Neverland Ranch Davidians, Shimmer Bed, Bonnies Casket at the Double Down - Saturday 9-13-25

I've known Tex Mosley, singer and guitarist for the NRD's, at least since his days in the Hangmen, creating iconic riffs for Bryan's cool songs. He's still a riff-master, fine guitarist'n'songwriter and in this new version of the band he is joined by Kevin Keller (on baritone guitar - as a kind of compromise between just 2 guitars, as the previous lineup was, and a guitar/bass set-up) and John Collinson on drums - both from various LA projects, including the Rank Outsiders and Motorcycle Black Madonnas. While there were a ridiculous amount of cool shows going on this evening, we opted for the Davidians at the DD since they don't come out very often and we haven't been to the DD in ages.

Ya never quite know when the set times are going to be at the DD so when we got there Bonnies Casket was already playing. As one could imagine from the name, they were a bit goth/emo, all snazzily dressed in black with red ties - 2 guitars (one alternating on keys), bass, drums and singer. Unfortunately, they were a bit too loud for the space, which made it difficult to hang and watch, although their Bauhaus-ish sound wasn't bad, just a bit too much for the room.

LA's oddly named Shimmer Bed followed and were more to our liking, with an unusual sound which Mel likened to the Pixies while I was reminded of Indiana's Apache Dropout - not that they would be a likely influence here. Lots of noise'n'lots of energy with a female bassist who knew how to attack her instrument, a powerful drummer who wasn't afraid to use machine-gun snare rolls and a guitarist/singer who practically strangled his instrument while using some effects on his vocals to keep things interesting. We were both pleasantly surprised with their sound'n'style and understood why Tex recommended them. Dug their wall of noise, guitars-against-the-amps ending, also!

The Davidian's closed out the night and while Kevin'n'John have just played a handful of gigs with Tex, they sounded great and fit in well while adding their own approach. John's drumming fit it perfectly and Kevin added extra flair with his baritone guitar with a whammy bar, which allowed for some extra wild sounds. Kevin held the songs together and let Tex handle most of the lead guitar work - something that Tex has no problem taking on as I always dug his style. There were a number of new (to me, anyway) songs ("I Fell Down So I Shot Up" being a memorable title) - apparently, they are working on the third NRD album currently - and the tunes from the previous albums - "Stigmata", "Don't Call Me" (I heard a "Badge" steal in this one live), "Signified Monkey", "Swamp Feet" - had a new life with this lineup. I loved the old band, but these cats handled themselves excellently, as well! And Kevin's son even played bass for a finale! Highly recommended! See them any time you can for a primitive blast of soulful, garage-y punk'n'roll with a dash of Suicide/Scientists noise. 

Thanks to the Double Down for hosting this cool night of varied music!

(Photos by Melanie Coffee!)