BEACH GOTH 2018: BACK IN THE HANDS OF THE GROWLERS & ANOTHER UNFORGETTABLE YEAR
The drama is over and Beach Goth officially belongs to The Growlers again! They introduced the world to Beach Goth festival back in 2012 and it has grown more massive every year since. Previous Beach Goths held some big names including King Krule, Alice Glass, Die Antwoord, and who could forget that beautiful moment it started raining during Future Islands in 2016?! Last year’s monumental performances by Girl Talk, The B-52’s, Modest Mouse, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, were more iconic performances in Beach Goth history. This year, you may have experienced a little Beach Goth deja-vu, since many artists this year have performed this festival before. For La Luz, The Drums, The Voidz, and the classic duo Jonathan Richman & Tommy Larkin, this 7th Beach Goth was not their first.
With the festival back in the hands of The Growlers, this year was just as incredible as 2017. intimate sets, and Mac Demarco even walking around the festival grounds,. It was pretty warm and sunny but nonetheless a beautiful Sunday at Los Angeles State Historic Park! This was the first year the festival took place in the month of August but with Beach Gothers (and even some artists) lurking around in their creative costumes, it truly felt like October.
LA LUZ
Cleverly dressed as “The Beach (Goth) Boys”, La Luz. Not only were they best and most appropriately dressed for the occasion, but their performance was haunted by a lurking stage-demon. These guys really put some thought into their Beach Goth performance, and their creativity and great set did not go unnoticed. Their surf-noir vibes, soft hymns, and sweepy guitars put the crowd in a trance. They performed tracks off their brand new album, “Floating Features”. The newest album is soaked in gnarly guitar riffs and beautiful vocals swimming in equally beautiful lyrics. “Floating Features” was released just this past May of 2018 under Sub Pop Records. La Luz has made such incredible success this past year and will be touring Europe starting from September to October.
STARCRAWLER
Where did she come from? Did she escape from a hospital or mental institution? Why is she spitting out blood? Is she possessed? Is she okay?! These are just a few questions that might have been going through your head during Starcrawler’s performance of Beach Goth. Starcrawler may be young but their set was the most hardcore of the entire festival. Don’t think these guys were just terrifying you because it’s Beach Goth, this was actually them being normal. Lead psychopath, Arrow de Wilde turns into a whole other entity once she hits the stage screeching in her hospital gown. Fainting, crying, screaming, clawing all over the stage, and practically foaming at the mouth, Wilde’s performance tells a shocking story. Wilde is the most committed to her role that you’ll ever see a performer be and she seems to get off on terrifying masses of people, because she does it every single time.
Guitarist, Henri Cash and Wilde are always on the same wavelength and work side by side in shocking the audience as much as possible. At one point of the performance, Wilde layed on the floor and extended her body into full-bridge as Cash played the guitar over her. It’s likely that towards the end of any Starcrawler set Wilde will run off stage and disappear into madness. This time before finishing up, Cash had antics of his own and threw his whole guitar into the crazed crowd. As you can imagine, this insane stunt almost caused a few fights in the audience before a stagehand came to break it up and save the instrument from certain destruction. So much energy was poured out of these guys onto a disturbed yet ecstatic audience. Anyone who was witnessing Starcrawler for the first time at Beach Goth was served one of their greatest performances they’ll probably ever experience. Starcrawler is the only band out there today that will give you nightmares yet entertain the hell out of you...or into you, either way they’re a rare breed of today’s music. Starcrawler is the proof that rock and roll still has a beating heart in 2018.
THE DRUMS
The Drums performed in the late afternoon underneath a hot LA sun. The setlist included tracks from “Abysmal Thoughts”, their latest and greatest album. “Abysmal Thoughts” was released June of 2017 and the album has yet to get old. In fact, it is a complete work of art as it illustrates a whole range of relatable emotions and anxieties but simultaneously encompasses a youthful optimism that we all have clinged to at one time or another in our lives. Although The Drums didn’t dress up, all was forgiven as soon as Jonny Pierce came out in his navy-blue Abysmal Thoughts jumpsuit. Jonny Pierce’s stage presence was extremely graceful yet powerful. He completely enchanted the audience with his uniquely soft voice that beautifully captured the mood of their songs and body language that emphasized the sentiment of every word in every track they performed. If you haven’t seen The Drums, try to fix that as soon as possible, no one should miss out on such an experience!
