I revisited Eagle Rock for another FYF/ERMF collaboration, in which they presented Daylong Valleys of the Nile, Dom, and Thee Oh Sees. Daylong kicked it off with an audience seeming mostly unfamiliar, with this Lavender Diamond side project. They’re heavily new wave, and their love for music is both audible and visible when they’re performing. They gave us a genuine 1980s sound, and couldn’t have portrayed the beginning of punk/new wave sounds 30 years later better. They said “Thank you, it’s nice to see some old friends tonight,” and quickly packed up so that DOM could begin their set. In between bands, I enjoyed the sounds of Tom Tom Club’s “Genius of Love,” and Polaris’ “Waiting for October” while each band quickly got things going instead of making us wait around. I believe it might have been because of how close in proximity the Center for the Arts is to residential areas, but it was still refreshing.

I made my way to the very front for Dom, as they said “We’re Dom, we’re from western Massachusetts. This one’s called “Things Change.’” Their music is what I’d classify as girl garage music. It’s sort of grungy and alternative, but in the end it has the sweet vocals and fun lyrics that attract girls. I don’t really consider myself a girl-girl, but I understand why girls enjoy this group’s energetic stage presence and witty songs. “Living in America” had electro backtracking, and seemed to be a crowd-pleaser that pumped everyone up. The biggest fans in the front called out for “Bochica” and the band played it happily. This song embodies a good time montage in a teen movie, and the crowd was feeling it shamelessly. Dom sounded very loud and clear, and had a lot of movement. The set finished after an OK from Thee Oh Sees’ John Dwyer for a few more songs than originally planned, with the announcement, “Next up, Thee Oh Sees, they fuckin’ rule.”

I was in my good picture taking/dancing spot, overjoyed to see Thee Oh Sees, and it wasn’t long before my joy went away because some guy that presumably was on every type of drug and drank every type of alcohol was behind me. He stood with his back to me, kept pushing me and elbowing me while loudly talking to his friends, and even continuously pushed me out of the way to touch Brigid Dawson’s keyboard. I now couldn’t wait any longer for Thee Oh Sees to play, so I could 1)go crazy over the immense talent, and 2)punch this guy in the face and blame it on moshing. As soon as Thee Oh Sees began to play, the crowd came to life and trampled each other vehemently. So, I elbowed the shit out of that guy, shook the spilled beer off of me, and went to the makeshift backstage area to take pictures and not die. The band played the addictive “I was Denied,” which starts out very old school then modernizes on the chorus as it gets louder and progressively badass. Everyone freaked the fuck out when they played hit song “Meat Step Lively,” which reminds me of The Stooges type garage punk. The crowd surfers caught waves during “Crushed Grass” and of course “Tidal Wave,” two songs that exemplify a surf punk sound that is different from the current. Thee Oh Sees gives an original surf/garage/punk that definitely has its influences, but the band is mostly set apart from the rest. “Warm Slime” brings out each of the musicians’ talents; powerful fast drumming, tight swift bass, beautiful loud vocals from Brigid, and John defining punk rock with his skillful vocals and ear-splitting guitar that rests just below his neck. This was their last show after 31 in a row, and now they’re going home to San Francisco for some much needed rest.

—Alyssa Holland (words + photo)

You know how the smell of pink sawdust can bring you immediately back to your elementary school hallway? This music was bringing me back emotionally to mixtapes and 120 Minutes on MTV in 1992, not in a dreamy haze but in an arresting, “wake up and FEEL this!” sensation that paired well with a good beer buzz to take the edge off. There was just a hint of boogie in the bass, and when these kids bobbed back and forth on the stage, their long hair billowed out in front of them like a freak flag flying high! I first saw the Dum Dum girls on this very same stage—maybe the Megaphonic Thrift will reach the same kind of giddy fame, but probably not, since they live in Norway.

Over on the Theater Stage, Alana Amram and the Rough Gems were laying down some heart-wrenching barroom country with just a tinge of Laurel Canyon decadence, even though they’re from Brooklyn. She poked fun at the Apache boys between songs with jokes about their far-out threads—the Apache wing of Burger Records knows Alana from her stint in power pop band the Fame a handful of years back, so I’m sure this ribbing would be considered the “good natured” kind. She’s changed a lot musically since those days—even just a couple years ago, I saw Amram with a slightly different line-up that included her sister and was a bit more rocker/singer-songwritery. But despite the fact that she still looks and dresses a bit like the female Marc Bolan, her modern Rough Gems has gone full-tilt country now.

After seeing Leslie Stevens two days in a row, it’s hard not to compare Amram’s brand of country to Stevens’, since it is in fact more or less the same brand: pedal steel, classic storytelling from a female perspective, and a rock rhythm section. But Amram’s voice, while not as strong or melodious as Stevens’, is a little darker, and so are her stories. She jarred me out of my sunny afternoon haze by commanding the audience to “Take a drink in your right hand, in honor of your mother’s man…”

The Badgers’ mothers are the voice of reason, but the Rough Gems’ moms are honky tonk ne’er do wells that the Badgers’ moms wouldn’t like. If these two country ladies were on a record of early seventies pop HITS, Leslie Stevens would be Melanie, and Alana Amram would be Suzy Quatro.

