By Lisa Burke
January 31st 2016, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood CA: Sunday night at Whisky A Go Go is usually filled with entertaining acts and remains kind of refreshing because it’s never packed to the max no matter who’s playing, usually allowing you to be the party instead of trying to squeeze your way into a party. This time it was a somewhat eclectic mix with headlining act Black Magic Beach Party and support acts The Aviators, Kings Of Jade, Pistol Beauty, and Danger Escape. The order of bands was interesting to say the least, and of course two of these acts did not fit together at all into this night which happened to be the opener and the headliner, go figure.
Alternative metal band Danger Escape was good at what they were trying to accomplish and sounded advanced for their young appearance. The technical skills were there and for their genre they did have some original style. They were however basically an emo version of Avenged Sevenfold mixed in with a few other bands from that genre in the 2000s, and while they could thrive and probably play a higher spot on another night with like minded bands, on this night it was somewhat of an odd pairing as the other bands were 70s and 80s influenced minus the headliner which was more 60s era. I suppose if the theme of this night was to cover the last 60 years of music, success was achieved. The draw for me to this night was actually hard rock act Pistol Beauty, as I have seen them a few times and been intrigued by their fun catchy songs. This was the best I’ve ever seen from them and having gone through a few member changes with rhythm guitar and drums I found this line up and this current musical arrangement of songs to be very strong. They bring the funk and the wild and the attitude, much in the way of The Red Hot Chili Peppers meets Guns N Roses on a day when Axl is feeling generous. The singer has a dynamic voice with good stage presence and the guitar is technical as well as catchy, compromised with the funky fun bass licks and accurately fun drums to bring you a very entertaining show. Dancing and singing along from the audience usually happens at some point, as the witty lyrics will deliver you straight into audience participation mode. Also noted was the giant box of Oreos that sat on center stage with a note attached to it as an apparent stage gift to the singer. I’m pretty sure this screams someone loves their bad diet, but nonetheless, nothing about a giant box of Oreos sitting mid stage is boring.
Next up was The Kings Of Jade which Is a fairly new rock band that I had no prior knowledge of yet was pleasantly impressed with. Basically if you like well-played heavy rock n’ roll and boys with long pretty hair, this band is for you. They have a touch of the 70s vibe through bluesy rock with pop elements that is very professionally mixed and the energy levels were high. For you rock n’ roll bands out there looking for compatible bands to play shows with, check these guys out because it’s probably a good fit. In my opinion I would have liked the headliner of this evening to be The Aviators. These 70s rock influenced men frequent the Whisky and rightfully so. I’ve seen them on one or two previous occasions at venues where the sound was perhaps not at its best levels but still enjoyed them. This night they were really entertaining, the sound was top notch, and the stage presence from all of them was on fire. They are very influenced from Led Zeppelin and other 70s bands and definitely take some flight with their tunes on stage. They have similar antics to the band Scorpion Child yet definitely pave their own path of modern 70s jams. They did a fun cover of AC/DC’s ‘Highway To Hell’ which was a crowd favorite. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire set and recommend them to anyone who likes some down to earth, in your face, heavy hitting rock n’ roll.
Now is the part where strange people all wearing the same exact hideous Hawaiian style shirt with skulls and roses start terrorizing the stage and these people are called Black Magic Beach Party. I’m all for the uniform stage look but i don’t like the literal sense of these shirts, the mockery they imply, or the color combination. I admit I’ve never known of their existence and immediately upon hearing the name hoped they would at least have beach balls to throw at the audience while performing, as was the case when I saw the Circus Jerks perform and they covered balloon throwing and stuffed animal throwing while a clown rolls around in the mosh pit. Unfortunately all I got from these guys was a random blue skull stage prop with some tiki decor and a dude in one of those scary Hawaiian shirts with a mask on dancing in the pit. So the concept and genre here is horror surf rock because why shouldn’t that exist? The problem I had is that I just saw Dick Dale perform at the same venue one month ago and it was classy, fun, fast, very technically advanced, and he’s the king of surf rock. Black Magic Beach Party was a complete mockery of this to me as it was very slowed surf rock mixed with a little B horror comedy element that didn’t really come across as funny. They actually made me mad, however, because I have so much respect for Dick Dale so in that sense I’m just left confused because I don’t know whether to take them seriously or not. Basically, if you’ve never heard The Beach Boys or Dick Dale or anything remotely surf rock and you grew up thinking Gilligan’s Island was hilarious then this band probably entertained you as long as you left your serious face at home. I’ve learned Sunday anywhere is most likely going to be full of surprises so i just walk into it with an open mind and let it take me to its home planet. Some variety is the spice of life and this was overall a very entertaining show with some strong emerging groups that I am glad to continue to support.
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