Caught L.A. band Moonrats at The Smell Friday evening. The ‘rats sound is an edgey guitar pop with melodic vocals and great use (not over-use) of keyboards. A lot of well-produced tracks on the band’s MySpace page, particularly “Sleepwalk” and “Blue, White and Red.” The video below contains clips from the show and a short interview with lead singer Nathan Thelen, in which he mentions that indie bands could use more venues like Vera in the Netherlands. Sounds like a cool place.
Saw a fun band from Olympia, Washington about a month ago called Back Alley Kicks. Their sound is an upbeat garage punk, and we discussed the difference between the indie music scene in their backyard vs. other parts of the country. Between stage clips below, there’s an interview with the band, in which you’ll also see more cigarette smoking than an entire episode of Mad Men.
I caught a show by L.A. band Chasing Kings a couple of weeks ago. They play a piano rock jive I found comparable to The Fray and James Blunt. And yes, I do mean that in a good way. Below are stage clips and a short interview with lead singer Matt Schwartz. The on-stage background artwork painted during the show is by Norton Wisdom.
A little shakey camera work at the beginning of this video due to a very active crowd at The Smell on July 17, but I managed to get things under control a few seconds in. Orange County band Audacity played a hot set (literally) to a full house that night. They’ve been together for about 8 years, which means (doing some quick math) these guys have been jamming since 7th grade. I’m really not sure how old they are, but I do know they kick serious ass on stage and write tunes with great hooks as well. There’s a short interview with the lead singer about halfway through the vid. Good crowd scenes too (when I was a safe distance away). Check it out.
I’ve been trying to catch up with The Christopher Walk-ins for a couple of months now, and I finally did on June 5, when they played a show as part of Weatherground’s residency at Second Street Jazz (and no, neither band plays jazz). The energy that The Walk-ins fuse to their catchy, melodic tunes is very much present in their live show. There was a sizeable crowd at the downtown gig, so you may want to catch these guys while they still play smaller venues. Below are stage clips spliced with short interviews with the band, in which lead singer Leonard Tucker provides some of the more eccentric answers I’ve heard about how to change the indie music scene. Check it out:
I’m really not sure how old they are, but I do know they kick serious ass on stage and write tunes with great hooks as well. There’s a short interview with the lead singer about halfway through the vid. Good crowd scenes too (when I was a safe distance away). Check it out.