Tag Archives: los angeles

ROCKIN' NEWS

‘HOUSE’ PARTY

Leave a comment
Motley Crue
SAINTS OF LOS ANGELES: SSMF 2011 honorees Motley Crue at House of Blues’ pre-fest party.

HOUSE OF BLUES CELEBRATES 20 YEARS OF ROCKIN’ SUNSET

sunset-strip-vWe raise a toast today to House of Blues Sunset, which is celebrating 20 years of kicking ass on the world-famous Sunset Strip by bringing in some of the greatest rock shows around during its first two decades of decadence.

Aerosmith helped House of Blues Sunset kick open its doors with a show by the hit-making hard rockers 20 years ago today, April 22. Since then, the local hot spot in the heart of WeHo has hosted a rockin’ roster of local and international music artists. Further adding to its street cred, House of Blues Sunset is also the official host to the Sunset Strip Music Festival‘s annual pre-event kick-off party honoring SSMF’s honorees.

SAMSUNGSome of our favorite shows over the past two decades include Pat Benatar, Foo Fighters, 311, The Doors, L.A. rock legends X, Tenacious D, Jars of Clay, Goo Goo Dolls, Social Distortion, Steel Panther, local faves Warner Drive (right) and cheering on Motley Crue at the band’s 2011 SSMF event, to name just a few of the superstar artists that have lured us back to Sunset and Olive again and again.

To celebrate the milestone, House of Blues Sunset is offering a 20 percent discount at the hot spot’s restaurant and store.

STREET ART

SCENE ON SUNSET

Leave a comment

SUNSET STREET ART - 1000pxl
WHEAT PASTE WISDOM: WRDSMTH

We spotted this rockin’ and random stencil art confession by prolific L.A. street artist Wrdsmth just off the Sunset Strip, outside Viper Room‘s Larrabee entrance. We imagine that, like us, most Angelenos totally empathize with half of this statement–and occasionally, the other half!

ROCKIN' NEWS

APPETITE FOR METAL

Leave a comment

Axl Rose and Vince Neil

WHISKY SERVES UP DOUBLE SHOT OF METAL WITH HOLLYWOOD ROSES & MOTLEY TOO

a7f8f-hr-axlSure, it’s been awhile since Guns N’ Roses and Motley Crue played the Sunset Strip. But if you have enough Night Train Express and head to the Whisky A Go-Go tonight, you, like Bowling for Soup, may be able to drift back to 19, 19 1985!

Perhaps the the next best thing to a real Guns/Motley double-bill, local legends Hollywood Roses (right) and Motley Too (below) will be visiting the Whisky tonight to do a little dancing with Mr. Browntstone and shouting at the Devil while keeping the spirit of Sunset strip-launched heavy metal alive!

SoCal rockers Never Justified, who cite GN’R as a key influence, along with Foo Fighters, Zeppelin and Slash, are also on the bill and making the Saturday night event the band’s record release showcase for Never Justified’s debut EP.

Also set to hit the Whisky stage tonight, Sept. 14, is OC Bay, a local duo delivering original tunes and familiar covers. Get more deets here.

2f0f3-hollywoodrosesMore rockin’ upcoming shows at the Whisky:

• Phoenix glam rock stalwarts, Tuff – Sept. 21

• Industrial rockers Powerman 5000 – Sept. 25

•  Dizzy Reed‘s Hookers & Blow – Oct. 7

•  Metal-maricahi mash-up of Metalchi – Oct. 11

• Concord, Cali. thrashers Death Angel – Oct. 19

• Michigan hit-makers I See Stars – Oct. 31

• Local nu-metal innovators Otep – Nov. 9

 • Sunset Strip rock refugees L.A. Guns – Dec. 2

ROCKIN' NEWS

GOLD DUST WOMAN

Leave a comment

SUNSET STRIP’S GUITAR TOWN SALUTES STEVIE NICKS

The Gibson Guitar Town urban art installation has added a new rock-star tribute to its cool collection of giant guitars that dot the Sunset Strip.