But the Dead Milkmen were calling. The fucking DEAD MILKMEN! And so we high-tailed it south to 6th Street and the East Side Drive In, where the lines were around the block! I was afraid we wouldn’t get in, so I found Steve MacDonald (whose band OFF! was playing the same gig) sitting in a van, and threatened him with bad album reviews for life if he didn’t try to get us into the show. But then the line started moving really fast, so I got in anyway and I wound up looking like a jackass. Sorry, Steve! But hey, you owe me one for not saying in print that you look like Dr. Ruth.

Dead Milkmen

Inside the place, dance band !!! (Chk Chk Chuk) was on the stage. It may just be that I wasn’t in the mood, but really, do we need another Happy Mondays? Maybe we do.

!!!

Thee Oh Sees were playing the lower stage, and wow, with proper sound and a big crowd, these guys are fantastic, actually BETTER than the hype they’ve been getting. I’m talking full-throttle rock and roll in a way that felt less hard, and maybe less tight, but more real and dangerous than the Riverboat Gambler’s set the day before, though both bands would do well on a bill together. Thee Oh Sees’s tunes went from Sonics-esque stompers to Dead Moon-esque throat-slitters to one or two Kiss-meets-Slade double-time anthems. And they brought their Californian fans with them! The aforementioned Mr. MacDonald as well as a gaggle of Smell-frequenters with Lamps and Growlers T-shirts were stomping their feet in the dust, as were L.A. RECORD’s newfound El Paso friends, who seemed to be having a jolly time that may have involved large amounts of alcohol.

The beer line itself was ginormous, and we were still in it when suddenly the strains of “Taco Land” hit our ears. The Dead Milkmen! For the second time in one day, I was transported back to the nineties, when I’d seen the Dead Milkmen play oh, about a thousand times in Oklahoma. Talking to them before a show at Ikon in Tulsa when I was 14 or so was a pivotal moment in my life, and off or on the stage, they were always a witty breath of fresh air in an era that had tons of irony yet perhaps not enough levity.

I was worried that after the death of bassist Dave Blood (who committed suicide with an overdose of pills just a couple years back), the fire might have gone out of their fun. But they and their bassist stand-in were in top form, making their old chestnuts like “Stuart” and “Punk Rock Girl” sound laugh-out-loud funny (or, okay, at least ear-to-ear grin funny) and captivating the thousand-strong throng despite all its efforts to become a nineties mosh pit. At one point, in the middle of a story that somehow tied together Austin, black people, and a rant against Zooey Deschanel that of course would become the intro to “Bitchin’ Camaro,” Rodney Anonymous caught a young Mohican gentleman just inches from a stage dive, put his arm around his shoulders, pulled him back and said, “Wait a second, you’ll love this part,” and continued to hold the impatient fan for the duration of his story before letting the young man crowd surf away.

It was a triumphant performance that reminded me how fun these songs are to listen to, and not just to laugh to. Like the Dictators, or Zappa, or even the Misfits or Descendants or pick-your-band, these guys have picked some observations of life to sing about that can be pretty funny, but laugh or not, the songs stand up, especially live, and maybe even more so! That’s why it made perfect sense for them to slip Gary Numan’s “In Cars” into their set.

And the night wasn’t even done! We skedaddled to Mohawk, where the Strange Boys proved that their lackluster performance the previous night really must have been a fluke. Or maybe they just wanted to live up to tonight’s competition—with everyone from Quintron to Meanside to the Woggles to Prince Rama on the bill—because they pulled out all the stops, with a lot of energy, great mewling vocals, and even a smile here and there!

The Strange Boys

Jeff the Brotherhood also rose to the challenge of rocking and rolling our brains out…

Jeff the Brotherhood

…. but Ty Segall may have been my personal point of pride of the evening—I’ve watched his career grow and blossom, and for a second, I almost felt like I had put the showcase together, like, “see how fucking GOOD this kid is??? This is MY kid!” Until I realized that really Ty has been an immortal rock and roll God since he was a teenager in Epsilons, and probably everybody here knew it. But for any newbies who may not have seen him before, they definitely left with his name on their lips.

Ty Segall

Because there were two stages, and strange quasi-English girl who was trying to make out with me because she thought I was in a band, I didn’t get to fully appreciate sets by Mean Side and the Woggles, which is too bad, because these fuckers were giving it their ALL, sweating, rocking, getting the crowd going, and all inside on a hot night when people would probably have rather been sprinkling ice cubes on their heads.

But I jettisoned the girl by the final hour of the night (or rather, she me) and was able to fully appreciate Miss Pussycat’s puppet show, which led up to the third Quintron and Miss Pussycat show of my life—probably only the second best Quintron show I’d ever seen, but the BEST Miss Pussycat puppet show, which revolved around an eerily appropriate magical pizza that had to get snuck past the cops, who finally received a beating and/or murder at the hands of some monkeys, or something.

Quintron

Miss Pussycat

The actual music was wonderful too, though compared to the Strange Boys, Ty Segall, and all we had seen today—well, it was tough to live up to. Plus I couldn’t hear enough of the Drum Buddy in the mix, and I feel like somewhere along the line, Mr. Quintron has sort of abandoned the pure “keyboard as a noise tone” approach to his music in favor of more straight-ahead garage, which while wonderful, has about a THOUSAND old, new, and recently fortified competitors, some of them playing RIGHT INSIDE on the other Mohawk stage. I wanted to take Quintron aside and remind him that a little veer towards John Cale-era Tony Conrad simplicity on the keys wouldn’t kill him, and would be fitting to the manifesto I thought he wrote when he went “pop” in the first place.

