The crowd at The Echoplex on November 12 could be divided in to two categories: The Growlers fans and the other people.  As the Growlers took the stage well past their listed 9:30 set time, the front half of the crowd began to violently twist their hips.  I stayed somewhere in between the front half of the crowd and the baffled back half so I could comfortably twist but not too much.  The first time I saw the Growlers I couldn’t believe the reaction from their fans.  They looked like they were going to rip off their clothes and begin a rock n’ roll orgy.  I likened the experience to the film Black Snake Moan.  The band has an unexplainable hold over their audience and it’s hard to resist twisting your hips with the rest of them.  Lead singer Brooks Neilson doesn’t particularly do much on stage (at this show he did his small hip twist and smoked a cigarette) but even so he has an unexplainable presence that combines Jim Morrison and Ian Curtis.  By the time the band played “Something Someone Jr.,” it seemed they’d gained some new fans that had come to see Dead Meadow.  More people began giving in and moved towards the front of the crowd.

Imaad Wasif’s set wasn’t quite as intriguing.  I’ve heard a lot of buzz surrounding him and his “psychedelic-folk” sound.  The problem was I came to the Echoplex ready for more “psychedelic” and less “folk” and he fell just short of the amount of “psychedelic” I needed.  I stayed through his entire set regardless, somewhat entranced by his black and white psychedelic graphics.  He ended the set by screaming his last few lyrics, which made me reminisce about high school when I listened to shitty emo bands for a brief period.

The three members of Dead Meadow walked casually onto the stage like they weren’t going to melt our faces off once they started playing.  The thump of the instrumentals ran through my entire body and all I could do was stand mesmerized.  I also became quite fascinated with their graphic choice of moving, colorful, bubbles which were perfectly projected on the white shirt of the dude in front of me.  The only thing that would have made this show better is real drugs rather than just being high off the music.

—Ilyse Kaplan