Show Reviews
FYF Fest: Dylan Chadwick is Finally Over L.A.
Sets by the Melvins, The Breeders, Yo La Tengo, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and My Bloody Valentine copped the ideal bait for oldster journo types, while curveball appearances by obscure punk/noise vets (!!!, The Locust), up and coming taste-makers (Metz, Solange, Death Grips) and mainstream-level smashers (MGMT) made more attractive waves for those in the know at FYF Fest. … read more
Do You Know Dannic?
Dannic, the Dutch house producer supporting Hardwell on his Go Hardwell or Go Home tour, jumped on stage at the Saltair on Aug. 17 after coming straight off a plane from his show in Vegas earlier that night. I sat down for a few minutes with the up-and-coming dance music star before he took the stage, and discussed his career to date, as well as his new music. … read more
Summer Slaughter Tour @ The Complex 08.17
The long, hot day did not dampen the crowd’s appreciative roars, and just a few songs in there were already dudes finding a way to scale the stage and run around with the band or scream into the mic before security escorted them off or they took a dive into the crowd. The band didn’t seem to mind it either way, welcoming the energetic participation (which seemed to be an important theme to most of the bands’ performances), although security seemed less than pleased, but what are you gonna do? Those’re metal hooligans for you. … read more
Nitro/Noise, Kontrolled Demolition, DJ Dave Vendetta @ Area 51 08.17
Saturday nights at Area 51 have become my favorite play time, and on Aug. 17 I was able to have my cake and eat it too. The Synchronized Beat Tour had made a tour stop with special guest DJ Dave Vendetta. I knew that I was in for an evening of fresh tracks, dancing until my body ached, and looking at aesthetically pleasing men. … read more
The Melvins, Honky 08.13 @ Club Sound
The Melvins are on tour to celebrate 30 years of avant-garde metal, countless member changes and an extensive discography that branches out into amazingly diverse side projects, including those with Mike Patton and Jelo Biafra. The original 1983 lineup reunited for Tres Cabrones, scheduled for release in November, hopefully to resurrect some amazing OG evil sounds. I missed their tour last year as Melvins Lite for their 2012 release Freak Puke, so I was super stoked to see them again after almost three years. … read more
Kurt Vile & the Violators @ Urban Lounge 08.13 with...
The great cut from Smoke Ring quickly got the crowd tuned back in, as they began to move and nod their heads to the beat. The next tune “Wakin On A Pretty Day,” the longest and one of the best from the new record, set up what was to follow the rest of the night—pure fucking bliss. … read more
Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, Hillbilly Herald, Zengrez
If you grow up playing guitar as I did, Guns N’ Roses, and thus Slash, are essential reference points for your musical cultural education. What’s more was that my dad came of age during the height of butt rock, so driving in his Jimmy, I became well acquainted with Appetite for Destruction and GNR’s covers, like “Nice Boys,” which would shape my sense of guitar listening. With that sense of rock tradition, I was stoked to share this experience with my dad. Needless to say, I was MEGA STOKED to see Slash’s stylings on the axe. … read more
My Ticket Home with Sights Sounds, I Am King, Night...
For SLUG’s end-of-the-year wrap-up last year, I chose My Ticket Home’s To Create A Cure as one of my Top 5 albums, and I’ve been watching the news for a while, waiting for my chance to hear them live. There’s just something about them that I loved right away, especially after watching the video for “New Breed.” Plenty of bands do the heavy-and-light mix, but I thought there was a genuine passion in their take, an earnestness that stood out to me. Touring to promote their new album, Strangers Only, they finally announced a Salt Lake show in the second half, bringing along Night Verses and I Am King to round out the bill. … read more
Wavves with Koala Temple
Wavves sound meaner live than on record, more taut, as if they’re being jerked around by strings suspended from the rafters. Audience members lap it up. There’s a vibe here. My girlfriend calls it “snotty indifference” but I’m not so sure. They’re with it—they’re bashing it out hard. It seems genuine. They’re saying to us, “You fuckheads really wanna know what happened to Milo Aukerman? He didn’t go to college! He moved to Tijuana and started huffing a bunch of copier toner! Then he killed his girlfriend and buried her in the desert! BWAHHHH.” … read more
RUSH @ USANA 07.31
Nearly 20,000 faithful devotees put their lives on hold Wednesday night to gather together in a very large venue to sing praises to three men whom many hold in near diety status: the RUSH concert at USANA Amphitheater. … read more