Tag Archives: concert review

Wolfmother & Deap Vally – San Diego – 3/23/16

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This was the perfect double bill at the House of Blues here in San Diego.  Both groups, L.A.’s Deap Vally and Australia’s Wolfmother, are good enough and big enough to headline the venue, but with both of them they provided a real synergy where by playing together they were each better than if they were on their own.  This led to a sold out concert with the crowd showing up earlier than usual to catch the openers and then losing their minds through most of the headliner’s set.

First up was the duo Deap Vally.  The last time I caught this band was opening for Band of Skulls at the same venue a couple of years ago.  They were good then but they are WAY better now!  These two women and their music represent everything that rock n roll is all about. Their show was full of huge choruses, monstrous riffs and a ferocious intensity from start to finish.  I spoke with the drummer, Julie Edwards, after the show and she shared that they expect to have a new album out in the fall.  I will be shocked if they aren’t the headliners the next time they play this venue in San Diego.

Here are two songs from the show: the hit “Baby I Call Hell” and a new song, “Reflection”.

Next up was Wolfmother. I remember the exact moment I discovered this retro-leaning hard-rocking Aussie power trio.  I was on an airplane watching a surf video on my laptop and the song “Woman” was used for an sequence featuring Kelly Slater in the Quiksilver video Young Guns 2 (the scene starts at 24:40).  As soon as I got home I picked up their self-titled debut album and have been a fan ever since.

Since that 2005 debut the group has been through a lot of turmoil and lineup changes and we discovered that the band really was just guitarist/singer Andrew Stockdale and whoever played with him.  Regardless of all the drama- Wolfmother brings back the rock that I grew up with, combining elements of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Thin Lizzy and mixing it with the modern hard rock of groups like the White Stripes.  And all of this was shown on stage this night as they played  a 19 song set from throughout their career. This was the rare concert where the band did not leave out a single song that I wanted to hear. [here’s the setlist from the show]

Wolfmother came out of the gates as a fully formed hard rock behemoth in 2005; then grew even more powerful after the followup LP, the epic Cosmic Egg, dropped in 2009.  After that the band seemed to lose its way somewhat, with Stockdale releasing a solo album, Keep Moving, in 2013 and a hurried third Wolfmother LP titled New Crown 2014.  While these were both solid albums they seemed to be almost brushed aside by both Stockdale and the fans.  At this show there were no songs played from Keep Moving and only one song off of New Crown, the hard charging “How Many Times”.  But based on the quality of their new album, Victorious, and the sold out crowd’s rapturous reception at this show, I believe the band has returned to form and is ready to continue what it started over a decade ago.

Here’s the title track off their new album, “Victorious” from the House of Blues show.

Creepseed – The Casbah, San Diego – Mar 14, 2016

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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

Birdy Bardot – The Casbah, San Diego – 2/24/16

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Birdy Bardot10I 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.

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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.

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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

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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).

Sharkmuffin: The Soda Bar 2/17/16

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I still enjoy seeing the big rock shows where bands play long sets with astonishing lights and staging in front of 20,000 fans.  I’ve recently seen groups like Rush, Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters clock in at 3+ hours, all with mesmerizing stage shows.

Yet I have to say that I enjoy a night like this, with 4 bands in just 3 hours, just as much. After local acts Lucky Keith, Big Bloom and Soft Lions warmed us up (with an assist from a bar just steps away!)  we got to see New York indie/punk/garage rockers Sharkmuffin.  The three-piece features founding members Tarra Thiessen on guitar/vocals and Natalie Kirch on bass, along with new drummer Kim Deuss.  Together the band, which released their first EP’s back in 2013,  played a propulsive, dynamic set of songs off of their debut long player, Chartreuse.

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If you’re a fan of Sleater Kinney, Veruca Salt, Hole, Yeah Yeah Yeahs et al  – then you better check out Sharkmuffin.

Here’s my clip of “Tampons Are for Sluts” from this show.

Find Sharkmuffin here

Built to Spill: The Casbah 2/15/16

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Indie rock stalwarts Built to Spill played back-to-back sold out shows last week at San Diego’s venerable rock club, the Casbah. This quickly became a tough ticket to get as the band typically plays much larger venues when they hit town.  The Casbah can fit only 200, and even with two shows, demand easily exceeded supply.  The Casbah has a reputation though for punching above its weight and the band apparently likes the venue as they have played there several other times throughout the years.

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And really it was great to see a band of such stature in such an intimate setting. The crowd was responsive and enthusiastic throughout the performance and the band responded with a 1:50 set (which is long by Casbah standards) that included at least half of the new album, last year’s excellent Untethered Moon.  One of the highlights from that record was “So” which included a typical Doug Martsch guitar freak-out to start the song before settling into a riffy, melodic groove.  For an encore – and by encore I mean the band leaves the stage and walks out to the sidewalk until they are called back in – they performed an epic, slow building, version of “Time Trap” off of 1999′s Keep It Like a Secret.

If I were to find fault in the show it is that they performed as a 3-piece with only Martsch on guitar.  As good a guitar player as he is, and he is really good, he can’t play two guitars at once.  One of the strengths of BTS is the interplay between multiple guitars, both with a lead over the top of a rhythm guitar or with intertwining leads as on the aforementioned “Time Trap”. Hopefully next time around the band will be back to full strength, but either way I’ll be there wherever they decide to play.