Review & photos by Andrew Bansal
January 6th 2014, The Troubadour, West Hollywood CA: Consisting of the ever-dynamic Eddie Solis on guitar/vocals and Waleed Rashidi on drums, It’s Casual is a longstanding hardcore punk duo based out of Los Angeles, in existence since 2001 and over these past 12 years, Solis has strived to spread serious social messages under the guise of his hardcore punk music. It’s Casual’s most recent release ‘The New Los Angeles II’ was released in 2013 on Solis’ own label Stoked Records, and the band played their first gig of the new year, headlining a free show at the Troubadour in West Hollywood on a Monday night.
It’s Casual hit the stage at 10:20 PM and went on to play both ‘The New Los Angeles’ records in their entirety, treating this small but devout audience with an hour-long set. Through their compellingly excellent performances, both individually and as a duo, Solis and Rashidi gave the Troubadour a good account of what It’s Casual stands for in terms of the music, the lyrical ideology and the on-stage personality.
Songs from both of It’s Casual’s Los Angeles-centric albums directly deal with social issues faced by the city’s residents on a daily basis, and for those willing to be receptive to the message, the studio versions of the songs make for an enjoyable yet thought-provoking listen. But in the live setting, these songs made an even greater impact, and early items in the set list such as ‘LAPD’, ‘Skate Or Die’, ‘Too Many Kids’ and ‘We Accept EBT’ were delivered with great energy and conviction by the duo, and as a result, were extremely well-received by this audience.
Perhaps the best part of the set was the one-two punch of ‘The Red Line’, It’s Casual’s most popular song, and ‘EZ Pass’, a tune that serves as an ideal follow-up to The Red Line, both musically and subject-wise. But with that said, each piece of this hour-long offering played its role and had its own identity, and there was absolutely no filler in this particular performance. Deep-seated beneath the outer layer of hardcore punk was a clear classic rock n’ roll element which comes from Eddie Solis’ love for bands like KISS, and this aspect of Solis’ musicianship came to the forefront whenever he advanced to the edge of the stage and laid down a guitar solo. But the most essential component of Solis’ live performance last night was his array of stage moves which were bombastic enough to match that of the arena rock bands he admires. The meagre size of the audience did not deter him even one bit, and he performed as if he was playing in front of thousands of people in an arena, which is a truly admirable trait because it takes a great degree of passion and professionalism to be able to pull that off.
In comparison to the previous time I witnessed an It’s Casual set, when they opened for High On Fire at the Viper Room in 2011, this gig at the Troubadour was miles ahead in terms of quality and impact, and it was, by all means, a tremendous performance by the duo. And despite them putting on a show worthy of an arena crowd, ironically the turnout here was beyond disappointing. It’s Casual are devoting their efforts towards pursuing a musical approach that’s actually unique, entertaining and thoughtful, and certainly deserves a much, much bigger audience.
Check out more photos of It’s Casual in the slideshow below:
Set List:
01. The New Los Angeles
02. LAPD
03. Skate Or Die
04. Too Many Kids
05. Impound
06. We Accept EBT
07. The Pantry
08. The Red Line
09. EZ Pass
10. The Gold Line
11. Less Violence More Violins
12. Keep The Children Occupied
13. California Is Not An ATM Machine
14. WIC
15. Sharing Is Not Caring
16. Their Own Cash
17. Tap Card
18. Live Food
19. The Gap Is Widening
20. Kids Having Kids
Visit It’s Casual on the web:
facebook.com/pages/Its-Casual/130501380332589
twitter.com/ItsCasualLA