Mustard Plug performs a spicy show at the Ottobar
definitely the low point of the night.
If the Rockvilles embody everything that's gone wrong with punk in the last decade, then Left Alone, now in their 11th year, is a sure sign that things are gonna be all right.
Complete with James the Roadie on keyboard, Left Alone transitioned seamlessly between sub-genres of punk, ska and rockabilly. Lead singer and founding member Elvis Cortez, who looks like a tweaked-out Sean Astin, forcibly made his raw vocals audible over the relentless back-noise of his Wilmington, Calif. bandmates.
After a less-than-enthusiastic reception to the first song - though decidedly more animated than any the Rockvilles induced - Cortez stared into the audience and slurred, "I get it! It was too fast!" The following two songs drew instrumentally on '80s ska and vocally on crust punk and were consistently driven by bass lines worthy of Rancid's Matt Freeman.
"Enough of that ska stuff!" Cortez suddenly interrupted. "You guys wanna hear some punk rock? How about some country twang? Well, too bad, we're gonna play it anyway!" Thus commenced the Rockabilly leg of Left Alone's set, even more dynamic than the first, and the audience responded with a swarming skank-pit that didn't stop until the final song.
The only relative fault in Left Alone's performance came when Cortez lectured the mostly-underage audience on the evils of file sharing, which everyone politely tolerated until he shut up and began the next song.
In ironic contrast to Cortez, the Voodoo Glow Skulls' head Frank Casillas (with brothers Eddie and Jorge on guitar and bass, respectively) paused mid-set to address his wildly adoring audience: "If one of you guys buys our CD and burns it for everybody, and everybody listens to our music and comes to the next show, then we will be happy."
Considering the blind excitement with which the entire crowd at Ottobar welcomed the Riverside natives, now in their nineteenth year as a band, Skulls should have no future problems packing the house. They began their set with a sampling of "Crazy Train," complete with heavy chords and signature horn section: Never have you seen two men rock saxophone and trombone as viciously as Brodie Johnson and Joey Hernandez.
If the Rockvilles embody everything that's gone wrong with punk in the last decade, then Left Alone, now in their 11th year, is a sure sign that things are gonna be all right.
Complete with James the Roadie on keyboard, Left Alone transitioned seamlessly between sub-genres of punk, ska and rockabilly. Lead singer and founding member Elvis Cortez, who looks like a tweaked-out Sean Astin, forcibly made his raw vocals audible over the relentless back-noise of his Wilmington, Calif. bandmates.
After a less-than-enthusiastic reception to the first song - though decidedly more animated than any the Rockvilles induced - Cortez stared into the audience and slurred, "I get it! It was too fast!" The following two songs drew instrumentally on '80s ska and vocally on crust punk and were consistently driven by bass lines worthy of Rancid's Matt Freeman.
"Enough of that ska stuff!" Cortez suddenly interrupted. "You guys wanna hear some punk rock? How about some country twang? Well, too bad, we're gonna play it anyway!" Thus commenced the Rockabilly leg of Left Alone's set, even more dynamic than the first, and the audience responded with a swarming skank-pit that didn't stop until the final song.
The only relative fault in Left Alone's performance came when Cortez lectured the mostly-underage audience on the evils of file sharing, which everyone politely tolerated until he shut up and began the next song.
In ironic contrast to Cortez, the Voodoo Glow Skulls' head Frank Casillas (with brothers Eddie and Jorge on guitar and bass, respectively) paused mid-set to address his wildly adoring audience: "If one of you guys buys our CD and burns it for everybody, and everybody listens to our music and comes to the next show, then we will be happy."
Considering the blind excitement with which the entire crowd at Ottobar welcomed the Riverside natives, now in their nineteenth year as a band, Skulls should have no future problems packing the house. They began their set with a sampling of "Crazy Train," complete with heavy chords and signature horn section: Never have you seen two men rock saxophone and trombone as viciously as Brodie Johnson and Joey Hernandez.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Jack
Jack
posted 3/26/08 @ 2:33 AM EST
Ultimately, this comment may fall on deaf ears given the publishing date of the article, however, ahh...Gretchen, a few things.
Now, I'll come clean and disclaim myself. (Continued…)
Post a Comment