Photos and Review by NOTES FROM VIVACE
The spooky days of the Halloween season had Los Angeles music fans cheering two separate album/EP release parties.
Over in Long Beach at Alex’s Bar, Austin, Texas, resident Lauren Lakis celebrated the first of three California stops in support of her A Fiesta and a Hell album.
Check out Lauren Lakis at Genghis Cohen tonight, Wednesday, Nov. 1.
Alex’s Bar was filled with the sounds of shoegaze and dark tunes. That did not mean that cheers were missing from the night. Tucked into the lyrics of “Take My Hand” is the line “in time, we’re smiling.” Lakis and her backing band were definitely having fun playing the new songs from the album.
As for the album, she wrote the following on her Instagram recently: “People broke my heart into a million pieces in 2020 and 2021. A. Million. Pieces. I grew up with some seriously misanthropic leanings, and worked my entire life to heal and release them, and boy did 2020/2021 make all of those feelings come rushing back in.”
The song from the album that best illustrates these feelings is “Terror Tears” where heavy and rapid guitar play drive the lyrics, “Do you buy what you’re sold? Do you buy it all? Do you do what you’re told? Do you do it all? Sweet terror tears. I cried for a whole year. And everyone says, we’re gonna be just fine. We’re running out of time.”
The Alex’s Bar take on the events of 2020 – 2021 took place on Thursday. Playing at Alex’s Bar with Lauren Lakis were Daydream Twins, Asi Fui and Twin Oaks. Like Lauren Lakis, Daydream Twins also came in from Austin, Texas. The band is a shoegaze dream that was also celebrating an EP release of their own, Bombinate. Asi Fui showed their artsy musical style. Twin Oaks had their friends and family show up and demand an encore to close out the night.
Lauren Lakis setlist: Sail Away, Keep Your Woman Down, Watch You Run, Leave Your Window, Loud Voices, Right Now, Terror Tears, Dark Side, Take My Hand
A day later, Dolly Dagger took the stage at The Paramount LA to celebrate the release of her Nightmare EP. The Aussie native that has called Los Angeles home for a number of years showed off her rock credentials.
Dolly Dagger was backed by guitarist Jesse McInturff who showed an amazing ability to twist his body in every direction without getting entangled in his guitar cable and fellow Aussie expat Xinovia on drums kept the cymbals busy.
The band ended their set with their just dropped single “Sick.” It is a rocker with lyrical pedigree, “I think I’m SICK, maybe I’m twisted. I think I’m dead, maybe I wished it. You made me sick, poison and kisses.”
Playing at The Paramount LA with Dolly Dagger were Iress, Satellite Citi and Annabel Lee. Iress captivated with heavy meditative beats. Satellite Citi had the venue pulsating with their metal sounds and their bandmates dressed in spacesuits (not Halloween costumes) provided stunning visuals that align with their band name. Annabel Lee has killer vocals that rank right up there with the best in the Los Angeles music scene.
Dolly Dagger setlist: Give Me Love, Say What You Wanna, Nightmare, Bury It, Swerve, Feel’s Like Fiction, Decode (Paramore cover), Sick
