Well, not just a band anyway. Since the group’s nascent beginnings—at a 1982 house party right here in Claremont—it’s been more of an ever-evolving conceptual art project that has veered off on innumerable tangents, each sharing the common theme of being completely engrossing and wholly original.
The husband and wife musical duo of Chris Masterson and Eleanor Whitmore, known as The Mastersons, believe artists have an obligation to speak up.
“We’ve heard that old, ‘Shut up and sing,’ thing before,” Mr. Masterson said, “and we just don’t buy into it. Art should be provocative, and that isn’t always what people want to hear.”
The Mastersons appear in Claremont at 7 p.m. next Monday, June 25 as part of Scripps College’s Levitt On The Lawn series.
THE BLACK WATCH PUB: 497 N. Central Ave., #B, Upland. Live music at 9 p.m. Friday, Saturday and some Sundays, unless otherwise noted. No cover. Info: theblackwatchpub.com or (909) 981-6069.
It’s kind of a glorious time to be a punk rocker in Los Angeles.
Who could have imagined “X Day” at Dodger Stadium? But there it was, this past August, with LA’s professional baseball club honoring the city’s most decorated punks, and then the Grammy Museum following suit in October with an exhibit dedicated to the acclaimed band.
Fearless freaks and purveyors of rapturous live shows, both visually and aurally, The Flaming Lips will land their rock ‘n’ roll spaceship in Pomona Monday, October 9 for an 8:30 p.m. performance at the Fox Theater.
And though the band has upped its game on the production end of things since 2005—fans can expect substantially more than balloons and blood at Monday’s show—The Lips’ 56-year-old singer, lyricist and co-songwriter Wayne Coyne’s mantra remains charmingly intact: let’s love one another for a while.
Local heavy rock band Ojos Rojos is releasing a new five song EP Friday, “Sons of Love and Death,” and will be celebrating with a free 10 p.m. record release show at The Press, 129 Harvard Ave., Claremont.
The Claremont-based band blends the riff-heavy psychedelia of desert rock with the snotty but tuneful Manchester sound.
The Dustbowl Revival is making a mid-career pivot. The acclaimed Venice, California band—which plays a free outdoor show Monday at 6:30 p.m. at Scripps College’s Bowling Green—released its new self-titled record last Friday, and fans may be surprised to hear some of the new flavors in the grooves.
David Lovering is loving his life a lot. The 55-year-old drummer is touring the world with his famously dysfunctional band, Pixies, but any signs of the old acrimony have long dissipated. In fact, being a Pixie these days is downright fun.
“We’re getting along incredibly well, and that’s the best thing about it,” Mr. Lovering said.
Nostalgia can be a tricky business. Sure, there is joy to be found in re-living pleasant memories, but if you choose to stay in the past you run the risk of becoming a novelty.
Janet Klein, who appears tomorrow at Claremont’s Folk Music Center, has solved this conundrum. Ms. Klein, with her band the Parlor Boys, brings a charming authenticity to the music of the early part of the 20th Century.