On-again, off-again, on-again Fleetwood Mac hit-maker and solo superstar Stevie Nicks is the newest legend to be immortalized with a huge guitar installation featuring a colorful mosaic portrait of the prolific singer-songwriter. The artwork is on display in front of Mel’s Diner.

OK, so the illustrated “Gold Dust Woman” kinda looks like Dina Lohan, but it’s the thought that counts. And it’s great to see Stevie getting her props on Sunset!

ROCKIN' NEWS

SUNSET DRIVE

Leave a comment

WARNER DRIVE TAKES OVER VIPER ROOM

Sunset Strip rock refugees Warner Drive are returning to the Viper Room in February and March with four shows that are sure to officially rock the roof off the joint.

Awhile back, when Sunset and Clark first stumbled — and we do mean stumbled, following drinks at Rainbow — upon Warner Drive at Viper Room and witnessed, through bloodshot eyes, the band crank up its signature jam, “All by Myself,” it took us all of 10 seconds into the addictive rocker to proclaim them the best Sunset Strip band since Guns N’ Roses.

Now, as Warner Drive —  JonnyLaw, Candice Levinson, Ryan Harris, Jonny Udell and Elvis James — are steering their way back to the comfy confines of the band’s unofficial Sunset Strip home base, it’s hard to believe that these arena-worthy mofos haven’t yet headlined Staples considering that the VR shows are celebrating these local legends’ 10-year anniversary.

Warner Drive, however, is working on its follow-up to the band’s fantastic full-length sophomore release of original songs, 2011’sK-Go!, and considering that the band debuted a dynamite new tune, “King of Swing,” at a recentHouse of Blues show (right), you can likely expect to hear some more cool new tunes!

The band’s Jan. 30 warm up show at the Viper Room in anticipation of WD’s month-long Wednesday night residency sold out quickly. Get tickets and more deets about WD’s Feb. 6 to March 1 takeover of Viper Room here. Plus, advance tickets are only $10, but a still-cheap $12 at the door. (But trust us, there likely won’t be any left!)

Rock out to “Viper Room'” Warner Drive’s sonic salute to the iconic Sunset Strip club, from the band’s debut, Loaded, below. See you at the shows!

ROCKIN' NEWS

WALK THIS WAY

Leave a comment

SAMSUNG

ALEC MONOPOLY IS STUCK ON SUNSET

Judging from this groovy graphic we spotted on the back of a stop sign near Sunset and Doheny, it looks like mysterious L.A. urban artist Alec Monopoly has the perfect solution for safely crossing the Sunset Strip: jump! We’ve gotten a kick out of stumbling across Alec’s cool street art, including his Jack Nicholson portraits, for a while now. And it’s good to see that the art world is now starting to embrace the New York transplant’s work in a big way, including at Miami’s recent high-profile and weirdly named shin dig Art Basel.

ROCKIN' NEWS

ART ATTACK

Leave a comment

SAMSUNG

SUNSET’S COOL NEW NEIGHBOR

Sunset MuralThe Sunset Strip is showcasing a very cool and colorful new addition to Rock Row with a fresh urban art mural that would make Keith Haring and Radiohead artist Stanley Donwood proud.

The huge painting popped up earlier this week next to the Whisky A Go Go, on a wooden fence that covers the former location of rock and roll diner Duke’s, which has been demolished to make room for an expansion to the Strip’s newest hot spot Rock & Reilly’s Irish Pub.

We can’t wait to hang out at a more comfy R&R’s! But if waiting means that this cool mural sticks around longer, we’re down with that!

Sunset Mural 3

Sunset Mural 2

Sunset Mural 4

ROCKIN' NEWS

HOT WHEELS

Leave a comment

image

FAST TIMES ON SUNSET BOULEVARD

image

Spotted this freshly posted “Super Street Art” by mysterious art ninja EmSixFive while stumbling home from the Rainbow this evening. The nostalgic ode to hot rods and model car kits covers part of a utility box near the front of the Roxy.

The rockin’ monochromatic graphic captures the essence of an era so vividly that it got us reminiscing about those old model car kits that took all afternoon to build. Then as soon as you proudly placed it on a shelf, its wheels fell off, leaving you with nothing but a mess and fingers you couldn’t separate.

