Lost Anarchy

LIVE REVIEW

CAPTAIN ANARCHY'S HOLLYWOOD MEMOIRS: PROPHETS OF ADDICTION, STONEBREED, AND COOTER BROWN @ KING KING (HOLLYWOOD)
Posted April 30, 2015

Hats off to Alison “Metal Babe” for organizing and hosting this great show and having us down to review it ! This was an old skool ‘80’s-meets-early ‘90’s Hollywood glam rock scene reunion of sorts… kind of, in that it drudged up a lot of the colorful characters from that era. And being familiar with P.O.A.’s music we knew to expect some ‘70’s junkie rock and punk and ‘80’s glam-punk type riffs to be throwin’ down on tonight as well, hence my accomplice Eric “Sweet E” and I donned our ‘70’s meets ‘80’s glam attire and stormed up the furthest back corner of the club’s parking lot somewhat early to engage in some illicit car-bar action, effectively crankin’ some old skool glam and getting our drink and smoke on before the show. Before even rolling in to this ever swank-decored venue we already encountered many familiar faces from the good old scene, including our ol’ pal Leslie Sanders, the lead singer and bassist of P.O.A. and formerly the bass player of Hollywood’s legendary power-pop glam-punk band Queeny Blast Pop, as well as having had a run in the even more well-known Pretty Boy Floyd. And we also got to finally meet his band members as well, all of whom were very cool, friendly and talented guys.

Once inside we saw even more old friends, and although we missed Lit Soul we did however catch the last several songs by Cooter Brown featuring the dirty guitar riffings of Grant Masson, whom laid down some groove orientated heavy rock tunes backed by the solid rhythm section of bassist Scott Kessler and drummer Tom Oz. And with the powerful vocals of Michael Steven Robles I guess the best way I can describe them is to say that they reminded me of Black Sabbath meets say Orange Goblin or Kyuss. But although they are far from being glam, they were nonetheless a great and powerful way to kick off this rockin’ show. Then making our way back out outside for some further lot lizard action we found ourselves in a small sea of our Hollywood brethren and engaged by Kruzin’ Kenny and his party van entourage, as well as a plethora of dolled-up glam girls and glammed-out homeboys in leather, lace and Lip Service vinyl. Hence unfortunately we were way-laid throughout the entire set by Stonebreed  though, and thus sadly we missed them. But we could hear their arena rock influenced style from outside and they sounded like they were no doubt kicking the club’s ass like they usually always do, and I did get to party briefly with singer Carlos Cruz afterward so it’s all good and I’m sure I’ll catch and review them again sometime soon.

And then it was back inside for a sleazy fourteen song powerhouse set by Seattle’s Hollywood transplants The Prophets of Addiction, whom have been successfully touring extensively for a few years now all over the States as well as throughout Australia and even in parts of Europe. Here I spent the first half of their set chillin’ in a plush front row booth and holding court with my other underground glam upper-echelon good ol’ friends Gerry “G-Spot” Gittelson (writer extraordinaire, formerly of Rock City News and currently of Metal Sludge and The L.A. Daily News) and Charlie “Kit Ashley” Overbey (former vocalist of the immaculate glam band Big Bang Babies and drummer of the psychobilly-like band Deadbolt, and currently of Charlie Overbey and the Broken Arrows). And from our booth we witnessed P.O.A. get off to a great start, opening with their strong track “Babylon Boulevard”, perhaps one of the best cuts off their debut album by the same name, and which is reminiscent of the stylings of say Hanoi Rocks with it’s heavy-toned yet hook-laden guitars and despondent street-real lyrics, but with the gruff vocal approach of say Stiv Bators. Then we were treated to virtually their entire catalog from their LP, produced by former bassist Phil Soussan of Ozzy (whom also worked on The Peppermint Creeps material, amongst many others) and mastered by Dave Hillis (known for his work with Queensryche, Pearl Jam, etc.). Many of the songs such as “Rejection” were evident in drawing their ‘70’s influence from say more glammed-up style riffings of The Ramones, and with other tunes similar to say The Dead Boys, Dogs D’ Amour and The Stooges for example. And still others ranged in to an ‘80’s influence of say early  L.A. Guns, ‘Crüe, G’N’ R, Skidrow, Lords of the New Church, Swingin’ Thing and also a somewhat more mature take on that era’s best glam-punk bands as well like The Ultras, Glamour Punks, Trash Brats and of course QBP, etc..
Then mid-set they played their G.N.R. style  rockin’ cut “Trigger” and their Big Bang Babies style ballad “Where Are You Now ?”.  And by mid-to-late set I was then up front dancing, fist pumping and headbanging with Alison and a bunch of glammed-out girls and stripper type chicks as the band broke off their equally rockin’ new songs like “Reunite The Sinners”, “Spare The Bullets”, “As We Fall”, “Postcards From The Grave” and “Razor’s Edge”, which I assume will be on their forth-coming next album. Then finally the band closed out with their very rockin’ opening song off their current album, an excellent track called “Hang Me Up”, where Leslie’s voice really takes a different direction that is much like Axl Rose in it’s timber and style…. ending in what was an incredibly rebellious, swaggering, strutting, sleazy, snotty and brash set and a total blast of a night for us, as Eric and I headed back to the lot to party down some more and say farewell to our many ol’ friends, until next time that is……..