For the past eleven years, The Queen Mary has been the host of the annual Ink-N-Iron Festival: a weekend inspired by a culture of tats and cars, embodied in their display of pristine vintage cars, three levels of tattoo artists booths, live music, burlesque acts, art displays … you name it, they’ve got it.
I first got turned onto the festival last year to catch a band from Texas that I really like, Girl In A Coma. Even though I don’t sport any ink on my person, I really enjoyed the whole vibe of the festival. It was clean, the people were all courteous, it was a family affair, tickets were reasonably priced ($80 for a weekend pass) … and the music rocked.
When I saw the line-up this year, I jumped on getting a ticket. Although I couldn’t attend the festival on Sunday due to work obligations, I was able to catch a whole bunch of quality acts while hanging out with friends, old and new. Below is the list of the acts that I was able to see perform. To see the pictures that I was able to snap (and video embeds of the performances I could find online) of each of the bands that performed, CLICK THE NAME of the act to get redirected to the blog entry.
In the meantime, below are some of the pictures that I snapped from the festival. I would have included more pictures from the burlesque show, but I’m trying to keep this blog PG rated. 😉
Every Memorial Day weekend for the past 28 years, UCLA has hosted a music festival called the JazzReggae Festival. Originally, the first day was devoted to Jazz and the second day was devoted Reggae. Though the first day has morphed to a “Jam” day, the festival has always been able to pull in outstanding talent for the price of admission. If you are ever in Los Angeles during the Memorial Day weekend, and looking to enjoy a music festival at an extremely reasonable price, I suggest that you check out the lineup to see if any artists you like are on the bill.
Armed with a photo pass for the event, I was able to take pictures of the artists listed below. Click on the link to check them out!
I don’t have any tattoos and I don’t know much about cars. I’ve always tossed around the idea of getting a tattoo, and it’s still a possibility at some point, but I’ll just put in a pin in it for now. That being said, I attended the Day 2 of the Ink-N-Iron Festival, and joined the party to celebrate some seriously good music.
It was my first time attending the yearly event, and I have to give the organizers some serious props for making it a day that I’ll remember. Beautiful cars. Beautiful tattoos. Women in corsets and otherwise dressed up in pin-up outfits. It was clean. It was family friendly. It wasn’t too crowded. Very nicely done.
I drove to Long Beach from West Los Angeles, and I was slightly worried that I’d arrive a little late to catch the first band I wanted to see perform: Girl In A Coma . I’ve been following this band for a few years now, and I always go out of my way to catch them perform whenever they come to town. I remember when I first heard their music. It was sometime November 2011 when I was up late watching TV. I had “Last Call with Carson Daly” on, and they were the featured artists for the episode. Their music snippets piqued my interest and I Googled their music. Boom. Instant fan. You can check out the feature that I watched here: http://www.hulu.com/watch/302589 .
Thankfully, the Los Angeles traffic gods saw it in their good graces to get me to the Queen Mary on time.
It was an early afternoon 2:00pm set, and I joined their other fans up against the general admittance railing as they finished sound checking. Even with a few technical difficulties, it was a solid set. They played songs from all four of their full-length albums ( “Both Before I’m Gone” , “Trio BC” , “Adventures In Coverland” , and “Exits and All the Rest”.
Before closing their set, Nina announced that the band was planning on starting recording for their new album at the end of the year. It sounded like they closed their set with new songs, and when I got the set-list from Phanie (drums) the following night when I went to Nina’s solo gig at the Hotel Café (which was amazing, by the way, and which you can read about by clicking this link… do it!) it looks like their last two songs were new. The video clips I took with my phone don’t do the band justice- I need to buy a good camera that takes good video/audio clips… any suggestions? They are my favorite all-girl rock band.
The only criticism I had with the festival was that since it was so early in the day, the organizers should have let their fans into the VIP viewing area to watch the set. Other than that, no complaint.
Intro
Say
One Eyed fool
Adjust
Slaughter Ln
Si Una Vez
She had a plan
Joanie in the city
Safe
Invisible
I planned on visiting them at the artist merchandise booth to say, “Hi,” but having noticed that all of their other fans I was standing with announced that they were going to head over, I decided to hang back and walk around the festival grounds. I’m sure glad I did.
