Good Old War at Avalon

Show: Good Old War (Plus: Family of the Year & Belle Brigade)
Venue: Avalon, Los Angeles
Date: 3/25/12
Show #16

I know, I know! Long time no post. Sorry! Still playing catch up from the crazy month that was March.

Here are some photos I took from when Good Old War was in town. They had 2 great opening acts, Family of the Year and Belle Brigade.

Family of the Year

I recorded a video of their song St. Croix. Fair warning, it will make you wish you were on a beach sipping a pina colada, then make you a little sad when you realize you're at work. But a great song nonetheless!

 Belle Brigade

The brother/sister duo that is Belle Brigade was great. A little country for my personal taste, but I can see why people would love them. Oh and their drummer which comes out in the middle of the set to shake his ASSets while playing tambourine was one of the highlights of the night.

Good Old War

In case you're not familiar with Good Old War, they're made up of 3 guys Keith Goodwin, Daniel Schwartz, and Tim Arnold. They used their last names to come up with their name. Keith GOODwin, Tim ArnOLD and David SchWARtz. Keith and Tim used to be part of the band Days Away, and when that went on hiatus, they started Good Old War. Their stuff is full of great harmonies, feel good lyrics and you can't help but want to sing along and dance a little while you're at it. Such a fun show!

They had a new album came out this year which is so great! I'm personally obsessed with the song Amazing Eyes. I recorded a great video of it at the show. See below:

Other videos:

Loud Love

This is How We Do It

Calling Me Names

That's Some Dream

Better Weather

Cartel at The Key Club

Show: Cartel
Venue: The Key Club, Los Angeles
Date: 3/24/12
Show #15

Ahh Cartel. One of my top 5 favorite bands. I fell in love with them my senior year of high school and stuck with them through the years. If you're not familiar with them, they're a pop/punk/rock group from Georgia who came on to the scene in 2005 with their hit album "Chroma" which had some goodies on it such as "Honestly" and "Say Anything (Else)". They also did the MTV show "Band in a Bubble", where they were forced to live in a glass house in New York where onlookers could come and see them at all hours of the day and watched as they record an album in 30 days. It was as crazy as it sounds, but an amazing album came out of it. The guys have said they will never do anything like that again, for good reason.

I went to see them at The Key Club as they were part of the Set Your Goals tour. I'm not a fan of Set Your Goals so I made sure to get there right as Cartel was coming on, and not stay any later. :-) These guys are so much fun to see live. I always leave Cartel shows a gross sweaty mess, and I love them for that. You can dance, jump or get a good fist pump going to all of their songs. Always a good time!

The Lumineers at Hotel Cafe

Show: The Lumineers
Venue: Hotel Cafe, Los Angeles
Date: 3/23/12
Show #14

So you may have noticed I've been on a bit of a folk kick lately. There have been so many great new bands emerging recently I can't help it! One of my favorite ones has been The Lumineers. They described themselves best as "...heart-swelling stomp-and-clap acoustic rock, classic pop, and front-porch folk." I was fortunate enough to see them at one of their 2 nights at Hotel Cafe, one of the best venues around. Their recent claim to fame has been their music video for "Hey Ho", which went viral last month. The video, the song, everything about it is just, perfect. I've watched it on loop more times than I'd like to admit.

Their self-titled debut album just came out, be sure to check it out!

I recorded a lot of great videos from the show, see them all here!

Another band to check out is the band who opened for them, Y La Bamba. Trying to describe their sound is sort of a hopeless case because it's that unique. Folk, pop, indie rock, with random bursts of Latin and Spanish influence, even full songs IN Spanish. They're VERY cool. Their album doesn't do them justice though, you really need to seem them live to fully appreciate what they're about.

The Lumineers

Of Monsters and Men at The Troubadour

Show: Of Monsters and Men
Venue: Troubadour, Los Angeles
Date: 3/21/12
Show #13

Show #3 of the week for me was Of Monsters and Men at the Troubadour. If you haven't heard their song "Little Talks" taking over alternative radio yet, I can guarantee you will soon be seeing and hearing much more from these guys. They're an indie/folk band from Iceland who have just begun to blow up stateside. They got their start in Iceland from winning a big battle of the bands competition called Músíktilraunir in 2010.

I felt very lucky to have seen them in such a small venue so early on in their career because I only see them getting bigger. Rolling Stone magazine even went as far as to call them "the next Arcade Fire". (Don't shoot the messenger!) This began the bidding war among the record labels and they ended up signing with Universal Music. Their debut album "My Head is an Animal" just came out this month and it's everything I wanted it to be. I highly recommend you check it out, you won't regret it.

This was the bands first trip to Los Angeles and shared that one of their first experiences here involved a couple of cab drivers fighting (as in fists flying, and blood being drawn) over who would take them around town.

Also wanted to call out their awesome opening act Lay Low, also from Iceland. She was so adorable! So humbled to be there and shared that she moved out to Los Angeles into a house with people she had never met to follow her dream. She even took out a 12 string she had just purchased and asked someone take a picture of her with it so she could send it to her Mom back home to show her that she tried. I recorded a video of her playing it, you can see it here.

To check out all the videos I recorded from this show, click here.