LA WeeklyFrom veteran punks TSOL and jazz-pop singer Jane Monheit to blues man Cedric Burnside and outspoken punks Good Riddance, here are 12 of the best music shows in Los Angeles this week.
fri 1/3
T.S.O.L. (John Gilhooley)
T.S.O.L.
The Regent Theater
Featuring original members Ron Emory (guitar), Mike Roche (bass) and Jack Grisham (vocals), T.S.O.L. continue with their unique combination of savage intensity and fulsome power leavened with morbid humor, which stands out even more in an era when so much punk rock is now fangless. In a 2018 feature, Grisham told us that, “I would be a fucking excellent anarchist or storefront preacher. However, I don’t think any man should be in charge of any other man. The trouble is, you can’t really step away from ingrained values.” Grisham kinda gets his wish every night, preaching to his gathered and ever-loyal congregation. Smut Peddlers, Piñata Protest and DFL also play. —Brett Callwood
Jane Monheit
Feinstein’s at Vitello’s
Oakdale, N.Y., jazz-pop singer Jane Monheit is developing a solid reputation for blending the traditional with contemporary, and we’ll get to hear that at this Studio City gig. “Everything I’m singing now is a reflection of my truest self,” she says on her Facebook. “After all this time in the industry, after touring for 13 years, it’s time to just be me, with complete and utter freedom.” That freedom can be heard on her new ninth full length studio album The Heart of the Matter. “I knew that I wanted the material to be chosen based on the lyrical content”, she continues. “Over the years, my singing has really taken on that focus.” Sounds perfect. —Brett Callwood
sat 1/4
Viernes 13 (Mighty Muds)
Viernes 13
THE PARAMOUNT
Viernes 13 mark their 20th anniversary with a show at longtime Boyle Heights ballroom The Paramount. Led by founding guitarist Mario Luna and singer Juan Pulido, the L.A. group started out as a ska-punk band, but their energetic sound also encompasses reggae, surf and rockabilly. Viernes 13’s 2015 album, Thirteen Rules, is a quintessential assortment of their multiple styles. Such trippy dub-reggae interludes as “Let Me Tell You” lead into lively, horn-pumped ska workouts as “The Lucky One.” Chris Silva’s frenetic rockabilly bass launches “6 Feet Deep,” while “Sex on the Beach” is an unexpectedly sunny slice of summer soul. Punk and rockabilly tempos collide on “The Devil Rides,” whereas “Working Man’s Chant” is a jumping burst of ska. —Falling James
Missing Persons
Gallagher’s Pub HB
One of the coolest quirks in rock & roll, alongside the fact that Belinda Carlisle was once the drummer in the Germs, is that Dale and Terry Bozzio, founding members of new wave band Missing Persons, met while working with Frank Zappa. They married and formed this band in 1980 with other Zappa contributors, then enjoyed success throughout that decade thanks to the albums Spring Session M, Rhyme & Reason and Color in Your Life. The band split in 2004 and, but for a brief reunion in 2009, eventually got back together in 2011. Nowadays, Dale Bozzio is the one remaining member from the “classic” lineup, though they still deliver in the live environment. They play all over SoCal, so don’t worry too much if you miss this one.—Brett Callwood
sun 1/5
Epica
The Regent Theater
It won’t surprise anyone to learn that a band called Epica plays symphonic, anthemic, fucking epic metal. This group formed in the Netherlands in 2002, and they’ve released seven studio albums, the most recent of which is 2016’s The Holographic Principle, although the Epica vs Attack on Titan Songs came out at the end of 2017. Regardless, the band has a ton of awesome music in their arsenal and we’ll be getting a whole bunch of it at the Regent. Also on the bill is Nekrogoblikon, the insane metal band with the singer who has taken the form of a goblin. What better way to shake off the cobwebs at the start of the new year? Valkyrium also plays. —Brett Callwood
mon 1/6
Kate Clover (Izack Morales)
Kate Clover
BOOTLEG THEATER
Decked out in matching black suits and ties, Kate Clover and her band look like a late-1970s power-pop band or perhaps members of Blondie circa Parallel Lines. And while the L.A. singer’s original songs are loaded with catchy pop hooks, she plays with a hard-driving punk power that’s closer to the Ramones than The Knack. “Woke up with the television telling them lies,” Clover declares on her 2019 debut single, “Channel Zero.” She goes on to rail about the CIA mind-control program Project MKUltra as distorted punk guitar chords rage behind her, indicating that Clover has got a lot on her mind and is anything but a typically escapist and retro power-pop wannabe. She brings in her band for the first evening of her free Monday-night residency in January. —Falling James
