Category: SHOWS

Photo Recap: Rob Zombie at Fivepoint Amp

Janky Smooth Central Command August 30, 2022

Rob Zombie is a national treasure. Over the course of decades, he’s cemented himself as the king of shock and horror rock, capturing the imaginations of millions around the world with a show filled with all sorts of oddities and spectacles. Whether it’s giant monsters taking the stage or sticking to his vision of retro-radioactive rock and roll, Rob Zombie has always managed to stick to his guns while pushing his art to the boundaries. On this tour, he took on various Nu metal heavyweights with whom he dominated the 90’s rock airwaves. Mudvayne, Static-X and Powerman 5000 all shared Rob’s vision for a new version of heavy metal that featured electronics and drag racer energy. With this stacked lineup, the tour ran through Irvine’s Fivepoint Amphitheatre and demolished everyone in their path. Photos by: Tony Molina Rob Zombie Mudvayne Powerman 5000

Dissecting Slaughter of the Soul: At The Gates at the Fonda

Danny Ryan August 26, 2022

It’s not every day that you see an artist play two different sets within the same evening, especially when one of those sets is their magnum opus album being played from start to finish. At The Gates’ kick-off show of their Slaughter of the Soul 20 Year Anniversary tour at the Fonda Theater was not your average metal concert, and didn’t feel like any sort of conventional concert for that matter. Seeing the album performed in full truly felt like visiting an artistic piece being showcased in a museum, being viewed in awe from those with a deep appreciation for the work. The album is one of the most ambitious metal albums in history with At The Gates’ incorporation of classical music-esque guitar solos and more melodic elements than what was seen in death metal at the time, creating an atmospheric and immense sound that filled the Fonda for that evening. With a speedy and crass thrash set from Municipal Waste before At The Gates, the night provided an insight to the diverse range of sounds that heavy metal has offered throughout its history. Municipal Waste was an odd choice for an opener in my opinion. In contrast to the

The Outsider Scoop: Outside Lands 2022

Janky Smooth Central Command August 23, 2022

Words by: Isabella Harding Photos by: Sophie Weil Every year, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park is turned into the Outside Lands Music and Art Festival, a monumental event that is celebrated by the Northern California community. As you walk into the park, you are immediately transported to another world. From live music, to incredible food trucks, brand tents, and picnic tables, Outside Lands is a full 3-day experience that leaves a lasting impression. related content: The Sound of Silence: Outside Lands 2019 The festival consists of 110 artists, 9 stages, and over 200,000 fans, accompanied with locally catered food from restaurants and food trucks found throughout the Bay Area. To add onto the wide variety of food, the festival also includes Wine Lands, Beer Lands, Cocktail Magic (which were full of unique beverages brought by only Northern California vendors) and Grass Lands, a 21+ setup for all things cannabis. Outside Lands is a music festival that thoroughly honors the Bay Area and its community. This is not only seen by the fans who continue to show up year after year, but by all the artists who voiced their personal love for San Francisco and the iconic festival in their performances.

Loud, Sad and Weird: Telefon Tel Aviv at the Lodge Room

Alfredo Luna August 12, 2022

Words by: Alfredo Luna Photos by: Chris Molina After various rescheduled dates from the last two years, Telefon Tel Aviv was finally able to bring the “Dreams” era to a haunting close in Highland Park. An IDM icon in his own right, Joshua Eustis of Telefon Tel Aviv has made a name for himself as a touring member of legends Nine Inch Nails and Puscifer, but really put his stamp on the genre with TTA. Promising a loud, sad and weird experience, Eustis made the show worth the 2 year wait to see. related content: Rabbit Holes And Glaciers: Anika at Lodge Room Playing a gloomy and ambient inspired set from the latest release Dreams Are Not Enough, the atmosphere became an immersive world crafted by the sights and sounds thrown at you. From the second the sound projections began to illuminate the room the crowd was immersed within the realm that Eustis has crafted. More an audio-sensory experience, with the bass running up your spine, the visuals hypnotizing you with each flash transporting in and out of consciousness. Playing highlights such as “a younger version of myself” which feels like an endless loop of thoughts rushing through your head,

Photo Recap: Teyana Taylor in Southern California

Janky Smooth Central Command August 9, 2022

Teyana Taylor‘s art has always been elevated compared to the rest of the pop world. She represents a charisma, sensuality, sexuality, and rawness that is unparalleled in mainstream music. She inspires the underground far and wide, even bringing punks out to her two Southern California shows for the Last Rose tour stops at The Hollywood Palladium and House of Blues Anaheim. Her shows were painted deep red, with scandalous intent, making every little choreographed step more confident and confrontational. She brought out a slew of guests like Brandy and her husband, basketball pro, Iman Shumpert. Seeing Teyana’s incredible stage performance and setup let everyone dream as if they could do something as outrageous and ballsy, just seeing how hard she was going and how much of herself she put out there. We got some epic photos from her two Southern California shows and we hope you gaze upon their beauty like you would a rose. Photos by: Erika Reinsel Teyana Taylor at The Hollywood Palladium Teyana Taylor at The House of Blues Anaheim

