I want to start this post by stating outright how much we at Radio Free Silver Lake appreciate the support that was shown to us on Tuesday at the first RFSL Free Tuesday residency of The Californian at LaBrie's. To see so many familiar faces from the "Let's Independent!" days and three bands that played startlingly good sets, made all of us feel that this thing is going to get off the ground and remain in flight for a long time. The bands were all prompt, primed and prepared and, with the help of LaBrie's sound guy, really rocked the place.
The club itelf is done up nicely and has a wonderful neighborhood vibe, there's even great backstage space for the bands and their equipment. Jimmy is bartender and host and his conviviality dictates the comfortable mood of the place. The opening band went on just a few minutes past nine enabling the entire evening to stay on schedule, which is always a relief when you are curating a show.
This was the first time I've seen Alpine Decline, since the demise of Mezzanine Owls, and as a two-piece they play some fairly powerful music with just drums, guitar and distortion. Pretty tunes giving way to massive walls of noise in the middle of songs until the primary tune re-establishes itself, seems to be their compositional style and they use it to maximum effect.
The Californian just blow my mind with their crisp, professional stage demeanor...like they've been a band forever. Playing with a new bass player who fits seamlessly into the mix, they also played sans a female vocalist for the first time and the rich mix of the three remaining singers still were able to recreate the rich vocal mix found on their EP, Sea of Love.
Death To Anders are back and are as tight a band as they have ever been. Rob Danson led a band of four tonight and the songs, both old and new, sounded fresh and strong. His often lurid subject matter and thrashing guitars break away to passages of unnerving beauty occasionally that make the music both anguished and poignant.
Kathryn and I were joined by fellow RFSL writers, Jackie and Jed, and we all felt that this was a very successful debut. The audience was of a decent size, for a new event, and seemed to have a nice time, with everyone saying they will come back. A huge thank you to John Graney (pictured in the above photo of The Californian by Laurie Scavo) who went to such great lengths to insure that this first month is full of such strong bills, and for making this first night so memorable, and thanks to LaBrie's (pictured directly above). Now I can't wait for next week. Come out and see The Californian play with Pacific Hurt and The Breakups, Tuesday, November 9.
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