Review & photos by Andrew Bansal
February 24th 2015, Five Star Bar, Los Angeles CA: Hailing from the town of Port Orchard near Seattle WA, stoner rock trio Mos Generator have been in existence for a number of years but haven’t ventured to play in the Los Angeles area too often. They rectified that last Tuesday February 24 with a free headline show at the very aptly chosen Five Star Bar in downtown LA, along with support from San Diego heavy rockers The Great Electric Quest and local bands Suns Of Jimi, Asstronauts and The Mercury Wheel. The prospect of a stoner rock night at the Five Star, with no cover charge, was just too inticing and the decision to attend this show was an absolute no-brainer. This low-key event turned out to be a pleasantly interesting experience, not only showcasing new talent but also bringing forth a characteristic of this venue most regular attendees perhaps aren’t aware of.
The show started at 9 PM as The Great Electric Quest took the stage for a thoroughly impressive 30-minute set, hitting their groove right from the moment they stepped on stage and never fading away. With a vintage four-piece vocals-guitar-bass-drums setup, they presented a stellar combination of easily likable guitar riffs and excellent clean vocals, backed by a solid rhythm section and justified to the fullest by tonally perfect instruments. Everyone in attendance loved and applauded this band, and they seemed to draw quite a number of their own fans to the show. They ended the set with an incredibly well-executed rendition of Judas Priest’s ‘Victim Of Changes’, which is by no means the easiest or most obvious choice when it comes to covering Priest, and for good reason. LA somehow does not get treated to such high-quality talent from the San Diego area very often, and it was great to see this promising young band coming out of there. The Great Electric Quest matched the night’s headliners in musicianship and impact.
The next three bands The Mercury Wheel, Asstronauts and Suns Of Jimi were all different from each other and from the two traveling bands, and while honestly I found it hard to appreciate their musical styles, the expertise they showed on their respective instruments was undeniable and they came across as masters of their tones. By the time these bands were done, it was already midnight, and the headliner’s appearance was very much overdue.
Mos Generator took the stage at 15 minutes past midnight for 40 minutes of gloriously straightforward heavy stoner rock music, playing songs old and new and inducing plenty of head-banging among the audience in the process. Led by guitarist/vocalist Tony Reed, they brought all their years of experience onto the stage and succeeded in capturing it within this short set. It’s almost unimaginable to think of a stoner rock fan not enjoying Mos Generator, because for fans of the genre, there is nothing fundamentally unlikable about Mos Generator’s music.
But as alluded to earlier, besides the music itself, the most notable aspect of this show was something to do with the venue, and it was about the sound quality. All the bands sounded crystal clear, and in all the shows I’ve attended here, I’ve never heard the Five Star Bar sounding as good as this. Upon asking the sound guy as to why this was the case, he told me it was because most other bands that play this venue, extreme metal bands in particular, crank their amps all the way up and that’s what ruins the sound. The bands playing this show were clearly more cooperative with the sound guy and the result was in front of us.
Overall, a worthwhile night of good music at one of LA’s best underground spots.