But the residual high from the glue usually made it all better.

ROCKIN' NEWS

Sunset Soul

Leave a comment

image

GODFATHER OF SOUL GETS A SHOUT OUT ON THE SUNSET STRIP

jb-500Late music legend James Brown is the newest icon to receive a rockin’ tribute via Sunset Boulevard’s Gibson Guitar Town outdoor art installation of towering hand-painted guitar sculptures that are ubiquitous throughout the famous Strip, from Doheny to Crescent Heights.

Evocative of the iconic rock-and-soul singer’s electric flair, the fab and funky 10 foot tall Les Paul guitar dedicated to JB features a badass monochromatic portrait and colorful splashes of lightning-blue accents that give added radiance to the black and pink guitar body and fret board.

Appropriately, the tribute to Brown, who passed away in 2006, is set on hollowed ground, on Sunset near Horn, in the former off-site second parking lot of the equally legendary but defunct Tower Records Sunset.

ROCKIN' NEWS

Sunset People

Leave a comment

Roxy

‘I LOVE THIS CITY’: WEHO’S ROXY THEATRE GETS COLORFUL WITH BADASS NEW CANVAS BY L.A. ARTIST ANNIE PREECE

The Sunset Strip continues to champion the electric and eclectic work of cool local artists with the latest addition to its ever-changing roster of urban art that dots the world-famous Boulevard.

Los Angeles artist Annie Preece, a San Francisco transplant, explores the esoteric and bizarre side of the City of Angeles in a wild and wonderfully offbeat painting that’s currently rockin’ a wall of The Roxy. See more of Annie’s awesome art here.

ROCKIN' NEWS

Rock This Way

Leave a comment

Aerosmith

AEROSMITH AND WHISKY SERVED ON SUNSET

SAMSUNGWe were stoked recently while rolling the Sunset Strip and randomly stumbling upon iconic band Aerosmith rockin’ the Whisky A Go-Go — even if it was only via huge posters that cover the exterior walls of the equally legendary rock club. Spotting the awesome art hyping the band’s latest release, Music from Another Dimension, put a whole new rock and roll swagger in our walk.

ROCKIN' NEWS

Fully Loaded

8 Comments

Warner Drive

WARNER DRIVE DEBUTS NEW SONG, ‘KING OF SWING,’ WHILE GIVING HOUSE OF BLUES A CRASH COURSE IN HOW TO ROCK

Never say Monday nights in L.A. are boring because local buzz band Warner Drive proved that it just ain’t so. The five-piece power-rock band shook the amps at the Sunset Strip’s House of Blues on December 3 with a spectacular set from their arsenal of original arena-ready rock songs. The band also premiered an awesome new track from WD’s upcoming third studio album, due out in early 2013.

Jonny LawFrontman Jonny Law, sporting a NOFX T-shirt, set things off with the melodic rocker “Ok K-Go” from WD’s latest release, K-Go!, and immediately had the packed venue moving and grooving with a frenzied fervor of rock and roll ecstasy that would make Fat Mike proud.

Confident that they have the chops to keep the crowd amped for the band’s entire set, Warner Drive choose to crank up its signature song, “The Scarecrow,” early in its set, and judging by the audience’s enthusiastic reaction and sing-along, it was apparent that most of the crowd was here for WD, which was opening for Steel Panther.

kgoWarner Drive rounded out its set with nearly a half-dozen tracks from K-Go! and a few more from the band’s 2005 debut, Fully Loaded, before showcasing a rockin’ new tune, “King of Swing,” which Law penned as a tribute to his dad, who, he mentioned, recently passed away from leukemia.

“But this isn’t a sad song,” Law said before launching into the anthemic rock jam whose chorus promises that “everything is gonna be alright” and proves that Warner Drive – which also includes bassist Elvis James, drummer Jonny U and guitarists Ryan Harris and Candice Levinson —  is only getting more awesome with each gig.

