Tiki Oasis Sunday August 21, 2016

Even after giving it all - well, as much as an audience member can - for the SchizophonicsSoul Review, we were up bright'n'early the next morning and caught the Primitive Finks donning their masks for a sunny, surfy set at the car show. There was some excellent food provided here by several high-end food trucks, and we had our brunch before heading into town for some shopping and some California Mexican food.

Back in plenty of time for the Ugly Things showcase with the insane Screaming Lord Sutch tribute band, Screaming Lord Stax! Led by Mike Stax as Sutch, the group including Anja Stax (natch) on bass, Pat'n'Lety of the Schizophonics on guitar'n'drums and Richard Whig on keys. With an appropriately spooky backdrop, the band came out to the tune of "Jack the Ripper" with Stax stalking the audience before landing upon a victim on stage for an elaborate stabbing. Every minute was fab, with Sutch favorites such as "Dracula's Daughter", "All Black and Hairy" and "I'm In Love with a Monster Man" combined with garage favorites like "Night of the Phantom", "Cry Over Her", "Primitive", "You're the One" and a guest appearance by "Crazy Al" doing "I Put a Spell on You"! There were theatrics and costumes changes in abundance - too much to detail everything here - but the band was excellent (as you would expect from these stalwarts), Mike is an incredible frontman, and they all put everything into making the set as entertaining as possible. Pat's guitar work reminded me that Sutch had greats like Ritchie Blackmore working with him in his Heavy Friends, and the finale with Mike dancing Pat around by the guitar was quite wicked! Insanity at its best!

I can't imagine attempting to follow that, but the Woggles did with their energetic'n'tight garage sound, covering numbers like "Big Bird" and "Jezebel" while divin' into the audience as their go-go dancers gyrated beside them. I had never seen them before, but they had a big sound and the lead singer's Keith Relf-like stage presence and their matching outfits gave them visual impact, as well. A crazily fun-filled ending to the big Tiki O weekend!