The Echo in LA is neither a cramped garage nor a grungy underground venue. The disco balls hanging from the ceiling certainly don’t ooze punk, but the lineup on May 29th certainly made you feel as though you were surrounded by dingy concrete walls and dim lighting. Featuring bands such as Sego, The Bots, Potty Mouth and Perfect Pussy, the night promised sweat, yells and loud rock music.
Sego was the first band to take the stage. The foursome has been compared to both Bloc Party and LCD Soundsytem for good reason. Their dance-punk sound, reminiscent of Bloc Party’s post-punk appeal, warmed up the crowd giving off solid, catchy melodies. “20 Years Tall,” which finished off their set, began with a recitative-like intro with vocalist/guitarist Spencer Peterson droning out a story about a sad boy who “ran away from his mother and blah, blah, blah, blah…” to a repetitive beat followed by a call for the “guitars” and then an immediate segue into dissonant chords. The end of their piece signaled the end of the softest sounding part of the night, as The Bots were next to take the stage and the audience deeper into hard rock while Potty Mouth and Perfect Pussy were waiting to drench the house in aggressive garage-punk.
At around 9:20pm, two young boys bearing a strong resemblance to each other faced the crowd. One sported a large black hat and a guitar while the other had an impressive-looking afro and sat comfortably at the drums. They were all smiles as lead vocals/guitar Mikaiah Lei addressed the crowd and introduced themselves as The Bots. Their playful energy and adorable aesthetic could fool anyone into thinking they might be playing something peppy and poppy, but as soon as they began their set it was clear that heavy rock is their forte. Both Mikaiah and his brother Anaiah are exceptionally talented musicians, exuding passion alongside raw, pulsing sound. Mikaiah jumped up and down for the length of their set and Anaiah clearly possesses a laser-like focus when it comes to the drums. The two have been garnering some attention since their appearances at Warped Tour and Coachella and their debut-release EP with Fader, Sincerely Sorry came out in fall 2013.
Comparisons to The Black Keys have been made, considering the blues and classic rock influences lurking within their music (perhaps most prominent in “Now I Know”), but they have their own unique style. In songs such as “5:17”, featured on Sincerely Sorry, the duo jump-start aggressively then slow it down, draw in the crowd and invite some serious head-banging. Seeing them play live is a treat, as their stage presence can best be described as infectious youthfulness. Despite technical difficulties during “Desperate,” the two managed to keep the crowd happy and excited so that when they finally played, the audience broke out in enthusiastic applause. Keeping in line with their first friendly impressions, when they finished playing they welcomed the crowd to meet up with them after the show. The Bots are a band that you want to listen to, watch and know.
Next up was the all-female punk band from Massachusetts, Potty Mouth. Tribal yells and rowdy applause welcomed the band, all of which lead singer Abby Weems attributed to her friends in the audience, but it was clear that the girls’ badass energy was also to blame for the increasing riotous feel of the venue. Complete with screams, hard-driving beats, smirks and sneers, Potty Mouth delivered a sound both rebellious and fun, leaning on the poppier side of garage-punk. Songs such as “Kids” feature fierce lyrical repetitions like “Don’t want to grow up” and “Hey, why you want to get in my way?” that provide weight to their hell-raiser attitude.
The discord present in their music is highly reminiscent of ’90s grunge bands, while still maintaining a modern twist. There was also an element of piercing, bitter humor in some of their songs, most notably in the last piece, “The Better End”, off their 2013 album Hell Bent . The song begins with a purposefully high-pitched, cheerleader-like warning from Phoebe Harris (lead guitar) saying, “You cut me out / And now you’re screwed / I know it’s hard / Well, boo-hoo.” This song embodies “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” While the lyrics were angry and in-your-face, the song had a relatively mellow melody in comparison to the other songs in their set. Harris promised at one point to greet the object of her scorn with a scream and scream she did, rather impressively. They ended their performance by thanking the crowd and Perfect Pussy for having them on tour, sending out friendly vibes that differ extremely from their music. Still, despite their sweet personas, the Massachusetts quartet proved that they’re a rock band with something to say and music to play.
Perfect Pussy originated in Syracuse, NY as a “fake” band for the film Adult World, starring John Cusack and Emma Roberts, but the band present on the LA stage at The Echo was very real. From the beginning of their performance, it was obvious that volume would be the forefront. Lead singer Meredith Graves kept asking that the mic volume be raised higher and higher. Once the music began, the entire room was rumbling. This was to be the climax of the night, where the escalating elements of rock and punk were to culminate, and that they did.
Perfect Pussy’s music is clashing guitars, intense drums, white noise and unintelligible yelling. There was only one discernible phrase throughout the whole set and that was “Why do we say yes to love?” which comes from the name of Perfect Pussy’s latest album. It has been described as somewhat of a heartbreak album, which seems appropriate; although there were no intelligible lyrics to guide you through the music, Graves writhed and screamed as though she were pushing out some major confessions or else purging something extremely painful. It was cathartic to say the least. But that’s the point.
Lost in chaos and free-flowing emotion, it was as though the band gave the audience an ultimatum: feel this or get out. Perfect Pussy gave it their all and coerced the crowd into rawness. Fans responded with moshing and head-banging near the front of the stage. There were some sound difficulties along the way, which is to be expected from music as loud and aggressive as theirs, but nothing could distract from the distinct passion emanating from all the members of the band. After jilting, rocking and ultimately consuming the audience with their dissonant noise, Graves thanked the audience for “suffering” through that with them and walked off stage. Just like that, the set was over- quick, intense, exhausting and satisfying.
Perfect Pussy:
IV
Driver
Big Stars
Work
Interference Fits
Dig
II
Bells
Advance Upon the Real
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