street Scene festival.
Costa Mesa's the New Limb, Huntington Beach's Honeypie and some d-bag named Albert stopped by KUCI's Press Pass Music show this afternoon. You can download an mp3 of the entire show, including Honeypie's cover of "I've Just Seen a Face," here; and check out this video of the New Limb covering "Wild World" by Cat Stevens (check out keyboard player Lauren Salamone on the melodica. fancy!). It's my first time using the iPhone's long-awaited video recording feature. It's pretty much exactly as awesome as it sounds. Though I still miss that game Snake I had on my phone six or seven years ago. That game rules.
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