There was a band named Hopeless Jack & The Handsome Devil that also had a 2:00pm set time. I wasn’t planning on checking them out, and only stumbled upon their set when I decided to check out some cars at the Tiki-Drive-In Stage. As soon as I was within earshot of their music, I thought to myself, “Screw the cars, I need to see who the fuck is playing right now”.
It was raw, heavy, lo-fi, blues, garage rock. Two guys, one drummer and one guitarist. I hate comparing artists to other artists, but if I had to, I’d say they were The Black Keys, high on adrenaline, and drunk on whiskey. Simply based on what I was able to catch, which was only the last couple songs of their set, I was hooked. If you see the video below, there was some photo shoot going on, and for a minute, I didn’t want to get in the way. I stopped the video when I noticed another photographer up at the front of the stage. I walked through the photo shoot, and was able to snap a few cool shoots of the band with my phone.
When they finished their set, I had to catch them to buy whatever music they had. I purchased one of their CDs and their newly pressed 7’’ single of “Firefly” and “Pack My Bags”. The drummer, “Smilin’ Pete”, was the first to greet those who wanted to meet the band. I wanted to get the guys to sign the vinyl that I purchased, and I asked him whether “Hopeless Jack” would be coming out. Smilin’ Pete assured me that Hopeless Jack would be coming out in a minute. He explained that Jack’s music come from and is written from a deep, dark place and he always needs a minute to unwind after a set. Completely understandable.
When Jack came out, Pete introduced us and I told them that though I was only able to catch the end of their set, what I did hear (and saw) really impressed me and got my blood moving. They both autographed my vinyl and snapped a pic. Both guys were really humble and unassuming. I’ve been listening to their CD “Shallow Hears – Shallow Graves” and spinning their 7’’ Single non-stop since that weekend. I’m hoping they come back to the Los Angeles area for a gig so I can catch an entire set.
Afterwards, I head back to the main stage merchandise booth and the gals from Girl In A Coma were still taking pictures and signing autographs. I dropped by to say, “Hello,” and also to let them know I would be showing up the next day for Nina’s solo gig (which was amazing, by the way… wait, I said that already, didn’t I….), snapped a pic, then continued on with my day.
I checked out some of the vendors and marveled at some of the tattoos getting done. I hopped into an Ink-N-Iron photobooth that was free (very cool!) and walked onto the boat to explore the Queen Mary. It was getting closer to 5:00pm, and since I was already inside the boat, I realized that my musical choice was made for me: Kaleigh Baker it was.
I got up to the front of the stage and as the band was sound-checking, I had a brief conversation with a gentleman, probably in his late 50s-early 60s who asked me about Kaleigh’s music. We talked deep soul and early punk, and he suggested that I check out The Fleshtones. I suggested he stick around for Kaleigh Baker. We took each other’s advice.
Kaleigh Baker can sing. Her voice and vocal ability is unreal. The way she emotes the lyrics, and controls her voice to express the lyrics of her music is truly, in my opinon, on par with some of the leading female singers of our time. Sure, my comparison may be a little premature- after all, I only have this one set and her newest EP, “The Weight of It All”, to base it on, but I’m willing to put it out there. She’s got the type of voice that makes you FEEL something. The way it lilts. The way it crescendos. The way it belts. I can’t wait for her to record more music so I can see which direction she takes it.
I was able to catch up with her and some of her band mates after the set. Like the gals in Girl In A Coma, the guys in Hopeless Jack & The Handsome Devil, everybody in Kaleigh’s band, including Kaleigh, was extremely humble and appreciative. I had a weird moment of deja-vu when I was introduced to the guitar and bass players, as for some reason I felt like I’d met or seen them before. No … I wasn’t drunk. It was a sober day for me. And no, pretty certain that we had never crossed paths before. I bought a copy of Kaleigh’s latest EP from the keyboardist/horn player of the band (who I didn’t get a picture with, but was really accommodating with me asking a bunch of questions) and had Kaleigh sign it. Black Joe Lewis who? … lol.
Again, my iPhone video doesn’t do Kaleigh justice. Try Googling her. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.
At that point, my phone was pretty much dead. I stayed in the boat to charge my phone. JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound were taking the stage, and as much I wanted to check his band out, I was relegated to sitting next to an outlet to charge my phone up. It took his entire set for my phone to fully charge, but from what I was able to hear, it sounded pretty good. It was funky, indie soul. From what I could hear, it almost sounded like they had Niles Rogers sit in with them for a song. Perhaps the unexpected surprise was when the band did a soulful/funked-up version of Blackstreet’s “No Diggitiy”.
