By Lisa Burke
March 7th 2016, The Viper Room, West Hollywood CA: Portland, Oregon, I hear is a place where you can find many eclectic people, places and bands, more specifically you can find a band called Black Pussy. Sometimes this band travels to foreign lands such as Los Angeles and headlines the Viper Room. Monday March 7th, 2016 they accomplished just that with flying colors, colors you could only believe were real if you were on psychedelics. If you hadn’t figured it out yet, Black Pussy is a psychedelic stoner rock quintet and they come in peace despite whatever connotations some close minded idiots draw from their name. In case you weren’t aware, there have also been or still are bands called Harry Pussy and Perfect Pussy as well because why the hell not? I mean you could name your band Stale Bread or you could name your band Black Pussy, but which one do you suppose will bring you a higher success rate? Anyway, back to the live show, they shared the stage on this night with doom metal band Sisters Ov The Blackmoon and with opening rock ‘n roll trio The Brothers Collective.
I was busy performing my ‘I can totally make it to see two shows in one night trick’ and watching another band at another venue during The Brothers Collective so I can’t really comment on these real life brothers, unfortunately. It was time to switch over to the Sisters Ov The Blackmoon who are, of course, not actually real life sisters as only one member, the singer, is female, yet they are all bonded by their dark and alluring stage magic. This was the band’s first Viper Room debut and for a Monday night show I’d say they definitely exceeded expectations. This is also a band that takes ‘practice makes perfect’ very seriously and it shows, as every time I see them perform they get stronger and more tightly knit. Their new tune ‘Tombstone’ is well-written and takes a slightly new direction with some more intricately laid out guitar riffs that I find uniquely appealing. They branch out quite a bit from straight doom in places and explore blues and other rock ‘n roll territories, all while still keeping a dark and devilish vibe, which is just one of the many positive aspects of this musical coven. The dark, deep, witchy and powerful vocals of Sasha Wheatcroft are a breath of fresh air in this town and charming to watch. The sound quality at Viper Room for their set had their levels balanced perfectly and the vocals were carrying an extra punch that had potential to knock you out if you weren’t careful. The out-of-the-box drumming as well as bass riffing was extra awesome on this night, and always makes for a dynamic bonus addition to the already solidly structured tunes. The two guitar players always balance off each other well, and at all appropriate times the unified head-banging among the masses is always a treat. For the finale, they ended with a bang and with the bass player laying backwards on the floor in a glorified rock star stance. I love watching this band from start to finish and seeing all their consistencies and progressions, and I can’t wait to hear the next chapter from their doom metal spelling book.
Moving on to the land of the Black Pussy, which literally existed downstairs at their merch table with their multitude of witty and psychedelic intensely creative shirts, the keyboards in this band drive the psychedelic feel while the guitar and bass bring in the stoner jams, and the mix is balanced well. The singer possesses a very vibrant echo-filled voice that can hypnotize you into any appropriate state of musical trance he wishes to put you in. While at times I feel the pace remains at a stagnant slow trot, it still reminds me of that childhood story with the tortoise and the hare where you have a better time watching the tortoise take a nap than you do watching the hare trip over his own ego, and of course the tortoise wins, so there’s that. These dudes look as if they crawled out of a time machine from Portland in the ’70s and most likely the majority haven’t cut their hair since birth. This suits the vibe of the music well and makes for an entertaining performance throughout. I’ve fairly recently as in the last five or so years gotten into this more modern era stoner, doom, psychedelic trend and I’m sure I’m not alone in this when I say I find them to be among the top when it comes to finding their own unique style within this genre. Hearing them play you know who it is even when your eyes are closed. Please continue to keep it real and keep it fun, and keep rocking especially those keyboards and vocals in the way you do.
One last note on the Viper Room, since this will be a reoccurring theme for me especially this month with all the upcoming shows, is that they have in the last few months put up a metal gate out front as to ensure no ins and outs during the show which I see is good in the sense that people who arrive early are forced to see the whole show and not run off to the Rainbow until their friends’ band plays, yet it does make it harder to play in traffic on Sunset Blvd, on nights when the Whisky A Go Go is playing good shows as well and sits practically across the street. I guess we can’t have it all, and there are worse dilemmas in life than having to choose one great show over another.
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