San Diego’s Soft Lions closed the show out on St. Patrick’s day last night at the Soda Bar.
Soft Lions – The Soda Bar – 03/17/16
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The Bad Vibes – Soda Bar, San Diego – 3/17/16
I didn’t know much about The Bad Vibes before this show but I plan to rectify that soon. This San Diego quintet just killed it on the small Soda Bar stage! They played a hard rocking bluesy set that covered a lot of ground; fans of psych, doom, heavy metal and even jam bands will find a lot to like here. There was a gothic darkness just below the surface of their songs, reminding me a lot of the atmosphere created by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.
Check out this video of “Vulture Blues” from this show…
The Bad Vibes on bandcamp
Sheila & the Rainbow Colored Trash Bags
Last night was the last show, at least for now, for Matt’s inventively named band of psychedelic garage rockers. He says he’s moving back to England but he hoped to return some day to play more music here in San Diego. Last night he was joined by the Josh’s, Rudiger and Kmak, who helped Matt go out in a blaze of garage rock glory as he bashed out riffs so hard on the last song that he broke half the strings on his guitar. Bon voyage Matt!
Check out Sheila & the Rainbow Colored Trash Bags here on their bandcamp page
Creepseed – The Casbah, San Diego – Mar 14, 2016
In keeping with the tradition that practically all San Diego musicians of note must be in at least three bands, Josh Kmak of The New Kinetics and Shady Francos launched his new band, Creepseed, earlier this week at The Casbah. Joining him were O (fluff, Makeup Sex, Reeve Oliver, Systems Officer etc etc) on guitar; Josh Rudiger (Shady Francos, Sheila + the Rainbow Colored Trash Bags) on drums; and Ana Y (Makeup Sex, Spin Records) on bass.
Though they were the first of three bands that night (in support of Fred & Toody of Deadmoon fame) there was a good sized, enthusiastic, crowd on hand to catch the debut performance of this new band. You would never know this was their first show though if Kmak hadn’t told us, though that shouldn’t be too surprising considering how much experience all the musicians have. Kmak led the band through an energetic set of songs that combined elements of garage, surf and 50’s influenced rock. The songs ranged from a mid-tempo modern take on Ricky Nelson or Buddy Holly to all out rockers with the band locked into a groove, bashing out riffs with a squalling lead guitar laid over the top.
Joining Creepseed for a few songs were Brian Reilly (The New Kinetics, Hiroshima Mockingbirds) who tried to contain himself on the slower song “This Dream I Dread”; and Pat Beers (Schizophonics), who just barely contained himself (compared to his typically unhinged style) who came out near the end to help Creepseed close out a very successful first show. Hopefully we will see more of this new band in the months to come!
Video of “This Dream I Dread”
Instagram for Creepseed
Creepseed – “This Dream I Dread”- The Casbah 3/14/16
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Josh Kmak of The New Kinetics and Shady Francos has a new band, Creepseed. This video is from their debut performance at the Casbah. Joining Josh in Creepseed are O from fluff and the Makeup Sex, Josh from Shady Francos and Sheila & the Rainbow Colored Trash bags, and Ana from The Makeup Sex and Spin Records. Sitting in on this song is Brian Reilly of the New Kinetics on the right.
The Heartaches – The Casbah, San Diego – March 14, 2016
Tonight was a reverse order concert for me as I came to see the first group up, the debut of Creepseed. My plan was to stay and watch a couple songs by the second group, San Diego’s The Heartaches, and then take off unless they were really good. All I can say is that by the time they got to the chorus of their first song, I knew I wasn’t going anywhere during this set!
Somehow I had never heard of this band of garagey punk rockers who have been around since 2002. Apparently I need to pay better attention to what’s going on, since The Heartaches put on a blistering set full of massive riffs, shouted choruses, endless energy and just enough melody to attract more than just a punk audience. The Heartaches seem like a real throwback group as I could hear influences from throughout punk’s early history – from the early days of The Damned and The Clash overseas to The Ramones and Dead Kennedys on this side of the pond. All of it delivered with a ferocious attack on dual guitars, bass and drums and fronted by a singer with enough energy to power The Casbah’s sound system on his own.
Don’t make the mistake I did – check out The Heartaches – and for god’s sake, don’t look at your cell phone while they’re playing!!