My friends who were coming to the festival texted me that they were almost at there. I texted them back and told them I was going to grab a bite to eat, and kick it for them. When they arrived, and at the suggestion of the gentleman who I spoke with before Kaleigh Baker’s set, I suggested that we check out The Fleshtones.
The Fleshtones were one of the original punks bands. Like the Ramones, the Fleshtones came out of Queens. Though I wasn’t too familiar with their repertoire, when it comes to being able to catch one of the “original” bands of a particular genre of music, you simply can’t pass it up. They certainly drew a decent crowd, and played some songs that I actually really enjoyed.
One of the highlights of the set was when the one of members made reference to The Dirtbombs- who were actually influenced by The Fleshtones-playing the main stage. One of the members of the Fleshtones addressed the audience, “Why aren’t we watching the Dirtbombs? […] You want quality! […] You got quality right here!” It was a fun set, and I’m glad I checked it out.
In between the Fleshtones and The Dead Kennedys, my friends and I decided to check out the featured auto exhibit. I haven’t been into cars, but I’ll have to admit, I was impressed.
I’ll admit that I don’t know much about the Dead Kennedys music. In fact, the most I knew about the band was while in law school reading about the obscenity case against the artwork for their third album “Frankenchrist” Some of the songs sounded familiar, but I really felt like the levels were a bit off. Not enough vocals, maybe?
My friends wanted to see the next main stage act, Rocket From The Crypt , another band that I was not all to familiar with. They were quite popular when I was in high school, but I was kind of going through a Boyz II Men/Jodeci phase back then. My phone was running out of juice again, so I opted to head back into the boat to charge up before Iggy and the Stooges.
Iggy and the Stooges were schedule to open for Morrissey’s concert back in November last year, and I was really hoping to see them back then. Unfortunately, Morrissey had some medical issues come up and that November show was rescheduled for the March, with Patti Smith replacing Iggy as the opening act. Patti Smith was good, but she isn’t Iggy.
Iggy and the Stooges were awesome. I tried looking for their set list online, but I couldn’t find one. It didn’t matter though. It was seriously a “best of” set, with a couple songs off their newest album. “Raw Power”, “Fun House”, “Penetration”, “I Wanna Be Your Dog”. They did them all.
From the opening note, where I was standing, pictures and video shots were virtually impossible to take as a mosh pit had formed. During “Fun House”, Iggy started pulling up people from the crowd to dance on stage. It was a mad house on stage, and I pitied the stage-hand who had to make sure that women on stage didn’t molest Iggy while he was performing. A potential shit-storm turned into a raucous party.
Watching Iggy hump the speaker, throw his water bottles into the audience, and dance about on stage, was rock-and-roll incarnate. After most of the set, I needed to escape the crowd to find my friends. I bumped into Kaleigh’s band-mates on the edges of the crowd. They were equally impressed with Iggy’s stage performance.
When the set ended, my friends left to catch a shuttle back to their parking structure. I opted to hang out for a minute to decompress. It was a full day for hard hitting, musical goodness. The one day pass was definitely worth the price of admittance, and depending on who’s on the bill next year, odds are I will be attending again.
What do I love more than music festivals? FREE music festivals. Every summer, since 2008, the city of Pasadena transforms Old Town Pasadena into into a bevy of performance venues. Although this year was my first time attending, it is definitely a summer concert experience that I’m sure I will attend for years to come.
Not only is it an opportunity to discover new music, but it’s also a way to put a finger on the pulse of Los Angeles’s local music scene. I can walk over to one band’s stage, and if it’s not to my liking, on to the next … and did I mention that it’s also FREE? Okay, that’s enough of that…
I created a little schedule of the bands I was interested in checking out. It turned out the first band on my list for the day was a band that I already knew about: The Record Company You can read about the first time I heard their music (and check out live video clips and music links) by clicking here. Coming from the west side, the trek out to Pasadena took a little longer than anticipated. Luckily, I was able to catch the last 4 songs of their set.
It was the middle of the day, but they drew in a very, very impressive crowd. I asked the person next to me if they had heard of the band before, and she said that it just sounded good. She was right. Confidently commanding the main stage of the festival, they took their hard-rocking blues and set what seemed to be a very high standard for the rest of the acts that would follow.