ROCKIN' NEWS

Warner Drive’s ‘House’ Party

Leave a comment

Warner-Drive

SUNSET STRIP FAVES WARNER DRIVE TO ROCK H.O.B. WITH SURPRISE SHOW & PRE-PARTY WITH FANS, DEC. 3

Great news for L.A. music fans looking for something a bit more exciting than sitting around listening to stale Christmas carols and re-watching It’s A Wonderful Life for the zillionth time on Monday night. Instead, why not get your face rocked off by some full-throttle, straight-forward original rock and roll by local faves, Sunset Strip refugees Warner Drive?

261178_391071537639587_588980207_nFrontman Jonny Law and the band have just confirmed a last-minute gig filling in as the opener for Steel Panther at West Hollywood’s House of Blues on Monday, December 3. Warner Drive is slated to rock the main stage at around 9:30 p.m.

Fresh off its first European tour, the L.A. band is working on its third studio album and will be showcasing some new tunes from the 2013 release! (Although, we’ll never get tired of hearing “The Scarecrow” or “OK K-Go” from WD’s latest album, K-Go, and the badbass ballad “Broken” and “Viper Room” from their debut, Fully Loaded!)

Plus…it gets better! The House of Blues is hosting a pre-party for Warner Drive in the club’s upstairs VIP lounge, the Foundation Room. Fans can inquire about the pre-party when they show up and will be directed to the WD bash. Doors open around 8 p.m.

Check out Warner Drive’s Facebook page for all the details. See you at the show!

MUSIC FESTIVALS, ROCKIN' NEWS

Meet The Kavanaghs

1 Comment

AFTER STEALING THE SPOTLIGHT AT CULTURE COLLIDE, ARGENTINA’S THE KAVANAGHS ARE SET TO ROCK THE WHISKY OCTOBER 13

So, what do four guys from Argentina who were raised on equal parts Beatles, Beach Boys and Badfinger know about playing authentic powerhouse British and American rock?

Well, as Rosario-based band The Kavanaghs proved at L.A.’s Culture Collide music fest this past weekend, a helluva lot!

In fact, when it comes to music, these guys speak the language loud and clear, effortlessly infusing Sixties Brit and American classic rock stylings around memorable original English-language songs that reinvent contemporary rock and roll without disrespecting its past.

The quartet was part of Culture Collide’s four-day (Oct. 4-7) multi-bill lineup of some of the best new bands from around the world. And all that global creative energy and vast array of music styles combusted in an amp-shaking showcase of great sets by an eclectic mix of artists that included Sweden’s Icona Pop, Britain’s The Wombats, Poland’s Coldair and New Orleans’ Royal Teeth, which had the parking lot packed and jumping along to its groovy set.

However, it was The Kavanaghs’ rockin’ show on Sunday that won the weekend.

The band — frontman/bassist Tiago Galindez, drummer Sebastian Cairo and guitarists Alejandro Pin and Diego Vazquez — ripped through a tight set of tunes from its first two albums, including the stellar summer release Love Conquers Pain.

The cool rush of fast and furious tracks like “That’s All You Need to Know,” the badass Beatles-esque anthem “Friday On My Mind” and the addictive “Need a Pity Day” filled the room at Taix with a steady stream of curious indie-music fans that danced and nodded their heads straight through to the stellar set closer, “Tonight,” the first single from Love.

Los Angeles rock fans get another opportunity to catch the band’s killer live show, at the world-famous Whisky A Go-Go on October 13, before the band heads back to Argentina to record its next album.

ROCKIN' NEWS

Heavy Metal 101

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

‘HISTORY OF HEAVY METAL’ ROCKS L.A.’S GRAMMY MUSEUM 

Downtown Los Angeles’ Grammy Museum is hosting its first-ever heavy metal exhibit, “Golden Gods: The History of Heavy Metal.” The interactive showcase includes everything from a 15-foot tall fiberglass statue of Eddie from Iron Maiden’s “Somewhere in Time Tour” to guitars from every rock god on the planet, including EDDIE VAN HALEN and DOKKEN‘S GEORGE LYNCH. The exhibit runs through February 2013.