By Andrew Bansal
March 5th 2016, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood CA: Los Angeles-based hard rock quartet DC4, fronted by Armored Saint guitarist Jeff Duncan and featuring in its ranks his brothers Matt and Shawn Duncan along with former Dio guiarist Rowan Robertson, has existed for several years as a side project, and outside of Jeff Duncan’s commitments with Armored Saint, DC4 write music and play shows at every available opportunity. The band performed a headlining set at the Whisky-A-Go-Go in West Hollywood last Saturday March 5th, with a supporting lineup of local rock and metal acts including P.A.I.D. and Attack Of The Rising. The show was free of any cover charge to those that submitted their names for the Will Call list, and as a result, the LA/West Hollywood rock community came out in good numbers to support the event.
The evening was fully loaded with loud heavy music, and there wasn’t much in the form of down time. Early on, Attack Of The Rising got the crowd warmed up with an excellent set presenting some good ol’ clean-sung heavy metal which very much exuded the LA vibe a la bands like Armored Saint. The tunes sounded compelling and the performances by all members were solid. This band includes Tony Lepre on guitar and drummer Chris Lepre, who was celebrating his 50th birthday on this occasion, and this would be the first of many appearances by these two over the course of the evening.
Then there was a very short but engaging set by the band Maleki Theory, who’ve just finished their movie ‘Last Curtain Call’. Their frontman was full of energy and they certainly drew a good number of people to the show on their own count. Next up were P.A.I.D., bringing a touch of Long Beach/Orange County groove-oriented rock to the proceedings, once again featuring Tony and Chris Lepre. The Lepres were unstoppable at this show, as after the P.A.I.D. set they participated in a short set with the Sloka, who’ve been around in the local scene for a number of years. This was by far the most energetic band of the night as Chris Lepre donned the role of lead vocalist and ran amok on stage. Their short, simple, to-the-point punk-infused jams were easy to enjoy, and one wished for a longer set from them.
Just before fronting the headline act, Jeff Duncan took the stage for a three-piece all-star jam with the Lepres, playing just one song in what turned out to be the shortest possible but high-impact set, with their rendition of Jimi Hendrix’ ‘Voodoo Child’ bringing out Duncan’s talents in plenty and serving as a special treat for the handful of attendees that did not step outside or retreat to the bar under the assumption that this would be an intermission for DC4’s setup instead of the one-song jam. And as far as rock ‘n roll birthdays go, Chris Lepre definitely left no stone unturned in celebrating his to the fullest, and I’ve never seen and probably never will see a musician rock as hard and with such non-stop fervor as this guy did here.
And finally at 11:15, DC4 took the stage for a set of excellently executed straightforward heavy rock. Opening with the lively ‘Electric Ministry’ title track, they went on to play a 10-song set representing a majority of their catalog and in the process showcasing the individual and collective musicianship of the Duncan clan plus Rowan Robertson. DC4 has to be one of the most underrated bands in the Los Angeles scene, and should be talked about much more than they are because they utilize the decades of experience they each have in their arsenal and pull off this style of music with effortless ease.
Overall, this free show was worth the investment of time and effort for attendees, succeeding in presenting a good variety of heavy music, and more such nights of LA-centric hard rock/heavy metal would do well to boost the local scene.
(If you like what you’ve read, support Metal Assault and buy a shirt!)