Near the end of the set, lead singer, Chris Vos, abandoned the microphone and sang his call to the audience, “I feel good”, to which the audience more than happily obliged to respond with their own “I feel good”. I saw him do something similar at a more intimate venue, but this was more impressive as the crowd was significantly larger than the private affair I saw them at before. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, these guys have some serious potential. Not only can they rock the stage, but they can engage the audience to join in on the raucous good time.
It gets particularly warm in the Summertime in Pasadena, and I realized that my wearing a black polo shirt was probably not the smartest idea. I stepped into a Vans store, and bought a tank-top for $20. Meh.
I dropped by the artist merchandise booth to say hi to the guys in The Record Company. Though I had already downloaded their music online, I picked up a copy of their CD “Superdead”. The fellas were cool enough to sign it for autographs.
The Record Company jamming and posing with the CD I asked them to sign.
Next on my list was YACHT. I was looking forward to checking this band out since a lot of my friends seemed to like their music… at least, that’s what Facebook seems to be telling me. I had a good spot for their set and settled in to watch. Their set was fun and energetic, but for some reason I couldn’t get into the set. For me, their electronic/house sound felt a little anticlimactic after watching The Record Company. Also, I just didn’t feel that there was enough for me in terms of melody and lyrics. Their songs felt a bit repetitive. That’s just me though. I would assume that the huge crowd bouncing to the beat would have disagreed with me.
I met up with some friends during YACHT’s set for a brief moment, but as I usually do at Festivals, I left pack and did my own thing. I’m a loner, Dottie…. a rebel.
I visited a couple merchandise booths and picked up a water, then went back to the main stage check out The New Limb, but as I got settled I noticed that my music notebook was missing. Oi. I spent the next 35-45 minutes retracing my steps. I missed The New Limb, but I found my notebook. Ironically, I had left it at the KCRW booth (one of the main sponsors of the event) when I was signing up for a ticket give away. That was ironic.
I got a text from my friends that they were going to head to Robert Delong (who was also on my list, but I opted to check out The Peach Kings. I had enjoyed listening to their music from their website, and liked what I thought was a catchy, female fronted band that sang sexy, blues influenced music. Really, their EP “Handsome Moves” is pretty sexy.
Unfortunately, my high expectations may have spoiled the impression that they gave me … my expectations and the heat. The live show felt more psychedelic than blues, and having had my fill of psychadelice rock a few weeks ago, I opted to leave their set early and try to catch up with my friends at Robert DeLong.
It was a few blocks away, which in the 90 degree heat was barely bearable with my $20 tank-top, and as I was approaching the performance venue, The Playhouse Stage, I could start hearing Robert DeLong’s set. It sounded relatively good, but then I started noticing that his vocals were really quite flat. Honestly, I was kind of regretting my decision to walk the few blocks over, but I decided to carry on.
When I got there, I felt like I was in a club. People were jumping around and surfing the crowd. It was an enthusiastic crowd, but all I could really focus on were his vocals, which seemed consistently flat. I could understand that, though. The unbearable heat probably played a part in that. Probably the highlight of the set, for me at least, came towards the end when Robert DeLong mixed in a vocal stem from the Talking Heads recording “Once In A Lifetime”. I thought it was clever and I enjoyed it. I also thought that 95% of the crowd probably didn’t know who the Talking Heads were.
When his set ended, Robert announced that he’d be selling merchandise next to the stage, where I was standing, and added, “Over there, where I’ll be touching you and taking pictures with you. It’ll be nice.” <shiver>.
Since I was already at the Playhouse Stage, I decided that I would kick it there to check out Tanlines, a band that I briefly saw perform (about a song and a half) at Coachella when I was there this year. Tanline were supposed to get on at 5:45pm, but the heat probably messed with their equipment (I heard that this also happened to Robert DeLong as well), and they took the stage over 15 minutes past their start time. The sound for the first two songs was terrible, which was no fault of their own (unless they used their own sound guy), and I decided to leave. That’s a perk of going to a music festival. You’re free to move on.
Top clockwise: YACHT, Robert DeLong (touching and taking pictures with his fans) and The Peach Kings.
