No Age, Grass Widow, and Rank/Xerox Bring the Ruckus at the Rickshaw

Crazy Band
February 26, 2011
@ Rickshaw Stop

Better than: Standing still at Best Coast/Wavves.

I have a thing for drummers who sing. There's something about it that triggers endorphins: this is a multitasking musician, both pounding and hollering. It ups the ante from the usual guitarist-singing dynamic. It takes more skills, or maybe it just looks that way.

Dean Spunt, the drummer-singer from Los Angeles duo (trio when live) No Age gave his all Saturday night at the Rickshaw Stop. He was vivacious throughout, singing with all his might while hammering away on the bands' noisy, fuzzy art-punk jams as longtime bandmate Randy Randall skillfully ripped through songs off 2008's Nouns and 2010's Everything in Between. Next to him stood touring bandmate Cundo Bermudez on keyboard and sampler. A screen behind played song-correlating visuals, some of it just eye-popping, colorful psychedelia.

Joseph Schell

​There's something about bands spawned from L.A. all-ages venue the Smell who've gained some notoriety that brings out the ire of Los Angeles hipsters. Like they don't want the rest of the world knowing about their cool scene so they shit on acts once other people like them. I get it, but just because No Age got its start in that awesome alleyway venue and later got national attention, it doesn't make them any less good.

They're talented musicians, it shows through, but they also are really fun live, something that can be lacking in this not always-ready-to-dance town. And when I say dance, I mean mosh, thrash about, not delicately nod one's head to the music. This band also sounds better live than recorded -- the upbeat energy that can sometimes be lacking from the albums is front and center at their shows. The mood Saturday built to a frenzied pace for popular singles "Glitter" and "Eraser."

Along with their own tunes, the band also covered Black Flag's "Six Pack," which worked in perfectly with the ethos of the night. Saturday's lineup was like a backwards timeline of the history of punk music. San Francisco's Ranx/Xerox, which actually played second, represents the early 1980s punk vision: straight-forward and hard. The band's sound was reminiscent of its cited influences, like late-'70s So-Cal hardcore outfit Middle Class, especially thanks to drummer Jon Shade. The crowd pitted here as well.

Local lady-punk trio Grass Widow pulls from the 1990s punk aesthetic, with hints of riot grrl. The band is even on Kill Rock Stars, the original home to legendary female-fronted acts such as Bikini Kill, but its collective talent more strongly recalls Sleater-Kinney. Guitarist Raven Mahon's intricate guitar skills shone on stage, but the audience seemed to slow down a bit during the set. Perhaps they were saving energy for the headliners (who play an experimental sound reminiscent of 2000s era art punk).

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