Editor's Note: Fullerton rock four-piece Regrets & Brunettes are playing Thursdays this month at Gypsy Lounge in Lake Forest. Bassist/vocalist Robert Pavlovich shares his thoughts on last week's performance–and looks forward to today's.
It's only been a week, but I'm pretty sure this is a show that we'll all remember. Something we addressed before we started playing shows in support of our recently released debut full-length At Night You Love Me was about putting in extra effort in meeting more bands and trying to set up more interesting shows. In that respect, night two at Gypsy Lounge definitely met and exceeded any expectations we had of putting together quality lineups. All of the bands put on truly remarkable shows and they wound up making it a great night for everyone who attended.
Arrows got things started with an invitingly mellow and introspective sound. On stage they sported all the standard rock gear with the addition of a synth and a Mac, and singer/guitarist Austin Nicolai has a casual, self-deprecating stage demeanor. The growing crowd was definitely appreciating their easy on the ears, Smiths-inspired tunes. According to Nicolai, they're planning to start work on some new recordings–definitely interested to hear what they come up with in the studio.
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Next up were Chasing Kings, who we had the good fortune of meeting a few weeks ago at Detroit Bar. In short, we haven't been as impressed by a local band in a long time, and we consider them a must see (don't just check out their MySpace). They started off their set at Gypsy Lounge a bit more subdued than they were at Detroit Bar, but their intensity built up gradually along with the crowd's growing appreciation. Things pretty much reached a boiling point when they broke out “Dark Sunglasses” toward the end of the set, a cutting and dynamic rocker off their debut EP, The Current State of Our Future, which I also highly recommend by the way.
For our own set, we opened with our newest (unrecorded) song, “Facts & Figures,” and burned through most of the songs from our still relatively new album At Night You Love Me. Also mixed was a pretty fun cover, “Brimful of Asha” by Cornershop. We're starting to feel the pressure of our self-imposed mandate of learning a new cover each week, but the crowd seemed to enjoy this one quite a bit so we were happy. “Fitness Tips” helped us close things off, as it has many times in the past. It's hard to believe we've been playing it for about four years now and still don't have a proper recording of it, but we plan to soon. Finally, Rich hopped on keys to close out the set with “There's A Chorus.”
After clearing the stage and engaging in some friendly chit-chat, one of my favorite scenarios played out beautifully. Getting to watch the last band play (after just finishing a set myself), and better yet, watching the last band put on a great show. In this case, it was the Monthlies who closed it out, and subsequently impressed the heck out of us. We had met them before at a random show at Slidebar in Fullerton, and it happened to be less than ideal circumstances for everyone, but we had stayed in touch and were glad to have them on the bill. We just didn't know how good they were until tonight, playing a meticulous and driving set of pop/rockish indie.
We can only hope night three will be comparable, but we have a good feeling about it. Come out and join us today for what should be another great night of music with Moostache, Downtown/Union, and Olin & The Moon!
The show is free. Click for info.
Click for Pavlovich's previous post.
