Notes from the smoking patio
Local. Music. Gossip.
It's not every day that a tribute band gets to meet its heroes, let alone represent them live in a historic performance, but that's exactly what happened when Wild Weekend (which plays Zeros covers in addition to original material) played the 30th anniversary bash for legendary Los Angeles punk club The Masque. "We heard [former Zeros vocalist] Robert Lopez was going to be in town, so we e-mailed him and invited him to a show at the Pink Elephant," says Wild Weekend singer/guitarist Maren Parusel. The band had already befriended original Zeros bassist Hector Penalosa and, after Lopez accepted their invitation, it wasn't long before Masque co-founder Brendan Mullen asked Wild Weekend to play the anniversary show at L.A.'s Echoplex. But with original Wild Weekend members Kaitlyn and Mel focusing on their other band, The Atoms, Parusel had to recruit Wendy Jeffers to play bass and Brian Hill (The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower, The Prayers) to take over on drums. Penalosa drove the revamped lineup to The Masque anniversary, which featured punk bands like The Plugz, Eyes, Deadbeats, Controllers and more. "We got to meet so many people backstage, like KK Barrett of The Screamers," Parusel says. "They were filming the show and interviewing bands to be released on DVD sometime next year." Local fans don't have to wait that long to see Wild Weekend, who will perform on Dec. 1 at the Tower Bar. MS/wildweekend07.
Other local punk bands have been busy lately. Vena Cava and Tiltwheel recently returned from "The Fest 6" (a three-day music showcase featuring more than 180 bands) in Gainesville, Fla. Battalion of Saints were in Austin, Texas, for FunFunFun Fest, playing alongside bands ranging from The New Pornographers and Of Montreal to Sick of it All and Busdriver. MS/venacava3, MS/myspacetomisawanker, MS/battalionof saints.
Louis XIV has returned home from their Aussie tour with The Killers. "There were so many cool things that happened on the tour," says Louis XIV sound tech Jake McLaughlin. "The Killers rented a yacht in Sydney, and all the bands got to hang out all day with hosted booze and all this food. We were jumping off the yacht into the ocean. It was amazing." The onstage antics were equally interesting, according to Ray Suen, who's been playing violin, mandolin and guitar with Louis XIV on tour. "The night of the last show in Sydney, The Killers had all the bands come onstage for ‘Helter Skelter,'" Suen said. (A video of the performance--featuring the Killers, The Vines, Louis XIV and Howling Bells--can be found on YouTube.) Now that Louis XIV is back in town, it's back to work with an upcoming slot (alongside Queens of the Stone Age, The Kooks, Mute Math, Rogue Wave and fellow San Diegans Pinback) at FM 94/9's Holiday Hootenanny on Dec. 15 at UCSD's RIMAC Arena. In the meantime, Louis XIV's Brian Karscig (guitar/keyboard/vocals) is keeping busy producing and recording the forthcoming EP for The Silent Comedy, expected to be released in early 2008. MS/louisxiv, MS/thesilentcomedy.
Few bands endure after nearly two decades. An exception is San Diego's own Buck-O-Nine. The band has enjoyed periodic success over the years along with long droughts when band members were forced to get "real" jobs as public interest in ska waned. But the band never officially called it quits and, over the past two years, compiled 30 new songs before whittling that number down to the 12 tracks that comprise the recently released Sustain. Now, with a new album and 17 years of skanking under its belt, the band celebrates its anniversary Wednesday, Nov. 21 at the Belly Up. MS/buckonine.
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Published: 11/20/2007
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