It’s gonna get loud…
It’s been a good bit of time since I’ve made it out to a show at one of my favorite venues in Los Angeles: Echoplex. While the lightning has never been the greatest for photography, the atmosphere and sound mixes have always made up for it and I’ve consistently had the most fun at pretty much every show I’ve seen behind their doors. Though, I’ll definitely admit that it’s sometimes hard to decipher their door times from show starting times and in this case I misread and ended up arriving FAR earlier than I ever have, but that’s just me griping. Even being in line about an hour and a half before opening couldn’t wreck my spirits. I was about to thrust myself into the noisiest room in Los Angeles. I was about to see Boris and the Melvins.
Opening act We Are The Asteroid was full of energy and lots of fun, reminding me vaguely of No Means No but with a decidedly more sci-fi fx approach to their vocals. Carying themselves with humor and ferocity, they hit the stage first and let every know quite quickly that it was time to rock the hell out providing an excellent warm up for what was to come.
I first saw Boris with Earth in San Francisco at the Fillmore. It was a pretty epic experience so I was very curious to see how their huge sound would translate to the Echoplex. Sonically, they never disappoint. They play with incredible precision, though I recommend ear plugs because those Sunn amps and Orange stacks will melt even the toughest rock audience’s hearing. Pulling from a selection of songs that cover the span of their 25 year long career the crowd was definitely appeased. The band was fantastic — they played “Heavy Friends” from Heavy Rocks (2001) bathed in orange light — but holy crap that small room is just not meant for as much fog as I got blasted in the face with that evening.
Forgive me for being the latest mother fucker to get on the boat, but this was my first ever experience with the Melvins. I’d known about them in name only most of my life as I spent a good part of my youth being a heathen with obnoxious opinions and a refusal to let anyone tell me who or what to listen to. It’s been the detriment of my life and I’ve been making up for it over the last decade. These guys are just so goddamn good at what they do. Touring in support of their recent album with guest Jeff Pinkus of the Butthole Surfers, they came out with two bass guitars — Pinkus on one and Steven McDonald on the other — and an obscene amount of energy and blasting from song to song with little reprieve. It’s not often that you get to see a band having so much fun on stage but I’ll be damned if the Melvins don’t have the best time ever.
Boris Setlist
Melvins Setlist via Setlist.fm
Sesame Street Meat
At A Crawl
The Kicking Machine
Savior Machine
What They Say
Anaconda
Stop Moving To Florida
Edgar The Elephant
Sway
Let It All Be
Honey Bucket
The Bit
Don’t Forget To Breathe
Onions Make The Milk taste Bad
Evil New War God
Eye Flys