THE VOIDZ
Dressed as themselves and no strangers to Beach Goth were The Voidz. Since the release of their second Cult Records album, “Virtue”, they have had much growth. “Virtue” is so ahead of its time and yet so retro. It’s an absolute masterpiece. The Voidz are completely reprogramming music as we know it. At first they may seem too far out, and that’s exactly right. The Voidz are so far out, most of you aren’t even ready to digest them yet. Julian Casablancas stage presence is naturally as powerful as his notable music career with The Strokes. Although powerful, it’s kinda hard to miss that Casablancas is pretty charmingly awkward. It’s easy to become starstruck by this national treasure, but it’s important to see Casablancas as just another member of The Voidz instead of the old moniker “Julian Casablancas & The Voidz”. All members of The Voidz are gifted musicians who have come together to make one giant supergroup carrying a message. The construction of their songs alone are mind-bending but their lyrics are one of the most important ingredients to these geniuses. You will hear political and social messages within the songwriting and definitely see it in their music videos. In the time of the world that we all live in, The Voidz have become one of the influential bands who aren’t afraid of speaking up and sending a message.
BLEACHED dressed as THE RAMONES
Out of a garage in Queens and one of the most legendary American-made influential punk bands, are The Ramones. How they got them to play Beach Goth is a mystery but they did! The Ramones look a little different than the photos but they kicked the crowd’s ass nonetheless. They performed solid hits like “KKK Took My Baby Away”, “I Wanna Be Sedated”, “Judy is a Punk”, and so much more. This performance was one of the most energetic of the entire festival due to the audience’s energy in knowing almost every word to every song that was performed. During the set, a man in some kind of goblin mask came out dancing on stage with a large sign that said “Gabba Gabba Hey Hey”. It went from a performance to a full blown Ramones party!
JONATHAN RICHMAN & TOMMY LARKINS
The last group to perform the festival before The Growlers was Jonathan Richman and Tommy Larkin. They performed as the sun was setting and it couldn’t have been anymore perfect. Since the early 70’s Jonathan Richman has been performing and writing music while capturing the love of fans worldwide with his illustrative mind and wide-eyed outlook on life. Richman’s songwriting is a real picker-upper for when you’re feeling low, he’s naturally sweet, childlike, and optimistic. In the 1970’s, Richman founded The Modern Lovers. The group was heavily influenced by The Velvet Underground but put their own unique spin on proto-punk that was likeable yet unusual for the times they were in. Members of The Modern Lovers later on joined Talking Heads and The Cars, and Richman moved to California, worked on solo projects, and put together a newer version of The Modern Lovers. The Richman and Larkin duo is well-known for they’re performances throughout the film “There’s Something About Mary”. With Tommy Larkins’ drum set pushed to the front of the stage closely beside Jonathan Richman performing acoustically, their Beach Goth performance was stripped-down and felt intimate. Although from a Jewish family, Richman sang a few songs in Spanish very beautifully and the audience was quickly absorbed in their entertaining yet simple performance.
THE GROWLERS
“They tried to take it away from us, but it’s ours”, singer Brooks Nielsen said as he greeted the Beach Goth 2018 crowd. The Growlers created their own genre and style known as “Beach Goth” and it was ridiculously taken away from them for a while but thankfully, now it’s back home with the boys and the fans. This year’s festival was especially rad for that reason alone. The celebration of Beach Goth itself was apparent in the crowd and the energy of The Growlers performance. With the stage dressed in gothic chicano decorations and The Growlers in their traditional skeleton makeup and costume, this set was straight out of our Beach Goth dreams. They performed a range of tracks from multiple albums including “Casual Acquaintances”, “City Club”, “Chinese Fountain”, “Hung at Heart”, and even threw it back to “Hot Tropics” and “Are You in or Out” for the OG fans. From organizing Beach Goth 2018, completing and releasing new album “Casual Acquaintances”, and managing Beach Goth Records, The Growlers have been pretty busy. With the amount of entertainment, priceless performances of both new and legendary artists, it’s evident that all that hard work paid off. We can’t wait for what next year’s Beach Goth has in store!
GWAR
Coverage by Sade De La Espriella and Veronica Potes
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