By Andrew Bansal
October 30th 2013, The Satellite, Los Angeles CA: In what has now become a ritual of sorts on the last Wednesday of every month, the October edition of the Scion Rock Show took place at the Satellite last night and featured the bands Indian Handcrafts from Ontario, Canada and Dirty Streets from Memphis, Tennessee. As always, the show was free with RSVP and open to folks aged 21 and over. This time there wasn’t really a queue of people before the start of the show, and I had a feeling it was going to be a ‘slow night’. Nonetheless, I was personally still excited about seeing two bands I had never seen before but heard a lot about, and I went in at around 9:30 PM. The first thing I did was to grab a couple of pairs of the free Scion socks. I have so many of them that the only socks I wear now are of the Scion brand. And like the last two editions of the Scion Rock Show, the LSDJs played some sweet tunes from 9 to 10 to provide an appropriate background in anticipation of the show’s start.
The insides of the Satellite were full of Halloween-themed decorations, and amidst this setting, at 10 o’ clock, Dirty Streets hit the stage and this trio played 35-minutes of what I would describe as simple, no-bullshit classic heavy rock with elements of proto-punk. Their music and the atmosphere of the Satellite came across like a perfect marriage, and the venue’s sound and size really brought the best out of Dirty Streets’ music. The guitar tone sounded thick and the songs flowed smoothly. As a fan of heavy music, it was extremely easy to relate to and enjoy this band’s set, and if anything, they could have played a couple more songs to make it a solid 45-minute set. This young band had come from afar to play this show and they did themselves no harm at all with this highly impressive performance. I for one will certainly be on the lookout for more Dirty Streets music and shows in the near future.
And promptly at 11, Indian Handcrafts took the stage. The duo’s set had a very doom-laden beginning to it, with super-slow and down-tuned guitar parts, but soon after, they picked up the pace and intensity and delivered a compelling 50-minute set that turned out to be incredibly diverse and eclectic. Ranging from doom metal passages to fast-paced punk-ish parts, this band had it all. Drummer Brandyn James Aikins and guitarist Daniel Brandon Allen really displayed some skilled musicianship up on that stage, and for a mere two-piece act, Indian Handcrafts packed a tremendous punch. Both members did vocals, and even in that aspect there was a lot of variety in the singing style from one song to the next. The number of people in the audience definitely didn’t match up to what this high-quality Indian Handcrafts performance deserved, and I was left wondering why more people aren’t familiar with this band and aren’t in attendance even for a free show. But the lack of an audience didn’t deter the duo from establishing their stranglehold on those who did attend the show, and this was by all means a stellar musical exhibition by Indian Handcrafts.
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Overall, the live music itself was as good as the previous two editions of the Scion Rock Show, but the turnout was highly disappointing, which wasn’t more than 30-40 people at any point during the evening. Scion is doing a commendable thing by flying out bands from places like Ontario, Canada and Memphis, Tennessee and giving them the opportunity to play for us LA folks here, but I’m not sure how much the actual turnout even matters to them. Regardless, as long as they continue doing these shows, the few Scion Rock Show regulars like myself will be happy to keep attending and supporting them.
ScionAV.com
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theSatelliteLA.com
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