Review by Andrew Bansal
[Videos by Arturo Gallegos]
August 16th 2014, IAm8Bit, Los Angeles CA: The fourth annual edition of Echo Park Rising is in full swing this weekend, and day 2 of the multi-venue, multi-genre festival bore witness to the performances of fast-rising Los Angeles-based groups The Shrine and Obliterations, most certainly the two heaviest bands on the entire 3-day lineup, as they took the stage at a video game art gallery called IAm8Bit for an event presented by Pabst Blue Ribbon and DoLA.
But much before those bands did their thing, as I neared the location on the LA Metro bus, the sheer amount of foot traffic seen upon entering the Echo Park area was almost overwhelming and looked like a straight-up hipster apocalypse. I arrived at the venue at 6:30 to absorb and observe the scene at my first ever Echo Park Rising experience. IAm8Bit exuded a friendly, welcoming vibe, and its main hall was plentifully spacious for this concert even though it would get massively hot, packed and sweaty later on. The stage was a make-shift arrangement placed temporarily to serve this event, in keeping with the DIY attitude, and as it turned out, the venue’s sound system definitely stood up to the task of doing justice to the bands performing on this stage.
But with that said, none of the bands that played before the two aforementioned acts were able to make any kind of positive impression on this very open-minded metalhead, although LA’s The Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs, the first band I saw at this show, were mildly passable with their Motörhead-esque punk ‘n roll and clearly possessed the stage moves to go with it. But the bands after them didn’t do anything for me, and I observed the surroundings some more while they played their sets one after another. The number of hot chicks walking into this room was pleasantly on the high side, much higher than your typical metal show. So many hot chicks, I was losing my mind.
Finally at close to 9:30, explosive Los Angeles hardcore punk horde Obliterations took the stage to do what they do best and to live up to their name, destroying the stage, opening up the floor for the first mosh pits of the evening, and completely changing the vibe of the show in a manner that couldn’t possibly be more contrasting from the weird hipstery band that played just before them. The band formed last year, released a four-track EP in January and since then, they’ve signed to Southern Lord Records and have finished work on their debut full-length album. Having seen them perform at venues like the Echo and Los Globos, this was the first time I really felt like the band was fully expressing themselves, and thanks to the spaciousness of the stage and the venue, wouldn’t bump into the ceiling if they jumped up a few feet in the air. Beer cans were starting to get tossed around and things began getting delightfully messy while Obliterations played their 13-song, 30-minute set. There was a lot of beer spillage on the stage itself, but vocalist Sam James Velde rolled around in it with no concern whatsoever. Obliterations were on an altitude nothing would bring them down from. With the obligatory ‘Fuck The Police’ monologue from Velde included amongst the tunes, the devastating set impressed one and all. Be on the lookout for their crushing debut LP, and catch them on their fall US West Coast tour (with a fall European tour to follow).
Video footage:
Obliterations links: facebook | twitter | instagram | bandcamp
Set List:
01. Mind Ain’t Right
02. The One That Got Away
03. The Narcissist
04. Poison Everything
05. Black Out
06. Head Wound
07. Scape Goat
08. Shame
09. Normalized Decline
10. Ad Nauseam
11. Pay To Live
12. Middle Of The End
13. Crawl Inside
Obliterations Fall US West Coast Tour w/ Baptists, Torch Runner
10/15/2014 Los Globos – Los Angeles, CA Southern Lord Showcase w/ Excel, Goatsnake, The Offenders, Xibalba, Baptists, Torch Runner
10/17/2014 Hard To Find Space – Santa Barbara, CA *
10/18/2014 Black Flame Collective – San Bernadino, CA *
10/19/2014 Rialto Theatre – Tucson, AZ @ Southwest Terror Fest #
10/20/2014 Soda Bar – San Diego, CA *
10/21/2014 The Knockout – San Francisco, CA *
10/23/2014 Slabtown – Portland, OR
10/24/2014 Chop Suey – Seattle, WA
10/25/2014 Biltmore Vancouver, BC
10/26/2014 Lucky Bar – Victoria, BC
10/28/2014 Wandering Goat – Eugene, OR ^
10/29/2014 TBA – Santa Rosa, CA **^
10/30/2014 Eli’s Mile High Club – Oakland, CA **^
* w/ The Offenders
** w/ Creative Adult
^ w/o Baptists
Very few bands would have had it in them to live up to that Obliterations set, but The Shrine certainly did. “RIP Jay Adams!” yelled vocalist/guitarist Josh Landau as the three Venice cohorts began their 35-minute set with ‘Tripping Corpse’, an apt tribute to the skateboarding legend. The Shrine took this evening into a true crescendo as mosh pits gave rise to crowd surfers and stage divers, Landau himself surfing atop the crowd while ripping through a guitar solo on a couple of occasions. This was a very different crowd from what they usually get at the shows they play and I was honestly unsure of how these people would react to The Shrine’s music, but it turned out to be the craziest Shrine show I’ve attended. This set included more older material than their previous LA gig at the Echoplex, such as ‘Primitive Blast’ and their cover of Wicked Lady’s ‘Run The Night’, but also treated hardcore Shrine fans with a brand new track called ‘Rare Breed’ which sounded righteously metal and punk at the same time. They ended the set with a typically extended jam version of ‘Nothing Forever’, the crowd in the first few rows completely drenched in sweat and loving every moment of it.
Overall, The Shrine and Obliterations both retained their reputations as two of the finest bands this great city has produced in recent times, and together they combined for what’s undoubtedly a contender for show of the year.
Video footage (check out Arturo Gallegos’ YouTube channel for videos from other local LA shows):
The Shrine links: facebook | instagram | bandcamp
Set List:
01. Tripping Corpse
02. Worship
03. Whistlings Of Death
04. Run The Night (Wicked Lady cover)
05. Rare Breed
06. Primitive Blast
07. Nothing Forever
The Shrine/Earthless August US East Coast Tour:
8/20 – Washington, DC – Rock and Roll Hotel
8/21 – Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts
8/22 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge
8/23 – Brooklyn, NY – Saint Vitus
8/24 – Boston, MA – House of Blues (Earthless Meets Heavy Blanket w/ Sleep)
Echo Park Rising links: website | facebook | twitter | instagram
IAm8Bit links: facebook | twitter | instagram