But then again, maybe I was just cranky. I had been watching bands all day, I had blue balls, and sadly, it was the last show of the entire festival, which had been more fun than telling Blaque Chris to eat a bag of dicks. Things weren’t really over—but I knew the remainder of my time in Austin would be a wind-down, and that a real life without Milkmen, monkeys, and day-long music would soon begin again on a West Coast still tainted with radiation and budget crises. It was time to put down my beer and pick up a newspaper… er, but maybe not just quite yet!

—Dan Collins

1. Kyle Ranson – Warm Slime (Thee Oh Sees)
Walt Gorecki: Kyle Ranson’s work is extremely visceral making him a perfect fit for Thee Oh Sees, whose live performances of hard hitting garage rock at it’s best are not to be missed. It probably doesn’t hurt that he used to live with frontman John Dwyer, along with noted artist Maya Hayuk. This piece slimes it’s way to the top of my picks with ease.

2. George Condo – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Kanye West)
Well Kanye is obviously no stranger to controversy, which is probably why it was hardly even noticed that his most recent release faced heavy censorship issues for the cover art. With album art by world class fine art painter George Condo, the fans win out in the end with a beautiful series of alternate covers by the artist.

3. owleyes – Repetition: A Tribute to David Bowie (Manimal Vinyl)
L.A. Based artist owleyes, aka James Weigel, captures the character of Bowie in a way we haven’t seen before, while also hinting at the eclectic nature of the album within, an instant eyecatcher. The sillhouette of Bowie is immediately recognizable yet bends your perception of spatial physics in this charity benefit release by Manimal Vinyl.

4. Tony Millionaire – National Ransom (Elvis Costello)
Comics artist Tony Millionaire, perhaps most well known for his Drinky Crow series, which was later animated in a hilarious, yet short-lived, Adult Swim show, does a great turn on Elvis Costello’s latest release, bringing to mind the old timey oil barons, which are unfortunately all too current of a concern.

5. Caroline Roberts – The Suburbs (Arcade Fire)
This beautiful photo-manipulation by Montreal based Illustrator / Graphic Designer Caroline Roberts sets an early 70s Southern California tone employing vernacular photography popularized by such greats as Larry Sultan and William Eggleston.

6. Leigh McClosky / Aaron Meyers – Cosmogramma (Flying Lotus)
Two artists? Well yes, Leigh McClosky did the album art, which is excellent as a minimal meditative piece that incorporates the mandala structures which are much of the artist’s focus. What puts this in the top 10 category is the online interactive version engineered by Aaron Meyers. Feel free to give this “augmented reality app” a try – http://flying-lotus.com/fieldlines

7. Becca Mann – Have One On Me (Joanna Newsom)
Painted in a realistic style, Becca’s paintings often work from found photographs. She really captures the serene chaos evoked by Newsom’s music in this elaborately staged composition.

8. Kristina Collantes – The Inanimate Sermon (Mothers of Gut)
Collantes, a self taught illustrator who’s work is unmistakable, captures the psych-influenced rock of Mothers of Gut in this classy combination of art nouveau aesthetics and 1970s new age elegance.

9. Kymia Nawabi – In Evening Air (Future Islands)
Kymia Nawabi’s work is perfectly befitting, capturing the dreamy quality of Baltimore post-punk trio Future Islands. Her “psychic doppelghangers” populate a fantasy world of endless oceans borne out out of the human form.

10. Jessalyn Aaland, Invocation (KIT)
San Francisco based artist Jessalyn Aaland’s collage work, a composition of the clutter of everyday suburbia, supplies the viewer with a very calm sort of apocalypse to ponder while listening to this genre-bending punk based West Coast quartet.

Bonus Section:
Walt’s top 3 cat album covers of 2010

1. Themselves, Crowns Down and Company

2. Best Coast, Crazy For You

3. Klaxons, Surfing the Void

OFF!, THEE OH SEES, NOBUNNY, AND WHITE SHIT ON FRIDAY DEC. 17TH AT THE SEX, 816 SOUTH SANTA FE AVENUE, LOS ANGELES. 8:00PM/ FREE/ ALL AGES.

