Saturday night, the El Rey was filled with a cornucopia of music fans. Old and young stood together to appreciate THE INDIE ROCK scene. Um maybe I should clarify old and young there were those who were in their thirties. And there were those who were young enough to be the direct offspring of those in their thirties.
The Australian pop punk trio, The Grates, kicked it off VERY enthusiastically. At first, the crowd didn’t seem to know how to react to the fact that the lead singer, Patience Hodgson, almost never stopped jumping around on stage, even while singing. The music, and her dancing, definitely kept the crowd’s attention, even if they didn’t join in the jumping. After the second song, she cheekily declared that we had just experienced the first time she had ever gone two songs without having herself “in these bad boys up front”, pointing to the monitors. Her rapport with the crowd grew from there. She got good laughs and support while she singled out a few guys to pick on, including the keyboardist who sat in on a few songs.
They played a solid set of catchy songs that became familiar after the first chorus. The rest of the make-up includes Alana Skyring, the ever-smiling drummer, and John Patterson on guitar, who also sang some back-up vocals. Once they were finished, I found myself surprised and wishing they could do just one or two more to keep the energy alive.
Foreign Born came up next. Even though they are LA locals, I’ve somehow missed seeing them before. With every song, I found myself comparing their sound with a different band or style of music. With every song, I found myself wishing I already knew more of their music. With every song, I became more and more of a fan. Their set ranged from ambient acoustic ballads, to darker Cure-ish grooves, and aggressive Walkmen-like runs (except that Matt Popileuch sings, as opposed to Hamilton’s screams). Even though Matt experienced a few sound problems with his guitar, their energy stayed alive and will continue during the rest of their tour with We Are Scientists and then with Giant Drag in Europe.
We Are Scientists started out with only Keith Murray (lead vocals & guitar) and Michael Tapper (drums) on stage. Just like any rock star with lots of young fans should, bassist, Chris Cain, weaved his way through the crowd about 4 rows deep catching all sorts of screams and reaches while running from the stage right to stage left where he finally took his place behind his mic. The kids’ screams continued with the beginnings of most of the songs off of their first full length release, With Love and Squalor, each song giving the head a reason to dance and the ears a reason to smile. Keith and Chris had some fun banter, characteristic of their appearances, keeping each other in check.
The big crowd pleasers were their three myspace streams, “Nobody Move Nobody Get Hurt”, “It’s a Hit” and, most of all, their last song, their newest single, “The Great Escape”. I’m not sure what the rest of the room was like, but where I was standing, up front, one had no choice but to jump up and down. It was the perfect ending to a show that seemed to end too early, but early enough to head out for another drink (if one was part of the old crowd).