tue 1/7
Cedric Burnside
THE ECHO
As the son of drummer Calvin Jackson and the grandson of the iconic bluesman R.L. Burnside, Cedric Burnside knows a thing or two about the blues. And unlike so many revivalists who water down the blues with slick arrangements and flashy solos, Burnside draws from the rawer and rhythmically driving style of Hill country blues. Although Cedric first made his name as a drummer for T-Model Ford, Jessie Mae Hemphill, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Paul “Wine” Jones and R.L. Burnside, among others, he revitalizes the blues on guitar in recent performances. His 2018 album, Benton County Relic, is a stripped-down collection of funky blues tracks like “Get Your Groove On” and such primal, throbbing passages as “Typical Day.” Burnside proves that the blues can still be chilling on haunted, scarifying songs like “Death Bell Blues.” —Falling James
Good Riddance (Avrinder Dhillon)
Good Riddance
The Glass House
The world certainly needs bands like Good Riddance, the politically outspoken punks from Santa Cruz who have made a career out of spreading decency and progressivism while educating their many fans since forming in ’86. Their latest album, 2019’s Thoughts and Prayers, is the first since Trump took office, and the song titles certainly reflect the toxic atmosphere that the president created. “Our Great Divide,” “No King But Caesar,” “No Safe Place,” “Pox Americana” — you can immediately see where they’re coming from. But then that’s what they’ve always done — observed what’s going on around them and interpreted it. They’re damn good at it too. Youth Brigade, The Last Gang and Sharp/Shock also play. —Brett Callwood
wed 1/8
Tina Schlieske
THE MINT
When Tina Schlieske isn’t putting her personal spin on jazz standards on her recent release Sinatra to Simone, she switches gears completely by using the energy of punk rock to make Pussygrabber, a boldly confrontational, politically charged, anti-Trump collaboration with Genital Panic. The Minneapolis native first came to attention with the more conventionally bluesy 2005 debut album, Slow Burn, a collection of soulful ballads and classic-rock reveries that featured ace guitarist James Burton (Elvis Presley, The Everly Brothers). If it isn’t clear by now, Schlieske can do it all, a range she further demonstrated on 2009’s Evil Gal Blues and 2013’s Pinned Up, in which she saluted her Minnesota roots by remaking songs by Prince, Soul Asylum and Bob Dylan (she does a mournfully moving version of The Replacements’ “Sixteen Blue”). —Falling James
thu 1/9
Mayo Thompson
HAMMER MUSEUM
Mayo Thompson has drifted in and out of a variety of scenes and identities over the course of his life. He got his start in the ’60s as singer-guitarist with The Red Krayola, a Houston group that made other psychedelic bands of the era sound safe as milk in comparison. In the 1970s, he was an assistant to artist Robert Rauschenberg, but by the end of the decade Thompson had relocated to England, where he wound up recording classic releases by The Fall, The Raincoats, Cabaret Voltaire, and Stiff Little Fingers. Along the way, he recorded the 1970 solo record, Corky’s Debt to His Father, an overlooked collection of cracked and arty folk songs that set the template for lo-fi, indie-pop styles decades later. Thompson performs the album in its entirety for only the third time ever, in a free concert at Hammer Museum. —Falling James
Motionless in White
House of Blues, Anaheim
Like Dunder Mifflin, Motionless in White are from Scranton, Pennsylvania, and the gothic/metalcore outfit have been steadily building their reputation since forming in 2005. Unlike the American version of The Office, Motionless in White have been steadily getting better as time has passed, and 2019’s Disguise album was quite brilliant despite a mixed reception from critics. Also performing out in Anaheim is Columbus, Ohio metal band Beartooth —and fair play, that’s an excellent double bill. “We’re really loud, and like to break stuff,” Beartooth say on their Facebook profile. Probably not many acoustic tunes then. —Brett Callwood
Wand
The Echo
Such is the blossoming popularity of L.A. band Wand that they’re playing two consecutive nights at The Echo, on Thursday and also Friday. Musically, they play a sort of dreamy, synthy indie pop that manages to retain a classic, familiar feel while not sounding at all dated. That’s confirmed by a quote they put on their Facebook page which reads, “Isn’t it funny to be a skeleton, playing a new song like it’s an old one.” Laughing Matter is their latest album and it’s chock-full of quality tunes, including the hypnotic and slightly off-putting “Scarecrow. Keep your eye on them. —Brett Callwood
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