LiveLarge

Punks get Heavily Medicated: Heavy Medication is a label specializing in sleazy, raw rock & roll, based out of Warsaw, Poland. Bands with names like the Primevals, Hell Nation Army, and the Wild Zeros have found a home there and, as this two-day showcase at the Redwood Bar & Grill proved, there’s no shortage of L.A. talent on there.

We unfortunately couldn’t make it on the Friday night, though we’re assured that the Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs, the Dogs and Richard Duguay put in excellent performances. The first two in particular we’ve seen a number of times , and they never let the crowd down.

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Neverland Ranch Davidians (Brett Callwood)

We were there on Saturday, and all three bands killed it. Talking to this writer in June, Tex Mosley of the Neverland Ranch Davidians described his band’s sound as, “low-fi, streetwise, lower east side with a dash of Memphis Soul.

That about nails it. Mosely is a glorious frontman — super-cool and suave, paired with a lifetime of painful experience that he pours into his lyrics. It’s an intoxicating combo; he’s like Tom Waits and Nick Cave and Phil Lynott and Chuck Berry, all smashed into the same body.

The songs are great, the band is spectacular, and Mosely has the crowd wrapped around his little finger. He’s far from the only wonderful frontman on this bill though. Pat Todd & the Rank Outsiders are fronted by, as the name suggests, former Lazy Cowgirls man Pat Todd.

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Pat Todd & the Rank Outsiders (Brett Callwood)

His new band’s 2019 album The Past Came Callin’ is an under-the-radar gem, full of tunes that blur the lines between punk, country and rockabilly, without resting on cowpunk laurels.

Todd has a phenomenal voice and he was a livewire on the Redwood’s low corner stage. The songs blurred together as Todd battered everyone with his relentless onslaught of rock & roll goodness.

There was a Stones cover, some killer riffs, and a whole lot of hootin’ and hollerin’. And not one dull moment.

That just left Portland rockers the Guerrilla Teens to close it out. Frontman Scott “Deluxe” Drake spent about ten minutes telling a half-joke about three dogs walking into a hardware store, that went nowhere slowly. But once they got going, they never let up.

Like the other two bands, the Guerrilla Teens play raw, infectious and glorious rock & roll, and they were on fire on L.A. Just a magnificent set of punk & roll tunes, and we’ll be digging deeper into their catalog after seeing them.

All of the bands did Heavy Medication proud.

Punks get Heavily Medicated: Go to heavymedicationrecords.bandcamp.com for more info.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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