August 27 and 28, RX Bandits and friends took over the stage for those two nights at the world famous Troubador located in West Hollywood. I was only there for the second night, but I was treated to an overwhelming musical circus that blended together blues, jazz, rock, psychedelic, punk, blue grass, swing, metal leaving a light but sweet taste in my mouth.
7:30 pm rolls around and Lauren Coleman takes the stage with a stool and ukulele in hand. She is introduces herself by saying, “I’m Lauren Coleman. I am the pre-show entertainment and yes, this is a ukulele.” She began to strum that ukulele and out came this huge jazzy, straight out of the Mississippi Delta blues voices. It was not what I was expecting at all and took me a minute to figure out if I like it or not. What I’m getting out is that Lauren Coleman is not for me but she is an amazing, talented performer. She set the stage for what was coming which would be a musical massacre to the senses, in good and loving way.
Up next, Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground. An 11 piece band made up of a lead vocalist/guitarist, his wife on background vocals, an electric cello, two violinists, a trumpeter, a French horn, drums, bass, a lead guitarist straight out of 1976, and an organist. Most of which these talented musicians did backup vocals as well. The question I wanted to ask was, with 11 people in a band out on tour, how anyone made any money. After hearing and experiencing their music I realized that money was not the point. The point for Kay Kay is making beautiful music, being able to jam out on a song, maintain song structure without noodling on their instruments and giving positive energy to their audiences. I encourage everyone to check these guys out at www.myspace.com/kaykayunderground and if they are ever performing in your area be sure to see them live. Words cannot describe this musical circus overload.
Portugal the Man took the stage and took musical what Kay Kay was, condensed it down to a four piece band and took the music to a place of hard psychedelic rock. The band went a little crazy with the smoke machine but otherwise put on a great show. I would like to say that when the band jammed out it was reminiscent of Sonic Youth and Built to Spill but then I think possibly not. I enjoyed them and think that everyone should check them out at www.myspace.com/portugaltheman. To be honest, Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground stole the show from these guys.
RX Bandits took the stage just before 10:00 and preceded to do what the bands before did not and that was making the audience move. The audience quickly became a wave of motion, bodies uncontrollably being pushed forward towards the stage. There were girls screaming to get to the front just to get closer to RX Bandits charismatic front man. I was accidentally knocked in the mouth by a guy crowd surfing as he was tossed onto the stage. I quickly decided I had to leave this so called pit because I am getting too old for that type of thing. I wasn’t enjoying the show and not being familiar with the catalog of the band, I wanted to hear the music for what it was. RX Bandits, are from Long Beach, and sound extremely similar to Sublime only with DragonForce style guitar solos throughout the songs.
The RX Bandits fuse a variety of styles into their music to create songs that seem like a strange form of Jack Johnson/Widespread Panic/Sublime. The band couldn’t have played more than ten songs but they could have played well over three hours. I wouldn’t know because I had to leave during their encore which just kept going and going and I had to catch a bus so I wouldn’t get home at one in the morning. I have to say; not knowing any of RX Bandits material, the band completely won me over. Their jams were epic sometimes going on for 20 minutes at least. The band definitely has a following so if you are a part of that and missed out on these shows, well you missed out on something great. But I’m guessing you’ve probably seen them a million times so you know what I’m talking about. If you are not familiar with RX Bandits then I recommend you check them out. You won’t be disappointed.
