Shane Williams mumbled something about La Cita in between plumes of blue smoke to me & that was all I needed to hear; I bounced from the Redwood.
Something about its dark atmosphere, freckled w/ cheap Vegas lighting that really endears this venue to me, that & the fact that I’ve never had to open my wallet @ the entrance.
I arrived just in time to witness the complete set of Help!, who to be dead honest w/ you, I had never heard of.
Almost immediately Slovenly & Mission of Burma came to mind. You know, real tight & angular songs. This band poses the kind of scenario where the singer/songwriter could explain his soul to you, w/ a calculator.
Maybe, 6 songs into their set I began to notice another point of interest. It appeared as though the vocalist wasn’t always singing lyrics, per say. It’s hard for me to state fact because my ears are wrecked but, it sounded like he was humming & making other noises into the mic.
Right around here it was announced that the band had a mere couple songs left in their set (nice! Keep ‘em hungry is my motto…).
Upon which another drummer & guitarist joined the band on stage. To me, personally, I thought this was a bit unnecessary. Bad-ass drumming was displayed – no doubt but, I felt it added too much aggression on an otherwise more song oriented band, rather than volume & impact.
In the end I couldn’t help but believe that, had this band existed in the mid-80’s, they woulda been on Homestead Records or maybe the more adventurous side of mid to late 80’s SST Records.
Fascinating band & I look forward to taking more of Shane’s advice.
KRK Dominguez *~* Boyle Heights *~* 3/30/11 *~* 11:03
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