The Flesheaters with Mudhoney at the Echoplex, LA, Saturday Jan 19, 2019
Although we missed last year's Flesheaters' reunion shows with the original superstar line-up, we were determined to make it when we heard that they would be doing more shows this year and with a gig in our old stompin' grounds of Los Feliz on a convenient Saturday, off we went!
Although we had played the Echo before we moved, we had never been in the (literal) underground Echoplex, which was a bit tricky to find and had some serious security hoops to jump through, but once we got inside we found a very dark (again, literally) but comfortable rock'n'roll club with a capacity of 400-ish, a couple of bars, a real stage and a great PA with terrific sound!
Since it had been a while since we hit a show in LA, we spent a while finding friends and socializing so we missed a spoken word opening act, but what we saw and heard kinda reminded us of John Cooper Clarke from back in the day. The opening musical act, Mudhoney, was much harder to ignore and while neither of us were ever big fans of this grunge band, we both agreed that they sounded better live than on record and enjoyed their set, especially early originals like "Touch Me, I'm Sick". They're not much of a visual band, but still a good opener.
Although we had played the Echo before we moved, we had never been in the (literal) underground Echoplex, which was a bit tricky to find and had some serious security hoops to jump through, but once we got inside we found a very dark (again, literally) but comfortable rock'n'roll club with a capacity of 400-ish, a couple of bars, a real stage and a great PA with terrific sound!
Since it had been a while since we hit a show in LA, we spent a while finding friends and socializing so we missed a spoken word opening act, but what we saw and heard kinda reminded us of John Cooper Clarke from back in the day. The opening musical act, Mudhoney, was much harder to ignore and while neither of us were ever big fans of this grunge band, we both agreed that they sounded better live than on record and enjoyed their set, especially early originals like "Touch Me, I'm Sick". They're not much of a visual band, but still a good opener.
Of course, the original line-up of the Flesheaters was filled with LA luminaries - Chris D., naturally, he of the gruff voice and poetic lyrics, mostly known for his writing prior to forming this band, Dave Alvin, the flashy lead guitarist from the Blasters, along with his drum cohort, the incredible Bill Bateman, joined by X's John Doe on bass and vocals and DJ Bonebrake on vibes and percussion (along with Bateman, one of the best drummers in the world today), all aided and abetted by the best saxman in town (and Grammy winner!), Steve Berlin (who has played sax with nearly every early punk/roots combo in LA, including the hep Phast Phreddie and Thee Precisions). Just seeing all of this talent on one stage was pretty damn amazing - it's not often that you can see this many accomplished musicians in one place these days!
This line-up just released a new album, I Used to Be Pretty, a continuation of the group's heavy but hypnotic, dark punk-poetry sounds - simple riffs underneath Chris' street/smart lyrics. They pulled heavily from that record for the set, unsurprisingly, but also included songs from their previous records, as well as covers like the Sonics' "Cinderella", a re-vamped take on Gun Club's "She's Like Heroin to Me", Fleetwood Mac's "Green Manalishi" (all of which appear on the new release), and X's "Cyrano De Berger's Back" (I have to say that this one didn't work so well for his voice, in my opinion). The new record revisits "The Wedding Dice" and "My Life to Live" and also gives us "Ghost Cave Lament", the transcendent closing number.
Julie from the Divine Horsemen also joined the crew on vocals for a few numbers, Steve Berlin continues to amaze (he was incredible 30+ years ago and is even better now), Dave Alvin was always a fave guitar man and is stellar today (and appeared to "lead" the band through the set), Doe keeps the low end moving and, as I said, you can't get better than Bateman and Bonebrake on percussion. What a line-up and what a set! See them if you can - I guarantee you won't be disappointed!
This line-up just released a new album, I Used to Be Pretty, a continuation of the group's heavy but hypnotic, dark punk-poetry sounds - simple riffs underneath Chris' street/smart lyrics. They pulled heavily from that record for the set, unsurprisingly, but also included songs from their previous records, as well as covers like the Sonics' "Cinderella", a re-vamped take on Gun Club's "She's Like Heroin to Me", Fleetwood Mac's "Green Manalishi" (all of which appear on the new release), and X's "Cyrano De Berger's Back" (I have to say that this one didn't work so well for his voice, in my opinion). The new record revisits "The Wedding Dice" and "My Life to Live" and also gives us "Ghost Cave Lament", the transcendent closing number.
Julie from the Divine Horsemen also joined the crew on vocals for a few numbers, Steve Berlin continues to amaze (he was incredible 30+ years ago and is even better now), Dave Alvin was always a fave guitar man and is stellar today (and appeared to "lead" the band through the set), Doe keeps the low end moving and, as I said, you can't get better than Bateman and Bonebrake on percussion. What a line-up and what a set! See them if you can - I guarantee you won't be disappointed!
posted by rich @ 5:11 PM
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