JAPANESE MOTORS @ echoplex

Posted by Brianna - filed in 18+, echoplex, events

thesonics

The Sonics walked on stage to some seriously deafening applause. The atmosphere was so intense that you could have struck a match in the air and watched the vapor explode. That guitar sound hunched over everyone, scowled, started to feedback, raised a claw then knocked everyone over like dominoes with the riff of ‘He’s Waiting’. 100mph start… and yup, these old guys dressed all in black, were in London taking names. And guess what? The screaming was gooo-oooo-ood.

The set blistered through Strychnine, Have Love Will Travel (which was met with a predictably riotous response from the entire contents of the building including stationary objects), Louie Louie (“we’re going to play rock ‘n’ roll’s national anthem”), Shot Down, Maintaining My Cool, Boss Hoss, Like No Other Man, Money, Lucille, Cinderella, Dirty Robber, You’ve Got Your Head On Backwards… you get the idea. The best two tunes of the evening, both in crowd response and performance were Psycho and The Witch. Psycho, at times, was completely terrifying, with demented screams and howls coming from the contorted Roslie who was possessed by his younger self, with shoulder cocked like a trigger and his throat producing broken glass. Larry Parypa gunned down front and back of house with ferocious guitar work… which he can whip into shape as good as he ever did. Rob Lind, ‘im on sax, provided that rasp that give the ground that full audio assault.

Defying everything I’d thought about the gig (that The Sonics were going full tilt), it seemed that they’d managed to store up enough energy to really dish up some sonic savagery. The Witch was brutal, coarse, mental, twitching, incredibly loud and aggressive. No lies here… it was probably the greatest moment of any gig I’ve ever been too. So hot was the belting of The Witch that people in the front row started to spontaneously combust, with the people at the back toppling inward like dried skeletons whilst everyone in the middle had a mini-riot and screamed along until their voices snapped and lassooed round each other, leaving everyone in some tangled blooded knot. With that, The Sonics hollered farewell and left everyone with their various injuries. – Electric Roulette

with:
Prima Donna || Listen
Japanese Motors || Listen

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026