Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
King Buzzo played his first ever acoustic set at the Satellite last night and it was amazing. I really didn’t know what to expect when Scion announced the free show. Would it be Melvins Lite light? Were marshmallows going to be provided for “Kumbaya” moments? No way. It was heavy as shit, with Buzzo singing as if he heard the bone-crushing music of the Melvins in his fuzzy head while trying to break his acoustic axe’s unorthodox-tuned strings with every stroke. The badass set started with a super dark Alice Cooper cover and ended with my favorite Japanese psychedelic doom metal band’s namesake song, “Boris.” Somewhere in the middle of the show he previewed a cut off his upcoming album and surveyed a bunch of Melvins tunes. It was great. You had to be there–or not. There was a ton of SLR-wielding dudes filming the event so you should be able to check it out on the Scion AV site one of these days… Props to Tweak Bird for playing a far-out opening set. I arrived half-way through and was stuck in the back of the room, too far to take photos, but they ripped. BONUS REVIEWS You might have noticed that the GR site went down a week or so ago. Here are some friends’ shows that were casualties but need to be on this blog… Dum Dum Girls record release show at The Echo on January 28. I like the new LP but the new songs sound even better with the proper band propelled by my pal Sandy Vu’s killer chops and beats. Killer set of psychedelic pop goth with an extra dude added for bonus texture. I expect this lineup to be out of their collective minds by the time they hit Coachella. A Minor Forest at The Satellite on February 8. Back in the day, drummer Andee Conners stayed at my house with J Church, P.E.E., and this band, A Minor Forest, which just got back together for some reunion shows. They were tighter, heavier, and more mathy than ever. Perhaps more fun, too. So great to seeing him and the dudes in action and hanging out on the sidewalk, as well as opener Rob Crow. Kevin Seconds at Amoeba Hollywood on February 13. Okay, I don’t personally know the singer from 7 Seconds but Eloise is now part of the youth crew after attending the in-store commemorating his great new solo album. Accompanied by his wife Allyson and Kepi Ghoulie, the new songs aren’t meandering singer-songwriter stuff but brief, earnest bursts of energy that rip. Sound familiar? Save Music in Chinatown 2 on February 9 at Human Resources. Our fundraising has now reached about $7,500 to put toward music education at Castelar Education in Chinatown. The lineup of our second benefit matinee was a dream for me: DJ Adam Bomb from KXLU’s Bomb Shelter played first-generation L.A. punk and hardcore (Weirdos, Circle Jerks, X, Dils, Adolescents…) complemented by vintage 7″ singles from my friends from...
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King Buzzo played his first ever acoustic set at the Satellite last night and it was amazing. I really didn’t know what to expect when Scion announced the free show. Would it be Melvins Lite light? Were marshmallows going to be provided for “Kumbaya” moments? No way. It was heavy as shit, with Buzzo singing as if he heard the bone-crushing music of the Melvins in his fuzzy head while trying to break his acoustic axe’s unorthodox-tuned strings with every stroke. The badass set started with a super dark Alice Cooper cover and ended with my favorite Japanese psychedelic doom metal band’s namesake song, “Boris.” Somewhere in the middle of the show he previewed a cut off his upcoming album and surveyed a bunch of Melvins tunes. It was great. You had to be there–or not. There was a ton of SLR-wielding dudes filming the event so you should be able to check it out on the Scion AV site one of these days… Props to Tweak Bird for playing a far-out opening set. I arrived half-way through and was stuck in the back of the room, too far to take photos, but they ripped. BONUS REVIEWS You might have noticed that the GR site went down a week or so ago. Here are some friends’ shows that were casualties but need to be on this blog… Dum Dum Girls record release show at The Echo on January 28. I like the new LP but the new songs sound even better with the proper band propelled by my pal Sandy Vu’s killer chops and beats. Killer set of psychedelic pop goth with an extra dude added for bonus texture. I expect this lineup to be out of their collective minds by the time they hit Coachella. A Minor Forest at The Satellite on February 8. Back in the day, drummer Andee Conners stayed at my house with J Church, P.E.E., and this band, A Minor Forest, which just got back together for some reunion shows. They were tighter, heavier, and more mathy than ever. Perhaps more fun, too. So great to seeing him and the dudes in action and hanging out on the sidewalk, as well as opener Rob Crow. Kevin Seconds at Amoeba Hollywood on February 13. Okay, I don’t personally know the singer from 7 Seconds but Eloise is now part of the youth crew after attending the in-store commemorating his great new solo album. Accompanied by his wife Allyson and Kepi Ghoulie, the new songs aren’t meandering singer-songwriter stuff but brief, earnest bursts of energy that rip. Sound familiar? Save Music in Chinatown 2 on February 9 at Human Resources. Our fundraising has now reached about $7,500 to put toward music education at Castelar Education in Chinatown. The lineup of our second benefit matinee was a dream for me: DJ Adam Bomb from KXLU’s Bomb Shelter played first-generation L.A. punk and hardcore (Weirdos, Circle Jerks, X, Dils, Adolescents…) complemented by vintage 7″ singles from my friends from...
