You can tell when a show is booked well when the place is at capacity (maybe even over-capacity) from before the first band comes on and stays that way until the last band has finished. And I couldn’t tell which band everyone was there to see the most! Was it Los Sweepers who haven’t played in awhile? Up and comers the Wyld Gooms from Los Angeles who brought a bunch of friends down? Or local La Mesa legends The Loons? All are garage bands who are quite different from one another and all are a lot of fun. Didn’t hurt to have DJ Tony The Tyger spinning songs in between sets. Maybe everyone just saw a good show listed and decided to come out (on a rainy night!) to rock!
Los Sweepers haven’t played in awhile and while it kind of showed, they were a lot of fun. They played a set of covers, but sang them all in Spanish. Songs like “The Last Time”, “Gloria”, and “Wooly Bully”. People loved them and they had the attention of the whole place. I even overheard one of the Wyld Gooms say “I don’t even want to play after that! Wow!”
Los Sweepers:
Truth be told, the Wyld Gooms have absolutely nothing to be afraid of. Other bands should be afraid of them! These kids play TOP NOTCH garage music, loud, rockin’ and in your face! Along the lines of the Cynics. They need to get an album out, and once they do, and if they can keep it up, they will be on track to become legendary. They got it all. The look. The sound. And most importantly, the songs!
What can I say about the Loons? They also play retro-garage music, but with a more psychedelic twist to them. Led by Mike Stax from Ugly Things fame and his wife Anja, they have not only one, but TWO very talented lead guitarists and a younger drummer who always looks like he’s having the time of his life keeping the beat. Was nice to see them play in this down & dirty setting of the Tower Bar. All my action shots on this night were very close up and that’s because I couldn’t back up because there were just too many people there. A great night of rock ‘n roll.
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