One of the joys of the LA music scene – the largest and best in the nation (sorry, New York and Nashville) is that you can just wander into a club and run into top tier talent, and not only top tier, but unique and exciting in ways that you just won’t find anywhere else. I had a night off this week and stopped into my favorite showcase club, The Hotel Café in Hollywood, and found myself at a front table about six feet away from two black-clad and tattooed women with rhythm guitars who led an alt rock band that is still ringing in my ears days later, in a good way,
The band was The Silent War, led by Garrison Starr and Adrianne Gonzalez and there is nothing silent about them. Each of their 11 songs had the fully packed house rocking out or breath-held quiet.
The duo, who have been in a residency at the Hotel Café, opened up with Setting Sun looking at each other knowingly as they asked “when are you gonna come and give me your love”- the knowing looks from the irony of two women who only recently earned the full legal right to openly love and marry whomever they wanted. “Setting Sun” and “Beating of Your Heart” rounded out a world-class entrance and put everyone in the mood for more.
More is what they got. After Adrianne chatted up the audience they settled into “Just A Little Rain”, head-bobbing and following each other’s eyes as their perfectly blended voices and guitars in full attack mode literally rocked the house. No rest for the weary, however — before the applause died they moved into “No One’s Comin” their harmonies so goose bump-inducing that the tattoos on Garrison’s arms went pschychodelic.
Garrison introduced “Same as You”, a song that for an LA audience told an obvious truth, but for many in our country, is contested — that we are all good human beings, (although it contrasted with Adrianne’s earlier remark that they are going to be touring in places where they are different from most people they meet by about 5 ways). “Home to You” was followed by a duo solo of “Lucky One,” whose words “I been losing when I should have won/I’m still standin/ain’t I the lucky one” hit home for me and a lot of others in the hall. The audience was still humming Garrison’s song-ending oh-wo-oh-wo-oh when they started “Some Kind of Soldiers”.
Adrianne introduced the band, one of her favorite activities, she noted – while Garrison moved to the piano for “Lifeline” and then they wrapped up with “Unbreakable Heart” — teaching the audience to sing the chorus and then pulling out the joyful notes from pretty much everyone there.
The band left Tuesday for a tour with the folk-pop duo The Weepies in support of that band’s new album, Sirens, and to celebrate duo member Deb Talen’s cancer remission. The tour stops include Salt lake City, Boise, Seattle, Solana Beach, Phoenix, Albuquerque and Boulder Colorado not the most gay-friendly of locations, but something tells me these two can win hearts anywhere, and maybe some minds too. They drop back into LA for a concert at the Henry Fonda Theater on June 9 before heading out again. Check their website for full dates…they are too much fun to miss.
Patrick O’Heffernan. Host, Music FridayLive!
The Silent War, Garrison Starr and Adrianne Gonzales
https://twitter.com/silentwarmusic
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