Saturday Night @ The Cocaine

A few coughs and a sore throat wouldn’t keep me away from the Cocaine last Saturday – the venue, that is.  Mountains of Blow and three other awesome bands took over 2nd Street Jazz in Little Tokyo for the night.  When I first arrived I have to admit that I was counting down the minutes until MOB took the stage so that we could leave.  But that was only because of the unrelenting heavy sludge metal that was pouring out of the sound system and dramatically lowering my comfort level.

Right when I was about to make my escape, the opening band took the stage – if you would call it one.  With only enough room for the drumset on the 6″ high ledge, Grandpire‘s guitarist opted to setup on the floor, making the set seem more like a private performance for the handful of his friends/fans sitting at the front table.  Describing themselves as “just two dudes playing whatever they want to,” Grandpire sounded way different than I expected.  In other words, I was surprised when I really dugg their music.  The beats and guitar rifs were mathy and intricate but melodic enough to keep me interested.  Their sound could be described as similar to Faraquet with an edge of Don Caballero.  There were a couple of tiny snags during the set, but overall this two-piece was pretty tight.  If I had realized that they had a $3 EP for sale, I would have picked one up at the show.

Whenever I go to shows I find myself playing a guess-who kind of game to try and see if I can place the people in the room with the appropriate band, or better yet, their place in the lineup.   I never would have placed Jeremy Kerner as the vocalist for Solar Wimp.  Guitarist, sure.  But lets just say I was surprised by the screams he emitted during their set.  Rune Freeman rocked the bass, without missing a note and Mark Kimbrell drove home the intensity of their music.  While their music provided much-needed relief from the DJ’s playlist of the night, it was nothing to relax to.  With a dark tone and driving beats, Solar Wimp commanded the audience’s attention, almost hypnotically.  One or two songs reminded me of Mr. Gnome, except with raspier (and male, obviously) vocals.

It wasn’t until Totally Serious began their set that I realized two-piece bands almost proved to be a theme for the night, with the exception of Solar Wimp.  Made up of a drummer, Jesse Appelhans (pronounced like apple hands? if so, thats awesome) and bassist Eric Kiersnowski (not gonna try to pronounce), this duo proved that it’s more about quality, not quantity.  More concerned with his bass than the audience, Eric ripped out riff after riff of totally serious rock.  No lyrics needed for this band to get their point across – each song wrenched us through a portal of varying key and time signatures, mixing things up when you least expect it.

Hailing from the DC hardcore scene, Shane Berman and Billy Hawkin know a thing or two about playing music: “To put it simply, it’s about not giving a fuck.”  At least that’s what they say.  Which makes it no surprise that Mountains of Blow, as tweaky as the name sounds, would actually be better described as stoner rock.  For the second time last week (and ever),  this two-piece “band” emerged from the depths of Auburn House basement on Saturday to finish off the night of break-your-mind-into-a-thousand-tiny-pieces rock music with a few of head nods.  Ranging from slow sludgy rock to fast-paced, high energy metal with a hint of hip-hop influences you could tell why their sound had grown bigger than just your average basement jam.  By the end of the set, Billy, drenched from the 40-min adlib, looked like he’d just stepped out of a shower.  If that’s what he calls “not giving a fuck,” then I’m afraid to see him when he’s upset.

Tags: 2nd street jazz, grandpire, mountains of blow, review, solar wimp, the cocaine, totally serious