MusicFridayLive | Music Junkie Press

Diamond hard, nuclear-powered rock and roll: Diamante Electrico’s B. By Patrick O’Heffernan

October 22, 2015

Diamente Electrico’s Grammy-nominated B album is nuclear powered American rock in Spanish Patrick O’Heffernan (Los Angeles) The Bogota-based rock and roll band Diamente Electrico has in just over 2 years become the hottest band in Colombia and draws stadium crowds in the rest of the Southern hemisphere. Now they are setting their sights on the US market, starting at the top with two Latin Grammy nominations for their latest album, B. That is after a tour with 130 concerts in the US and Mexico, a recording session in Nashville, gigs at festivals like Viva Latina, Rock Park, Stereo Picnic, and LAMC, while collecting a shelf full of awards including the Shock Award for Best Rock Artist last year. Their first album, Diamente Electrico, was released in 2013, financed by crowdfunding – the first Colombian band to use crowdfunding. Their second single, “Nos Rompemos Igual” charted #1 on Columbian radio. They have just released their second album, B, on the Criteria Entertainment label. Recorded live at Third Man Records in Nashville, Tennessee directly to [Read More]

We Are The West fills El Cid with sound and a perfect fit. By Patrick O’Heffernan

August 20, 2015

(Los Angeles) We Are The West (WATW) has made a name for itself in Southern California with its literal underground concerts – “literal” in that they perform in an underground parking garage in Santa Monica every month on the Saturday before the full moon. But this 21st Century progressive rock band has moved far out of the parking garage to fill concert halls and venues large and small across the country with their hauntingly beautiful, crescendo-filled combination of music, sound and voice that is like nothing else on the modern rock scene. The original duo of Brett Hool on guitar/vocals and John Kibler on standup and electric bass/vocals added virtuoso drummer and vocalist Elizabeth Goodfellow, clarinet and sax man Sylvain Carton, Ben Tollidy on the cello and Paul Cox on the organ for a band that can create music the sonic equivalent of a very, very good acid trip. WATW took us on that very, very good acid trip this weekend at the storied El Cid in Silverlake, Los Angeles, with twelve songs [Read More]

Chris Wyse and Jason Achilles Mezilis of OWL interview: we are doing what we want and having fun. By Patrick O’Heffernan

August 1, 2015

If you are fortunate enough to get up close and personal with the band OWL during a live show, don’t be surprised if bassist Chris Wyse puts his foot up on the monitor in front of your face and looks down at you with a fiendish grin, or if Jason Achilles Mezilis swipes your camera lens and uses it for a bottleneck on his guitar. That’s what happened to me at their show recently at Hollywood’s renowned Whiskey A Go Go. OWL is a contradiction in terms: a melodic hard rock band. They can attack you with metal-like ferocity while making you laugh and sing. I have seen a lot of great bands – pop, hard rock, blues and metal – but none of them can do what OWL does. I can’t explain it, but Chris Wyse and Jason Achilles Mezilis stopped by the studio to try to make it crystal clear. Patrick. Let’s start with the new EP, Things you Can’t See. Why has it taken so long? You started this, I think, [Read More]

OWL breaks the rules – as always – blowing away the Whiskey A Go Go. By Patrick O’Heffernan

July 23, 2015

Chris Wyse, founder, vocals and bassist lead of the LA-based hard rock band, OWL, responded to people who told his child self that he couldn’t play a bass that way with the rejoinder, “Rock music is not supposed to have rules. That’s the whole point… I don’t want to fit into anyone’s idea. I want to show you new ones.” Chris and his bandmates, guitarist Jason Achilles Mezilis and drummer Dan Dinsmore, have been showing the rock world new ideas, new ways of playing and new rock concepts for almost a decade. And those new ideas were on full display for an adoring crowd Tuesday night at Hollywood’s storied Whiskey A Go Go. A three quarter full house was well-warmed up by pounding beats and screaming guitar licks of the journeyman band Chemical Burn when OWL began to set up. By the time Chris Wyse turned his flashing grin on the crowd and hit his the first chord, the room was jam-packed full – a sea of upturned faces of all genders and [Read More]

Maggie Szabo road tests “Forgive and Forget” at BMI Acoustic Lounge. By Patrick O’Heffernan

June 3, 2015

One of the many helpful things the non-profit music rights organization BMI does is produce showcases and events that spotlight new artists and gives a boost to the careers of artists ready to go to the next level. In LA this takes many forms, including a monthly BMI Acoustic Lounge at the Genghis Cohen venue featuring four artists with only guitar or keyboard accompaniment. This weeks’ BMI Acoustic Lounge featured emerging artists Melie Malavasi, Shyanne, Jordan Casty and the established singer/songwriter Maggie Szabo, whose career took off with the release of her single “Tidal Waves and Hurricanes” last year. The pews at GC’s were packed and the back of the room was SRO as each performer moved through the BMI protocol of sing a song, wait for the others to sing and then sing another, for a total of three songs each. As is always the case, each artist was talented and ready. Casty, the only male singer on the stage, performed not only well, but with humor and a smile that [Read More]

Time Travel by LA transplant Jasmine Jordan. timeless R&B and pop by Patrick Heffernan

February 21, 2015

Jasmine Jordan’s Time Travel is a thing of beauty, past, present and future. Patrick O’Heffernan Jasmine Jordan does something with R&B and pop that is quite unusual. There is the familiar tempo and feel of R&B, but there is also a longing, a maturity, a personal connection and a heart to heart conversation that is rare to find and hard to accomplish. Jordan accomplishes it with what appears to be little effort. When you listen to her EP, Time Travel, you feel you know her with the kind of knowledge that you get from listening to a person talk while you read their face and body language. Time Travel is her first EP, but is moves with the sophistication of a much more experienced artist. She knows exactly how to frame her songwriting and her smooth, precise voice so that, even coming through speakers or earbuds, she creates a relationship with her listeners. The result is a thing of beauty that travels through past, present and future. Time Travel is a spare four [Read More]

A conversation with Zach Villa of Cylvia and the debut EP, “CYLVIA”. By Patrick O’Heffernan

January 11, 2015

Patrick O’Heffernan Cylvia is a seven member alt rock/funk/blues/pop band created by actor and musician Zach Villa after a move across the country from New York City to LA – a move prompted by getting tired of dragging his amps and guitar through the subway to gigs. It was a great move. He knew exactly what he wanted – a front woman co-lead, three guitars, a highly skilled drummer and keyboard player and well-blended backup vocals. He got the singer in Lindsay Claire. Quickly joining them were rhythm player Steven Hood, bassist Justin Gagno, lead guitarist Manny Grijalva, drummer Eric Grivalva and keyboardist actress/musician Amy Landon. Onstage and in the studio, the “magnificent musical seven” move together like a single living organism with Villa at the controls. Zach joined us at Music FridayLive! for a conversation. Patrick. Welcome to Music FridayLive!. When I first saw you and the band onstage I was blown away with how good you were. How did you get to be so good so quickly. It has only [Read More]