Brian Stewart, Growlers, Drums: Pelvic bone
Kyle Schuster, Growlers, Keyboards & Guitar: devil
Scott Montoya: Growlers, Bass: Scarab
Brooks Nielsen: Growlers, Vocals: Lil’ Clownie
Warren Thomas, Growlers, Bongos: Pelvic
Matt Vachon, Growlers, Guitar: The Moth Man
Chris Ziegler, L.A. Record Editor: A face…like somebody rolled in something dirty and then rolled their face on some paper
Christina Benson, L.A. Record Associate Editor: This looks like a Hawaiian Voodoo Goddess surrounding by people worshipping it and some eagles bringing it offerings
Bridget Dawson, Oh Sees, Vocals: Tapestry
John Dwyer, Oh Sees, Vocals & Guitar: Clown
Kevin Stewart, Crystal Antlers, Drums: My dad’s face
Sean Borman, Burger Records: Panda Bear
Lee Rickard, Burger Records: Owl
Micheal Quinn, Corridor/ Swahili Blonde,  Multi-Instrumentalist: Pumpkin
Mike Shoun, Oh Sees, Drums: Leon Trotsky combined with the skull of a bear
Marissa Paternoster, Screaming Females, Vocals & Guitar: Two women stabbing each other in the throat
Dan Collins, L.A. Record Music Editor: Like Predator, when he takes off his mask and he’s got those claw things, but a little different, like maybe it’s a metal guy who shaved his beard to look like that
Michael Abbate, Screaming Females, Bass: That is my dad
Joe McGarry, Pop Noir: Teeth
Luke McGarry, Pop Noir: A face
Bob Bruno, Best Coast, Guitar: Goblin
Allen Bleyle, Residual Echos/Happy Birthday, Bass: Cat
Preston Olsen, Woah Hunx, Guitar: Mike Tyson mixed with Luigi from the Mario Bros video game…and really mad in prison, actually.  Like he was in prison and then got fused with Luigi and he got really mad about it.
Cameron Crowe, Audacity, Bass: Presidential Seal
Gabriel Hart, Jail Weddings, Vocals: My own reflection 3 days ago.
Matt Eagleson, Jail Weddings, Piano: Have you ever had to do soul laundry?  Like, do you ever get a stain on your soul?  That’s what that looks like to me.
Jack Hutchings, Starving Daughters, Guitar: Creature climbing a wall
Ali Koehler, Best Coast, Drums: Looks like a dude, like, sitting…meditating…with weird baby carriges floating on either side
Jorge Davila, Davila 666, Guitar: smushed face
Angel Davila, Davila 666, Tamborine & Vocals: A Japanese Woman
Brandon Thomas, Future Ghosts, Vocals: Tiger
Jesse Clavin, Bleached, Bass: Some kind of skull, not a human skull…but some kind of skull…it’s very intense
Bennett Foster, Magic Kids, Vocals & Guitar: Monkey’s paw print
Stephen Pope, Wavves, Bass: A two faced cat, who’s spitting at me, but lovingly thinks spit is love, but it’s NOT…I don’t like you cat!
Bethany Cosentino, Best Coast, Guitar: Lungs
Jennifer Clavin, Cold Cave, Synths: A king sitting in a lake
Dane Chadwick, Abe Vigoda, Drums: Sort of a skull
Juan Velazquez, Abe Vigoda, Vocals & Guitar: A smashed up panda face
Brian Hill, Soft Pack, Drummer: You know the guy who’s transforming himself into the lion-man, or the tiger face? He got all the plastic surgery.  That’s the tiger face man!

Brian Stewart, Growlers, Drums: I see some butts and boobs
Kyle Schuster, Growlers, Keyboards & Guitar: I see some butts and boobs and a penis cross
Scott Montoya: Growlers, Bass: Balloons
Brooks Nielsen: Growlers, Vocals: Jellyfish
Warren Thomas, Growlers, Bongos: Psychedelic intestines
Matt Vachon, Growlers, Guitar: Diarrhea
Chris Ziegler, L.A. Record Editor: Splatter
Christina Benson, L.A. Record Associate Editor: Marshmallow puff guy from Ghostbusters if it flew against a window splattered
Bridget Dawson, Oh Sees, Vocals: Squid
John Dwyer, Oh Sees, Vocals & Guitar: Stain
Kevin Stewart, Crystal Antlers, Drums: A bunch of ink on a piece of white paper
Sean Borman, Burger Records: Wasp
Lee Rickard, Burger Records: Buddha
Micheal Quinn, Corridor/ Swahili Blonde,  Multi-Instrumentalist: Space Pumpkin
Mike Shoun, Oh Sees, Drums: Andromeda Galaxy Super Cluster
Marissa Paternoster, Screaming Females, Vocals & Guitar: Kid in black metal make-up, masterbating
Dan Collins, L.A. Record Music Editor: That one’s totally, like, a SOBE commercial.  First of all, I know these are supposed to be phallic, but it’s very phallic here at the bottom…a little chubby, but that’s cool.
Michael Abbate: Butterfly
Joe McGarry, Pop Noir: Brains
Luke McGarry, Pop Noir: A bunch of balloons
Bob Bruno, Best Coast, Guitar: Broccoli
Allen Bleyle, Residual Echos/Happy Birthday, Bass: Goat
Preston Olsen, Woah Hunx, Guitar: This kind of looks like a napkin that’s been laid in a coffee shop and a bunch of coffee just spilled on the napkin, and then  someone picked it up, and they stuck it on their friend’s back, and then their friend got mad and crashed their car.
Cameron Crowe, Audacity, Bass: Lion
Gabriel Hart, Jail Weddings, Vocals: The mess I made three days ago
Matt Eagleson, Jail Weddings, Piano: That looks like my cat when it gets super pissed and fuckin, takes a chunk out of my nose
Jack Hutchings, Starving Daughters, Guitar: Soapy bubbles
Ali Koehler, Best Coast, Drums: A guy wearing glasses with an atom bomb coming out of his head and spreading his legs, and a tree is growing out of his butt
Jorge Davila, Davila 666, Guitar: Star of some kind with dots around it
Angel Davila 666, Tamborine & Vocals: An alter, but very angry
Brandon Thomas, Future Ghosts, Vocals: Skull and cross-bones
Jesse Clavin, Bleached, Bass: Splattered paint around toad from Mario Cart hanging at the tip of the splattered paint.
Bennett Foster, Magic Kids, Vocals & Guitar: Blood
Stephen Pope, Wavves, Bass: That’s another cat that I’m even more allergic to!  That’s a long haired cat, and I can’t be around them.
Bethany Cosentino, Best Coast, Guitar: A mushroom
Jennifer Clavin, Cold Cave, Synths: A bouquet of flowers
Dane Chadwick, Abe Vigoda, Drums: I see a skull up top and kind of this alien-insect-bug thing
Juan Velazquez, Abe Vigoda, Vocals & Guitar: Genital warts
Brian Hill, Soft Pack, Drummer: That one almost has a zebra face, but it has all these dots around it, but I see a zebra face in the middle of it.