Risks Make Better Memories Than Nostalgia: Sound and Fury 2022

Rob Shepyer August 8, 2022

Followers of Jankysmooth know that Sound and Fury has always been my favorite festival in Los Angeles. The feeling of being onstage and seeing a barrage of young people charging a band was incomparable among all of our precious and diverse music scene. The openness of artists to share the stage and microphone with their beloved fans made me an instant admirer of hardcore. Growing up a metalhead, I came to the realization that live, nothing touched hardcore. The constant flow of love between audience, artist and promoter made me feel part of something larger than myself, no matter how outgoing or shy I was. And it wasn’t just the scene that I found a home in, it was Sound and Fury specifically. It’s not common that artists constantly show an outpour of love to a promoter but at Sound and Fury, artists had a special connection to the festival that made them constantly thank Riley, Martin, and Madison by name during their sets. After all, these guys weren’t just the people that got them a gig, they were friends that gave them a platform for their art when few else would. Sound and Fury gave Anaiah Lei a platform

Photo Recap: Joey Bada$$ at House of Blues San Diego

Janky Smooth Central Command August 1, 2022

To celebrate the anniversary of his iconic album, 2012’s 1999, Joey Bada$$ brought his unmistakably real flow and bars to the House of Blues San Diego for an unforgettable show and clinic in all things true hip hop. We sent a photographer out to capture the night’s highlights and in these pictures you can almost hear Joey’s gold standard for spitting rhymes. Along with 1999, Joey performed songs off his most recent album, 2000. Time seems to slow down at Joey Bada$$ shows. He likes to take audiences on trips to the past when hip hop was a little different and lyrics were king above all. Photos by: Rebecca DiGiglio Joey Bada$$

Photo Recap: The Zombies at the Fonda

Rob Shepyer August 1, 2022

Los Angeles, and the greater American West Coast, is perhaps the most important hub for all modern psychedelic music, but before the music world was California Dreaming, The Zombies had already begun synthesizing the psychedelic experience into sonic waves and flourishes. The music they created didn’t just reproduce the feeling of psychedelics, it was far beyond any kind of substance use. This Zombies expanded consciousness itself so the psychedelic experience could be accessed without having to take a single drop of anything. They found the notes, combination of instruments, artists and visuals to reshape rock music’s vibration into something that harkened back to the past and also saw a distant future far beyond this dimension. Seeing them perform at the Fonda was both a celebration of rock and roll’s rich history as well as a return to a more human sensibility lost in the digital age where the lyrics of “Time of the Season” made much more sense and were felt on a deeper level. The Zombies didn’t just stop at playing the hits, they included B-sides as well as new music written during the pandemic. Everyone in attendance hailed The Zombies as the Gods of psychedelic rock that they

Possession by Bass: Thundercat at the Broad

Jonathan Reyes July 27, 2022

Possession, it takes hold like a wave pulling you under the bass notes and syncopated rhythm section of Thundercat, the spiritually eponymous name of the composer I currently am referring to. He who makes the sky crack the way Mr. Murakami’s steps on The Tail Of A Rainbow making it scream and cry out its swirling rainbow blood across his canvases. The notes from the bass radiate through the openings in the side of the Broad Museum in Downtown Los Angeles. While I stand before a massive flower sculpture I closed my eyes for a moment, the augmented reality of my own imagination saw the vines dancing, one of the rainbow flowers face turned into Thundercat and the flowers on the walls cheered. visionary community members, Thundercat and Takashi Murakami, sharing their deepest feeling and thoughts after processing the ways of the world and then giving it back something that brings smiles to peoples faces everywhere it goes. I like seeing a performance from the side of a stage. I would love to one day experience a top-down view but what I like about being on the side is you get to see the mechanics of the artistry. The drummer’s

Porno For Pyros at Belasco- A Time Capsule of Sound and Cultural Concepts

Danny Baraz July 20, 2022

When I saw Porno for Pyros pop up on a concert calendar for the Belasco on July 7th, my heart skipped a beat. Not quite as prolific or ingrained in the American pop culture psyche as Janes Addiction, this pure, West Side of L.A. band and their iconic first album came out when I was 17 years old and offered something different but just as sacred to me as Nothing’s Shocking- and I had yet to see them live. Perry Farrel, Peter Distefano, Stephen Perkins and Martyn LeNoble created a unique, percussive, groove oriented and angsty soundtrack from a band in a decade that didn’t exactly fly under the radar but certainly not given their proper due in a decade filled with legends. related: Heaven on Earth: Perry Farrel’s Kind Heaven Orchestra at Teragram Ballroom So how has the world changed since 1993 and subsequently, the narrative in the concepts of their songs. Porno For Pyros offered commentary on gender roles, depression, humanity, the female orgasm, war, politics and cultural divide- all topics that are timeless but many that have been defined and redefined since the beginning of time. In the vast legacy that is still being built by Perry