By Lisa Burke
January 28th 2016, Boardners, Hollywood CA: Last Thursday, I went to Boardners in Hollywood for what turned out to be an all-female vocalist night in rock ‘n roll and metal. Boardners usually does themed nights or nights that carry a certain name such as Club Moscow, Bar Sinister, and Blue Monday, but after asking around I concluded that Thursday night at Boardners is simply Thursday night at Boardners. Nonetheless, it was clearly set up to be an interesting night, and overall enjoyable. RVLS was the headliner of this night followed by Sisters Ov The Blackmoon, We’re No Gentlemen, True Violet, and Earthsleep.
Earthsleep describes themselves as progressive grunge and I say it’s grunge alternative with a little bit of ’90s baby doll girl punk thrown in. The whole progressive bit went over my head as the simplistic riffs did not progress at all, and there is definitely nothing progressive about grunge. The drumming was unfortunately off and very basic, especially noticeable in their Nirvana cover of ‘In Bloom’ as well as the vocals being slowed at times to a pace I didn’t understand. While it is interesting to see and hear a cute and very feminine voiced girl sing a Nirvana song it was just not as purposeful and fitting as I had hoped. Also notable was the singer’s pitch problems in the first few songs which got miles better in the last two songs, and I really wish that the overall energy was apparent in the beginning as I would have enjoyed their whole set more. Also, the literal hand gestures in relation to the lyrics are a definite overkill, as natural is always better to me. The bass player’s harmonizing vocals at times needed some extra love and care as well. Overall, I like the idea of this group and there is much potential in it, but the concepts aren’t clear and it’s a really difficult genre to play to an audience in 2016 because it is hard to see any validity in it in this modernized world. Do you remember when Nu Metal was cool and trendy? Well neither do I, but that same concept applies slightly when refering to grunge, in my universe anyway.
Moving on to the next band True Violet, I fell in love immediately and remembered the time I caught a couple of their songs at Loaded and enjoyed it as well. This band is not at all the type I would normally seek out with its calming rock ‘n roll feel, as I usually seek out death metal first because for some reason death metal acts as a better xanax in my world, yet this alternative pop group of four women is a breath of fresh air in a room filled with smoke in my eyes. The singer has one of the most pitch perfect voices I’ve ever heard and it is definitely beautiful as well as a force to be reckoned with. The most memorable moment was when she cleared the stage to sing a song with only her and her acoustic guitar, a ballad dedicated to her mother and her breast cancer struggle and having lost my mother to cancer this really hit home in the heart where it hurts. Even if you haven’t experienced losing a loved one to cancer you shed a tear during this song, otherwise you either just aren’t human or you need an exorcism. All four females in this group are very talented and it shows, and the singer with her mixed media style of playing the keyboard and then the acoustic guitar places her on an exceptionally talented level as well. I was reminded a bit of Tom Kiefer and his solo album work as it has some similar characteristics and shares the same level of quality. Why these girls aren’t making millions already is surprising to me and such a loss because they could and hopefully will go far.
Right after this was over, the line up order got a little weird to me but I suppose it all worked out in the end. I’ll just say that I would have enjoyed We’re No Gentlemen more if I hadn’t seen such a quality band previously, but also perhaps if it wasn’t such typical-sounding alternative rock. There was some decent agro chick rock vocals happening and all in all they put on a successful show. Had this been more of my style of music, I’d still say it seriously could have been more original and stylistic, but what was presented was well maintained.
That brings us to the climax of the evening and my main draw for attending this show which was doomy goth warriors Sisters Ov The Blackmoon. I’ve seen them perform now several times since their emergence into the Los Angeles metal scene and they get more amazing and fun every time. The singer deserves some serious praise for her powerful and uniquely witchy vocals, not to mention she is very new to the stage performance routine and her stage presence is actually very inviting and entertaining. From their uniformed choreographed headbanging to their fun, catchy and fully driven guitar riffs and creatively fun bass jams, to the highly skilled and willful drumming, this band has it all. Another point worth mentioning that for some reason really stood out for me is that this group of hooligans on stage in this band actually look like they genuinely like each other and why that should be unusual I’m not sure, but it kind of is because band relationships are everything and not having that spark between members can make or break you if you aren’t careful. Just as you would in a relationship with a significant other, settling is never a good idea as you will never rise to the top if there isn’t something up there worth achieving. On this night, for a few of the bands, the sound levels were a bit off with vocals too loud and guitars too soft but this was quickly rectified both times and happily so. I can’t think of anything that throws off the sound of a great band who has done their part to ensure good sound quality more than the levels being off which can sometimes create such a large change that the band sounds like a completely different, less skilled band. I’ve said a few times watching Sisters Ov The Blackmoon that I’m reminded slightly of Blood Ceremony minus the flutes which is fine with me because I love that band. Now for your daily fashion update, I must say I always like the denim vest with their band logo back patch on it, and this band markets that look well, not to mention one of the guitar players actually has his own line of pretty fantastic leather accessories and was wearing a unique leather bondage style chest harness at this show. This band with their gothic tendencies were a bit of a minority at this particular show filled with the most ‘normal’ down to earth audience members, and perhaps some of them didn’t quite get it, but the way I see it is, congratulations, you just played “weird” music to a bunch of “normal folk” and three quarters of them were interested in it and now know genres of this nature exist and that it’s ok to enjoy it.
Moving on to the fifth and final band of the evening and one I’ve never seen or heard of before is alternative pop act RVLS. They were your typical mainstream rock act with agro girl screaming vocals at times. I enjoyed it, and again, had it been more my cup of tea I could comment more. If they had a few more unique qualities and out-of-the-box thinking it would have been more memorable, but honestly I really don’t have any criticism as I suppose they made their point and accomplished what they set out to do. I will end this by saying that I am very happy I attended this show and branched a bit outside my comfort zone and appreciated bands I normally would not seek out. Opening your mind, expanding your horizons, and crawling outside your own box once in a while is never a bad idea.