Last Friday night (4/30/10) in Hollywood at the Music Box, fondly and formerly known as the Henry Fonda, I had my dancin' shoes on and I felt alright. I may not be the biggest Murder City Devils fan out there, and hell, that's not even the scene in which I personally identify with, but good tunes are good tunes and if it makes me wiggle my ass, I'm on board. A good set and good stage presence doesn't hurt either. I won't lie to anyone about it; I was a little stoked to see the band that every fan at one point once believed would never perform under the name "Murder City Devils" ever again. The majority of ticket holders in attendance were hipsters and vegan snobs in thick rimmed glasses with keys dangling from their skinny jeans with the occasional MCD tattoo. This band broke up for the first time in 2001 and every devout fan got a RIP tattoo permanently tacked into their flesh...only to have this very same band re-group and perform again a handful of years later. Then assume another hiatus again and then wash, rinse and repeat.
Their set is exactly what I had expected it to be: no gimmicks/no bullshit, very straight to the point. What you hear on their albums is exactly what you hear live, with added Spency Moody "theatrics" and by "theatrics" I mean his usual stage characteristics while in the throes of adrenaline-rushed performance. -Makes for awesome shots if you're lucky enough to capture Moody with his mic in his mouth. Even their selected songs were exactly as I had expected. Their mysterious new material is still, well, a mystery but you could have bet your life on the fact they were going to play the usuals such as "Boom Swagger Boom", "Rum to Whiskey" and of course, "Johnny Thunders". Their presence is pretty solid, definitely not a bore to watch especially with Leslie Hardy (formerly of Hole) on keys for that added musical pizazz that keeps me listening to them. Dann Gallucci on guitar is also not boring, and somewhat compliments Moody in the energy department. Don't ask me what they opened with, as I was too concerned with capturing as many shots I could before being thrown out before the third song at the possibility of being "injured" by rowdy crowd surfers. That sometimes happens at shows and it's annoying to be told that you can't be where the action is. Before the band went on, security gave all the people in the press pit a pep-talk about how "wild" this crowd will get. I laughed. You're looking at girl who started off by taking her camera into mosh pits in heels at shows just for the opportunity to capture something rad at the tender age of 15. And for the record, we photographers weren't kicked out before the 3rd song. However, the batteries in my camera did bite the dust by the second song due to a now-faulty charger.
After the set, fellow lady friends and I walked down Hollywood Blvd and made on a left on Cahuenga for a night cap at my home-sweet-home, the Velvet Margarita Cantina. A large handful of attendees from the show were there too. Some people just know what's up. The rest were at the broomstick closet fondly known as the Burgundy Room directly across the street. Happenings at Velvet Margarita are always quite another story, not fit for print. But I will say that a shot of Don Julio 1942 "set my fields on fire".
Tomorrow night (5/5/10) is the Velvet Margarita's 6th Anniversary Annual Cinco de Mayo Celebration in Hollywood, CA. I'll be doing the in-house photography of the party in it's entirety, start to finish. Not a bad way to kick-off the life of a new blog?
Ciao,
Kelli
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