Good/Common answer: Bat, butterfly, female figure (in the center), moth
You may be a little paranoid if you see: Mask, animal face, jack o lantern
Bad answer:Anything insulting about the female figure (it is an indicator of your own body image)”

Brian Stewart, Growlers, Drums: tarantula
Kyle Schuster, Growlers, Keyboards & Guitar: manta ray
Scott Montoya, Growlers, Bass: Donkey
Brooks Nielsen, Growlers, Vocals: Crackhead rocks
Warren Thomas, Growlers, Bongos: flying wolf-hawk…two of em’
Matt Vachon, Growlers, Guitar: Goat
Chris Ziegler, L.A. Record Editor: Pelvis bone and a tail bone
Christina Benson, L.A. Record Associate Editor: Bat
Bridget Dawson, Oh Sees, Vocals: Wolf
John Dwyer, Oh Sees, Vocals & Guitar: Yoda
Kevin Stewart, Crystal Antlers, Drums: A Halloween costume of a wild boar
Sean Borman, Burger Records: War Hog
Lee Rickard, Burger Records: Satan
Micheal Quinn, Corridor/ Swahili Blonde, Multi-Instrumentalist: Hordak from She-Ra
Mike Shoun, Oh Sees, Drums: A smushed bat on hwy 95 in Arizona
Marissa Paternoster, Screaming Females, Vocals & Guitar: Your parents having sex
Dan Collins, L.A. Record Music Editor:  That looks like the front view of a post Apocalyptic hover craft covered in dust that’s coming at you.  There’s a guy, you can’t see him, but he’s sitting down there, maybe these are controls he’s holding, and he’s gonna get you, because he needs the juice.
Michael Abbate, Screaming Females, Bass: Female reproductive system
Joe McGarry, Pop Noir: Jet ski
Luke McGarry, Pop Noir: Two dogs
Bob Bruno, Best Coast, Guitar: Elephant
Allen Bleyle, Residual Echos/Happy Birthday, Bass: Moth/Butterfly hybrid
Preston Olsen, Woah Hunx, Guitar: It looks like the main older gentleman from Fiddler on the Roof, and he’s holding a doppelganger of himself and dancing with his hand back, and they’re both twirling on what looks to be a pogo stick
Cameron Crowe, Audacity, Bass: Satanic Tarot card
Gabriel Hart, Jail Weddings, Vocals: The demon’s head I saw  when I was fourteen except there was thousands of them that took up my whole peripheral vision
Matt Eagleson, Jail Weddings, Piano:The millennium falcon
Jack Hutchings, Starving Daughters, Guitar: Bat
Ali Koehler, Best Coast, Drums: A beetle with two Santa Clauses dancing, holding on to its antennas
Jorge Davila, Davila 666, Guitar: Bird mask
Angel Davila, Davila 666, Tamborine & Vocals: A fox face
Brandon Thomas, Future Ghosts, Vocals: Jack-o-lantern
Jesse Clavin, Bleached, Bass: A bat
Bennett Foster, Magic Kids, Vocals & Guitar: Pelvis
Stephen Pope, Wavves, Bass: Oh my god!  That’s Bennet [Foster of Magic Kids] in the dream I had.  We took acid together and just fucked each other for hours and all these colors bursted out of our cocks and out of our eyeballs and we loved each other and then his girlfriend got mad at me
Bethany Cosentino, Best Coast, Guitar: Two birds touching claws
Jennifer Clavin, Cold Cave, Synths: Clowns on, like, the teacup ride at Disneyland
Dane Chadwick, Abe Vigoda, Drums: Very dark…It’s almost like war pigs or something.  I don’t know I’m getting, like, this weird…like if a pig were to go to war and it wore this mask, this is the mask it’d wear…like a metal face plate
Juan Velazquez, Abe Vigoda, Vocals & Guitar: In the middle is a scarab and on the sides are these two dancers
Brian Hill, Soft Pack, Drummer: Taranchula
You should see this image as: Two human-like forms (females or clowns)
Other good/Common answers:Butterfly, cave entrance”

