It’s not often you hear a superhero asking mere mortals like us for assistance. Fortunately the Aquabats are never too afraid to summon the power of their legion of righteous camarades, i.e. fans, to get something done right. Now more than ever, MC Bat Commander and the crew of spandex wearing, ska-punk saviors of humanity […]
Newsletter - Music
Dance With The Dead’s Synthwave Unites Dance Kids and Metalheads
As members of synth-wave duo Dance With The Dead, Irvine natives Tony Kim and Justin Pointer take inspiration from the darkness of the horror and sci-fi movies they grew up watching to generate dance beat and guitar-driven instrumentals that serve as hyper-charged versions of era-appropriate soundtracks. Both musicians had been circling around the Orange County […]
Panic! at the Disco Fans Prove that Equality is Where the Heart Is
Brendon Urie has been in the music game a long time. But the Panic! at the Disco frontman couldn’t help but be taken aback by what he saw on July 1, 2016. That night, as Urie took to the stage to sing his song, “Girls/Girls/Boys,” pops of color began to illuminate the Xfinity Center in […]
Why Rockabilly Fans Still Rant n’ Rave Over the Stray Cats
It’s 2018, and there are a ton of great bands we can honestly say took part in making history. However, there are only a handful of them who are history. The Stray Cats just happen to be one of those bands who moved the needle. In a very retro way, they were ahead of their […]
Top 10 “Must-See” Bands at Psycho Las Vegas 2018
This weekend, from 12 Noon Thursday morning, August 16th through well after midnight on Sunday night, August 19th, hordes of metal-heads and stoner-rockers will descend upon the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino for the Psycho Las Vegas festival. Operating as “Psycho California” and originally as Psycho De Mayo during its Santa Ana origins, the annual festival is a haven for those that dig their riffs […]
The Pixies Have a Ball at the House of Blues in Anaheim
Heading out to see the Pixies is a bucket list moment for me. I’ve never seen them before. I have most of their CD’s — yes, I still have those. I bought most of them at the Goodwill for one dollar. (A deal compared to $20 for a record.) So seeing them and writing about […]
Mike Vitale’s Life Hacks as a Working Musician Are Starting to Pay Off
No matter how big of a rockstar any musician these days hopes to become, the biggest stage they’ll ever play on is a cell phone. Few local troubadours understand that better than Mike Vitale. On a recent Saturday afternoon, a video of Vitale performing an hour-long set in his bedroom is garnering views from people […]
Belly Launches Dove Tour at Teragram Ballroom
Belly’s Dove tour began its journey last night at The Teragram Ballroom, in Los Angeles. The tour supports the band’s first new record in over 20 years. When band members Tanya Donelly (lead vocals, guitar), Gail Greenwood (bass), Tom Gorman (guitar), and Chris Gorman (drums) decided to get back together for a reunion tour in […]
OC Punks Invaded the UK at Rebellion Fest
On the Irish Sea coast in northern England sits Blackpool, a seaside resort town best known for its seven-mile stretch of sandy beaches, the amusement park Blackpool Pleasure Beach, and a slew of other family-friendly things to do. Cinderella-style carriages ferry hundreds of families up and down the beachfront. It’s definitely not the typical setting […]
Baja Bop, a Rockabilly Weekender Cruise, to Set Sail From the Port of Long Beach
Rockabilly fans of the world….do you hear that sound? It’s tequila calling from the Blue Iguana Tequila Bar aboard the Baja Bop musical cruise sailing southbound for Ensenada this October. Titans from the retro roots music genre are going south of the border, down Mexico way, and they’ll be serenading fans aboard the high seas […]
Dan Regan of Reel Big Fish Is Making Noise in the Craft Beer World
Orange County ska legends Reel Big Fish have been taking the stage and joyously tearing through their drinking anthem “Beer” night after night for over two decades. And for nineteen years, trombonist Dan Regan was right there to hear the drunken crowds scream to the heavens: “I think I’ll have myself a beer.” Of course, […]
OC Funk Fest Sells Out The Honda Center
A squad of pimped out low riders parked alongside the front entrance of the Honda Center last Saturday afternoon. They bounced up and down almost as if nodding along to the beats from the DJ booth that stood outside the entrance while DJ Cancun Joey and DJ Fana spun funk vinyl and got the mood […]
George Sanchez Beat the Odds to Make OC Funk Fest a Phenomenon
It’s around sunset on a Saturday night in Santa Ana, 1992. Cars slowly cruise through the city’s working-class neighborhoods on the way to a house party at the loudest casa on Bristol Street. You pull up with friends in a loaded El Camino. After a knock on the door, a 12-year-old Chicano opens up and […]
Night Verses Rediscover Their Voice as a Shredding Instrumental Trio
Plenty of bands looking to rediscover their spark understand that less is more as their sound matures. For the experimental shredders in Night Verses, that meant turning the vocals down to zero and letting their instruments do the talking. Though it was a big decision to part ways with singer Doug Robinson after six years, […]
Runaway June Makes the Country Pilgrimage Back to OC
Despite only having a handful of songs available for public consumption, the ladies of Runaway June have already seen the kind of success that most country artists only dream about. With singles like “Lipstick” and “Wild West” each cracking the Top 50 for Billboard’s country charts, the Nashville-based trio has been so busy with tours […]
The Best OC Metal Concerts in August
Aside from the annual summer heat wave, August is always on fire when it comes to concerts and live music events. This month, metal heads and rockers in the region are especially in luck when it comes to hard rock, neo-prog/death metal, splatter thrash, traditional old school heavy metal. Here are the best metal shows this […]
Why K-Pop Boy Band Monsta X Connects with American Fans
Thanks largely to the group of the moment BTS, boy bands are back — or at least in the eyes of mainstream America. The truth is that, unlike in the West, pop groups continued to thrive steadily in South Korea since the ’90s even as the trend largely died down here. And after years of […]
La Tocada Fest Brings Latin Rock to the Heart of LA
John Frías says he was a clueless college kid when he first got the idea to bring popular Latin rock bands to the U.S. in the mid-1990s. The son of immigrants from northern Mexico, he had watched his father build a music empire out of a small nightclub in southeast L.A., turning monthly concerts with […]
Wu-Tang Clan Relive the Success of Their Debut Album 36 Chambers at a Master Level
Ask RZA about the greatest adversaries he’s faced in his lifetime and he’ll tell you most of those battles had nothing to do with hip-hop. More than likely they were fought on a table chessboard in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village–the clock ticking, his mind racing to catch up to zen masters putting the […]
Judge Gives Orange County Man Last Chance in Lawsuit Against Rapper Cardi B
Inside Santa Ana’s stately Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse, U.S. District Court Judge Cormac J. Carney will soon decide whether to advance an unusual lawsuit involving rapper Cardi B and a controversial alleged depiction of cunnilingus on her Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 1 album cover. Costa Mesa’s Kevin Michael Brophy, Jr. filed a 2017 complaint alleging that the […]
EMAEL Break the Mold of Alt-R&B on Debut Album Glasswork
Emmanuel Ventura-Cruess has never been one to dream a dream that wasn’t his. In the case of the classically trained cellist from Yorba Linda, his dreams have always revolved around music. So it’s fitting that the sounds he creates strive to immerse listeners into the storm clouds of his mind. As the de-facto leader of […]