The L.A. Record is back. One of the earlier seminal publications of Los Angeles is back on the streets and ready to resume its coverage of the Los Angeles scene. Its only fitting that they threw a killer party at a non descript warehouse in midst of the industrial section of Los Angeles. The setup for the stage at the warehouse was a halfpipe which made it difficult to see the bands unless you were right up front but the line up was worth the struggle. The Melvins were the semi secret openers of the night and obliterated the crowd with their Drop-D guitar riffage courtesy of the immortal Buzz Osbourne. I have seen the Melvins many times back in the day with the most memorable line up being Tool, Melvins and Gwar at the Hollywood Palladium back in 1992. Bad Dudes were up next and I could not help but chuckle at the band name. Bad Dudes was a 1988 video game that was one of the earlier scrolling fighter games. I preferred Kung Fu Master. Bad Dudes lived up to their namesake as they played a soundtrack to an old ’80s video game that was schizophrenic and all over the place. The imagery projected behind them were screen shots from Galaxian and Pac Man which added to the ambiance of the show. I was too far back to see what instrumentation they were using but I heard multiple keyboard blips emanating amidst the hypnotic swirls of guitar and bass. Darker My Love was up next and I managed to position up front for their fiery set. I can never get enough fuzz and distortion at a live show and Darker My Love are experts in that sound department. Tim Presely(Vocals/Guitar) was switching between his Fender Jaguar and a intriguing Chandler guitar running through a Big Muff Fuzz pedal, a Dunlop Rotovibe, and a Vox Wah. Rob Barbato had the low end rumbling with his Gibson Hollowbody Bass augmented with a Pro Co Rat Distortion pedal. Song highlights included “What’s A Mans Paris”, and “Helium Heels”. Their album remains one of the stand out releases from 2006. They will be heading back in to the recording studio so I was glad to check them out before they go into hibernation. The witching hour was approaching and I was unable to stay for Big Business as I needed to be at work the next day. Big Business will be playing the Detroit Bar on Mar 8th with Totimoshi so check it out.
Thanks to L.A. Record for putting on a stellar show!