Brian Stewart, Growlers: Teen Wolf
Kyle Schuster, Growlers: A bunny rabbit of Brian [Stewart]
Scott Montoya: Growlers: Sad Pac-Man
Brooks Nielsen: Growlers: Two fat Shriners drinking beers
Warren Thomas, Growlers, Bongos: Looks like the Cookie Monster if he lit his face on fire
Matt Vachon, Growlers, Guitar: House with a face…laughing at me
Chris Ziegler, L.A. Record Editor: Two dudes high-fiving each other
Christina Benson, L.A. Record Associate Editor: Scary face
Bridget Dawson, Oh Sees, Vocals: Monster
John Dwyer, Oh Sees, Vocals & Guitar: Maple Leaf…Canada!
Kevin Stewart, Crystal Antlers, Drums: A guy reaching his hands out, and he’s wearing a dress
Sean Borman, Burger Records: Those guys from Secret of Mana, a video game I used to play
Lee Rickard, Burger Records: Wolf
Micheal Quinn, Corridor/ Swahili Blonde, Multi-Instrumentalist: Grimace from McDonalds
Mike Shoun, Oh Sees, Drums: Japanese rabbit thing
Marissa Paternoster, Screaming Females, Vocals & Guitar: One of those ghosts from Pac-Man
Dan Collins, L.A. Record Music Editor: That is the grim bear of death…he’s like, “Oh bother” but he’s gonna swallow your soul
Michael Abbate, Screaming Females, Bass: That’s my dad again
Joe McGarry, Pop Noir: Pac-Man ghosts
Luke McGarry, Pop Noir: Two clowns on a round-a-bout
Bob Bruno, Best Coast, Guitar: Space invader
Allen Bleyle, Residual Echos/Happy Birthday, Bass: Satanic Castle
Preston Olsen, Woah Hunx, Guitar: It kinda looks like a drooping Garfield, like he ate a bunch of Lasagna and it was so hot it melted his mouth open extra wide, so he’s in a lot of pain.
Cameron Crowe, Audacity, Bass: Two old men playing checkers
Gabriel Hart, Jail Weddings, Vocals: A monster that’s going to  soothe me in some way
Matt Eagleson, Jail Weddings, Piano: also, the millennium falcon, but this time with Indiana Jones inside
Jack Hutchings, Starving Daughters, Guitar: A beheaded monster
Ali Koehler, Best Coast, Drums: Two weird goose humans playing patty cake
Angel Davila, Davila 666, Tamborine & Vocals: A Cartoon from Adult Swim
Jorge Davila, Davila 666, Guitar: Two clowns playing patty cake
Brandon Thomas, Future Ghosts, Vocals: Skull
Jesse Clavin, Bleached, Bass: I just see a crying animated creature that wants to, like, NOT be animated anymore, it’s like “I’M HUMAN!”
Bennett Foster, Magic Kids, Vocals & Guitar: A different kind of Pelvis
Stephen Pope, Wavves, Bass: That’s my mom.  Hey mom, I love you!
Bethany Cosentino, Best Coast, Guitar: Two jokers high-fiving
Jennifer Clavin, Cold Cave, Synths: Also clowns, high-fiving
Dane Chadwick, Abe Vigoda, Drums: Rocket taking off back in time somewhere.
Juan Velazquez, Abe Vigoda, Vocals & Guitar: A vagina
Brian Hill, Soft Pack, Drummer: Two dudes, wearing fezes, that are dancing, and they’re high-fiving

KSCR FEST 2010

4:15-4:45 The Smiles

5:00- 5:30 Trolley Station

5:45- 6:30 Princeton

7:50- 7:35 Rumspringa

8:15-9:00 The Growlers

8:00-9:20 Dublab

9:20- 10:05 The Entrance Band

10:05-10:25 DJ Set- Dublab

10:25- 11:15 Thee Oh Sees

Fortunately for the Echo’s insurance premium, The Fresh and Only’s were scheduled to spread their sticky rhythms and catchy bass hooks all over us all before Thee Oh Sees would have a chance to shatter our every bone. Like a Vietnam vet who’s been through The Shit and left a part of himself there, Fresh and Only’s singer Tim Cohen pulled his smooth bellowing voice from the pockets of his camo fatigue with a nonchalance that assured us all would be okay, at least until the end of their set.

As Thee Oh Sees began piling their amps and speakers clear to the ceiling, I realized the true meaning behind Cohen’s blasé demeanor: he had come to the realization there is no avoiding the type of guerrilla warfare born from John Dwyer’s frantic…everything. As soon as Thee Oh Sees powered up their equipment we were taken for a frenzied run through a springy forest teaming with reverb booby traps and tambourine tripwires until we reached the mansion where the head of state resides. Luckily, everyone figured out pretty quickly that the best way not to get destroyed is to just keep moving.

—Daniel Pelt

Download: The Fresh & Onlys “Dude’s Got A Tender Heart”

(from Grey-Eyed Girl out now on Woodsist)

Tim Cohen and Shayde Sartin were music buffs who met after working at Amoeba in San Francisco for almost a decade. One day, they decided to make music rather than just stacking it on shelves. They dumped their other bands (but not their jobs) and brought on Wymond Miles and Kyle Gibson for last spring’s self-titled LP, a record as infectious as raw meat festering in a garage. This fall’s Grey-Eyed Girls once again delivers much more than dude music—it’s romantic. This interview by Daiana Feuer.

