Covet and George Lynch on the Strip

Covet and George Lynch on the Strip: One of the great things about the Sunset Strip is the close proximity of, in particular, the Whisky, Roxy and Viper Room, enabling us music journos to jump from one venue to the other over the course of an evening and check out a multitude of artists. On Friday night, this made for quite the eclectic bag.

At the Roxy, we saw the majority of the Covet show, including the openers. This, as it turned out, was a wise choice. We caught the last couple of songs/opuses by dreamy indie-electronic group altopalo (all lower case, as is their want), and were impressed enough to check them out online when we got home. Lush and atmospheric, we could imagine them scoring movies at some point.

Next up was Scarypoolparty, aka former American Idol contestant Alejandro Aranda. It was just him and his acoustic guitar, practically in the dark, shredding and crooning for all he’s worth, and it was a joy. Despite his reality TV background, Scarypoolparty is for real.

Local math-rock band Covet have gone through some major lineup changes in the past year. In fact, guitarist Yvette Young is the sole familiar face for longtime fans; Brandon Dove and Jessica Burdeaux have replaced David Adamiak and Forrest Rice on drums and bass, so it’s essentially a whole new band.

Not there were any signs of teething. The band has been out on tour for a while and the new lineup has gelled magnificently, which is vitally important with this variety of intricate, technical, and yes prog rock.

We were not massively familiar with the band going in, so couldn’t pick out specific songs though it looks like they’ve been playing the likes of “Coronal” and “Firebird” on every date. The instrumental leanings of the songs make it hard to be specific if you’re not fully in their world. But we can say that the set was an immersive trip.

George Lynch (Brett Callwood)

Following that, we made our was down the street a few doors to the Whisky A Go Go. Former Dokken guitarist George Lynch was performing with his band Lynch Mob, which, like Covet, has a relatively new lineup.

We’ll say right at the top that Lynch Mob is and has always been a horrendous band name. Given the darker side of this country’s history, it was an insensitive, ill-advised and frankly disgusting moniker from the beginning. Yes, Lynch is George Lynch’s name. But movie director David Lynch has managed to negotiate his successful career without such massive missteps.

George Lynch knows it too. He tried to drop it, then brought it back when he said that “the fans just won’t let it go.” Sir, you have the option of making them let it go.

In 2018, we chatted with Living Colour man Corey Glover, who had formed a band with Lynch called Ultraphonix. Glover did have issues with his new bandmate’s old band name.

“There was a little bit of an issue with it, to be blunt,” Glover said at the time. “There was. But after getting to know George, knowing that it was not malicious in its intent, and knowing George is not, shall we say, particularly Caucasian — that factors into the name of the band. It is what it is.”

It is what it is. Lynch retired the name in 2020, telling Audio Ink Radio, “The name itself, of course, has always been problematic, and now it’s inexcusable to keep the name.” But now it’s back. C’mon, man! We’ll probably be labelled “woke” (as a pejorative) or “politically correct,” and so be it. The name sucks. But the band is great.

At the Whisky, they jammed through a crowd pleasing set that included old LM faves such as “21st Century Man” and “Street Fighting’ Man,” plus Dokken  classics like “It’s Not Love” and of course “Mr. Scary.” “Into the Fire” was another Dokken highlight, though the new songs sat seamlessly in the set too.

Gabriel Colon is the new singer, and he both looks and sounds the part. Jaron Gulion is in on bass, while on-again-off-again LM man Jimmy D’Anda is on drums. Everything is right with the band besides that godforsaken name. And we guess that’s how it shall remain.

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