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Yes, it’s awesome to throw DIY benefit shows to raise money for music education my daughter’s elementary school and great to help the community where my grandparents and in-laws have hung out. But on a purely selfish level, it gives me an excuse to work with some of my favorite bands and people. So while I have Mike Magrann committed to playing our February 9 show at Human Resources, I figured I’d ask him the latest about Channel 3. They were OG punks on Posh Boy records, they were on not one but two Rodney on the ROQ compilations, and now they are playing Save Music in Chinatown. Rad! CH3 seems to be playing more than ever. How did this run of shows begin? As we grow more, ahem, mature it is a lot tougher to get us four guys together for a weekend jaunt or two-week tour but we do okay. And it seems that playing out a lot breeds more gigs, ya know? If we can make a point to hit certain cities or go to Europe each summer, then we can count on the shows being a little better next time through. A few more familiar faces and–most importantly–we know the good places to eat! You’ve been touring with friends, playing festivals, and getting your portrait done by the dude who draws Allroy and Milo. Why are you playing our rinky dink benefit? Ha! It’s all due to the persistent nagging of one Martin Wong! But it’s actually an honor to be able to put your music to a good use, and music education is something near and dear to our hearts. Kimm and I, who are famously friends since second grade, always shared a love of music growing up and we actually learned to play guitars together at an after-school program in seventh grade. Besides, it’s always nice to play at venues out of the norm. I mean, we’ve played enough 1 a.m. sets at mildewy dive bars to last a lifetime. Let us do a matinee with cookies and coffee once in a while, for God’s sake! Did your band play much in Chinatown back in the day? Got any stories? We played at Wong’s Chinatown venue once but it was well after its prime. But we did play a lot at Esther’s Santa Monica venue, where she would always chase us out of the kitchen for making out with girls and trying to steal beer! Our first-ever gig after making the Posh Boy EP was across town at the Brave Dog on 1st Street… Whenever I Google Channel 3 or look up the hashtag on Instagram, I always see Thai TV starlets. Do you know anything about that scene? I know, right? All I know is we get an awful lot of posts on our Facebook page in Lanna and Lao script! I don’t know what the hell they’re saying but a fan’s a fan, even if they do think they’re logging onto their fave soap opera page! Looking back, pre-Interweb, it was a pretty bad idea naming the band CH3. You Google...
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Yes, it’s awesome to throw DIY benefit shows to raise money for music education my daughter’s elementary school and great to help the community where my grandparents and in-laws have hung out. But on a purely selfish level, it gives me an excuse to work with some of my favorite bands and people. So while I have Mike Magrann committed to playing our February 9 show at Human Resources, I figured I’d ask him the latest about Channel 3. They were OG punks on Posh Boy records, they were on not one but two Rodney on the ROQ compilations, and now they are playing Save Music in Chinatown. Rad! CH3 seems to be playing more than ever. How did this run of shows begin? As we grow more, ahem, mature it is a lot tougher to get us four guys together for a weekend jaunt or two-week tour but we do okay. And it seems that playing out a lot breeds more gigs, ya know? If we can make a point to hit certain cities or go to Europe each summer, then we can count on the shows being a little better next time through. A few more familiar faces and–most importantly–we know the good places to eat! You’ve been touring with friends, playing festivals, and getting your portrait done by the dude who draws Allroy and Milo. Why are you playing our rinky dink benefit? Ha! It’s all due to the persistent nagging of one Martin Wong! But it’s actually an honor to be able to put your music to a good use, and music education is something near and dear to our hearts. Kimm and I, who are famously friends since second grade, always shared a love of music growing up and we actually learned to play guitars together at an after-school program in seventh grade. Besides, it’s always nice to play at venues out of the norm. I mean, we’ve played enough 1 a.m. sets at mildewy dive bars to last a lifetime. Let us do a matinee with cookies and coffee once in a while, for God’s sake! Did your band play much in Chinatown back in the day? Got any stories? We played at Wong’s Chinatown venue once but it was well after its prime. But we did play a lot at Esther’s Santa Monica venue, where she would always chase us out of the kitchen for making out with girls and trying to steal beer! Our first-ever gig after making the Posh Boy EP was across town at the Brave Dog on 1st Street… Whenever I Google Channel 3 or look up the hashtag on Instagram, I always see Thai TV starlets. Do you know anything about that scene? I know, right? All I know is we get an awful lot of posts on our Facebook page in Lanna and Lao script! I don’t know what the hell they’re saying but a fan’s a fan, even if they do think they’re logging onto their fave soap opera page! Looking back, pre-Interweb, it was a pretty bad idea naming the band CH3. You Google...
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These days, going to four shows in seven days is a pretty rare and awesome treat for me. Even more amazingly, I took my five year-old daughter to three of them (not Channel Three at Alex’s Bar, above).
The Three O’Clock played their final reunion show at Fingerprints Music in Long Beach last Monday. I missed their shows at Coachella, The Glass House, and The Troubadour, and was stoked that they played a couple of in-stores to celebrate the release of their essential new CD which compiles demos, alternate mixes, and favorites. At Fingerprints the Paisley Underground standouts played the entire Baroque Hoedown EP, including their signature cover of The Easybeats’ “Sorry,” and three songs off of Sixteen Tambourines LP with “On My Own” and The Bee-Gee’s “In My Own Time.” Wow.
I recall my twin brother and I were promoted from junior high, our parents bought us $40 worth of records. Our first batch included The Clash’s London Calling, David Bowie’s Let’s Dance, and Baroque Hoedown. One of our first concerts was seeing them play at Magic Mountan on the very stage featured in KISS Meets The Phantom of The Park. Who would have thought that I’d be taking my daughter to heard that record performed in its entirety and meet the band? Yes, they were very cool…
On Friday afternoon, I took Eloise to see SISU celebrate the release of their great new EP at Origami Vinyl. It was incredibly hot and humid that afternoon and the acoustics are tough playing in the loft-like space, and maybe that’s why the band showed a really raw, almost dubby side that I never noticed before. The new songs sounded amazing. Too bad Eloise passed out as I carried her. Gotta arrange a lunch with my daughter, Sandy and Jules to make up for her missing the end of their set… She was bummed when she woke up at home because she loves them in SISU as well as Dum Dum Girls.