What went into making this new album so romantic?
Shayde Sartin (bass): It was a joyous time when we made the record. The whole album embraces positive love songs. We were so happy then, defining our sound and broadening our sound. The old album was more punk and garage. But on the second record we were embracing that we weren’t writing aggressive dude music. ‘Grey-Eyed Girls’ is a positive affirmation of love for someone. It ends on a dark song, though—‘The Delusion Of Man.’ Right at that point we started writing the new batch of songs. The new batch is more paranoid and full of tension. There’s a lot of personal stuff, break ups, people moving on, money, things stressing us out. Paranoia has crept into our hearts. That’s just how it happened. There’s plenty to be paranoid about. Paying bills. All this extra stuff keeps us from being happy.
If you took out the words, would the romanticism be retained in the instrumentals?
Shayde Sartin: Totally. Tim has a soft, warm croon—his voice does add romanticism. He can also reach out. He has a beautiful voice. But I think that a lot of the romantic is in Wymond’s guitar playing.
What’s an example of paranoia that ruined a romance for you?
Shayde Sartin: I hate when people chew with their mouth open. I actually broke up with a girl during breakfast. I was watching her chew, and she was talking and I was like, ‘Can you just shut your mouth when you eat?’ She got super hurt. That was the beginning of the end. We all have different habits or whatever!
What emotion would you ascribe to each band member’s instrument?
Shayde Sartin: My bass playing carries depression. Kyle’s drumming has a very jolly, sweet, humorous personality. He hits hard as a hammer but it’s just humorous. Wymond is melancholy on the guitar—the sweetest kind of melancholy. Not morose, but a rainy-day feeling. Tim’s keyboard playing would be pure excitement—a really manic feel on the keyboard.
What do you think you guys would be most apt to do together—rob a bank, run a childcare center, play soccer, or bake a glorious wedding cake?
Shayde Sartin: I am going to go with the wedding cake. We would bicker too much about the robbery. Everyone would be trying to figure out who would get to drive. Tim would drive in the end. He is the most stubborn. I would be the wild card that shoots somebody. Kyle would be the mastermind. Wymond wouldn’t get involved. He would sit in the car and put his head down in disappointment.
When you toured as his band, how many times did Rodriguez say ‘baby’ in conversation?
Shayde Sartin: At least two or three times every hour. He was a trip. He was such a funny guy. I noticed that we all started picking up his speech. It’s pretty infectious. He’s got a real strange way of talking. If I were to characterize it, it’s the typical ’60s ex-hippie kind of burnout guy.
Speaking of touring, do you make a deliberate attempt to play gay biker bars?
Shayde Sartin: Gay bars are the best bars to play. I don’t know why. In San Francisco—The Eagle, which is this gay leather bar—they are so cool and the vibe is good. Better than your rock or punk dive. And they give you a great percentage. It makes me feel at home, a little, when we play those kinds of places out of town. It’d be cool to do a tour where we only play gay bars. We can sell Fresh & Onlys sex toys.
What would the sex toy be?
Shayde Sartin: None of us are really into sex toys, actually. A brand of condoms with holes in it. Fresh & Onlys mesh condoms.
What does the name actually refer to?
Shayde Sartin: It’s best left up to imagination. Some say it makes them think of a feminine product or a grocery store. One of our bandmates came up with it. She was all crazy and ranting and that one stood out. I think it sounds like a virgin. Which is sinister and dark. It’s pretty creepy of me but that’s who I am! I like that it also makes me think of mundane and domestic things.
How does the band’s sound reflect domesticity?
Shayde Sartin: We have a pretty accessible pop sound. There are a lot of extremely damaged bands out there that we really enjoy. But a side of us comes from a pure pop thing. The Clash or R.E.M. wouldn’t be too far off. We get lumped in with the trashier psych-punk stuff. I enjoy that, of course. I wouldn’t distance myself from that. It’s who likes us that likes us. But pop, for us, is a source of inspiration and making pop music is really fun—not burying melodies or obscuring the songiness.
Would you say pop is being embraced in ‘alternative’ music?
Shayde Sartin: I love seeing all these bands embracing pop wholeheartedly. Everything goes in waves. There’s always trends and I enjoy that stuff and I think it is useless to try and push against everything happening. At certain times things get more popular than others. Wounded Lion has their own brand of pop that I think is amazing.
What does it mean to write a pop song instead of a rock song?
Shayde Sartin: ‘Pop’ gets used like ‘punk’ and ‘garage’—as popular music. That’s a great question. When people refer to pop, they refer to an embrace of saccharine melodies, music that’s joyful or gleeful. Pop is an easy way to describe that we aren’t making tragic drone music. We write simple pop songs. Then in journalism those words get used, and a lot of times they start to lose their meanings. We are a rock ‘n’ roll band. I don’t think there really should be a distinction at the very heart of it.
Where does the name Shayde come from?
Shayde Sartin: It’s actually a name common in the Appalachians—where I’m from. I’m told it’s popular in New Zealand, but I’ve never met anyone from New Zealand before.
Was Appalachian music part of your upbringing?
Shayde Sartin: It’s not as popular as people would want to think it is. When I was growing up, ‘80s radio is what we listened to. All new wave. But a lot of the old timers still have a relationship with the music. It wasn’t a part of my life growing up, though. A few years ago I took an interest in it and learned stuff about the music. I even learned how to play banjo. My curiosity would be to see how certain songs have evolved and changed over hundreds of years and taken on different structures, and the vocal accents in speech as well.
Does your bass playing honor any traditions? Would you consider it essential to the Fresh & Onlys sound?
Shayde Sartin: A lot of punk rock that I first discovered and even still that I see—the ones that don’t have a bass, they kind of blow my mind. Even Thee Oh Sees use a guitar in the role of a bass. One of my fave bands is Beat Happening and they don’t have a bass. The Cramps’ first album doesn’t have a bass, which is so crazy and punk rock, and then I love Nirvana, and their bass sets them apart from the scene they were in. Something that was perceived at their time as alternative. I wouldn’t say that the bass sets us apart from other bands but it is an essential part of our music. I don’t spend time when we are recording in laying out my bass lines, though—I try to see what happens and then take it from there. It’s about going all over the place when we record so I don’t have to just sit there. I have the stock of fills and moves that I make on the bass so I just rip into these. There are still bass lines I recorded that I can’t play because I can’t remember what I played. I don’t know what is going on there but I am glad that it at least gets recorded.
How’s it feel to know people far away sink their teeth deep into your work?
Shayde Sartin: The greatest gift you can have with music is for someone to really get into it. It’s one thing to create something and lay into it yourself. You have a definition of where it’s coming from. The greatest aspiration is to give something to someone else. When I started absorbing records for real—not just putting it on to listen—I was in a really oppressive environment in Florida and being able to hear the Smiths—something exotic from my immediate environment—it was the key to my sanity. It made me really get to wonder what it feels like to be in another place, or imagine another place. It was culture shock back in Florida. I grew up in an old part of the country. I had never met a black person or a Hispanic person before. I was a white hillbilly kid. I didn’t know what a skateboarder was. All I knew was basketball and new wave cassettes. Lake Wells in Polk County—if you put your finger in the middle of the state, you’d have your finger on it. People don’t understand what it’s like to live in Florida. But I am actually proud about Florida being part of me.