Since I had left Tanlines’ set, I decided to head back to the Main Stage to catch Youngblood Hawke. The crowd for their performance was massive, and I was relegated to the very back. They were the last band to perform on the Main Stage. Their brand of alternative-new wave-electronic rock seemed to bring with it a loyal following. Their stage presence (at least from what I could see from where I was standing) was solid. You could see the members of the band using the entire width of the stage, frenetically pounding away at drums that seemed to be set up everywhere.
Though I had heard of them, I wasn’t too familiar with their music. Watching them perform, I really couldn’t get a grasp of what they were all about. For a minute, they sound like Franz Ferdinand, the next they sounded like Rusted Root (at least the percussive elements did), and towards the end it turned very bubblegum pop, almost like a of Monsters and Men, but with an edge. I’m over of Monsters and Men, and I decided to keep walking.
I decided to head up to the Levitt Pavilion, a quaint little outdoor performance amphitheater located on the top of a lawned hill in the center of Old Town Pasadena to check out Haunted Summer. They were still sound checking as their start time passed (7:00pm), but I comfortably grabbed some space on the lawn and stretched my legs out. I did want to catch a few songs before heading off to catch the final band on my list at 7:30pm.
Their sound check was fun. They jammed out to a little Jackson5 (“I Want You Back”) but I knew that that wasn’t going to be the sound of their music. The lead singer asked for more reverb all around stating, “As much reverb as you can. Take us into space.”
They started their set with a song called “1996”. It was very ethereal, and if I weren’t sitting up front, I would have just lay on the grass and closed my eyes. Their music is particularly effects heavy, which in a live setting may take away a bit from the vocals, but I don’t really think that the vocals are necessarily the focus of this band’s music. I enjoyed it and wish I didn’t have to leave their set so early. I couldn’t embed their playlist here, but check them out on Facebook or Reverb Nation.
The last band, and probably the least known band, I wanted to see was a band called The Likes of Us. They were set to perform in a wine bistro (I’ve omitted the name, cause I’m a nice guy). I got there, and, already feeling a little out-of-place wearing a Van’s tank-top in a wine-bistro, the host of the restaurant told me that I couldn’t come in to just see the band, and that I needed to make a reservation for a seat. WTF?! Um, that wasn’t noted in the schedule…
I’m not the confrontational type, so I made a “reservation” and ordered a beer. I noticed there was some space near the band, and I asked if I could stand over there, promising that I wouldn’t get in the way of anybody. The answer was no. There was a couple that invited me to sit with them, which I appreciated, and I joined them for a minute. The band started playing, but it was hard for me to hear or see them from where I was sitting. I pulled out my notepad, just to take a few notes from earlier in the day, when I noticed the host glancing at me scribbling in my notebook. I think that I may have intimidated him a bit. I saw this as an opportunity.
After a few songs, I told the nice couple that I would be abandoning them to sneak to a better spot. I went to the bar, and ordered another beer. I took my beer and went where the host told me I couldn’t stand. I kept scribbling in my notebook. I wasn’t bothered. Huzzah!
Starting upper left, clockwise: The Crowd of Youngblood Hawke, The Likes of Us, and Haunted Summer
I like the music that The Likes Of Us perform. Granted, since they were performing in a wine bar, some of their set was covers of jazz and pop standards. But their original tunes, are real keepers. As you’ve probably noticed, I haven’t posted any videos from the day here, and that’s because my phone would have run out of batteries in first few hours. So, I’ve posted a few of their video from youtube here:
Their original tunes are light-hearted and charming. The stylings reminded me of Jason Mraz back in his Live at Java Joe’s days. The lyrics are pure, and the harmonies are simple, and that’s what draws me to their sound. Even in the hustle and bustle of the busy restaurant, they sounded as good live as they did on the recordings I had previously heard.
Since they were playing to a dinner crowd, their set was going to be considerably longer than that of the other performers of the day. I had dinner plans elsewhere, so I had to leave their set early. I caught them between songs, told them I enjoyed what I had heard, and picked up one of their CDs (which they were giving away for free!). As I headed out of the venue, the host and I made eye contact. I thought about apologizing, but I just kind of stared at him as I left the restaurant. I bet he was wondering what I wrote in my notebook…
I checked out some of the vendors and marveled at some of the tattoos getting done. I hopped into an Ink-N-Iron photobooth that was free (very cool!) and walked onto the boat to explore the Queen Mary. It was getting closer to 5:00pm, and since I was already inside the boat, I realized that my musical choice was made for me: Kaleigh Baker it was.
#DKLPHOTOS 