Birdy Bardot – “Possibilities” – A Red Trolley Show
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This video is just another reminder of why I love music. A great song played in a unique way in an unusual setting. San Diego’s Birdy Bardot play their song “Possibilities” while riding the trolley (with passengers on board of course!) in San Diego.
Long Live Physical Media
Here’s my main collection. I have more in crates and drawers that I’m not sure what to do with – but this is the stuff that matters. I have a lot of music in my iTunes as well (64,377 songs by over 1800 artists). A good part of it are digital copies of my own collection, along with music I’ve purchased, and some that I’ve downloaded that is not available elsewhere. I do admit to going a little crazy back when Napster started, and I feel bad about that, but not enough to delete the files. Any music that I possess – that has any value – I have a physical copy of it. I need something to hold onto and look at. I want to put it into a CD player or onto a turntable. I still enjoy sitting down with a new record or CD, putting it into the player, and listen as I read the lyrics. I’m cool with MP3’s and streaming etc – but they will never replace the sensations I get when I slit open a new LP, take in that new record smell, and drop the needle into a groove I’ve never heard before.
Birdy Bardot – The Casbah, San Diego – 2/24/16
I won’t pretend to understand how all the members of local super-group, Birdy Bardot, are interrelated. It seems that every San Diego musician of note is in at least 3 bands and this group has collected many of them together. I do know that the creative duo in the group are Birdy Bardot, who also sings for of my favorite San Diego bands, The New Kinetics; and the indefatigable Al Howard, who must be in at least 27 bands including: The Heavy Guilt, Midnight Pine, Dani Bell & the Tarantist, Rebecca Jade & the Cold Fact, Cardinal Moon and Black Sands.
I have wanted to catch Birdy Bardot ever since I read a great feature on them late last year in CityBeat magazine. It was only after reading that article that I went to my first New Kinetics shows and I was curious to how the same singer would front both the frenetic garage rock of NK and the retro/psychedelic influence promised in the CityBeat piece.
It turns out that Ms. Bardot handles both styles with ease and though there is not a lot of overlap in sound, she does seem to lose herself in the songs in both configurations. Where the New Kinetics are all about raw, relentless energy, Birdy Bardot is a much more restrained affair. Though the group does let go and rock out, like on the track “Hearts and Smoke”, it’s really just enough to provide a contrast to the soulful, torchy atmosphere created throughout the rest of the set.
The 7 pc band (which is a lot of players on a pretty small stage) creates a sound and mood on stage that mixes a lot of influences without ever camping out in any one style. There’s touches of the blues, hazy psychedelia, retro-60′s pop and even some alt-country. Mixed together, Birdy Bardot – both the band and the singer – put on a fantastic show and will clearly be a mainstay of the resurgent San Diego music scene, and hopefully can find a way to break out and receive more national, and even international, attention.
Check out Birdy Bardot and her label-mates at Redwoods Music/Birdy Bardot
Metric – House of Blues, San Diego – Feb. 25, 2016
Sometimes I feel like I live in a bit of a musical bubble. Since I don’t listen to the radio and none of my friends listen to the music that I do, I often don’t have a sense of how popular a band is. I remember going to a Portugal. The Man show a few years back at the House of Blues here in San Diego, expecting the place to be about half-full, and instead it was completely sold out.
Metric did one better and not only sold out the 1,100 capacity venue but added another show the previous night. And this crowd really showed their appreciation for this 18 year old band as they sang and danced and responded rapturously throughout the set. And Metric showed the love back, playing a 2 hour set of hits and deep cuts from throughout their history.
And then there’s Emily Haines, proving that age really is just a number (she’s 42!), as she danced and bounced and bounded across the stage from start to finish. She really acknowledged the fans and how far they had all come – both the band and the audience – noting that many in the audience may have become fans back in high school and that by now they all had jobs and many had kids of their own. She talked about what a journey it had been from the old days of arriving in a van and playing the Casbah to playing to a packed house at a great venue like the House of Blues.
Personally, I love the Casbah and I sure wish I had discovered Metric back in those days, but I am also really glad to see talented, ambitious artists achieve this kind of success.
Here’s my video of “Artificial Nocturne” from early in the show.
And here’s the closing number, “Breathing Underwater” (there was a coda where they launched back into the chorus but I didn’t get that).
MaxSoundsMusic 