Andy and Joey Siara of The Henry Clay People - The Trocadero, Philadephia, Oct 10, 2009
Here we are, then — the final installment of my last Eastside L.A. Round-up. How appropriate that I’m trying to stay awake to finish this on the eve of the Echo Park Rising festival, which I’m happily attending this year. The festival was first conceived last year, and rose from the ashes of the freshly defunct Sunset Junction Street Fair. This year, there are 19 stages with bands performing over two days (including The Henry Clay People’s Swan song). Incredible. If you’re anywhere in or around L.A., most definitely check it out. Oh yeah, it’s FREE.
A very big “thank you” to all the wonderful bands I’ve been enjoying since 2008, and for those who are still alive and kicking, I’ll continue to cover their exploits individually. Support your local bands! Peace out.
Part IV: Silversun Pickups | Strange Parade | Summer Darling | The Airborne Toxic Event | The Deadly Syndrome (band member projects) | The Happy Hollows | The Henry Clay People | The Monolators (Dawn of Sequins) | The Union Line | Voxhaul Broadcast | Walking Sleep
Silversun Pickups
Neck of the Woods was released back in May of last year on Dangerbird Records, and they’re still busy touring around it. They have a show in Virginia Beach this month, plus shows in St. Louis, San Diego, Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma in September and October. This includes Austin City Limits. Nikki has returned! And Sarah is now back with The Happy Hollows.
web | facebook | twitter | youtube
Strange Parade
According to Brian Cleary, Strange Parade has been on hiatus since the latest Radar Bros. album, and will be reformed when the current tour ends. The tentative plan is to start recording soon and be performing live by the fall.
Summer Darling
The official word is this: “Summer Darling has completed their new record “Abandoner.” The band has been extremely secretive about release details. Meanwhile Ben & Heather remain in TS & the Past Haunts. Ben’s new band QunQ has begun releasing music and playing shows and Heather’s band, Kissing Cousins, is working on their second full length. Dan leads Camp Design Co. and continues to be an active member of the art and design world. The privileged few who have heard “Abandoner” are calling it the best Summer Darling record yet.”
web | blogspot | facebook | bandcamp | twitter
The Airborne Toxic Event
Bums. They’re not doing a damn thing. Just kidding. The Airborne Toxic Event are about to begin their second (third?) part of touring around the absolutely magnificent Such Hot Blood. The next show up is a very special evening in Costa Mesa, California, as part of the Wavelength Festival (tickets are still available). They’re performing with the Pacific Symphony, and Delta Spirit are opening. YOWZA. After that, it’s a bunch of festivals and smaller shows around the U.S. (including Boston Calling and Radio 104.5 Summer Block Party in Philly). Then they’re off to the UK and Europe. See their official site for the full tour schedule, and for regular updates, join their mailing list.
web | facebook | twitter | youtube
The Deadly Syndrome
Yes, they’re gone (and posted a lovely notice before they left), but I just wanted to mention a side project. Back in March, it was reported that Jesse was doing a 26-EP project(!). The first one is Astrobiology. He made a video for one of the songs, called “A Moment”. You can continue to keep up with what they’re all doing on their Facebook page.
web | facebook | twitter | soundcloud
The Happy Hollows
The Happy Hollows just released their Amethyst album on July 30th (listen to “Galaxies” below). They’ve been performing some shows to celebrate (most recently with the awesome Nightmare Air). Next up is a performance at Echo Park Rising (Saturday 8/17 at the Echoplex at 6:45pm), which I’m delighted to report I will sort of be “covering” (as much as I ever cover anything).
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/97660923″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
blogspot | facebook | twitter | soundcloud | bandcamp
The Henry Clay People
Ah… this one is bittersweet. After a bunch of years of truly great music, The Henry Clay People are calling it quits. They’re doing one final show for Echo Park Rising before Andy and Joey head back to school (with Joey moving to the East Coast) and everyone goes their separate ways. On very good terms, though, which isn’t always the case. Sad, but this show should be f*cking EPIC. They’re at the Echoplex on Saturday at 7:50pm, just after The Happy Hollows. Their last release was in 2012, Twenty-Five for the Rest of our Lives.
web | facebook | twitter | youtube
The Monolators
(from Eli and Mary Chartkoff): “Since The Monolators went on hiatus in December, we’ve been playing instead in an electronic duo band called Dawn Of Sequins. We finished recording a full-length album with Luke Ehret engineering, and it’s coming out on cassette on the Vanity Projects label, run by Geoff Geis (ex-Pizza!/Big Whup/So Many Wizards). We’re playing at Meow Meowz in Pasadena on August 17. We also have another band, acoustic this time, called Madame Headdress, that was formed from members of Cobra Lilies. Oh, and Dawn of Sequins also has a cover of We Can’t Stop by Miley Cyrus on the latest Mabson Productions compilation.”
The Union Line
Not only are The Union Line gone, but they took down all their sites and I can’t find even a “goodbye letter.” The last article with any news about this fine Orange County band (who frequently performed in Silver Lake and Echo Park) was this. Bummer.
Voxhaul Broadcast
After touring with The Airborne Toxic Event back in 2011 (and winning over a ton of new fans), The Voxhaul Broadcast put out their Frozen Beach EP (July 2012). At some point after that, they decided to call it quits, though like The Union Line, I don’t see any announcement anywhere and all their sites are down. This show at The Troubadour might have been one of their last. There is a mention of them disbanding on Wikipedia.
Walking Sleep
Is Walking Sleep still around? I have no idea. The last news I have is about Sara Radle’s solo album and tour.
Thanks again, everyone! See you at Echo Park Rising!
If you missed the previous three parts of my Grand Finale Eastside L.A. Round-up, they’re here: Part I | Part II | Part III
share this:
Leave a Reply