Bliss Bliss Bang Bang

January 23, 2003

I’m not sure what I was thinking, but I decided to go all the way out to Anaheim to see Bangs, my current favorite power pop outfit, play on Monday night. These forays into suburbia never really seem to work out for me, but I keep trying them anyway, all in the name of a cheap rock and roll thrill. I’m kind of an idiot that way.

After spending most of the day killing time in a gigantic soul-sucking mall (The Block in Orange, where the only real redeeming feature is full on Vans Skatepark, which I must admit was pretty sweet), I arrived at Chain Reaction in Anaheim. It’s a little all ages club in a strip mall that it shares with a Korean Furniture store. No joke.

It was about 7:00pm, I knew doors opened at 8:00pm, but I knew pretty much nothing else about the show. I had no idea who else is playing or when Bangs actually go on. The bill turned out to be five bands long, with Bangs as the headliner going on at 10:45pm. Which means that we basically could’ve left from Los Angeles whenever and avoided the whole “hanging out in Anaheim” disaster.

Since I’m actually of age, I’m generally not a huge fan of all ages venues. I looked around and I was pretty much the oldest person there. The only people older were the parents chaperoning their kids. I’m 26, so I’m kind of at a tweener age. I’m about the same age as Maggie or Sarah from Bangs, so everyone looked at me like I’m either one of the performers or like I’m actually a narc from 21 Jump Street. Who am I kidding? None of these kids knew what the Jump Street was.

None of the four local bands playing (it was apparently POPPUNK NIGHT) really did it for me, to speak kindly. I’m not going to knock kids trying to get their rock shit together though. Kids gotta do it and kids gotta figure it out.

Bangs hit the stage right on time and setup fairly quickly. Bassist Maggie Vail ditched the glasses and windbreaker I saw her in earlier and traded it in for a Bangs muscle-T that showed off her Ramones ink. The only thing missing from the rock transformation was a phonebooth.

After the short standard intro, Bangs cut into the title track off Call and Response, a fuck-off ode to the catcallers that seem to constantly pop up in guitarist Sarah Utter’s life. The explosive opener aside, not much of the rest of the show went right. Sarah’s guitar started flipping out after the second number, and did it constantly enough to kill the mood. I had some bullshit theory about the amps that was causing the problem that I just made up. I was wrong (turns out it was her guitar jack), and I realized that I’ll never make it as a guitar tech. There goes my Plan B Rock N’ Roll Dream. After nine songs, that included an Undertones cover and an old rare cut, Ready 2 Go, Bangs cut the show short and apologized for the technical difficulties and ended the show prematurely.

On the way home, I felt bad for Sarah, who pretty much had to stand up there and die a thousand deaths of embarrassment as her guitar went all chitty chitty (bangbang, haha) on her. By the time I got home, I felt bad for ME, as I realized I’d spent all day in Anaheim and got a shortened set with a non-functioning guitar. I ended up listening to both Bangs albums and the EP when I got home, just to get my fix for the night before heading to bed.

The next night, Bangs played Los Angeles proper at the Troubadour, opening for The D4. Considering my luck lately, I almost assumed that I was going to get a big sold out sign stuck in my face when I showed up at the venue, but that was apparently not the case. Tickets were easy to get, security wasn’t too grab happy and there was a bar and everything. I didn’t even buy an overpriced beer, but the idea that it was there and available with my bright orange wristband seemed oddly comforting.

Bangs descended on the stage in good spirits and with wonderful, functioning, equipment. Sarah was generally chatty, trying to give their new listener’s a little background on each song. There were only about ten songs played, so they were pretty much all highlights. There’s not a lot of room for fluff as an opener.

New Scars kicked off the show with its rousing chorus and bridge, with the always fun “Black Out! Your heart!” chant. If there’s one thing I can count on with Bangs, there’s always a fun part where I get to sing along. The metal consumer excess anthem I Want More was dedicated to those “women on Melrose with the tupperware breasts,” and the Bangs whipped out their cover of Cheap Trick’s Southern Girls, which dares to be even better than the original. Peter David Connelly’s drum roll on Docudrama gives that song a running start and it’s pretty much a bucking bronco after that. Bangs eventually closed with the Sabbathesque Dirty Knives, which has some of my favorite guitar licks of the year on it and an ending stanza that absolutely goes off the rails.

It wasn’t a perfect show, but quite frankly, I’d opt for character and moxie over machine like perfection any day. I wasn’t there to see a Helmet show. Sarah’s playing combines driving rhythm work with just enough fills to feel like a two guitar band, and Maggie’s basswork fills in all the holes properly, either by doubling up the riff work or creating her own melodies and lead work while Sarah does the heavy lifting. Sarah got her sneer in full effect, and whenever Maggie took her turn on the mike (as on the gorgeous Leave It All Behind), she did her own take on the Susanna Hoffs downward glancing while singing her verses. I always feel bad about talking about Peter David Connelly almost as an afterthought (I couldn’t even find a proper picture of him, since he’s always behind the kit), but his drumming has brought an extra bump in power to the outfit and Bangs can now mix it up and go power or pop or both at the same time. I think the original band self-description was something along the lines of “Go-Gos vs. Black Sabbath,” which sounds just about right.

It’s all hook laden rock at it’s finest, with tasty riffs that make you bob your head up and down and choruses that make you bob your head from side to side. What else do you ever need? The second night washed the bad taste of Anaheim away, and I left the Troubadour sated and hopelessly smitten with rock and roll again. I got home and put their posters on my wall, their stickers on my guitar and their songs on my mixtapes. Excuse me, while I scribble “Bangs” in varying typefaces on my notebook and in the margins of my books. Give me a couple of more days and I might even toss off a fan letter.

Since my words do them no justice, download:

Burnout – Old School Power Ballad from Tiger Beat
Into You – Crush-A-Lot Jam from Sweet Revenge
I Want More – The Aforementioned Consumer Excess Anthem from The Call and Response EP

I’m also sure that message of The Aforementioned Consumer Excess Anthem doesn’t apply to Bangs CDs and merch, so go forth and buy, buy, buy.

Bangs are currently busting ass across America on a whirlwind (26 shows in 29 days) tour.

Posted in From Blown Speakers