We arrived in Los Angeles on Thursday 21 May at 6am (keyboardist Leilani’s birthday a second time ‘round!) and went to our AirBnB and had a look around West Hollywood where we would be staying for the next ten days!
We took in some sights and found out we had a gig the next night in the neighbouring region, Inland Empire. Cam, our drummer quickly bought a snare drum and some sticks and we were basically ready to go.
We caught an Uber cab about 67 miles (approx. 92km) north west of downtown LA and rocked up at a place in the middle of nowhere called the Elk’s Lodge, which looked like a scene from David Lynch’s movie 'Inland Empire', which is named after the area. This was a real weird dive bar equipped with a tiny nightclub on the side with a resident tarot card reader, but it had a cool vibe and a big stage.
We only had our instruments with us so the next thing to do was ask the other bands if we could borrow their amps and drums. We found out that sharing backline was not the done thing, but the other bands – one from Louisiana and the other from LA – obliged us.
The other bands on the bill were all really great and our set was well received. The MC of the night also made things interesting by lighting the floor and cymbals on fire. The bouncer said I reminded him of a female Sid Vicious.
Another challenge for the night was how to get back to West Hollywood. Luckily, Leilani had been chatting to two new fans in the crowd and asked them to drive us back to West Hollywood for 20 bucks. Though, they lived in Inland Empire, they kindly drove us back in the wee hours of the morning.
The next night we were scheduled to play at two gigs, so we rented a car and started learning how to keep right. One of the gigs was at a party in South Central LA, but when we arrived the party hadn’t started yet and we had to go over to neighbouring Bell Gardens to play a gig with fellow ska punk bands at an all-ages gig at a Salvadorian restaurant called Las Maravillas.
Here, we met Isolated Victims – a cool, ska punk band with energetic band members. Their singer, Frank Chicas, got us the gig as well as some others coming up! It was a great gig with most of the other bands singing in Spanish to represent their Latino roots. Our rider for the night was free Salvadorian food – pupusas!
The following days included buying a drum kit and guitar amp and visiting the famous neighbourhoods of Hollywood, West Hollywood which features the Sunset Strip on Sunset Boulevard (think famous clubs the Whisky, The Viper Room, The Roxy etc.), Venice Beach, Santa Monica, Mulholland Dr and Beverly Hills.
Prior to coming over, we had emailed the Whisky and asked if we could be placed on an upcoming bill and to our surprise they replied straight away and said they liked our music and added us to the Hugh Cornwell (ex Stranglers) show on the 8 June. So we actually went there and had a pre-show tour of the venue which has seen bands like The Doors, Guns ‘n’ Roses, The Police, Aerosmith and heroes No Doubt grace the stage!
Then on the Friday, we were invited by Isolated Victims to watch them play at a mini festival called Skabashed in downtown LA. The ska punk scene is very healthy here especially the harder edged skacore genre. The club was The Airliner and it was packed with punters singing, clapping and circle pitting!
Saturday was another all-ages gig at a pizza restaurant again in Inland Empire (this time we drove out there) and the crowd was great; similar to the Airliner but with all-age groups all in the pit!
Bring on week 2!
