“This one’s for you Susan.”
It’s been a while since I’ve been to a show at the Echoplex. When I first moved to Los Angeles, it quickly became a favorite venue for a wide array of bands, and I covered a lot of fun gigs there. Somewhere along the line, I stopped making it to as many, and I’m not exactly sure why. Maybe I was just working too much, and I was too exhausted even to try, or maybe I just wasn’t seeing the bands that I wanted to see getting booked there. So what a hell of a time to go back to see one of my all-time favorites, Mclusky, tear the fucker apart!
Warming us up was Wisconsin-based Conan Neutron and the Secret Friends, a band that is best described by their “About” link on Spotify as “Arena rock for smart-asses and malcontents.” They’ve got all the big riffs of bands like Melvins and Queens of the Stone Age without the pretentious bullshit that Queens tends to exude, with a smarmy sense of humor and a sonically tight performance. It was a Monday so people were a bit slow to show up and get into it, but that didn’t stop Conan from performing as if to a full house.
Following the Secret Friends was LA native Suzie True, a four-piece punk group of girls in pink cheerleader outfits, self-described as if “The Powerpuff girls formed a Blink 182 cover band.” Yes, you read that right. Don’t be fooled by how utterly adorable they are,–I mean this sincerely– these girls kick ass. Singing songs about mental health, toxic relationships, and just saying “Fuck it!” to the world in favor of having a bit of fun, the amount of joy and love in the band is infectious. At one point, singer/bassist Lexi McCoy perfectly summed it all up: “We’re four women in our 30s dressed as cheerleaders singing embarrassing songs. Life is stupid, and you should do whatever you want.” I can’t say it better than that.
Mclusky is a band that I’ve been obsessed with since I was about 15 years old. I turned 39 this year, and I’m still just as obsessed with that weird trio from Cardiff cranking out songs with irreverent humor, unapologetic metaphors, and intense fury. So, permit my obvious bias to let me gush about how much I love this band. I had a ticket to see them at their added LA show last year when the tour was cut short by a serious medical emergency that required primary creative force Andrew Falkous–affectionately known as Falco–direct and immediate attention. As soon as he was able to sort it out, a new tour was announced, and god damn if they didn’t come back with a vengeance.
The show I saw at The Regent last year was great, but it paled in comparison to the evening in the dark basement that is The Echoplex. Starting off as usual with “Fuck This Band,” the band wasted no time at all with launching into hyperspeed with “Dethink to Survive” and into the rest of their excellent catalog of songs, mostly from the Do Dallas and The Difference Between Me and You Is That I’m Not On Fire albums as well as a couple of new tunes and b-sides.
Before “Rice is Nice,” one of the few songs from the first album, Damian Sayell, took a moment to talk about his noticeably fit appearance and how he got his health in order specifically to destroy that song, which, to the uninitiated, involves a LOT of high speed yelling that can take the breath out of just about anyone. These guys are just so much damned fun and full of energy it’s hard not to just gush about it. Their precision is also second to none, held down by drummer Jack Egglestone, playing behind a large drum shield, presumably as part of a countermeasure for Falco’s tinnitus issues that canceled half of the tour last year, with high spirits and humor. We all waved to him a few times between songs to show our love and support.
I was in such good spirits that I absolutely cannot remember which song Falco was introducing, but he was talking about a rather unsavory person. I shouted, “Fuck that guy!” to which he responded, “Who said it was a guy?” and without missing a beat, I responded, “Well Fuck that person then!” resulting in a couple of other humorous remarks that got me singled out. I was having too good a time to be embarrassed, but he asked my name and then said, “This song’s for you, Susan.” Well, Falco, Susan says, “Thank you! See you again soon, I hope!”