THE FRESH & ONLYS WITH THEE OH SEES AND DAN MELCHIOR ON THUR., OCT. 22, AT THE ECHO, 1822 SUNSET BLVD., ECHO PARK. 8:30 PM / $12 / 18+. ATTHEECHO.COM. THE FRESH & ONLYS’ GREY-EYED GIRL IS OUT NOW ON WOODSIST. VISIT THE FRESH & ONLYS AT THEFRESHANDONLYS.COM OR MYSPACE.COM/THEFRESHONLYS.

Thee Oh Sees took the stage wearing their vintage guitars high and tight and communicated solely by echo chamber. They were the look of a West Coast car club and the sound of Rat Fink fronting the band you always wish was playing in all those beach party movies, where psychedelic doesn’t mean an eight minute guitar solo. As John Dwyer literally had the mike in his mouth, he bragged that one of his guitars cost four dollars. Brigid Dawson provided vocal harmony and a Gene Clark/ Nico tambourine rattle. The four -piece proceeded to play songs with titles like “The Freak Was Clean,” “It Killed Mom” and “Block of Ice.” They challenged the notion of fun on a Friday night to a knife fight with your ear drums, and they won fair and square. Imagine if Lux Interior wasn’t in drag and Jan and Dean didn’t let Dead Man’s Curve overtake them and you have some idea of Thee Oh Sees’ show.

Eleven o’clock and the place is packed. Without warning, Jay Reatard took the stage in a squall of feedback and a thicket of hair. They broke into Blood Visions, channeling a Wayne Kramer swagger and fuck it all presence that pricked up your ears and held your attention. The music was heavy with hooks and the theme of the songbook was to have a fucking good time at all costs. Song after song of amped-up pop came in quick succession, with the title shouted out and immediately played at breakneck pace. This lack of direct communication with the crowd seemed to get them more and more worked up, no “Hello Cleveland” bullshit. It was the same effect the too cool guy at school has on all his crazed female admirers. Finally, Jay pulled an audience member from the insanity of the front row and handed over his Flying V guitar. This kid started wailing on the neck as bassist Steve and drummer Billy whipped the crowd into a howling mania. The shit went off everyone was locked into the same distorted frequency.   I was happy I had earplugs and even happier I did not miss out.

—Eyad Karkoutly

Download: Ty Segall “It #1″

(from Lemons out July 14 on Goner)

Since the Epsilons’ first record, released in early 2006, Ty Segall has proved himself to be one of the most prolific members of the California music community, releasing LPs, 7”s and tapes of his many bands at an alarming rate. As guitarist/vocalist of the Epsilons; member of Traditional Fools; part time drummer for Party Fowl, Fresh and Onlys and Sic Alps, and leader of his own namesake band, which switches between the one-man-band format to its current full band incarnation, Ty Segall has managed to craft a unique sound and create a scene all his own, which has lead him into the arms and hearts of legendary garage rock figures like Eric Oblivian (Goner Records founder, member of Oblivians, Bad Times) and John Dwyer (Castle Face Records founder, member of Coachwhips, Thee Oh Sees, the Hospitals, etc.).

On Ty Segall’s second solo LP Lemons, released on Memphis’ Goner, Segall has toned down the yelps and howls he favored on his first solo record and the preceding Epsilons recordings in favor of an attempt to favor a more universal lo-fi garage rock sound. At times on this record this pays off, such as the beautifully trudgy “In Your Car,” but washed of the distorted vocals and frantic guitars this record feel less like a Ty Segall record than I would like.

This record has a much slower tempo compared to his previous outings, and as most of his long players were pressed to vinyl at 45 rpm and I have a strong feeling that this one will be at 33 1/3. Some songs, like “Johnny” and “Can’t Talk,” feel like a continuation from his early recordings and these to me are the brightest moments on the album. However, there is also “Rusted Dust,” which to me is a little too close to a slow Nirvana, or even Wavves, song for my liking. I don’t mean to criticize this song, but for someone with as unique of a voice as Ty’s I feel it’s a shame when he starts to sound like someone else. But to offset the slower moments, there is also a faithful rendition of Captain Beefheart’s “Dropout Boogie,” which is a cover you could never go wrong with. In all, I enjoy this record and I eagerly await his next, which knowing him will probably be out within a few months.

— Daniel Clodfelter