AFG Must Rock! is dedicated to punk rock and the otherwise fragmented Los Angeles indie music scene. I’ll try to be as “uncool” as Lester Bangs in bringing you some kick ass music reviews so that you can you discover some great new L.A. bands while hopefully creating a sense of community with the bands themselves in the process.
I’ll also cover my D.I.Y. punk band, The Swagger Sticks. Our EP came out in August ’09 and our video will be out in November. The lead track, “Worldwide Pop Star,” features co-producer Jeff Lewis. Jeff played trumpet with The Jackson 5 and toured with Michael and family back in the late 70s. ‘The Sticks’ influences include The Ramones, White Stripes, New York Dolls, Pixies, Black Flag, David Bowie, Foo Fighters, The Cars, The Who, Social Distortion, Poison and Green Day.
The Swagger Sticks will be back in action tonight playing a FREE show at Club Trip in Santa Monica. We’re playing with four other bands and it should be one hell of a night.
I’ll have a different rhythm section backing me up since bassist Matt Morales is on the road doing comedy and drummer Simon Hancock had a prior committment.
I had a couple of rehearsals this week with Vreny Van Elslande (bassist for Icky’s Ego) and drummer Jose Gonzalez. Both are incredibly talented and after only two rehearsals we’re ready to tear down the walls!
I picked up the latest record from Kid Congo Powers & The Pink Monkey Birds after reading an LA Weekly article a few weeks back about the eclectic roster on In The Red Records. I also heard Mike Watt talking about him on the Watt From PedroRadio Show…I didn’t know that “The Kid” aka Brian Tristan had at one point played guitar with The Cramps, Gun Club and Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. Kewl.
Kid Congo Power’s ”Dracula Boots“ is a potpourri of dirty junkie riffs soaked in reverb and, like The Cramps, and it’s a trippy, gritty listening experience. It’s like watching a film noir flick on acid while sharing a bowl of popcorn with the creature from the black lagoon.
Kid Congo’s backstreet psychedelic boogie is just the antispectic needed to cure the music world’s Gaga-pop staff infections. I dig it. Here’s “Rare as the Yeti.”
I’m always on the look out for new music and I just came across this video from Memphis rocker Carey Haynes. The song is called “Better Than You.” This is good stuff. I’m going to review their debut EP in the next week or so. Have a look!
Daniel Sullivan pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm against Noel Gallagher when Oasis was headlining at the Virgin Music Festival, on Toronto Island on Sept. 7, 2008.
Gallagher fractured three ribs and suffered a bruised ego after he was pushed to the ground and landed on a speaker. Sullivan was apparently drunk off his ass and can’t remember the incident (yeah, right). No one tried to stop Sullivan from getting onstage until he was tackled by security after the incident.
The push comes at 1:30 in this video during the first verse of “Morning Glory.“ In a rare moment of solidarity with his brother, Liam Gallagher looked liked he tried to get a punch in and then followed security offstage to try and get in a few licks. Daniel Sullivan is officially the biggest dick in Canadian history.
I’m in Las Vegas for the weekend with some friends. This got us thinking about Elvis Presley. I mean how can you not think about Elvis when you’re in Vegas…having said that, here’s our top five from The King!
1. Suspicious Minds
2. Burning Love
3. Jailhouse Rock
4. A Little Less Talk
5. Viva Las Vegas!
*****
Here’s my stoner metal cut of the week, “Hung Out to Dry” by Fu Man Chu. I’m a big Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age (QOTSA) fan but Fu Man Chu escaped my attention until recently. The drummer from Kyuss is in the band (or was in the band at some point).
Founded in the early 90s in Southern California, “Hung Out to Dry” comes from We Must Obey, which was released in 2007 on Century Media (Records). This shit it heavy and the video has the best time machine sequence in the history of time machine sequences.
Here’s the new Swagger Sticks flyer for our TRip show on Saturday, November 28th in Santa Monica! We’re playing with Ed’s Garage, Black Sequin Disaster, Sleeping with Angels and Typical Mess.
Aron Gibson
