The plan was to see Warpaint Saturday night, but I needed something to do Friday after flying into LA. I checked the list of concerts playing in LA listed on Songkick and out of the 100+ available for Friday night, the runner up to The Garden was the band La Luz. They had an interesting sound and the venue was not too far, ensuring that I can get from the airport to the club before the music started.
I was picked up by my daughter at LAX at 7:30 PM and in less than an hour we were standing in line at The Fold west of downtown LA. We had phoned the hotel to tell them we'd be coming in around midnight. Once inside I made for the bar and the shots of sake began to flow! We had enough time to watch a snippet of a Pee Wee Herman full length movie projected big onto the wall of the lounge area. The only improvement they could make to this place is another bathroom or two!
La Luz was a fun band to listen to, especially in my state of mind during this exciting weekend. The Shivas warmed up the audience, and La Luz took it to the next level with their SoCal surf sound. I'd love to see them again!
La Luz (light or enlightenment in Spanish) is a psychedelic surf rock band that produces music Quentin Tarantino would use to score his films. The band consists of lead singer/guitarist Shana Cleveland, Marian Li Pino on drums, Abbey Blackwell on bass and Alice Sandahl on the keys.
The sound of La Luz merges psychedelic rock with 60’s Motown doo-wop, sprinkled with surf and garage rock influences. The melodic vocal harmonies of the group combined with reverb guitar effects and keyboard jingles makes La Luz an awesome soundtrack choice for a psychedelic road trip.
A trip to LA for the specific purpose of seeing the LA band Warpaint. It was a show that they agreed to perform on relatively short notice, a benefit for a high school music program. I flew in Friday night and saw several bands play at a different club, stayed at a hotel in downtown LA, attended the Warpaint concert Saturday night, flying home Sunday. It helps having a daughter who lives near LAX.
Besides Warpaint, we had the treat of also hearing LA Witch and The Guardian this same night. Excellent performances by all three bands. At the first sound of Warpaint, I put the camera away and pretty much just grooved to the music. I met Emily and Jenny in the room at the theater where they were having a silent auction for art work produced by the bands this evening. I did not win the painting by their drummer, Stella, even though my high bid by the time I left was $400. I hope to see them perform again in about a month and a half. After the show back at the hotel, I climbed the fire escape and continued the party with more concerts through my headphones, enjoying the lit up city around me as a light drizzle came down.
Saturday night Warpaint hosted a benefit show for John Marshall High in hopes of raising funds to save music in public education. The event was held at Fais DO DO near Culver City, Los Angeles. The venue resembled a warehouse but with a cool club edge that would attract LA’s finest hipsters. Members of Warpaint were struttin’ around and were very much approachable although we were slightly apprehensible and for lack of a better word, nervous.
The show itself was interesting, we arrived just as the second opener had finished their set so we roamed around the venue a bit. All proceeds from the show and hand painted tote bags (by Warpaint) went to YAAAASS, the charity in which it was held for. Of course we snagged us some tote bags because …Hello!? Warpaint..literally.
The place was packed but not overwhelmingly so, the band started off with their self titled track “Warpaint” which I had yet to hear live. Everyone pretty much went nuts and the ladies followed with a great variety songs fromExquisite Corpse to Warpaint’s self titled album. Theresa Wayman (guitarist) performed exceptionally passionate on this night, I believe they said that it was her idea to put the show together. Once they played “Undertow” the dance floor started thumping and grooving and it didn’t stop after that, I myself was one of those groovers.
This was my 4th time seeing Warpaint live; there is something so majestic and honest about the way they perform. I couldn’t help but get a bit emotional once I heard the chords for “Burgundy” start to play. If you haven’t already, go check out a Warpaint show because you will instantly be reminded of why you love music in the first place.
-Kim
When I originally checked, the poster above simply listed “Special Guest” performing with Warpaint. While looking for a show to attend the night before going to see Warpaint, I looked at 100+ bands playing in LA Friday night and The Garden stood out above the rest, but they were playing in Santa Barbara, too far for us to drive considering when my flight arrived at LAX and when I assumed they would take the stage that evening. I therefore settled on seeing La Luz. So you can understand my surprise when I later learned that The Garden had been chosen to open up for Warpaint Saturday night!
Twins on bass guitar and drums, no one else. Loved the stripped down, high energy sound and the two guys goofing around on stage. I hope to see more of them!
The video below is not that good considering the lighting and the low stage they were on. At that point in the evening I was just wanting to listen to and enjoy the music, preferring not to be a tripod with the purpose of capturing video, watching the show on the camera and missing the live performance in the process. The soundtrack to the video provides you with a sense of the quality of the audio recording of the whole show available below. Enjoy!
It is written:
The Garden is a constantly evolving, conceptual punk band based in Orange County, California. Established in in 2011 by twin brothers Wyatt and Fletcher Shears, the band consistently defies categorization and continues to break ground in their self inflicted ‘Vada Vada’ genre. They are the auditory invaders of the new world; borderless, informed and decentralized, slick sound released from constraint and old ideologies.
Their two-piece bass and drums essence is dirty, raw and very immediate but equally nuanced with echoes of the hive mind of the Vadaverse, the ephemeral architecture that exists both inside and outside of the duo that the listener enters and never quite escapes. Together the twins are an acidic concoction; unstable, sexy and probably toxic.
The Garden’s shows are experiential, as powerful and philosophically confounding as they are glib and tricksy. There never is any time for explanations, only a sense of urgency and a rapid spiral into their parallel world. To be seduced and ensnared by mirror-image raconteurs, operating an addictive carnival ride of sound and movement that stops as abruptly as it starts, is a close approximation of The Garden experience.
