It's called Rocktober for a reason kids, because, umm, there's a hell of a lot of the Rock. Last night was no exception as I was running (literally) all over Los Angeles trying to hit all the shows I wanted to see. Sadly, I did not get to everything I wanted to, but I still had quite an evening.
The evening began at Spaceland in Silverlake where I caught Delta Spirit and Cold War Kids. Delta Spirit are from San Diego and play music that you would think a band with their moniker might play. It's bluesy, soulful and most importantly full of the rock. I was really impressed with them and highly recommend you check out their MySpace page to hear some tunes. On their piano driven songs they kind of remind me of a louder and faster Spoon, with better harmonies and more attitude. They were a great match with Cold War Kids, who I thought put on a good show but had to leave after about five songs. What I noticed most about them is that they seemed to be genuinely excited and proud to play their songs. I guess that's what happens when you are a young band with a ton of buzz, but it's nice that they can actually step up and deliver. Oh, and they sing about Jesus stuff a lot, but more in a 70s soulful way than in a Christian Rock way! They are a very visual band as well, which you can see in the video montage below. The buzz is real, so embrace it already and stop being a hater!
So the first portion of the Rock-Crawl went splendidly and I can recommend checking out both bands live and recorded. Here are some goodies from them:
Delta Spirit - Motivation
Cold War Kids - Video Mix
Cold War Kids - We Used to Vacation (Live from the Daytrotter Sessions).mp3
Delta Spirit - Tom Gerald.mp3
Next I headed over to the Henry Fonda Theater for Mew and Kasabian. Unfortunately I missed all but the last minute of Mew, but they will be back 10/20 as a headliner. What can I say about Kasabian? I get why people hate them. I do. I mean they are arrogant, in your face, swarthy or as I like to say British. Come on, there is a long tradition from Echo and the Bunnymen to the Stone Roses to Oasis of obnoxious over-confident British bands. Yeah Kasabian aren't nearly as good as any of those bands I just mentioned, but they do have a sound and enough songs to make any performance worth your while. They made the Henry Fonda a party last night, and people were loving it. The band was super tight, vocals were dead on, they were really engaging and yes they strut around the stage like they owned the place. Listen, not all rockers are going to be meek and modest like Sufjan. It is Rock 'n' Roll after all and in case you forgot it's supposed to have attitude. So I gotta say that Kasabian are well worth your time to check out live, and if you can let yourself stop thinking about what all the hipsters are saying you might actually realize that you like them.
Kasabian - Shoot The Runner.mp3